Did you find an active niche? I'm assuming you played along and came up with 10 possible hot niche ideas right? ;)
How do you know if you found an active niche? Easy enough, you look for forums.
Hop on over to google and enter "your niche" + forum and see what comes up.
Go into the forums and take a look around. When was the last post made? Was it today, months or even years ago? How many replies are people getting to their messages? How many views?
Yesterday I went into a forum on one of the hot niche ideas I was looking at. There were 20,000 replies to ONE topic. It have even more views than that. Now that's an active forum! That is a great indicator of an active niche.
You know your niche is active if there are lots of forums with lots of people talking. An active niche is made up of passionate people who think about your niche idea a lot.
You can also take a look at yahoo and google groups. See how many groups there are on your topic. Groups gives you a little bit of upfront and easy data. You can see how many people belong to the group. Yahoo groups tells you on the front page how many posts have been made each month since the group began. You can see if this niche is on an upward trend or starting to lag.
Now you have some ways to find out if you have an active niche, go out there and DO IT. :)
Take your 10 Hot Niche Ideas and run them through google and/or Yahoo groups and see what you come up with. You might want to classify the forums and groups for each niche idea on a scale from not at all active to super duper active. It will make it really easy to see which niche ideas are active and which aren't.
Once you figure this out you want to cross the "non or minimally active" niches off your list. Your goal in this part of the process is to narrow your 10 niches down to 3 or 4 for further analysis.
See ya tomorrow, (with 3 or 4 niches to proceed with)
I'm not really writing about 'finding hot niches' today but since Jackie brought it up I want to add one place not included on her list. There is a good possibility many will disagree with me but I want to suggest you look for 'hot niche' ideas by paying attention to television ads.
Yes! You heard me correctly. ;-) And no... I'm not suggesting you should compete with the 'big guys' who can afford TV advertising rates. But think about it...
They've spent tons of money doing the research to find out what people are looking for (or, at the very least they've spent tons of money deciding to convince us we're looking for certain solutions. Heck...until pharmaceutical companies decided to advertise directly to the consumer I just never knew there were quite so many things that could go haywire!)
So, pay attention to what are presumably people's concerns and then zero in on a little subset of that group of people with a product or service that might serve them around the issue.
Okay... got that out of my system. ;-)
I was reading an ebook about building Squidoo lenses and it was talking about getting your lens indexed in search engines. According to this 'expert' it is better to leave links off of your squidoo lens for the first 3 or so days and simply focus on content that uses your keywords. That way, you'll get the best indexing.
Now...I have no idea if this is true or not but I decided that I'd give it a day or two before I included any direct links. Today I did add more content AND one link to my Cards Build Business lens. I will confess to have some doubts about the veracity of this information because I believe it was the same source that suggested simply writing your intro and adding a couple of 'Text modules' to start your lens out.
The thing is... it may simply be outdated information because Squidoo now requires a minimum of 4 modules before even they will add your lens to their files. That was set up in order to discourage those people who were simply using up space over at Squidoo by slapping up a quick, minimal lens simply to ride on the coattails of the highly ranking squidoo pages. That kind of stuff just hurts everybody so I'm very pleased Squidoo responded by setting up some parameter that might help lenses be a synonym for 'quality content'!
What I ended up doing when I started the lens on January 1 was writing the Intro, the two text modules AND I simply added a Guestbook. If you drop by a lens that offers a guest book please take a moment to leave a message... giving feedback is always a valuable exchange and if you happen to be logged in to Squidoo at the time it provides you with a link back to your name and your lenses so it's really a win-win to sign guestbooks!
Yesterday I went in to edit the lens by adding a fun little widget called "Did you Know?" It allows you to rotate through a series of random facts and I really like things that are interactive plus it was a nice fit for my subject matter.
I also added a poll and a couple of new tags. I have learned that the search engines, Google and Yahoo for instance, seem to like a site that is frequently updated. To add something new a few times a week is actually frequent enough... and this can be as small and simple as adding a new tag or two. But when I'm still in the active building phase of a lens I'll usually add at least one section daily.
Today I added another text module which resulted in me having some new tags to add to the lens also. Feel free to hop over there and check out my progress... and hey, while you're there you could leave a note in my guestbook and/or give me a star rating... I haven't yet promoted this lense but I intend to do some of that... tomorrow!
Finding hot niche ideas is one of the ways Mary K mentioned to go about deciding on what to build your lens on. In the past I have made lenses on things I was interested in and have not had all that much monetary success. I've decided to be a little more deliberate and methodical in my choosing of a niche for this experiment, just so I can see how that goes!
This is going to be a process. If you want to follow along, feel free. Understand that you have to do each step and then move on to the next without jumping ahead for the process to unfold into an amazing campaign. Don't stress if you don't know what to do next, just do what you need to do for the day. :) I learned this process from Travis Sago(THE Bum Marketer). I learned all of this over at Wealthy Affiliate (in the first few days), if you'd like to learn from the masters, you can too.
The basic premise of marketing involves three steps:
Find a "starving" market (with disposable income)
Find out what they need
Give it to them
So how do you go about finding your starving market. It really is easier than you might think. Ideas are everywhere. In fact I just posted 15 places to look for Hot Niche Ideas on my other blog today.
I am going to suggest you go out and find 10 hot niche ideas. Don't judge them at this point, just get 10 ideas from the suggested places (you can use one or all of them), or your own ideas. You can certainly bring your own ideas to the table and run them through this process to see if they are likely to be a profitable niche for you.
Remember, at this point we are NOT thinking about products to sell to this market, keywords, adsense none of that we are just coming up with some hot niche ideas.
I am going to come up with 10 hot niche ideas today too. Then tomorrow we can work on them from there.
Jackie Lee is so right!!! I LOVE the lens creation process. The only *wish* I have when it comes to Squidoo.com is that we could choose different templates so we could rid ourselves of that 'squid-orange' if we wanted to. (can you tell I want too?!? :-)) I have to admit it was brilliant branding... I rarely see orange anymore without thinking of squidoo! ;-) Now don't get me wrong... I certainly appreciate that it was brilliantly set up to shake-hands well with the search engines and I'm keenly aware of the value of placing good 'keywords' in your title and URL. But for me that's just the icing on the cake compared to the satisfaction of building an attractive lens that's interesting, interactive and filled with valuable content in such a way that others can easily digest it!
When it comes to monetizing with Squidoo... there are a few schools of thought and, like humans who are thinking these thoughts, they vary greatly! Seth Godin, the creator of Squidoo and a Marketing genius himself, urges people to explore their passions with a lens... to dive in and dig deep sharing everything you know about a subject that captivates you. Sounds a bit like, "If you build it they will come." For me... THAT'S attractive!
Others will suggest you find something people are clamoring about and provide information and resources (for free and for sale). There's certainly nothing wrong with that... it makes sense.
I say the best thing would be elements of BOTH! Keep your ear to the ground about things people are clamoring for and select those things where YOU are one of the clamoring people! ;-)
So let's do a brief walk-through of the basics of starting a lens...
When you first click 'start a lens' from virtually any page over at Squidoo you will be shown the following:
Step 1: So, what's your lens about?
People are making lenses on everything from "How to Roast Your Own Coffee Beans" to "Why You Should Hire Me" to "Top 10 Books That Changed My Life." And LOTS more. What's your topic?
Here there will be a little box for you to fill in your topic. Thing of a word or a brief sentence that someone may use over at Google if they were looking for information about your topic...
After you finish you go to:
Step 2: What do you want to do with your lens?
A few real examples: There's Damon, a teacher who makes learning lenses with his students. And Jane Goodall, supporting her nonprofit organization. And Kimberly, an author promoting her books. And Raj, who wants traffic back to his blog. These are just 4 ways people use Squidoo. How will you?
(easiest option)
(money maker!)
(most popular)
I ALWAYS select "I just want to do my own thing" though any of these choices are fine. Some will simply come preloaded with specific modules that you may find yourself deleting. By selecting the fourth option you have to go in and select your own module but that gives you an opportunity to only work with the modules that serve your purpose.
Tip #1: Clever lens titles can make great first impressions. Have fun! Tip #2: When picking your Squidoo URL, just fill in the blank where it says www.squidoo.com/_______. (So, if your lens is about daschunds, try adding the word dashchund to the box. If your lens is about making paper airplanes, add paperairplanes to the box. Sorry, no spaces or weird characters).
(This can't be changed, so choose wisely). www.squidoo.com/
Here you want to give some thought to both your TITLE and your choice for the URL. They do not have to be identical and it would be very wise to use your main keyword in both. In other words, use words people are likely to search on when they want more information about your subject!
Today, for instance, I started a new lens that will be focusing on effective ways to use greeting cards in building your business. I don't really know if or how many people might be actually searching for ways to build their business specifically with greeting cards but I DO know that people ARE searching for ways to BUILD THEIR BUSINESS and because I happen to have a greeting card business I also know that people search on the words 'greeting cards' so...
I wanted to be sure to incorporate the long-tail keywords (they are 'long-tail' because they are more than a single word...and/or they refine a single word... for instance, 'cards' could be business cards or baseball cards or any kind of card but I'm looking to attract people searching for Greeting Cards) 'business building' and 'greeting cards' in both my title and my URL. I prefer a URL that's short and memorable but I'm willing to take liberties with my title so I used
as my TITLE. The URL that is embedded above reads, www.squidoo.com/cards-build-business
So before you find yourself on Step 3 give some thought to your title and URL and remember, it may already be chosen so you may want to have a slightly different alternate handy.
Another choice you'll notice required with this step is selecting the 'Category' where you'd like your lens to appear. Many subjects can make sense in more than one category. Just go with the one that makes most sense to you. Follow your intuition and select the category you would be most likely to go to if searching on your topic.
This leads you to the fourth and final step:
Step 4: Help people find your lens
Keywords (or "tags") are really important in helping people find your lens. Think about the search words someone might put into Google when he's looking for info on your topic. Those would be your lens tags.
(Optional)
You're going to be choosing keywords. Don't sweat over this as you will be able to add more keywords later. You'll notice that the system has already assumed you selected the best keyword for your title (and of course you did already know that because Jackie and I have both told you so! LOL) so it preloaded that one for you. Just select three more that make sense, type in that goofy word you see in the box which proves you are, indeed, a real live, if goofy, person, and then click DONE! You'll be ready to start building your lens!!!
Whew! And we'll save more on that for another day! Happy squidoooooing!!!! ;-)
I must say I have found some resources in the last week that have completely captivated me and shaken up my thinking leaving me fumbling around trying to figure out exactly what I want to do and say!
Me, who is usually not at a loss for words, I guess it's a good thing to get flamboozled once in a while. Keeps life interesting.
OK, now on to the experiment.
I just have to tell you I LOVE squidoo. It is simple, effective and fun. You can get 8 out of 10 of your lenses on the front page of google driving you fabulously targeted traffic which you can convert to sales and all for free.
I think this is going to be an interesting month because the things Mary K and I love about Squidoo are completely different. I'm a little concerned that our different interests may make for a less cohesive blog this month, but I think you all will be able to figure it out.
Where Mary K, likes actually DOING the lens, building, using the modules and explaining as she goes ~ I LOVE to do the market research. Figuring out which niche to choose, who are the people in my niche, what they want, are they willing to spend money, what are the best keywords, how to get my page to page 1 of google ~ THOSE are my loves.
I am continually learning more and more about how to do all of those things and I am excited to show you as I learn.
My intentions for this month:
Each week do the research necessary to build a profitable lens
Build the lens
Update regularly for the love of google
Teach you everything I know and learn along the way
Please ~ I am going to be very up front with all of you. Showing you exactly what I'm doing all the way, so please please please, follow along, come up with your own ideas, but don't steal my stuff. :) thanks.
YES! We touched on squidoo.com when first starting the 30 Day Marketing Experiment as it is a part of the Bum Marketing Method. And because SQUIDOO.com is such a valuable resource it's well worth taking a deeper look at all that is offered here at NO COST to you!
Squidoo is a fabulous place for you to define a niche that YOU feel passionate about while providing a platform that helps drive traffic your way.
My intentions this month are:
To share tips and tricks that make setting up a squidoo lens easy and effective for you
To create at least two new lenses of my own and to expand on current lenses
To demonstrate how squidoo can help brand your business on the 'net
To give you step-by-step instructions on how to set up Search Engine Optimized pages within Squidoo at absolutely no cost to you
And to continue to sharing what I learn as I learn it!
2008 Promises to be a very HAPPY and VERY PROFITABLE NEW YEAR!!! Give us some feedback and let us know what YOU would like to know and what you would like us to try. The whole point of experimenting is to try something different... so don't hold back!!!
WOW! Wrapping up another 30 Day Marketing Experiment segment at the same time we're wrapping up a whole year feels GREAT!!!
I was reading Jackie's reference to word that MySpace marketing was 'dead' and it made me chuckle. It simply could never happen! When you have a place where millions are gathered... you have 'marketing' going on in one form or another.
Human beings are a creative bunch and even when it seems that the 'tools' for interaction at a given community are finite in number... people by their very nature will come up with an infinite number of ways to creatively use those tools.
So keep exploring and take the time to nurture the relationships you begin online... your time and effort will be rewarded in ways you haven't yet imagined!
The one thing that stands out the most clearly as we wrap up another 30 Days... when you take consistent action toward your intention you see results in that direction...when your actions are not in alignment with those intentions you see few results in that direction.
Well here we are at the end of the month, and the end of this year.
I have had a lot of fun with myspace marketing this month. I have learned quite a bit and enjoyed sharing it with you all.
There are many who say myspace marketing is dead. I beg to differ. If done correctly ~ read creating relationships and offering quality content ~ it works wonders.
I set the intention to connect with one new business partner each week during this experiment. The first three weeks this intention was met. The last week of the month, I received some fun and interesting business inquiries but did not get a new business partner. This is NOT because myspace marketing doesn't work ~ it's because I didn't work. lol
The last week of the month I fell off the horse, and did not complete my specific daily actions. Although this did not allow me to manifest my intention, it did push home the learning that if you do nothing you get nothing.
I set up this experiment, for myself, so I could continue to work on other projects and spend time with my daughter. If a person wanted to they could spend a lot more time on their marketing efforts you could increase the number of business partners exponentially. In fact you could outsource the building of pages and acquiring of friends and leave yourself the main focus of relationshipping.
It comes down to what you put in is what you get out. If you spend 30 minutes a day, inviting friends and interacting with them, and you followed the steps we've laid out for you you can easily create new business partners regularly.
You can further increase your profits by providing your friends with quality content in your blog, help them solve problems, and then lead them to more information ~ (affiliate products).
In my opinion Myspace Marketing is far from dead. Most people are just going about it in the completely wrong way. If you follow the steps we've provided this month you will find Myspace marketing is alive and well and working for you. :)
Stay tuned for next month's experiment! It's gonna be fun. See ya then.
