Title: To Niche or Not To Niche? Word Count: 704 Summary: Niche Marketing. What is is and what does it mean to me? This article answers these questions and more. Keywords: marketing,niche,niche marketing,business,online business,start business Article Body: (c) 2005, Michael Beauchamp, e-BizResources.com Unless you've been hibernating for the last couple of years, you've probably heard the term "Niche Marketing" a lot. It's one of the current buzz-words in online marketing. Which is kind of funny really since niche marketing has actually been around pretty much as long as marketing has existed. But what is it? I recently read somewhere that "All marketing is Niche Marketing". I don't entirely agree with that - I'd say "ALMOST ALL marketing is Niche Marketing". Niche Marketing is marketing products or services to groups of people (or businesses) who have specific needs or interests in common. Obviously department stores and their online cousins don't fit that description, but almost everything else is ... you guessed it; "Niche Marketing". In the physical world, your local butcher, baker and candlestick maker (sorry, a LITTLE joke there - very little), greengrocer, shoe store, etc, etc. all cater to niche markets, some more focused than others. And in the online world, any web site that focuses on a particular topic is a niche web site, and that describes the vast majority of web sites online today and in the past. So, those that are marketing any kind of product or service are probably already into "Niche Marketing", and may not even know it. Some niches are more crowded and competitive than others. The niches focusing on internet marketing and making money online are probably the most crowded and competitive online, and getting more so every day. So, it's becoming harder and harder for people just entering that market to make any inroads, let alone a big impact. But, don't panic, there are lots of other niches that are far less crowded and competitive. The current emphasis on "Niche Marketing" could probably be more accurately termed; "marketing to niches other than the 'making-money' niche". Which opens up a lot of possibilities for people just starting out in online business. Do you have a hobby or hobbies? Play a sport? What are your interests, are you passionate about or obsessed with a particular subject or activity? (keep it clean, folks) If so, chances are there are other people who share the same interest and that's a potential Niche Market! The same applies to any other hobbies and interests that you could name. You need to do some research to determine if a particular niche or a related "sub-niche" is likely to be profitable. For example, you'll need to check out: 1. Demand - how many people are searching online for related info and/or products. 2. Competition - how many other websites or businesses are already catering to that market? 3. Are people actually spending money in this niche? Now that's all well and good, but ... How do you find out all that stuff? And that brings us to ... The Free Download: "Think Niche & Grow Rich" This great little ebook not only explains in more detail what niche marketing is and why you should get involved, but it also gives you a step-by-step guide to researching niche markets, creating products quickly and getting them online. You'll find a number of free resources that you can use if you're short on cash but have some time to spare. Did you know that you can get answers for the above three research topics using free tools at Overture and Google? Another helpful free tool is the software, "Good Keywords". Besides the free tools mentioned in "Think Niche & Grow Rich", you'll also learn about a fantastic software tool that's dead easy to use and will speed up the process by automating most of the research steps for you. I'm sure you'll learn heaps from this ebook and give your profits a long term boost. To download it now, click the link: http://www.turkiyespot.com/e-bizresources.com/thinkniche</a> Whichever route you decide to take, once you've got one niche site up and working well, you can move on and set up another, then another - as many as you want. And it'll get easier with each one you do. So, as with most things I talk about, the next step is to take action, and do it now. Don't worry about getting everything perfect straight away or first time out, just get started. Happy Niche Marketing.