The Niche Marketing Blog

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Archive for the ‘market research’ Category

Make More Money with AdSense

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As excerpted from Michael’s blog:

I overlaid hundreds of heatmaps, clickmaps, web usability studies, eye tracking reports and ad placement suggestions from the bigger ad networks. I then created 30 templates based on this data, and tracked the amount of ad revenue generated, depending on ad position.

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To get your PDF, click on the following link: The Ultimate Heatmap

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Mobile Payments Now Accepted at Starbucks

Mobile Marketing comes to Starbucks

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Mobile marketing continues to evolve as retailers test the boundaries of consumer behavior with new and innovative purchase technologies. The latest salvo has come from Starbucks.

After reporting success success with its Starbucks Card Mobile payment pilot program in select San Francisco, Seattle and Target the premium coffee retailer is now ready to extend the program to nearly 300 company-operated stores in New York City and Long Island.

According to Starbucks:

“Starbucks Card Mobile for iPhone and BlackBerry lets users pay for their coffee by holding up the 2-D barcode on their smartphone to the scanner at the counter. The application allows customers to manage and reload their Starbucks Cards as well.

Customers have responded positively to the mobile payment option, Starbucks reports.”

The trend is catching on. Starbucks reports that “one in five of all in-store transactions are paid for via Starbucks Card (mobile or physical), and more than $1 billion will have been loaded on to cards by year’s end.”

So, as mobile marketing strategies merge with mobile payment options, consumers will become ever more dependent on their smart phones for locating and purchasing goods and services.

Love it, or hate it, mobile marketing is here to stay; and it is already becoming a game changer.

How will your company compete in this new environment?

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The Difference Between Niche Marketing and General Online Marketing

Hitting the bullseye with niche marketing

Image by Gare and Kitty via Flickr

[Editor's note: Today's guest article focuses on the basic difference between "marketing" (in the general sense of the word) and "niche marketing", as both apply to the Internet. If you are new to marketing, this is a good place to start. ~Scott]

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Online marketing is a popular method of spreading the word about products, services or information on the Internet. Companies from small local business to bloggers to large corporations advertise and market their products and services online. One of the reasons why people jump to the Internet every time they want to get the word out about something is because there are billions of Internet users all over the world. People search for all types of information and products while they are online, so it is very easy to get information to a ton of people very quickly.

The one issue with getting the word out to people on the Internet is that search engine marketing has to be used in order for people to easily be able to find the information or products that the company or person is marketing. This field is very competitive and millions of websites, people and companies are trying to get their products or services noticed. There are two major types of search engine marketing; niche and general. Here are the differences between the two:

  • General marketing does not typically target a specific group of people, while niche marketing targets a demographic of people who are going to be the most likely to buy products, services or read the information that they are providing.
  • Niche marketing uses very specific and targeted keywords in campaigns, where the general method often uses broad keywords that are very competitive and expensive.
  • Since general marketing often reaches people who have no interested in products or services that are being offered, the conversion rate is often lower; money is wasted and time is also thrown away.
  • General online marketing using search engines can be done when a company or person is marketing a lot of different products or services, but niche marketing is often used when a person or company is campaigning for one product or service (even though they may offer more).

Each type of search engine marketing is meant for different situations, but people often cross the tactics and use them both in order to achieve online marketing success. Niche marketing is becoming popular as Internet marketers look for a way to have success without having to deal with all of the competition that general search engine marketing provides.

Vanessa Sweeney finds and writes about the latest trends on the Internet at http://www.theinternettimemachine.com/beta/site/index.php

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Vanessa_Sweeney

http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Difference-Between-Niche-Marketing-and-General-Online-Marketing&id=4712280

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Marketing Strategy Shift: Web 2.0 Has Been Replaced – Will You Be Left In the Dust?

Marketing Strategy

Image by SeattleClouds.com via Flickr

[Editor's note: Today's guest article focuses on the continuing evolution of the World Wide Web, how content will be delivered in the future, and the marketing strategies that  niche marketers must employ to take advantage of these changes.  ~Scott]

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Your marketing strategy may have centered on email marketing, search marketing, pay-per-click, Web 2.0 techniques, or any of dozens more approaches. These techniques may still work, but their future is now overshadowed by the coming 800-pound gorilla.

I am referring to “app marketing” to mobile users. It is crucial to your future that you understand what is happening. Some estimates (data gathered from an Adobe-Omniture guru) put smartphone usage at several times that of the Web in as little as three years, and that includes even the crazy numbers we see in Web 2.0 gathering places. In fact, the social gathering will mostly be done from smartphone apps, not via browsers.

When giants like Adobe are gearing up to lead the charge into mobile app marketing with the services they offer, I think it would be wise for all to watch closely, but not wait.

“Mobile app marketing,” does not mean making money selling apps on iTunes. It refers instead to smartphone functionality via apps that lead strongly back to a merchant — you. For example, you can currently follow PGA standings and scores on an iPhone app (a free one), and football scores and rankings on another. More and more retailers, media outlets, service providers, and other vendors are giving away smartphone apps that give a prospect very appealing functionality, but are closed-ended – they lead the user to only one place, the sponsor’s offers.

These mobile apps capture emails to build lists in exchange for social interaction features. They link to websites. They pitch special offers. They sell downloads and services directly. They gather user data so offers can be targeted. They basically do everything websites can do, but they are with the person 100% of the time, totally convenient, and require no decision or action – the approach is included with the app the user already chose to download and use.

This is very much like direct to desktop messaging and Web 2.0 piggybacking, because the message gets to the prospect without the prospect having to take any overt action. The convenience and near-permanent presence, however, is an improvement on the old marketing strategy of search engine optimization. There is no competing for a number one position. If your app is fun, functional, and emotionally appealing, your message will be seen, and unlike pay-per-click or cost-per-thousand advertising, it is seen by the prospect without any charge to you.

The marketing strategy of the future is already here, the trends in traffic are unmistakable, and the savvy internet marketer should really be on top of this. Right now.

Get more info on this crucial topic, as well as more cutting edge tips and techniques that can really boost your income at http://www.internet-marketing-mvp.com/posts-and-news

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Arlen_Card
http://EzineArticles.com/?Marketing-Strategy-Shift:-Web-2.0-Has-Been-Replaced—Will-You-Be-Left-In-the-Dust?&id=5149562

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Niche Marketing Aptitude Test – Your Road Map to Success

Niche Marketing Gold

Image via Wikipedia

[Editor's note: Today's guest article offers a 10-question "aptitude test" that will help you focus in on the areas of your niche marketing efforts that need attention. Taking this 3-minute test will pay off in terms of sizing up your compeition and gaining an advantage over them. ~Scott]

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Why is niche marketing so hot now? If you’re in business one fact comes with the word recession and that word is competition. Would you like a way to jump ahead of your competition? If your answer is yes then you need a way to increase your niche marketing aptitude. The niche is your answer and solution in a time of growing competition.

In tough economic times, with tight money and stiff competition, it’s essential to find ways to get an edge on your competition. There have been truckloads of articles, books and newsletters on how to improve your niche marketing skills. Finding your niche is job one for every business who wants to succeed long term.

To increase your niche marketing aptitude, take the revealing quiz below, it acts as your microscope and road map to a stronger niche marketing aptitude. The importance in having it gives you a sense of confidence in the middle of stiff competition.

This is not one of those articles you passively read and then toss aside forever. This is an active involvement article. Meaning, to get the best results from reading this you must take action. How? By taking the test and answering the questions honestly. The answers will help you quickly form a solid niche strategy.

To get the maximum benefit, keep taking the test until you can get a perfect 10. The 3 minutes spent with this quiz will be worth their weight in gold to your financial future. With the enormous number of me-too products, services and businesses in the marketplace, it’s essential to keep your niche aptitude strong and vigorous.

If you fail to find ways to separate yourself from your competitors, you risk getting lost in the crowd of competition. This is especially true if you’re a small business with limited capital and resources to work with. Finding your best niche requires focus and a strong knowledge of who your target market is and their current needs.

You often see a business develop a product or service, enjoy a burst of sales success, then suddenly sales fall flat or even nosedives. Your first impression goes to the economy, competition or limited capital. Those may have added to the problem, but the core problem goes back to the niche marketing aptitude of the owner and management.

Often a failing business didn’t have a sales, money or profit problem, they had a hidden niche marketing problem. For example, most failing businesses had a weak, unfocused or changing niche market long before they noticed the other obvious problems.

To increase your niche marketing aptitude take the Niche Marketing Aptitude test below: Give yourself 1 point for each yes answer. Take it for each new business, product or service you create or obtain. Continue taking it until you reach a score of 10. Your goal should be to maintain a score of 10 for each business, product or service you control.

  1. Do I know who the next 3 competitors ahead of me are?
  2. Do I know what my competitive advantages are over them?
  3. Do I have them written down? And do I constantly try to add to them?
  4. Can I name at least one new problem my target customers are facing that I can solve through my product or service this week or month?
  5. What extra service can I provide that my competition can’t provide?
  6. What ways can I speed up service to my customers without sacrificing quality?
  7. What ways can I get my satisfied customers to recommend me to others?
  8. Do I aggressively seek comments, complaints or questions from my customers?
  9. Do I know my competitors latest competitive advantages over my product or service?
  10. Do I aggressively seek and test new ideas while holding on to what works?

Roy Primm helps you improve your niche finding and development skills with Free Niche Idea Course. Conquer and dominate your market by finding hidden niches. Dozens of the latest tips and ideas. Plus get free “Niche Improvement Chart” your At-A-Glance road map to increasing your niche finding skills. Don’t wait go now to TheNicheMan.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Roy_Primm
http://EzineArticles.com/?Niche-Marketing-Aptitude-Test—Your-Road-Map-to-Success&id=1884702

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Sandwich Shop Carves Out a New Niche

Niche Markeing

Image via Wikipedia

By Scott Spooner

The other day I was driving through a business park on my way a client’s office. Along the way I passed by a string of businesses that you would normally find on a major city boulevard: gas stations, dry cleaners, mini-marts, and the like.

However, there was one business that caught my attention: a sandwich shop. There was nothing memorable about the building or the name of the business; in fact, I had driven past this business dozens of times before without taking much notice. What caught my attention on this particular trip was a new banner that they had hung outside their front door.

The sandwich shop was now promoting something called the Business Meeting Package. This “package” includes 10 sandwiches, 10 drinks, 10 salads, and lots of pickles.

Now, there is nothing new about offering lunches to local businesses, but most of these types of promotions are aimed at the individual employee who is in a hurry to grab some food during a lunch hour. What made this promotion unusual was that it was targeting a slightly different niche – the “work during lunch” crowd.

With the slower economy that we are currently experiencing, many business owners, and employees, are working through lunch in an effort to stay as productive as possible. This sandwich shop identified this trend and built a marketing promotion around the niche.

I pulled over and went into the store to speak with the owner  about this promotion (and to get a sandwich!). I asked the owner how the promotion was working out; he told me that the banner was, indeed, drawing a response from the local area businesses. In fact, he said that the promotion was responsible for a 10% increase in catered lunches.

And that’s the point. Hanging a banner saying something like “we cater” probably wouldn’t have worked. There are lots of those types of marketing messages around town. However, positioning the catering service around the needs of the work-during-lunch crowd (i.e. a “business meeting package”) was the key.

This business had found a new and unique niche and they were starting to see the rewards from pursuing that niche.

So, how can you do the same with your business? What customer needs are going unfulfilled in your niche? How can you identify those needs and offer a unique solution?

What are your thoughts?

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Using Niche Marketing to Find a Profitable Market to Target

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You have been hearing a lot of people promoting the fantastic opportunities and profits they claim can be had through something called “niche marketing.” But you’re a little skeptical and are wondering how exactly you should go about finding and researching a viable niche that you could develop into a profitable business-one that is not only real, but still has room for newcomers to succeed.

  1. Start with you. Where do your existing skills and areas of expertise lie? Do you have job experiences you’ve enjoyed or interesting hobbies? You are far more likely to have the persistence and energy to work over the long term in an area that truly interests you. And building on an area you already know about will be far easier than starting from scratch to develop the kind of knowledge-base you’ll need to create a quality website and earn credibility.
  2. Identify related keywords. Once you’ve identified some potential areas to explore you need to develop a list of “keywords” that describe or relate to these concepts. You can find help for this process at an online site called “Wordtracker” that will take your initial ideas and bring up an array of associated words and ideas that can help you define your interests in terms of products and services. You’ll be surprised at how quickly your keywords will multiply, maybe into the hundreds.
  3. Explore the market. Next you want to test whether these keywords are also interesting to a significant number of other people-do they have a potential market. For this you’ll want another kind of online service that tracks the popularity of keywords among both suppliers and searchers. In other words, how often is someone searching using this keyword, and how many websites do they find out there when they look? Two sites that can give you this kind of data are “Product Idea Evaluator ” (P.I.P.E.) and “Site Build It!” Identify the keywords which have high demand (many people are searching) compared to the supply of existing sites providing the answers they are seeking.
  4. Cost out your keywords. Take the top candidates you’ve identified as keywords having high demand and low supply. Sites like Overture and Google AdWords will give you estimates for what it will cost you to advertise using the keywords that describe your chosen interests. What you are looking for is leads to existing products that you would be able to market through an affiliate relationship. This is where you begin to determine what the financial potential is of the niche you’re looking at.
  5. Who’s ahead of you? Explore the sites and offerings of the people who are already in business in the area you’re considering. Are they as up-to-date and attractive as they could be, or are they sagging a bit and showing signs of neglect? Consider ways that you can enter this market competitively-with something fresh and unique to offer. Truthfully, it’s difficult at this point to find a completely unexploited online niche with strong profit potential. But there are still areas that have been underdeveloped and have room left for an imaginative and energetic new enterprise.

If you’ve made it this far, you are ready to start building your all-important web presence. The key to efficiency at this stage is to create solid, informative and well-targeted content that will draw people to your site. If you succeed in providing the right information expressed in the right way, more and more people will find you and your search rankings will rise organically. At this point, your site will have developed the kind of value advertisers will pay to be associated with. And you will have found your niche-hopefully a rich one!

Do you want to start a profitable business online, achieve financial independence, and become successful using niche marketing, then you need to visit: http://startaprofitablebusinessnow.com and get your online business up and running today!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eric_Fernandes

http://EzineArticles.com/?Using-Niche-Marketing-to-Find-a-Profitable-Market-to-Target&id=4850165

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How to be Successful at Niche Marketing?

Niche Marketing

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When you are full-steamed with new business ideas, you must do everything to give them shape and utilize their potential to their fullest. But sometimes, the well known adage “Less is more” holds true too! When you are in the online marketing business, do trust this advice: the less complicated your business strategy is, the more money you will rake in.

Lots of business owners, especially the ones who have an Internet business do not often realize the importance of choosing a particular niche. Choosing the right niche and targeting the apt target market is very important to be successful in Internet Marketing.

When you are doing niche marketing, you will face less of competition since you are not competing in all fields. You will be only selecting a handful few and concentrating on them. This has its own advantages.

  1. You pay more attention to each of your market, and work in an organized manner.
  2. You will be able to show your expertise in these fields so that people will trust your credibility and swear by your products.
  3. Since there will be no more alternatives when you sell products based on one niche, you can eventually raise your prices and make a lot of money.

To select a niche, you first have to analyze your customers and their needs, their attitude towards your products and your competitors, and whether you are a good salesman that people can trust.

When you are doing market research, you are actually finding out which customers you would like to cater to, what their needs are, and how your business products can offer them solutions. This way, you will be able to set up a niche of your own.

While doing market research, you do not need complicated methods, or expensive consultants or even focus groups and surveys. All you have to do is ask yourself some questions like:

  1. Do I have target customers with similar needs and problems?
  2. Is the online market I am working on large enough to accommodate my business?
  3. Can I create my products and services and my business identity to suit the needs of the targeted customers?
  4. Is the market that I am targeting unpopular and unknown?
  5. Can I actually reach all my customers in cost-effective methods?

Your niche will give your business a sharp focus and an edge over the others. The more you specialize in something, the more you will be able to show your expertise so that the customers will swear by your products. You can start providing services that cannot be found anywhere else.

For better results, it is good to choose a niche where there are not many competitors. You need to market properly to let your niche be well known among customers, for when you choose a particular niche, not many people will know about this.

You need not worry, since in Web 2.0, you can use the social networking sites to advertise your niche and market your products so that everyone gets to know about them and that too, without any costs.

So go and build your own niche, and give Mr. Scrooge a run for competition!

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5 Steps to Reaching a #1 Ranking in Google

Google

Image via CrunchBase

By Scott Spooner

The goal of niche marketing, and niche marketers, is to identify a niche with both plenty of search traffic and an acceptable level of competition. There are plenty of tools available – both paid and free – to help you uncover these niches. But, what do you do after you have discovered your own perfect niche?

This is where “rank building” strategies come into play; the goal of which is to rank your site, blog, or post, high enough in the search engine rankings so that you will be found. These strategies range from Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to Pay-Per-Click (PPC), and everything in between.

PPC gets you on top of the search engines quickly, but you have to have a considerable ad budget to keep you there. SEO won’t cost you anything but time (unless you outsource the activities), but it could potentially take you a long time to obtain a high ranking (for a competitive keyword), and longer still to maintain that position.

Following is a summary of how I am able to take competitive keywords, focus them on a blog, and achieve #1 ranking positions in Google. I’ll assume that you don’t have an advertising budget, are willing to learn a little about SEO, and can afford to spend some time to develop your rankings. I’ll also assume that you have a blog, or similar platform with which you can post your content.

The Five Steps

  1. Keyword Research – This is a very important step; and one that many fail to do correctly. Once you’ve picked your niche (or potential niche), grab your favorite keyword tool (depending on my needs, I use Market Samurai, Micro Niche Finder, or Google’s free keyword tool), and do some keyword research. Look for keywords that are getting at least 80 searches per day (2400 per month), with no more than 30,000 competing web sites. Once you find 4 or 5 of these keywords, build your blog around them. The trick here is to narrow your focus; I try and develop niches that are “narrow, but deep”. You are trying to get a foothold in the search engines, and not “be all things to all people”.
  2. Content Creation – With your keywords in hand, it is time to start creating, or gathering, your content. Remember to focus on the keywords that you found in step #1 above. If you are having trouble coming up with your own content, consider searching the content of video sites (e.g. YouTube), article sites (e.g. EZine Articles), and other blogs in your niche. Whether you create the content yourself, or repurpose it from other sources, make sure that it is focused on your keywords. Again, narrow, but deep.
  3. Blog Posting – As you gather content, you’ll want to post that content on your blog. The secret here is to post consistently and on a regular basis. Give your readers a schedule to look forward to and, at the same time, give the search engine spiders something new to crawl each time they stop by. Obviously, the more you post, the quicker your site will develop, and the faster your rankings will occur. But don’t get hung up on it: whether you post once a day, or once a week, pick a schedule that you can maintain. Finally, make sure you are using your keywords in your posting tags. This will help the search engine spiders better understand what you are posting.
  4. Social Book Marking – After every post, bookmark your post throughout the social media sphere. I will typically bookmark my posts on Digg, Propeller, Reddit, and StumbleUpon. I’ll also create links on my Facebook and Twitter accounts. This step is very important because each of these bookmarks creates a back link pointing back to your blog. SEO experts will tell you that the number one “off page factor” in improving your rankings is the quantity and quality of your back links. Social book marking sites offer these quality links for you. Pick the social media sites that you like and start book marking. One last note here: use your keywords as your “anchor text” (the text that you see) when creating your back links.
  5. Rank Tracking – Install an analytics package on your site (I use Google Analytics, which is free). Keep track of the traffic arriving at your site and monitor: 1) where that traffic is coming from; 2) how they find you, and; 3) what keywords they are using to search for your topics. You can not fix what you haven’t been measuring. So, measure how well your keywords are performing and use those measurements as a guide for improving your long term ranking.

The above will take some time – and that is O.K. The search engines give a certain amount of credibility to sites that have been around for some time. This all works to your advantage. Just focus on your keywords (remember: narrow, but deep), and think about creating, or gathering, content.

In summary, you don’t need expensive tools or programs; in fact, you can complete each of the above steps using free tools available on the web. What you do need is to be prolific, persistent, and patient. Remember always that Internet marketing is a process, not an event.

The only question that remains is: when will you begin that process?

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4 Vital Steps on How to Make Money Online With Niche Marketing

Wordle Cloud of the Internet Marketing Blog - ...

Image by DavidErickson via Flickr

By Dave Fuller

Everyone talks about Niche Marketing and thousands if not millions of people are either making money online with it or want to make money online with it. For those new to Niche Marketing, we describe it as taking a little piece from a big pie. As an example the weight loss industry is the large pie and the piece of the pie or “niche market” could be loosing weight with natural juices. The more narrower you get the tighter the niche market and you will be focusing more on one group of people as oppose to something so borad like weight loss.

Here are four easy steps that will help you make money online with Niche Marketing:

  1. Keyword Research- Researching the right keywords is so important that if you do this wrong or don’t do the right amount of research, your niche site may not appear in the search engines and you may not be targeting the right group of people.
  2. Article Marketing- A great article with the right keywords can get you a long way. You will need to write an article that will not only help the reader get what they want out of it, but it will also need to have that keyword to attract more viewers to your website.
  3. Monetization- This is the whole reason why we are into niche marketing. Some of us forget that we can add banners, ads, and products on our website to monetize it and are missing out on a huge chunk of money. You can promote products or services to your readers according to your niche market and keyword research.
  4. Promotion- There are so many people that want to make money online and are entering the niche marketing industry that you absolutely must promote your sites. Whether it is through article marketing, back linking, or however, you must get more people to look at your sites.

All of these are all very important steps that will determine the profitability of your site and they must all be used correctly. Everyone wants to make money online in and industry so large like niche marketing, but not many of us know what it takes to start and maintain a great niche site.

I hope you found these steps valuable to your niche marketing business. To find out more on niche marketing and starting an online business you can visit me at Make Money online with Dave.

For more information on how to execute these 4 steps more accurately, click here.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dave_Fuller
http://EzineArticles.com/?4-Vital-Steps-on-How-to-Make-Money-Online-With-Niche-Marketing&id=2896875

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