The other day, my mom shocked me. She asked me what a niche market was, and since she is not an online marketer ( doesn't turn the computer on regularly enough to use email ), this question appeared quite out of the blue. Perhaps I should not have been surprised because in the area of marketing but particularly online marketing, this term is showing up more and more frequently. In truth, one of those late night, "Be the next internet Millionaire" scams that airs at 4 am for those with insomnia, also trumpets this term.

So, for the newbies amongst us, what is niche marketing? Can we eat it, buy it, use it up or make the ecology green with it?

Perhaps its best explained by first discussing what it's not. Niche marketing is not marketing to a mysterious marketing segment called niche, nor is there a product called niche that a huge underground swell of people are clamoring over insurmountable walls to get. Nor, is there usually a department within any major corporation that has a position open in their niche marketing department. So don't call Human Resources at your local City Council and ask for a position in their niche marketing department. Sorry, just had to get that one out of the way, lol.

So Let's Look at An Example

Here is my own quick definition : Niche Marketing is an examination or sales analysis of a very narrow marketing segment that is being under-served by the competition. Let's see what this looks like.

Marketing to those that buy - Basketball shoes. Niche or not? Not - Michael Jordan running shoes. Niche or not. Not (What did that surprise you?) - Michael Jordan HighTop running shoes. Niche or not? Feeling the sun yet ? - Michael Jordan HighTops signed by the great one himself . Niche or no Niche? Jackpot !

Congratulations on accurately identifying a niche market area. And it really was a niche, not that broad definition or a marketplace need that we may have had in mind earlier. So, like most others, we could use some extra cash, whats the next move? Do we buy inventory now before the rush?

If you want to lose your shirt go ahead! That was a joke, don't do it. Please don't think I slipped and just told you about my huge money maker and have now decided to take it back. Further from the truth we could not be. We have an unproven premise here.

Don't mistake an example of what the end product might look like with the actual process used to find that niche market. That was NOT the process, in fact, its not even close to the process. While the process can be done manually, you really need a tool since you want to examine and reject tens and tens of potential niches before settling on one to promote. And by the way, even if one of the niche tools highlighted this particular example and a week later 4 friends asked me for the same product I would still have some hesitations...

Was that an inaccurate Niche Market example ?

It might be and maybe it wasn't but we don't know that yet. When doing this kind of research one has to remind oneself that people use specific key words when searching for a product or service. Only the search engines, search engine tools ( like wordwatcher ) really know what is being searched for. And unfortunately only niche marketing software tools can give one the market intelligence needed in order to make a business decision.

So, what kind of additional information does one need beyond how much competition is there and how many possible clients are searching for the product? This isn't even the base of the 20 or more variables that a strong Niche software tool can hand a newbie in under a half a minute.

Perhaps you are experienced and know that this was not the process used to find niches. Perhaps you are still using the tools inside google adwords, or google trends or wordwatcher. They are time tested and have worked wonderfully for the past few years but a newbie using a niche market tool and having little or no knowledge of the existing search tools from Google could blow you and I out of the competitive water in less than 5 minutes.

A specialty software tool will use those numbers and up to two dozen or more variables, including rating scores on competition based not only on whether the key words show up in the sites ( which is not necessarily competitive ) but also whether the keywords are in the url, the domain or titles. The same tool might also check for commercial or non-commercial articles for article publishing as well as opening clickbank for affiliate products and opening up other affiliate product searches to verify that there are related affiliate products. And this might be 1/10th of what a commercial niche tool based product might do for you.

Finding Niche Products is now so easy, even a newbie can do it. It does not require the in-depth type of intelligence that former adwords professionals used to use. Follow the links back to my site for lists of possible tools that you can use. Read more...

For many affiliate marketing sites, the holidays are a dream come true. Some affiliate sites see their traffic double or even triple as millions of shoppers from around the world bypass the mall for the convenience and fun of online shopping. Most people would agree that if they had a choice between navigating snowy roads, finding a parking space and then battling crowds only to stand in a checkout line for 30 minutes or staying at home in their pajamas with a hot cup of coffee and doing their shopping that way, they would choose the latter.

So, how can you make sure that your affiliate marketing site is ready for the holiday shopping season? Let’s take a quick look at a few things you can do to spruce up your site and get it ready for that special time of the year.

• First off, if you don’t have your site all spruced up by the Monday after Thanksgiving, don’t worry about it. Evidence shows that “Cyber Monday” isn’t really the sole busiest shopping day of the year, but it’s more spread out between that date and the 15th. You can still revamp things and capitalize on the Christmas shopping season.

• Make sure you have a handle on the cut off dates for shipping. No matter what product you link to, they should have clearly posted dates for shipping, both domestic and internationally, for Christmas. Make sure you post those dates on your site, too, so that no one ends up disappointed on Christmas morning.

• If you deal with a major online superstore like Amazon, remember, you don’t always have to sell books or CDs. Some sites offer big rewards to affiliate marketers for gift cards, and since they are a smaller item to ship, they usually have later deadlines then gifts so people can order then after the cut off deadlines and still get them by Christmas.

• Try and concentrate on specialty niches. While it may be tempting to get into an affiliate marketing program with Sears or Wal-Mart, most people have these stores near them. If you with someone like The Sharper Image or L.L. Bean, you’re dealing with very high-end product that is unique. You’ll make more money and you’ll find that you’ll do better business on your site.

The holidays come only once per year and the chance to capitalize on it is brief. But if you tune up your affiliate marketing site in time, you’ll be full of extra cash as well as holiday cheer this season.

For more information visit: : Make money online with affiliate programs Read more...

One of the great things about affiliate marketing is the idea that you can subscribe to as many different affiliate programs as you can manage, all at the same time. We’ve talked in depth in previous articles about how important it is to have some focus on your website so that you can appeal to customers instead of appearing like a hodgepodge of links. It’s a fine line to walk between having multiple streams of income and having too many programs. Let’s take a look at the right way to handle this problem.

Make sure your streams relate to each other. This is a tip worth a thousand bucks, alone. Think about it for a moment. Yes, you want to have more than one program on your website at once, but you don’t want 10 or 15 because it’s too much to manage. So, what’s the best way to go? Have 4-5 and make them all related to each other! Say your first program is through a company that sells pet supplies. You’ve written some stellar content on pets sine it’s a passion of yours, but you want more than one stream of income. How about a program through a gourmet pet food distributor? You can SHARE CONTENT then, since you already have great content written about pets to begin with. Want more? Find a company that sells pet treats from around the world. Or maybe one that specializes in pet medications through the mail. The choices are endless and by relating all of your companies, you won’t have to write separate content for each program. You’ll save time and make money!

Have fun with your content. Let’s say you find an affiliate marketing program that you just have to add to your site, but it’s about a topic you don’t know much about. Don’t worry! You can still write interesting and informative content, even if it’s about a product you’re not an expert on. Try a list. Just flip through the TV listings this week and take a look at all the list shows on right now. People love lists. You can make a quickie top-10 list style article and relate it to your new affiliate program. This will allow you to diversify your business and add extra streams of income at the same time. You don’t want your site to be entirely lists, but one out of three or four is fine and it makes your site appear more fun!

Creating multiple streams of income is pretty easy when you look at it. Group your products under the same umbrella to save time or add a program that you can make funny and informative lists on. Your site will benefit and you’ll have happy customers to boot!

For more information visit: : Make money online with affiliate programs Read more...