There is No Perfect Niche

I spent a lot of time looking for the perfect niche when I was new to internet marketing. I thought that if I could just find a high-profit niche with low competition that my life would be set and making money would be easy. If you look around webmaster/SEO discussion forums today, you’ll see dozens of posts from newbies asking for help finding the best niches.

What I eventually learned is that there is no perfect niche. Some niches are definitely better than others, but there is no magical niche that will lead you to internet fame and fortune. The key to making money online is not to find the perfect niche; it is to become an expert in any niche.

Become the Authority in Your Niche

You can make money with any niche if you become the authority in that niche. What I mean is that you don’t just put up a quick blog and rehash a bunch of articles that you find elsewhere. Instead, you learn everything you can about the niche and provide information that is unique, high quality and genuinely useful to your readers.

Let’s use an example to make sense of all this. Let’s say that you do your research and decide that online file storage is a niche that you’d like to tackle. The easy way to get started would be to throw up a bunch of reviews, do a little keyword research and write blog posts that cover those keywords. You might make a little money with this approach, but you’ll have a hard time building a highly profitable, long lasting website.

It would be better to instead familiarize yourself with the online storage industry by reading trade publications, subscribing to newsletters and trying out online storage services for yourself. Then, you can create topic ideas that people actually find useful. Instead of regurgitating the same old “best online storage” articles, you can come up with article topics that cover the nuts and bolts of online storage, how to get the most value out of online storage and tips for avoiding data loss.

This is just an example, but the point is that it pays to develop the best website in whatever niche you choose. Constant Google updates have made it much more difficult to throw up cheap websites and buy a bunch of links to get them ranking. You now need to create websites that become recognized for providing high quality information.

Additionally, you get more reliable traffic when you become the number one authority site in your niche. Instead of relying entirely on Google for traffic, you will get people who come back on their own – people who bookmark your website and recommend it to their friends. People on discussion forums link to your website and you gain traffic that doesn’t rely on Google.

You Can Dominate Any Niche

A few years ago, I started a website that revolved around online gambling and gambling strategy. Online gambling is one of the most competitive niches on the internet. If you do a little Google research on “online gambling,” you’ll see that the web is littered with millions of similar websites.

Getting started in this niche felt like starting at the bottom of Mount Everest and staring up at the very top. I knew I had a long, long ways to go before it paid off. But, I was also confident that I had what it takes to dominate this niche. I didn’t have a big budget (I actually had no budget), but I had one thing that most people in my niche don’t have:

I had love for the topic.

I have always been fascinated by gambling theory and knew that if I could stick with this project, my website would be a success. I put serious work into the website for a couple of years before I saw any real returns. I didn’t focus on building links or pumping out content; I spent my time writing unique, in-depth articles that I truly hoped people would find useful.

The website never did rank number one for “online gambling,” but it ended up developing a following and ranking for tons of longtail keywords. I became a specialized expert in the industry and my website now makes more money every month than what most people make at a full time job.

This is an extreme example because online gambling is such a competitive niche. If you can pick a niche that’s half as competitive and develop your website with the same amount of dedication and love that I put in on my own website, you can make loads of money. The key is to spend time developing high quality content.

Finding Your Niche

The best way to find the “perfect” niche is to start websites that revolve around topics you actually love. It is about a million times easier to write high quality content when the subject actually interests you. For example, I could easily start a website about birdhouses, but the subject wouldn’t catch my interest. This would show through in my writing and it would turn visitors off.

Pick a subject you love and I guarantee there’s a way to monetize that subject. It doesn’t matter if your love is online file storage, online gambling, audiobooks or antique dress shoes; there’s always a way to make money. You can find affiliate programs for almost any subject in the world. And if you can’t find a quality affiliate program, there is always AdSense or flat-rate advertising.

Even if your favorite subjects don’t seem very profitable, it’s almost always better to pick a subject that interests you rather than a subject that you find boring. Not only will your love of the subject show in your writing, but it will also be easier for you to stick with the project long enough to see a return.

That brings me to another point. People who constantly search for the next best niche tend to give up before they see returns. Even the “best” niches require hard work and dedication. You cannot simply pick a niche and make money by throwing up cheap content. You will always have to stick with it, work hard and then work hard some more.

Don’t take this post as a hardcore, in-your-face work-ethic article. It’s actually full of good news: you can make money with the niche you love. Pick something that you enjoy writing about and you will eventually succeed no matter what.