Three Reasons You Need a Niche - Internet Marketing Australia

Imagine this: Terry wants her seven year old son's birthday to be a hit with his group of friends, and she wants to impress the parents as well. She decides a comedian would be great entertainment for kids and parents alike, so she makes the call to a local casting company and is assured that a great comic is available for her son's big day.

The comedian arrives in shorts and a tee shirt, sets up his sound equipment, and looks over the crowd. At this point, Terry is feeling a little apprehensive. When the guy starts off with a series of mother-in-law jokes, Terry knows she's goofed.

What happened? Terry picked the wrong kind of entertainment for her niche. The comedian was so far from what she needed that no sales-in the form of laughter-were made among the seven-year-olds! And instead of impressing the parents, she bemused them.

Internet marketers can be guilty of the same error. People searching online are looking for information fast and they want complete answers to the questions they have. A site which confuses or lacks that information will not have a visitor for long. However, a website cannot provide expertise on every subject in a certain category. Hence, the need for a well-defined niche.

What is a niche? It is a population looking for certain information, or having similar needs. There are three main reasons the effective internet marketer needs a niche.

First, to be the expert people are looking for, an internet marketer must have a clearly defined specialty or expertise which defines a niche. It is better to be deep than it is to be wide with expertise. That is, it is better to have much experience in one area, rather than a little experience in many areas. This gives the marketer credibility, a valuable reputation-builder on the internet.

Secondly, having a niche is key to understanding what people will buy, and how to create products to satisfy that need. Once a marketer is recognized for expertise, an understanding of the niche's buying habits will enable the marketer to monetize his knowledge. This is not always the purpose of an internet marketer; certainly there are sites that exist to provide information only, but most marketers are looking to exchange knowledge for compensation.

Thirdly, having a niche helps a marketer find customers or clients. Once the expertise is developed, and an understanding of the buying habits of the customers is in place, then the marketer can direct the appropriate traffic to his niche website. The traffic coming to the site will be looking for the information he provides, and therefore, his products will answer their needs, making him successful in his marketing.

Let's return to Terry. She put up with much kidding over the next year, and she smarted at what she had to pay the comedian, but she wised up and targeted her niche correctly for the next time. She took a gang of eight-year-olds to Chucky Cheese's and they all had a blast.