In my last post I outlined 10 reasons your online business may never be successful.
One of those being that you aren’t passionate (or even remotely interested in) your niche. If that's the case, don't feel bad - you're not alone.
Countless people have chosen niches based on things like assumed profit potential, market research strategies they were taught, etc.
You'll know, without a shadow of a doubt, if you chose the wrong niche or the right one. And there is no right or wrong outside of what is right or wrong for YOU. Given a bit of market research combined with a bit of common sense, of course.
Considering all the potential topics, niches and markets there are... it makes no sense to work in a niche you don't truly ENJOY. There are entirely too many options. Why even start a business that isn't profitable and enjoyable?
"It won't be hard if you're doing what you love more than anything else. I don't care if your passion is rehabilitating abandoned ferrets; if you learn to tap into everything the digital world has to offer, you can turn water into wine - you can transform what you love into a legacy-building business that makes a crapload of money, and still be true to yourself."
-Gary Vaynerchuk, Crush It!
How do you know if you chose the right niche?
You're having FUN. Period.
If you're struggling to create content, get engaged with your market via Social Media channels, get traffic, or dread working on your site/blog... you probably chose the wrong niche. And I don't mean struggling as in figuring out what to do and how, but struggling as in you dread it worse than a root canal and procrastinate constantly just to avoid doing it.
Working in a niche you love means you actually LIKE the market, you probably *are* your target market, you consume content from the Market Leaders, and you truly enjoy talking about the subject.
(It's incredibly difficult to serve a market you can't really relate to or connect with.)
"I'm convinced that if something is your true passion you can find 500 things - 500 *interesting* things - to say about it. Most people talk themselves out of success before they even start. Their passion is stickers, but they think, "There's no way I can make a hundred grand talking about stickers." That's why you're going to crush it - because you're the type who's going to say, "Stickers? Hell yes, stickers!" -Gary Vaynerchuk, Crush It!
Now What?
I don't need to get long-winded about this topic. You know in your gut whether you're working on a business you LOVE, or whether you're selling yourself short.
And let's be honest. You're not just selling yourself short if you're in the wrong niche. You're selling your market short. Both of them actually - the one you're trying to target, and the one you're ignoring too.
Your DNA dictates your passion - whatever it is you were born to do; being authentic, and being perceived as such by your audience, relies on your ability to ensure that every decision you make when it comes to your business is rooted in being true to yourself." -Gary Vaynerchuk, Crush It!
Are you being true to yourself and your values in the online business you started? Are you an asset to your market? Do you wake up every day thinking about, and ultimately talking about, something related to your niche?
Just to clarify, learning the technical stuff and having the occasional bout of writer's block isn't a sign that you're in the wrong niche. You KNOW if you are or not. Some telltale signs might include: you wouldn't discuss it with your mother, the topic *never* comes up in casual conversation, or it feels even slightly "slimy" or "spammy".
If you did choose the wrong niche, no big deal. Jump ship, sell the site on Flippa.com, and start working on something you look forward to every day!
Starting your own business should be liberating and fun, even when the hours are long. In the right niche, you can work 18 hours a day and love every minute of it!
Consider this your free ticket out of Niche Hell.
It's never too late to start over and do it right. 😉
Best,
p.s. I shared several quotes from Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk. AWESOME book. It's full of niche ideas, success stories, inspiration & how-to. I highly recommend you grab a copy if you haven't read it already!
Also See: How to Choose a Niche
About Lynn Terry
Gary cracks me up "I don’t care if your passion is rehabilitating abandoned ferrets"..and both of you are spot on. Having the passion for what i do is the ONLY way i survive.
dee 🙂
Crush It is a great book. Staying focused on a niche is another issue. Once you find your passion and choose your niche you have to focus and not go off chasing rabbits.
Sticking to one thing is the toughest thing for me, but I know that going in all different directions, is leading me no where. I wish my mind would just hush up all my ideas and just stick to one so i can complete it! Ive made a whole dollar and some change on my blog and I just haven't found the exact reason for this, but know that I need to focus more time on it....any suggestions???? see link...below.
actually see this link greenrunannualreunion@blogspot.com, I definately have some unfinished business there and I am still learning. Thanks, Christina@green run high school reunion
Finding the right niche is usually a tricky thing to do. But once you have found it the results can be rewarding.
I think this is the most swearing I've seen on any of your pages. Hell was used 2 times...well now 3. 🙂
True, the people I see that are the most successful are also the ones having the most fun. I think the right niche makes you happy because it's one that also fulfills you. You feel it in your core when what you do clicks (not conflicts) with your life purpose.
I found this website about 1 months ago and made a main reference of my health and online blogs. I got an increase sales and traffic after implementing the tips from Master Lynn's. Finding a right niche is a difficult thing at first but to be wonderful to work after then. Thanks God to find clicknewz. it's really usefull for me.
Choosing a niche is certainly an important first step on a journey to creating any kind of business, but it is important to continue making those steps towards you goal as you go along. I have had many friends start out with a great idea, but they never acted on it. So - choose you niche and act on it.
Good advices! Choosing the right niche allows us to enjoy our blogging. It is very important that you "enjoy what you do" for the success of your online marketing.
You can make a niche enjoyable by getting more knowledge about it. I don't pass up on niches that look promising if they can potentially become interesting when I start working in them. Niches you enjoy are the best way to succeed both online and offline.
The word "niche", I find, is somewhat relative in terms of how people define it.
I see many people define a market as a niche inadvertently.
One thing I have learned when it comes to selecting niches is that although you may be excited about it initially, you may soon find that it was a bit too narrow, which can lead to burnout.
That is why I have broadened my definition of niche somewhat to, in reality, encompass two-three niches.
This gives me plenty of room to breathe and pursue a variety of long-tail keywords.
I have found it easier to keep my interest this way...:)
Cool article, Lynn...:)
Mark
Thanks for another inspiring post, Lynn. Certainly passion is extremely beneficial, if not an absolutely necessary component of a successful web project. Based on may own experience, though, I would stop short of singling out fun as the single necessary component of a profitable niche. I've tried more than one project that I enjoyed only find other factors hindered profitability. I think having a substantial market receptive to spending is equal in importance. Even with those, you must have a sound source of product inventory as well. A project that you find fun will be beneficial even if it never earns a penny, but if income is necessary, I think other factors need to be equally balanced.
That's true. Unless you're in it for the monetary benefit, a site in a niche you enjoy is always a successful project. Besides, if a niche is not yielding any income, you can change the monetization method.
These days building a new website can take just hours. Sure, the branding and SEO part take more time, but it's still better than forcing yourself to work with something you've come to hate. It's healthier on the long term.
Finding the correct niche is always difficult but it's well worth the effort. Good article, regards, Paulinne
I learned this the hard way. I went into a few niches that didn't interest me. I lost money (not much ... the cost of a domain) and of course some time. The biggest loss was the opportunity cost of working on the niches I love.
I've also discovered that as I work more in my niches, I like them more and more and explore them more broadly. Any niche can be explored in so many ways and it's exciting coming up with creative ways to explore a niche and publish new info for readers.
Nice article Terry! One of the things we talk about in our courses regarding niche research & selection is to dig down from those 'top level' categories. There are so many 'secondary' niches - many of which have all the traffic and interest necessary to support online money-making efforts, yet are hardly touched by most marketers.
Whatever your interest, spend some time drilling down using your favorite keyword research tools. You're bound to find viable markets you hadn't even thought of!
Thank you Lynn for a wake up call to see what really I am into whether in the right niche or doing something I just do not have the drive to push on. Passion is the thing that will bring more power in whatever I do. Gary is awesome guy who shares all. Thank you Lynn
Thanks for this article Lynn - I've been struggling with this in the back of my mind for some time while I keep trying to create content for my site. I think it's time to "jump ship" and move on.
Thanks!
Thanks for the tip Lynn! I am really just starting over again with my online business and you get all caught up in..."what is hot to sell" and I forget about "what do I have to say about the subject". So thanks for saving me a bunch of wasted time.
Lynn, I couldn't agree more. I think it's so important to work at something you enjoy. You spend a lot of time working, so if you have no interest in what you're doing, you are going to be miserable.
Marketing will also be much harder. When you're offering something you really believe in and enjoy, it shows! Sharing it with others is a natural outpouring of your passion for it, and marketing becomes much more "natural."
I agree with Lynn - if you're not doing something you LOVE, it's not too late to start over.
Makes total sense to love your niche but what about the numbers?? If I love to talk about baking pies but traffic is next to nothing or conversely, SEO competition is fierce, it seems building a site around "what you love", is pie in the sky (parden the pun), in the real world of niche mktg / keyword research. One can run analysis on numurous keywords only to find out there's either no market or it's too competitive.
I agree with the premise of love your niche but if traffic or competition are factors to consider, it's not that easy to just pick what you love to do. Thanks.
I completely agree and love Gary's quote about stickers.
I've recently started a company in NYC that focuses on delivering magazines to people when they are in the hospital and I LOVE it. Firstly, I love reading magazines and have for a long time but I also love being able to create a service that is meaningful to the person sending and the person receiving.
Not only has loving what I'm doing been very important to my ability to market/brand, but it also affects the way I think about expansion and scaling the business because I have a mentality that it will work and not any what-ifs. It's a mentality that is super important to motivation and people feed off of that.
I agree. I can provide a very loooong content or article on a niche site that I have passion on.
Great post Miss Terry!
What an awesome post, Lynn. So far the only problem I am having is being patient and waiting for the fruits of my labor to come forth. I'm such a geek that I have fun just building and maintaining my sites. I have problems knowing when to sell.
great post Lynn, I'm often asking myself this question. It's ruff when you have a year invested into a site and it doesn't profit, and you find that your really not all that passionate about it.
Until we are blogging without passion and niche we are out of game. Niche is one of the main key for successful blogger.
I agree with Chris in that you may find a niche uninteresting to begin with but as you research it and start to build a site around it you might actually become very passionate about the subject.
Nice article, but what exactly is a niche? for sure is not a place, we all talk about niches and having a niches, but do we really understand the concept? can you shed some light into this matter? thanks
Lynn, I definitely agree with what you say about loving your niche. If you can get giddy about your niche several years after you created it, that's a great indicator. There is no substitute for passion. I speak from my own experience - choosing a niche I love and trying a few I didn't love so much. The results reflected what was in my heart.
Great post and valuable content Lynn, I really enjoyed reading your blog! One of the best "secrets" to internet marketing is to find a underserved niche market - and serve them with the products and info the want.
First having a niche for your blog keeps your blog focus, Its very difficult to focus on a more narrow field, but why you are interested in the niche you choose it make things more easier, its makes you more passionate on what you blog about.
Thanks for the post
While I agree it is essential that you don't "hate" your niche, I am not sure it is always practical to be "passionate" about it either.
I agree it shouldn't be something you would feel uncomfortable talking about. You need to at least like it and MUST be very knowledgeable. (or get that way fast. But passion does not always = success.
You may be passionate about drinking beer and watching porn, and while I am sure those both have great markets online, they could be tough to make money in a niche.
A good niche is a balance between what you CAN make from it and what you enjoy. if either side goes too far left or right, it will be a failure.
Niche is hot topic in the blogging. If you choose good niche, you get a lot from your product after its promotion.
Finding the right niche sounds fairly obvious and simple enough, yet it is much more difficult than what we might first think. Fortunately this is now more easier by the blogs like this.
Seems to me that having several well-chosen niches would be desirable. Lots of work, but hard to imagine having just one product and achieving a whole lot of success!
I started my site in September. I chose decorating and cooking as myniche because I really love decorating and entertaining and my mom likes to cook. I have been thinking that I probably should have done something in health but I am so burned out from my past field on interest. I am hoping that I made the right choice.
I fully agree with you. How can you even do a business or something else when you dont love that and you are not passionate about that thing. How can you succeed?
I think every man or woman should do a business that they are passionate about and they wont work a day in their lives.
This post its very good!
Niches are so important in the on line world. It is way worth your effort to change niches when you realized you have entered the wrong one. Oh, and I love the book CRUSH IT. THank you for the post.
well for me selecting a niche was very confusing.It wasn't very easy
because sometimes you don't have passion for that niche but you feel like you are obligated to do it.
I agree you. Find the right niche not is easy, but I appreciate that you share this
In my opinion, no matter how much research you'll do about a niche's profitability, you're going to end up disappointed sometimes. It happens to me rarely, but sometimes i create a niche blog which i'm sure it's going to bring some good income, but it performs the opposite. I rather prefer to do some PPC to test the market first but i know it's not an option for most people.
If i'm the cause of the blog's failure, then i must switch to do something which i'm interested in instead. Doing something against your passion is like fighting fire with fire. For me i think my passion is internet marketing in general and social media particularly (that's why i don't have any problem working on many blogs in the same time).
Thanks Lynn;
H David
Smiling while reading your post. I read some of your post on how to choose your niche and I often see "choose a niche that you have experience" or doing things that you love would be easy. I'm thinking to start my online business.
I like the suggestion you gave in the end, sell your site! Like what most successful people said... Start doing something that you truly love and money will follow. But the problem, for most us, we're always after of the money rather than following our passion. It's a sad truth...
Gee, this means that we have to go Back to Basic! I remember when I first read about this about finding a niche - start from your passions. And that was about 6 years ago. But time made us forget this principle, and now we end up with sites we are too lazy to update...
It's amazing how so many people don't get the importance of choosing the right niche. It's simply a waste of time and money to be focusing on the wrong niche and then realizing that either it doesn't fetch you enough or you simply hate it.
I had difficulty choosing the right niche for my own business. I had several tries from healthy food to nail products, but I realized these are not my cup of tea, I just thought the products would do well. Then I realized I am already doing things which could be somehow intertwined with online marketing. I like helping people and making life easier for those who need a bit of pressure taken off of their backs. I love finding things that are of benefit to certain people, for example this little gadget, the employee monitor. And after thinking in terms of cosmetics and food, I never would have thought I'd move to more cyber products.
It is vital that a blogger chooses the correct niche for him or her. In your DNA is the passion for the topics that drive you. Write about what you are knowledgeable of, not about what is popular today. Besides, popular niches will be too crowded anyway.
When I first set out creating my site within the online dating niche I knew that I'd encounter some troubles and from Day #1 there were certainly headaches and hurdles that I had to endure. I did opt to go in a slightly different direction (my site is very micro niche,)but I'm glad to say that now I'm out of those 'First 6 month blues,' that I feel I really did pick the right niche.
Sites like this that provide useful, helpful and most importantly honest advice are making my life a LOT easier though, I must add! There are thousands of sites offering advice but very few are bold enough to tell the truth and publish articles like: "10 reasons your online business may never be successful."
Reality checks are all part of being successful and I'm glad to say that many articles I've read here have kept me heading in the right direction! 🙂 I appreciate the assistance and look forward to more in the future.
Matt.
I think it is important to choose a niche that you are interested in and enjoy wiring about and working with in order to be really successful.
I've gone through various niches and niches that weren't of particular interest to me proved tedious to write about. So now I'm sticking with the tech niche for most of my blog posts which actually lessened my work load and increased productivity.
I most certainly picked the perfect niche for my blog 🙂
Of course, I'm not in it for the monetary gains. If you're passionate about your niche and can make money out of it at the same time they consider yourself very lucky.