• Rick Kettner’s Blog
• Internet Marketing
• Feedback
• Tools
• About

Choosing Your Market – Discover Your Inner Passion

If you are just getting started online, you may be wondering what market or niche is ideal for you. This tutorial will help you discover online markets that you are passionate about, and determine the long-term viability of your top options.

When it comes to starting a new business online, two of the most popular questions are:

• What can I sell or promote online to make money?
• I have an idea to sell (something), will it make money?

Both of these questions are essentially the same, but are coming from different perspectives. The core issue here is the uncertainty of the prospective marketer as they head into the unknown. They seek certainty before making a serious commitment of their time, effort, and money.

Let’s be real. Starting a new business can be a daunting task, and adding uncertainty to the equation only makes things worse. The primary goal of this lesson is to assist you in determining the correct market for you, and ensuring it has the potential for long-term viability.

Step One: Serious Brainstorming Session

To get started, you need to have a serious brainstorming session. Start with a blank document on the computer or a pad of paper. Whichever will allow you to jot down your ideas quickly.

This exercise can be done alone or with a group of supportive friends and family members. Just be sure NO ideas are considered off-limits. Set a timer for 15-30 minutes and write down absolutely every single idea that comes to mind during that time.

Here are some thought provoking questions to help you get started:

• What hobbies or side-projects do you feel most passionate about?
• When having long conversations with friends, what do you enjoy talking about?
• What topics do you enjoy reading about in books, magazines, or online articles?
• What types of online communities or discussion forums do you participate in?
• What sort of extra-curricular activities do you spend money on?

Write down all of your ideas before moving on to the next step. If you are anything like me, you probably want to keep reading until you figure out this entire process, but I strongly urge you to stop here and focus on the first step before moving on.

Step Two: Finding The Passion Within You

In a world where competition grows each and every day, your advantage is going to be in a market that you are personally passionate about. I strongly believe that if you are going to have long-term success online, it will be doing something that comes naturally for you.

Now, just because you are passionate about a topic doesn’t mean it will be a guaranteed success. Here are some questions to help you determine which of your ideas is most likely a winner. Go down your list and ask yourself each of these questions:

• Does this idea have long-term prospects or is it a fad?
• Is this topic something I am personally passionate about?
• Do people already buy and sell products in this market online?
• Are customers in this market passionate about the topic?

Ideally, you want a market with long-term potential, that you are passionate about, that already has people buying and selling products (yes, this is a good thing), and where customers are also passionate about the topic. Some people think that entering a market with existing products is a bad idea, due to the competition. However, the exact opposite is true online. When products already exist, it virtually guarantees that there is money to be made.

So, lightly cross out any ideas that fail to meet the criteria listed above. You want to narrow your list down to ideas that meet these minimum guidelines before moving on to the next step.

Step Three: Determining Online Market Viability

Now it’s time to determine which of your remaining ideas has the most potential online. This third and final step will link you to other Internet Marketing lessons that will help you take your research to the next level. Use the links in the questions below to discover answers for each market idea that is still on your list.

• What does customer research reveal about your prospects online habits?
• What will in-depth product research determine about what is already selling?
• What keywords or keyword phrases are customers searching for online?

Criteria: Ultimately, you are looking for a market where customers spend time researching online, already purchase related products on the Internet, and have popular keywords that they use when searching for related information, products, or services.

No idea is perfect, and not every winning idea has to pass through all of the criteria listed above. That said, I hope the research we have started here will help you discover a market that you can be passionate about. Your success will ultimately be reached through your level of determination.

Article Tags: market, passion, research, tutorial