Niche Marketing: Why One Niche Outsells Another

Tapping Into the Needs of an Online Consumer with Niche Marketing: Why One Niche Outsells Another

Launching your own eBook and information product empire makes sense on many levels. Niche marketing is the secret sauce of success. Almost every successful marketer has a “how to succeed” or “how to make money” product. They weren’t able to write that eBook until they actually succeeded, and the eBook Empire is how they do it – it’s how they build enough profit stamina to keep them afloat as they plan their future big-time launches and joint venture partnerships.

I’m here to tell you an important truth – many eBooks you’ll read are similar to another and will intentionally leave out crucial details that you need to succeed. Why would the author or product owner do this?

Two reasons. First, it’s because it gives them the opportunity to sell to you again, and again, and again. That’s why you see so many “missing chapters” or follow-up reports being sold once you’re on someone’s “subscriber list.” I think there’s a better way to create a lifetime customer, and I’m going to teach you how to do it in this guide.

The second reason is because if they do tell you every little detail, you might be armed with the knowledge you need to tap into their super secret niche. You don’t hear the gurus talking about their behind-the-scenes niches. Savvy players keep those cards close to their chest.

The truth is, each one has dozens upon dozens of little mini-sites where they sell regular 50-100 page eBooks on various topics – from golf to weddings to baby care. This is evergreen stuff, which means it never goes out of style.

Internet marketing products are hot one day and “dead” the next. Those aren’t what keep them financially secure – it’s the icing on the cake. Can you imagine the stress involved of finding the best best-selling marketing idea, creating, launching, and coming up with something new on a regular basis? The shelf life for IM products is usually pretty low.

That’s why niche eBook empires are so vital to your success. Evergreen ideas don’t die out. Take parenting. The same problems crop up year after year – Colic, temper tantrums, potty training. New customers flood the marketplace on a daily basis because people keep having babies!

I’m here to teach you how to stake claim to one of these niches and build a steady increase in your income starting with one product and moving on from there. You can apply it to marketing products, too – as long as you take one idea and use it as your foundation.

When I first decided to blow the lid off this, I took someone who didn’t know her autoresponder from her backend product line. Her first site now makes over $4,000 a month in total passive profits. She’s launched several other sites but the original continues to grow in eBook sales.

Since my newbie beginnings in online marketing, my business has grown. Product wise: I now have over 60 various individual or combination audio/dvd/cd/mp3 products, 11 e-product combinations, 2 large multi product combos (everything I’ve produced in a big box) and more than 20 print books and or combinations of print books.

Internet marketing is powerful. But the idea here is not to be blinded by dollar signs and buy into the hype of lounging by the pool at the Playboy Mansion. Be smart about this – this is a business, not a lottery ticket. Build it right, and you won’t have to fear that the bottom will drop out from under you one day when you least expect it.

Note: This post does not go into great detail about the “How to Write” aspect of product creation; However – I do teach this separately in my ongoing Mentor program and also in my twice annual 10 Week Author live training.

Where are you right now in your own Internet Marketing career? Do you do it fulltime, part-time, or are you just considering it for the time being? The system I’ve outlined here will allow you to follow along regardless of what level you’re currently at.

If you do it full time, then the results will go faster. If you’re just curious about the profit potential, then you’ll find plenty of tips on how to conduct preliminary research to see what your odds of success may be and whether or not you have what it takes to follow through to the end. You can go at your own pace.

I started communicating with those I didn’t already know (in online forums like the free Warrior Forum), but whom I had heard of before, and I boldly emailed them and asked for Joint Venture partnerships so I could learn the ropes from the other side. A Joint Venture is when you both bring something to the table and share the profits. I would bring the writing talent, and they would bring the behind-the-scenes marketing know-how.

The first day I sent out emails, I was entering into discussions for partnerships that would bring in excellent income. You may want to do the same thing – partner up with a reputable source and bring your talent to the table. Here, you’ll learn how to do it on your own. Some of these JV partners were able to promise me $20,000 minimums because they had a ready-made list where, with a single email, they could fork over a wad of cash to someone who had what they didn’t – the ability to write a product.

You don’t need this network to get started. I just want to explain that networking is going to help you as you grow your business. You need to know the right people. I started out not knowing anyone. Get into discussions on forums, email and PM people (don’t be a gnat, but soak up whatever you can learn and put your name out there).

Even if you do bite-sized chunks of this system, one small step at a time, it will pay off for you. Exert the energy necessary for you to succeed. Start with formulating an idea the first week.

Then the next week create a potential title page and table of contents for your product. Try to flesh out a chapter every week at least. Eventually, your product will be complete and you’ll be ready for a launch.

Tip: I created a file folder called Connie and pretended “Connie” was a client with a deadline. I worked “her” into the schedule with my other clients. It was worth it. “She” increased my salary by several thousand dollars the first month I worked for her. She’s my most prized client now, and she’s my priority.

WARNING: This is NOT a “Get Rich Quick,” “Make a Million Dollars Overnight,” “Turnkey, Business-in-a-Box” Concept. It’s Work…But It Works!

I know many of you may have seen ads online for overnight millionaire success, but even the guys who wrote that stuff had to take time to set up their system. Now once it launches, that’s another thing.

One marketer (John Reese) actually launched his own product that he sold for about $1,000 – and he sold 1,000 copies in 18 hours. You do the math. But the reason he was able to do this is because he branded his name on the internet – something I’m going to teach you to do.

Niche Marketing… Creating Your Very Own Cash Cow

There are dozens of ways to earn a living online, but this post will show you one way – the eBook creation and launch process. Non-fiction information products are big business on the internet.

When I go into Barnes and Noble or one of my local bookstores, there are just as many non-fiction books as there are fiction novels lining the shelves. That audience will be your target on the internet. What sells?

Let me tell you some of the topics my clients have hired me to write and then I’ll show you how to capitalize on a niche subject of your own. One thing you’ll notice is that some are oddball and some are broad, repeated topics:

· Business Success Secrets
· Bird/Swine Flu Survival Guide
· Lose Weight on the Sonoma Diet
· Blogging Your Way to Big Bucks
· Credit Repair & Identity Theft
· Naming Your Baby
· A Guide to Internet Marketing
· Earthquake Survival Guide for the Middle East

Notice how some of them are trendy or time-based? When the Sonoma Diet was hot, people wanted knockoffs of it. When Blogging became popular in business, I got a big demand for that subject matter. When another earthquake devastated the Middle East, boom – and the same thing happened with Bird Flu after Oprah had a show on it.

Whatever’s in the news, people will buy. Your market may not be in America or the UK. It may be Singapore or Zimbabwe. There are a lot of English speaking consumers you can access on the internet who live in all four corners of the world. (And don’t forget about having your product translated into different languages for an even larger reach – and more profits)!

Other items on the list are evergreen topics, meaning they’re good all year, every year – they never go out of style. I get requests for those all through the year – credit repair and identity theft, baby naming, Internet Marketing, and general business success never go out of style.

If you have an unusual slant or updated idea for an evergreen topic, then you can still profit from it because there’s always an influx of new consumers having babies, dealing with credit issues, trying to succeed, and wanting to profit online.

You always want to be on the lookout for your own slant or original idea, but there’s also another way to get ideas for info products: ClickBank. When you go to the site and sign up for free, you can click on the “promote products” link.

Choose a category that interests you (don’t worry, you don’t have to be an expert in any area – the bonus will show how to research and write an original product). Your categories are:

· Business to Business
· Marketing and Ads
· Health and Fitness
· Fun and Entertainment
· Home and Family
· Sports and Recreation
· Computing and Internet
· Society and Culture
· Money and Employment

When you go to one of the categories, you can get even more detailed until you find a product that piques your curiosity or is in line with something you’d like to write about.

If you see a product that’s successful, don’t copy their idea – that’s not where the money is. You just need to know consumers are interested in that overall subject matter. Then develop your own unique slant associated with that topic.

But what if the idea I have, such as “Making Money on eBay” shows me a saturated marketplace? You still have options. Some people will tell you to stay away from that market completely because there’s too much competition.

To me, this is a global marketplace with unlimited potential – squeeze on in and stake your claim! All you have to do to be competitive is deliver a slant no one else did, or do it better than the rest of the guys!

Just because there are a dozen products on eBay marketing doesn’t mean even a single one is worth the money. Trust me, there’s a lot of junk out there. As long as you create a valuable, no-fluff/no-filler eBook, you can steal the thunder in any niche.

Another reason to go ahead with your idea is that when I need information on something, I buy multiple products. Don’t you? If you want to know all about Spain before your upcoming trip, you might buy three books on it, not just one. You might buy one on the best restaurants, another on history, one on language – all different slants. So make your eBook one of the ones your audience invests in.

Niche Marketing Sneaky Guru Tactic: Marketers live by the motto “All’s fair in Internet Marketing.” I used to laugh when one guru would find out I was ghostwriting for another and try to get me to spill the beans about what their niche was.

I never snitched, but it told me a lot about how hungry they are to spy on competitors and copy their success.

Want to know how else they spy on each other? They troll freelance sites and view project titles to steal ideas. If a guru sees a project titled, “50-page eBook on Potty Training,” he knows another marketer’s making bank in that niche.

Right there it shows me what popular niches marketers are asking for products to be created in.

Think Like a Business Owner with Niche Marketing

Some topics you choose may not be what you’re passionate about – but would you be willing to write about a topic you knew would bring in thousands of dollars because there’s a need for it?

Some marketers I know have a problem with this. They want to spend their time focused on something that interests them – but I’m a “show me the money” kind of girl. I’ll spend my free time focused on my passions – but during business hours, I’m focused on profit streams.

Plus, I feel like I’m doing the public a favor when I know I can create an informative product that they need to solve a problem. Many marketers just write eBooks on what they alone have an interest in.

They never check to see if there’s a demand for it. You can follow this trend, too – or you can learn how to find a market first, fill their needs, and reap the financial rewards.

Writing for an Online Audience

One reason I get hired to write for some big name internet marketers is because I know how to have a conversational tone. It wasn’t always like that. My first client that I wrote for told me I was too academic and said to write more like I did in our email exchanges. Your info product for the web has to be conversational, which in a nutshell means:

· Use contractions such as “what’s” instead of “what is”
· Break up your paragraphs into easily digestible chunks of information like you see here – don’t use half a page for one paragraph.
· Make your chapter headlines and subheads interesting and clear.

I’ve worked with other writers. I tried to outsource to people, but the revision work I had to do was overwhelming, so then I just decided I could do it myself faster. The problem?

Most people write like they did for a college professor or a corporate boss. On average, consumers read at an 8th grade level. Have you been in an 8th grade classroom these days? You’d be appalled, trust me.

You have to dumb down information. Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about. This writer is a guy who is remarkably intelligent. I tried to give him a chapter of a book and even gave him the chapter I wrote beforehand to ensure continuity in the tone and voice. Here’s what he wrote for a paragraph:

“If you can just accept that fact and then find ways to explore and exploit those abilities, you’ll be well on the way to a more productive life. And this enhanced productivity and fulfillment will affect all areas of your life, not just your chosen career path.”

Huh?!? This goes way above the regular Joe’s ability to read and understand what he just wrote. It annoys me and I’m pretty proficient with the English language! It’s important that the reader find value (not confusion) in your product or else you’ll wake up to an inbox full of refund requests.

Here’s how the paragraph should have been written:

“Once you accept the fact that you’re a strong enough person, you can do anything you put your mind to! Working smarter will make you happy in your personal life, not just your job.”

See the difference? I’ve “dumbed it down” and made it shorter. You don’t have to drone on and on with Information products. The less fluff and filler, the better. You’re not trying to achieve a certain page count…you’re trying to get everything across that needs to be said, period.

Speaking of page count – I can’t tell you the number of marketers who base their entire product on page count. In their minds, their page count determines the quality and price of the product. They’re wrong! I have no idea how long this will be when I’m done. This is only the first of a ten part series I’m creating.

I have seen 400 page eBooks I could use as liner for my son’s hamster cage if I printed it out because they had absolutely no value whatsoever in them. Then again, I’ve seen 5-page special reports that taught me more in half an hour than I’d learned all year!

Quantity does not equal quality. Learn it and live it. I don’t sit down to write my eBooks with a page count in mind. I just write it, say what needs to be said, and it’s finished.

Finding Your Formula to Niche Marketing Success – a Real Life Case Study

When you create products for online consumers, make sure you follow a basic pattern for the way your information flows. These people are seeking some sort of solution. So first, you want to identify with their problem.

Show them you understand and discuss the repercussions of them not getting a solution or being informed. If they don’t follow your advice, what will happen to them? What won’t? Will they miss out on a lot of earning potential or time with their family?

Make sure you merge into a solution for your readers. Your information should be organized well in sub-topics and don’t be afraid to use bullet points like you would in a sales letter if you’re an experienced copywriter.

Your solution should not be an example of you on a soapbox, shouting out your opinions to the reader. It’s okay to have a unique slant, but make sure you can back up your information with solid facts and data to feed their desire for a solid solution.

Sum up your info product with a motivating ending that leaves the reader ready to put your system or ideas into practice. If they click out of your eBook and don’t do something with it to improve their lives, then chances are, they’ll be shooting you a request for a refund within the next couple of days.

Let’s take a look at an example of a highly profitable eBook formula I oversaw for another client, just to give you an idea of how it works. I got his permission to use this because it was a timely eBook that had its surge (made him a lot of money in a short period of time) and then petered out (it is not an evergreen topic, but your formula will be the same nonetheless):

Title: Global Catastrophe: What Every Man, Woman, and Child Needs to Know to Survive the Next Bird Flu Pandemic

Sub-Title: Learn How to Protect Your Family, Deal With Chaos and Disaster, and Stay Afloat Financially in a Crippled Economy When the Fourth Pandemic Breaks Out!

You want to make sure you live up to your claims in the title of the eBook. So here’s what I covered, in order:

· Chapter 1: A Look at Previous Pandemics – What We’ve Learned from History Repeating Itself – Here I explained what Avian flu is, what the past pandemics have been like, and how this one could be worse than all the others – combined. I end with a current risk assessment for each country because the audience for this product is global.
· Chapter 2: Global Depression – What a Bird Flu Pandemic Would Mean to Your Immediate Community and Every Other Continent – In this chapter I discuss whether you might lose your job, how your finances on a personal level would be impacted, industries that would be crippled – but I give them a solution here, too – investing in or stocking gold.
· Chapter 3: Why Bird Flu Worries the World Health Organization – What You Don’t Know Could Put Your Life in Danger – This chapter explains the hard facts stated by WHO and other scientific organizations. It discusses how people get infected, how you can steer clear of germs, answers questions about food safety, and talks about what level of preparation you need to plan for based on your risk assessment.
· Chapter 4: Preparing for the Future – If You Don’t Plan Ahead, Prepare to Panic – A detailed chapter outlining what you might need to prepare for: no electricity, food and comfort, currency, and who you allow into your home (The snot-nosed kid down the street who wants to play ball but looks like he’s a walking germ machine might be an easy “no,” but what about letting your old Aunt Sally in after she’s traveled in a plane from Ohio full of infected people?) In each sub-heading, they get an answer on what to do if there’s no electricity, etc.
· Chapter 5: Treatments and Testing – Availability and Effectiveness of Medical Supplies Being Stockpiled to Offer You Protection – I start out with why technology is out of date and what method we need and are working on to produce vaccines. I discuss how there won’t be enough to go around and how greed plays a factor in production. I then talk about natural remedies and protection (herbs, etc) they can use to build immunity.
· Chapter 6: Minimizing Your Risk – Tools You Need to Survive Among an Infected Population – Since my client sells this stuff, I talk about the protective gear they need to order – face masks, gloves, etc. I tell them what to pack in their first aid kit and how long it should last. And I sum it up with a step-by-step system they need to do if they come in contact with an infected person.
· Chapter 7: When Chaos Reigns – How to Protect Your Home and Family When the Rules of Society Break Down – Discussed the past (LA riots, Katrina, etc.) and then talked about safety from fires, dangerous individuals, and ways to protect yourself, your family, and your home by communicating and keeping a low profile.
· Chapter 8: “You’re on Your Own” – Why You Can’t Rely on the Government to Help You – This chapter covers a US and UK preparedness plan but on every level – local, statewide, nationwide, and global. I also quickly go into other countries and give some shocking information, like which countries refuse to cull infected birds because of the money issue.
· Chapter 9: Experts Warn We Have No Time to Waste – Putting Your Plan Into Place in an Instant – This was a resource section showing readers where to buy their protective gear and medicinal arsenal. It ended with a sub-section on what to do the very moment it enters your street.

Notice in that last chapter where we mentioned that I referred readers to where they could buy products? Let’s say you write a wedding planning eBook. You can make a LOT of extra income just linking to resources that have affiliate programs.

For instance, you can sign up as an affiliate for Amazon (scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the link that says “Join Associates”) and earn a commission whenever anyone buys something. So if they bought a book you recommended on wedding cakes, you’d get a portion of the sale.

And it’s all hyperlinked within your eBook by using the “insert hyperlink” function in Word. By the way, it can be products and services, too – not just other books. You can link to a wedding dress on eBay or to the services of a wedding planner, for instance.

In the example above, we hyperlinked all sorts of stuff people could buy online – not just my client’s medical gloves and face masks, but also herbal supplies to increase immune system performance, fire safety supplies, generators and other items that he profited from just for linking to other sites. He got a commission every time a reader bought supplies!

I’d like to see a print book do THAT for you!

With Internet Marketing, it’s not about selling your solo copy of the eBook.

Here, you’ll be learning how to build an entire empire of products to sell to the same audience. And in the end, you’ll have one large river of profits streaming into your bank account with dozens of cash-based tributaries contributing to it.

Now that you know the difference between offline and online non-fiction information products, let’s move on to the actual marketing side of this kind of creation so that you can start staking claim to your niche!

I’m author, publisher, and entrepreneur Connie Ragen Green and I would love to connect further with you. If  you have an interest in finding the right JV (Joint Venture) partners to help you skyrocket your way to success,  please check out my training at JVs Made Simple so you may get started right away.