Should You Go Niche?

[Crum]

Should you go niche or find a way to stand out in a broader market? That's the focus of this article by Solomon Rothman. The article is based on the popular advice that small businesses will do better if they dominate a small niche. Rothman says:

This advice is sound and has generally stood the test of time online, but it's not the only way to obtain an audience and find online success. Many people get sucked into thinking they have to go overly niche or they won't have an opportunity to stand out in the jungle of cyberspace. THIS IS NOT TRUE.

Picking too narrow of a topic, like most sites do, limits the creativity of the author and puts strict limitations on what the site can become. When Myspace was launched Friendster was already online and doing well. Myspace didn't pick a niche; they innovated and created one of the most successful website of all time. There are countless other examples.

He has a point, but standing out may be easier said than done.

Overly niche sites can be boring, but I think they are less boring to the person interested in that particular niche. But then obviously by going niche you are missing out on the rest of the market that is interested in a broader area around that niche.

I guess the question is, how much interest is there in your niche?

[bj]

Of course you should go Niche. A niche at a time.

Sticking in the first niche and obsessing about it is the quick way to a slow death.

Trying to widen the focus to a very competitive term is a headbanger. I personally am not a masochist, thank you very much.

Whereas if you conquer a niche and then start to conquer related niches and widen your pool a niche at a time you'll prevail over the long haul.

[sub_kovert]

Of course you should go Niche. A niche at a time.

I like that - It makes sense.

I also think 'going niche' does not necessarily mean offering a new product or service. If you can build a site to be friendlier and more convenient then you are always going to get visitors returning.

We spent a long long time building the database for a client selling power tool spare parts online. We made it easy for the end user, exploded drawings and parts listings for all major brands of power tool. People have told the company how much they like using the site, being able to print of these pages for future reference etc.

I guess what I am trying to say is that a new site can compete in a current online market if the website build is effective and friendly, and the 'niche' doesn't have to be the actual products/services but what the site itself supplies.

[bj]

Yes, that's the right idea. The more keyphrases you pick up on searches, the more niches you're hitting. Even better, providing some sort of "free service" like your parts people are doing makes people feel an obligation to at least explore and poke about a bit, which might not always result in a sale but sometimes does. It can also result in a bookmark and a future sale.

One of the things that has worked for me is actually searching the awstats for the slightly oddball phrases that are getting used more than a few times. You won't believe some of them! Then I try to weave those phrases naturally into blogposts on the blog, and link descriptions on the webgeek directory, so that I start building those phrases as niches. It doesn't take very long to show up in the top 10 on the Big Three for those oddball phrases. Develop a few hundred of those over the course of a few months and you will start to see some significant differences in your traffic. And it is FUN to watch those stats steadily climb!