In another article, “How to Create Your Own Website in Eight Easy Steps“, I gave you an outline on the steps I use to create my own websites and that of my clients. Within this article series I will go into more detail of each step.
Brainstorming & Researching Ideas to Find that Perfect Niche
This is a part I use to dread having to do. I wouldn’t know where to start and would always be second guessing myself on the niches I had chosen to pursue.
Thanks to a mentor of mine, I was taught how to brainstorm and research a better way that leads to finding that one perfect niche for me; which I’m going to share with you here.
Gathering Ideas
In my article that outlines the steps on how to creating your own website, I mentioned that I jot down ideas on a piece of paper while searching through websites such as Google Hot Trends, Digg, StumbleUpon, or Technorati. In addition to those place I also use Bloglines to keep up to date with blog and news feeds I’ve subscribed to receive. I have subscriptions to blogs that are within the niche topic I’m interested in learning about or keeping on top of the news and industry of that niche.
When I’m not home I like to keep a small notebook with me at all times in order to capture ideas as they come to me. I could be grocery shopping, playing in the backyard with my son, enjoying a movie, taking in a flea market when I might see something or think of something that brings on a new idea for a niche. Having that small notebook with me helps to capture those ideas without the loss of losing them, and be able to go back to them when I want to find another niche. (It’s also a great way to keep a note of things you want to remember, such as recording an appointment’s time and date.)
Another gadget you might find useful is a small tape recorder, or even your phone if it has that option, to record your thoughts. This will allow you can play them back to write/type them elsewhere so they will be handy when you need that list.
Note: You never know when an idea might be a great one until you actually give it a whirl. Just write down those ideas without judging them.
Finding that Perfect Niche
The next step is to pick one of those ideas from your list and, with the help of the Wordtracker Gtrends tool, see if that idea is actually worth pursuing.
This tool by Wordtracker (http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/gtrends/) that utilizes Google Trends, allows you to see how much competition and how many searches in a given day a particular niche has. Preferably you would like to see less than 30,000 search results (this is your competition) within Google when you type on the niche you’re researching, and more than 250 searches by people for that niche phrase. These numbers are ideal because as anything higher will be harder to rank well within the search engines due to the amount of competition, and if there are not enough people searching for that niche phrase/topic you won’t have traffic or very little traffic to your site. You’ll know when you’ve found a great prospect in a niche when you see both line graphs showing green.
If you want to go further to make sure that people are making money within that niche, if that is your goal with creating your own website, then you might want to check to see if there are people selling products and/or within that niche. This is usually a good indication that people are making money and people are willing to buy.
“Pick What You Already Know”
Though picking a niche that you already know is great and highly recommended throughout the Internet Marketing world, you don’t always have to do this. It’s been suggested to me to pick a niche that I have some interest in and want to know more about, or even a niche that I have a passing interest in. You can always find information to write about through researching content online and your local library.
Going with the “Mainstream”
You might want to think twice about picking a niche that is extremely popular, as you’ll have a better chance at coming out on top (if that is your goal) with a niche that isn’t so popular. Niche’s you’ll want to avoid are network marketing, internet marketing, and health.
Now of course, if you’re going to be creating a personal website none of this niche picking information will mean much to you and is best to be ignored.
In Conclusion
Finding a niche topic is extremely important when you want to learn how to create your own website. If you don’t know the topic of your website’s content, then really you have no reason to start a website in the first place. No content equals no website. Simple as that. No one wants to visit a “website” that is full of useless images and flashing banner ads.
When brainstorming niche ideas you want to have something, a notebook or tape recorder, with you at all times to capture those ideas. With the help of the Wordtracker Gtrends tool and your list of niche ideas, you’ll be one step closer to creating your own website with having found its topic.
