Last week I stumbled upon a niche that was perfect for the basis of a new business. I was looking for something and noticed I wasn’t quite getting what I wanted so I started to wonder if other people were having the same problem. So today I wanted to share with you a quick way to work out if a new business idea is viable.

Here is a quick formula that Eben Pagan talked about recently. I think it’s a good way to test a potential business so here are the 3 questions he asks about a new niche and the tools I recommend you use.

1. Is my prospective client experiencing pain and urgency or irrational passion (or both)?

If they aren’t, then you need to motivate them to buy your products. So it’s a lot easier if the motivation comes along with the client. This is basically a judgement call on your part, how motivated do you think the market are?

In my case, I was sure the market was extremely motivated based on the niche and past experience with similar areas. So tick.

2. Is my client proactively searching for solutions?

If people aren’t searching for a solution then you have to track them down and motivate them again. So you need to work out how many people are searching for solutions in your potential niche.

Luckily there are tools for this, so go straight to the Free Keywords Tool at Word Tracker. If you have an account, even better, but this will give you a good indication of how many people are searching for your potential keywords.

Make sure the number of searches is at least 15 per keyword (preferably a lot more!). You have to make a judgement call on how much traffic you need to make your business model work. Also allow for very low conversion rates in your analysis. A 1% click-through rate to your website and 1% sign-up rate should not leave you overly optimistic. Of course you should be able to do much better than that!

3. Does my prospect have few or no perceived options?

Searching for your terms in Google, how many both organic and Pay-per-Click (PPC) competitors do you have? At this point you probably want to remember that ranking well for your keywords will probably take a year or longer so you’ll be competing in the PPC section on Google.

If there is weak PPC competition you may be on to a winner. Remember there are a lot more ways to market your website but Google Adwords gives you a cheap and easy way to buy traffic at the start.

Now it’s time to test your niche.

How to Test Your Niche

The quickest and easiest way to test your niche is to start a PPC campaign for the keywords you’ve uncovered. The step-by-step process is:

1. Buy a new domain or use an old one.
2. Create a simple landing page with an email sign-up offering something of value.
3. Create a small guide or a few web pages that would be valuable for your niche. Preferably in the vain that your product would be.
4. Create your PPC campaign and point it at the new page.
5. See how many click-throughs and sign-ups you receive.

After a week or two you should know whether you have a viable business on your hands. My PPC campaign went live on Saturday and on Sunday I knew I had a strong potential market. For an idea, here are my first day figures. On two similar keywords:

• 535 people had seen my ad (impressions)
• 34 people had clicked through (6.35% click through rate)
• 2 people had signed up for my ‘newsletter’ (5.88% conversion rate)
• A 2.24 euro cost per conversion (0.16 euro cost per click)

So, based on no optimisation these figures looked pretty good to me. Also, the landing page I made wasn’t very strong either. At this point I need to sell an ebook or similar for 27 euros to 1 in every 12 people that sign up to break even on the first sale.

But of course I have plans to increase the lifelong client value with more products and a membership website with a monthly fee. As long as I offer great (valuable) products then I’m sure I can keep most of my clients as the competition is very weak.

Other Important Notes

I thought this might be useful to those people who want to set up an Internet business. It’s also a good method of research for those with existing businesses to do market research. Don’t take the figures to heart as they’re only an example of what I thought was a good opportunity.

People will have success with better and worse figures. The moral of the story is they got out there and did it. This provides you a quick, cheap, and easy method to test your new ideas and see which one you want to pursue.

And, as always, a good business has a solid passion and purpose (see the recent video blogs below). I’m not encouraging you to go out and use this system as a get rich quick scheme because those will ultimately fail. Two other important questions I always ask myself are:

1. Am I passionate about this subject?
2. Does this business have a purpose that will last 100 years or does it fit within the purpose of my  existing business?

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments, I’ll be only too happy to help.

I was reading Bill Bryson’s book Made in America the other day and stumbled upon something interesting. One of the chapters was about the development of advertising and showed a page full of tiny ads. For example:

I will make you a Human Gorilla
At home - In 5 days - No exercises

Emotional copy about being a small weakling that gets beaten up on the beach…yada yada yada…

Send now for amazing free book!

And this of course is followed by a form for your name and address to receive your free book. Does this format sound slightly familiar to anyone? Does it remind anyone of a free ebook offer you might find on a website? Put your name and email address here to receive xyz, called a squeeze page.

Why would this make you a slow Internet Marketer? Because the ad I’m quoting was written around 1920-30…and it wasn’t unique. So basically, we’re now using techniques on the Internet that were being used 80+ years ago in print advertising.

Now I’m not saying squeeze pages don’t work, I use them myself, but it got me thinking about where Internet Marketing is going in the future. The email opt-in is almost dead now, with the constant flood of email we receive, so where do we go next?

It just proves that Internet Marketing is really taking its baby steps now and as both technology and user behavior develops in this new age, the possibilities are amazing. I think it’s time to stop mucking around with your small business website and start getting serious before another opportunity goes flying by.

Everyone loves to watch hilarious videos of people hurting themselves on YouTube. Now you don’t have to get accepted by your local “Funniest Home Videos” show to become famous. Just get hurt while someone’s filming and post the video yourself…because everyone will have their 15 minutes.

But if you sell bandages and medical supplies…those videos could even be good content for your small business.

Because content isn’t just for padding out your website, it’s for everything!

Why

Content on your website is important, but so is content that drives traffic to your website. Content can be used to sell your products and also to keep previous clients happy.

So when you think about content, broaden your mind to include all the possibilities. Since most of us are now immune to advertising and ‘push’ marketing techniques, we need to learn how to use ‘pull’ marketing by providing great content.

It can draw visitors in like bees to honey (I decided not to use the strangers and candy analogy…).

How

Articles that don’t go on your own website are an obvious one. We’ve already talked about videos that go on video sharing sites. Guides that help visitors and could be spread around their friends.

Have a look at the content you’re already creating and think about how you could use it to draw visitors to your website as well.

Homework

Explore a content sharing site like HubPages.com or YouTube.com to see how other people are using these tools in their marketing efforts.

With visitors zipping about all over the Internet, it’s hard to get anyone to slow down and chat. From webpage to webpage they surf, instantly forgetting what they’ve just seen.

So if you want a visitor to return, you need to help them out a little. You need to get a visitor to commit to staying in touch with you, whichever way they want.

Why

If you don’t capture a visitor’s attention long enough to get their contact details, you’ve lost them forever. Sure, some might return on their own steam, but the percentages rank against it. How many times have you tried to remember some great website you found information on…but the name escapes you.

Internet Marketers have all sorts of tricks to capture email addresses and then sell, sell, sell to that list. But that’s not we’re about. If you’re lucky enough to be entrusted with a visitor’s email address, you should treat it like your own. Always offer the visitor value, never try to sell them to death!

How

The obvious one is an email capture box for a newsletter but there are other ways to stay in touch with your visitors. For example, they can subscribe to your RSS feed of your blog. This way the always get the latest information you’re publishing through your website.

[Note For those of you who don't know what a RSS feed is, click on the orange square in the top right, then use Google Feedreader to subscribe to this blog for free. Have a play around and save yourself hours visiting your favourite blogs each day.]

And don’t forget the power of social media to stay in touch with visitors. Have them sign up to your Facebook Profile and Pages, Twitter, and other profiles around the web.

Homework

Think about how you communicate with visitors and capture their information. What other ways could you do it? Remember to give your visitors as many options as possible.

I was corrected recently in a forum and told that in business you should appeal to as many people as possible. This was in response to a comment I made:

I’d rather be hated by 50% of people and loved by 50% than cause no feelings in 100% of people.

Well I stand by my comment and I think it’s a good guideline for your website.

It’s also interesting to note that all that ‘free’ advice you pick up in forums can be more costly than paying someone who knows what they’re talking about. After all, how many millionaires are going round forums giving help?

Exactly. But I digress…

Why

It’s hard to differentiate your business while keeping everyone happy. It simply doesn’t work. A grandmother isn’t interested in the same things a teenager is. A hardcore environmentalist will have conflicting views with a capitalist. We’re all different, that’s just life.

We’ve heard so much about product niches recently, especially online. Well don’t forget the emotional niche as well. If you’re too busy trying to impress everyone with the same thing you’re missing out on taking your business to the next level.

How

Now you don’t really have to go out and try to make people hate you. You can if you want, it’s worked for quite a few people. But you can differentiate yourself in other ways. The important part is you don’t worry about keeping everyone happy. Pissing off a few people can be a good thing.

One thing I use is going after bad web designers. I’m quite happy to state that most web designers have no clue how to make money on the Internet. They may make pretty websites but when they start giving advice where they aren’t qualified, I get a little *grrr*

Can you be an advocate in your industry? Can you use your personality to make you stand out? Can you berate and anger 90% of the world while 10% will walk over hot coals to support you and buy your products?

Homework

Based on what was different about your business, how can you take it to the next level? How can you make your website take the high ground…or the low ground? Though, whatever you do, stay away from the middle ground. That’s where businesses go to die!

And for those that want more, there’s another 4 pages about this is the free Members Only Area.

There are literally millions of people trying to making millions online. They’ve caught the bug and they can’t wait for their bank accounts to start overflowing like the gurus claim.

To help all these people out in their endless cycle of frustration and despair, here are my…

Top 5 Ways to Ruin your Life and NOT Make Money Online:

1. Try all new ideas for exactly one month before getting bored and moving on

2. Always look for the get rich quick scheme, not a sustainable business opportunity

3. Buy all the ‘gurus’ products, then wait for them to jump out of the box and do it all for you

4. Never stop learning new marketing techniques, even if it means never taking action on them

5. And remember, if it sounds too good to be true…
grab your credit card!

Well I hope those tips will help you reach your goals of misery and frustration. Remember, your old boss will always take you back and definitely won’t hold a grudge.

If you enjoyed it, please share it!

We’ve talked about becoming the expert in your field. Growing your website as a helpful resource that befriends your visitors rather than pushing sales copy in their faces. I’ve gone on and on about building a relationship with your visitors.

So when Rich Schefren and Jay Abraham released their new report, the Maven Matrix Manifesto, I know it’s something that you’ll want to read.

What is a maven? It’s their name for becoming the expert in your field. For becoming the trusted advisor. Rich and Jay have been responsible for creating hundreds of these types of personalities, not least for themselves.

For example, have you heard about a guy called Tony Robbins? I thought so. Now while you don’t have to become quite as famous there are tonnes of people and businesses that are seen as the expert in their niche.

Now it’s time to add your name to the list. Check out the free report and take notes, it’ll be well worth your time.

The Maven Matrix Manifesto.

We’re all busy, on-the-go, rushed off our feet business people with little time on our hands for ‘wasting time.’ At least that’s what we like to pretend I guess.

Introducing my friend Dean, who can give you a little break from working hard on this Friday afternoon. Not only will he provide you the “How dumb are you?” quiz, but he’ll teach you something while he’s at it.

You see, for those who don’t know Dean, he’s the leading expert in Buzz Marketing. And this little “Dumb Quiz” has been netting him over 1500 hits per day.

So for those who want to get more traffic, Dean will tell you how. For those that just want some entertainment to share with their friends, it’s there for you too.

How dumb are you? quiz, Stumble Upon results, and the latest chapter with sitepoint success.

I want more Website Traffic NOW!

This is the most common statement I hear from website owners. It seems everyone is concerned about getting more website traffic. No one seems to focus on what happens when they get that traffic, but that’s their choice.

Today I want to answer your questions on how to get more website traffic. But instead of just listing the tools you can use, I want to change the way you think about the traffic you so desperately want.

This was a long article, so I’ve posted it to HubPages so you can have a read. So go there now to read the full article called, surprisingly, “Increase website traffic by being different.” You’ll learn about the mindset that you’ll need to grow your traffic, along with 3 strategies to make your website popular.

As you should know, I look at these things a little differently than most people, so I highly suggest you check it out.

If you’re looking to market your website, you’ve probably heard a lot about Social Media and Social Marketing lately. For those that haven’t, we’re talking about using popular social media websites to promote your business.

For example, Facebook and MySpace are social networking websites. People come together to keep in touch with friends and people that share similar interests to them.

HubPages and Squidoo are two content sharing websites. Here, you can post articles and and users can comment and rate your articles.

Digg and Del.icio.us are social bookmarking websites. People put links to websites they think are worthy and their popularity increases as other people vote on them.

If you haven’t heard of some of these websites before, I’d recommend checking them out. BUT NOT AS A MARKETER. I can not stress how important it is not to become a marketer on these websites. If you’ve been following anything I wrote on marketing over the past 6 months, you’ll know that conventional marketing is dead.

Building relationships is where the future lies and the websites above let you do that. For now, it’s best to just get a feel for it and explore. It’ll be worth your time soon, I promise.

To see some examples of my pages, check out:

What makes a great business website?

The best way to become a millionaire in five years or less

Website optimization is more than just search engines

The 5 biggest secrets your web designer doesn’t know about the Internet

Also, make some time to watch this video created by StomperNet about what Social Marketing can do for your business. It includes lots of free hints and tips so have a pen ready.

Going Natural 2.0: Social Marketing