Discovering niches.

January 16th, 2007 by Shawn

While most webmasters are busy with their next arcade, lyric, cheat code, and Myspace template site, some webmasters are focusing on building content sites spanning a wide variety of topics. They’re always on the lookout for the next original idea for a site — I know I am. With every last medium to large market on the web completely saturated by companies, publishers, and affiliates, it’s becoming increasingly harder for web publishers to find a relatively untapped market.

The following are some ways to do just that:

Yellow Pages
This is by far the most effective one. All of the “old school” industries advertise here, as well as most of the new media companies. A great place to comb through page by page and section by section to find that one great market with very little competition online.

Billboards
While no where near as effective as the phone book, billboards feature a wide variety of advertisers spanning many different industries. Always keep that in your mind while you’re on the road. You can find billboards hosting ads for anything from truck driving schools to beauty schools.

Shopper Newspapers
These are the small newspapers that sit outside restaurants and grocery stores. From front to back the pages are filled with advertisements for local companies and services — a great source for ideas.

Paid Programming
Ever up at 4 a.m? Turn on basic cable. You have a good chance of learning how to consolidate your debt and how to buy real estate, but if you get lucky you’ll find some unique service or product being pitched. Research the industry and perform your due diligence — this is how I found mesothelioma.

How do you find ideas?

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Posted in: Website Development »  by: Shawn

6 Responses to “Discovering niches.”

  1. Chris  Says:
    January 16th, 2007 at 9:01 pm

    Don’t forget about geographical niches. As the popularity of local search grows targeting geographic areas for more popular keywords is a viable path to success.

  2. Michael Gersitz  Says:
    January 17th, 2007 at 4:02 am

    Keep a pad and paper handy, right down any new ideas. If you need to get some new ideas, take a walk around the neighborhood and right down everything you see. Pry them apart and find out what is usable.

  3. Dan Morgan  Says:
    January 17th, 2007 at 4:57 am

    Slightly OT, but one off guest blogger or a permanent recruitment?

  4. Chris  Says:
    January 17th, 2007 at 6:59 am

    Shawn’s been a blogger here since the beginning, he just doesn’t do it very often.

  5. Shawn  Says:
    January 17th, 2007 at 7:31 am

    I lost my information.

    I’ll post much more frequently. I actually e-mailed Chris but never heard back from him.

  6. Alex  Says:
    January 17th, 2007 at 12:19 pm

    A nice recently published list of interesting subject matters (= great source for new niches): http://www.seomoz.org/blogdetail.php?ID=1631

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