Success in the business world depends on finding your niche. Your niche is the “sweet spot” where your passion intersects with market demand to create a profitable business. Honing in on a focused niche makes the difference between a struggling or thriving business.
There are four basic parts of a niche:
1. Passion
Passion will drive you to keep trying even if you aren’t successful right away. If you aren’t motivated by something (and money is not a singular motivation) then you won’t be successful.
2. Potential
Measuring the potential of your niche can be hard. Potential refers to the ability of your product or service to be desirable to others. A good idea may not have much potential due to many variables like market demand or your surroundings.
3. Competition
Getting a good idea of your competition is one of the first things that you should do when you are finding your niche. You can really learn a lot from your competition. Downfalls, weak areas and appropriate pricing are all invaluable bits of information you can glean.
4. Audience
Without an audience, you have no profits. You need to zero in on your target audience and then also find the best way to reach them. By keeping a pulse on your target audiences’ needs, questions and problems, you can stay a step ahead of your competitors and offer optimal service. A great way to do this is by doing keyword research.
One of the best ways to keep a pulse on your audience is by keyword research. Keyword research is finding out what people are actually typing into search engines. Knowing the actual search terms helps you to know what keywords to put on your website to draw traffic and can even inform your overall marketing strategy. The more popular keywords you put on your website, the more likely it is that people will find your website.
Make a list of topics
Choose 5-10 main topics that apply to your business. These should be somewhat broad and general terms that are commonly known as “buckets.” Your buckets are the basis for more specific terms that you will narrow down later on. If you have a business that does multiple things, you should include all your services in your bucket list.
If you are struggling with this step, think about who your target audience is and put yourself in their shoes. What do you think they will be searching for that will lead them to you? Any topic that you want people to come to your business for is what you need to have as a bucket.
Fill your buckets with keywords
With your topic buckets in place, it is time to fill them specific keywords and keyword phrases. Start by taking one of your topic buckets and brainstorming everything that your target customer would search for in relation to that topic. If your topic bucket was “auto body repair” then you may come up with a keyword list like:
- Dent repair
- Pulling out dents
- Auto body paint
- Buffing out car scratches
- Auto body damage
- Fix dented car door
- Fix dented car hood
- And many more (hopefully)
Don’t worry about having too many keyword phrases at this point. Narrow down your list later on in the process as you gather more information.
Use a keyword research tool
A free keyword tool can help you find all the variations that you won’t be able to come up with on your own. This tool will also show you how popular some keywords are over others.
Refine your list
Not every keyword on your long list will be useful to you. Cull out any keywords that won’t offer value to customers once they get on your site.
Consider how competitive your keywords are
Keyword competition is measuring how hard it will be to rank for a particular keyword. You don’t want to focus on using keywords that you won’t be able to rank with. It is better to branch out and use niche keywords and rank higher than to stick with simpler keywords and be beat by older websites with higher ranking.
Keep up with changes
Keyword research is an ongoing process. You will constantly be tweaking and changing your keywords as your market changes. Consumers aren’t going to be searching the exact same keywords in five years. You can use changing keywords to anticipate new and changing demands. Businesses change or develop new branches based on demand. It is important for you to keep up with changes so that your website and business stays relevant.
Niche keyword research is one of the best ways get the right kind of traffic to your site. With good keyword research skills you can anticipate market shifts and keep your business up to date. Finding your niche and keywords is a big step in the right direction for your new business.
