Back in lesson 7, we established that the type of online business model I’m going to be teaching is primarily an information publishing business.
In other words, you’re going to sell your own information product (also known as an infoproduct). But before we can create an infoproduct, we need to choose a topic for it.
(Watch this video…
NOTE: This niche selection process applies to virtually ANY type of online business– not just infoproducts!)
Main points:
1) They think they’re going to be married to it (so they stress out and procrastinate making the choice)
2) They’re afraid it’s going to fail and not be profitable.
(both reasons are basically that they are afraid of choosing the wrong niche)
1) Something you know
2) Something you don’t know
1) Your enthusiasm will help sell it
2) It will be a better product
3) You can relate to your market
– How big is the niche?
– How competitive is the niche?
– How profitable is the niche?
Action step:
1) Brainstorm some topics that you would be interested in turning into a product. Write them down.
Don’t worry about details of the niche market for it yet…we’ll be doing the research in the next lesson.
If you don’t already have some ideas in mind, and don’t know how to start brainstorming, here are some places to look for ideas (starting points)…
1) What’s hot on Ebay (updated each season)
2) Ebay Popular (dynamic popularity rankings)
3) Best sellers on Amazon (updated hourly)
4) Shopping.com Consumer Demand Index (updated every 2 weeks)
5) Most popular goals on 43things (updated daily)
6) Google hot trends (updated throughout the day)
Special Offer:
Today I’m offering an ebook which explains how to have your own product online and making sales within 30 days.
If you’re interested in discovering all the details about the niche selection process, or in getting a jump start on the rest of the product creation process, this ebook is for you.
It is a brand new exclusive ebook created for Eric’s Tips.
“How to Have Your Own Information Product in 30 Days“.
Click here to get more details and download this ebook
(Resale Rights also available)
As always, you are welcome to post your questions and comments below. Feel free to let me know if you’ve got some topics in mind, or if you’ve already chosen a niche.
Have a great day!
I have done zero research on this, but out of the above 3 choices my instinct would go with the “wellness practitioners”.
The chubby speakers is the smallest niche, and might be tough to really locate your target market.
There is a market for the entrepreneurs, but from what I’ve seen most online entrepreneurs just want to make money and aren’t interested in health. There are some marketers successfully selling health-related stuff to this niche, but not many.
The newbie wellness practitioners are a big market, especially if you count all the “fringe” areas of the industry. These people are already trying to make money in the wellness industry. You would be giving them the opportunity to make more money… and that’s the kind of info-product that sells well online. In addition to info-products that teach them HOW to build their business, you could also sell Resale Rights and PLR material that they can actually sell (online or even offline) to boost their income.
I believe there are some other ways for you to get a Paypal account, such as establishing a US or Canadian business address, or partnering with someone here. There are also alternatives such as 2Checkout.
I’m loving this site and have saved everything into my favourites folder and renamed so I can move easily back and forward to the various sections, what your doing is really appreciated and I know that following closely will get my business turning a profit real soon.
Hi Eric,
I am enjoying all of the lessons; however, like someone else posted earlier, I feel a bit lost. It seems like a lot of people are so advanced and have websites already. Do I have to be a great writer and do a lot of writing for my future website and do I have to be somewhat of an expert at something? I hope not because I am neither but I really want to run an online business. I’m still trying to find a Niche. I basically have a little knowledge in some things but I am in no means an expert in any one thing. I’m going to see this through.
Thank you for your help!
No you do not have to be a great writer, or be an expert. In fact the best way to build a business is to find people who are better than you at each task, and outsource it to them 🙂
As you will see through the lessons, I will give detailed information about how you can do most things yourself… but ultimately ALL of it can be outsourced.
And there are ways to get stuff done, even if you don’t have captial initially to hire contractors. For example, you can partner with an expert in a niche, you can partner with a copywriter, etc.
Thanks for the response. Very encouraging!
hi Eric, i am starting to think maybe affiliate marketing might b better for me to start, i have no idea on a niche for a infro product, when will u b talking more on affiliate marketing?
I’ll be covering some affiliate marketing much later on in the lessons, but it will be mostly from the standpoint of doing it from within an infoproduct business. Affiliate marketing is only getting more difficult as the FTC lays down more restrictions, and I really think most people have a better chance of long term success if they build the base of their business with their own products.
Hi Eric,
thanks for the information. After reading this, i think i might be in the wrong niche to start with! 🙁
I’m still struggling on finding a proper and profitable niche, and everyone here seems so advance. I thnk there’s still more to learn once you found out that special niche. Can’t wait for your next lesson Eric!
Eric,
I have fast forward to this lessons because I realized I am not that much of a newbie…U were right I had so much information in my mind that I just did not know what to do. I was stuck precisely on this What should I sell what should my niche be…
thank yo so much.
Eric,
I have a question. Let’s say you have done your market research and the market is pretty saturated. With both commercial offerings and blogs, forums and general help sites for that niche. Do you try to do something different or maybe choose another niche? I am having trouble pulling the trigger on a market to go after because it looks so daunting out there. I understand quite a lot, or at least I think so…lol, but this one area is my weakest link I think.
It is a tough call Randal. I would say it depends on whether there’s a lot of money in this niche, and whether you see a clear way of getting some of that money. If it’s a highly profitable niche, I would not shy away from it due to competition if it’s something you want to pursue. Just because there’s a lot of competition that does not mean the market is necessarily saturated. On the other hand, if it IS truly oversaturated that can obviously be a problem. But ultimately you do need to pull the trigger on something and then succeed or fail as fast as possible.
Another good lesson… thanks Eric…!!!
I am looking forward to the next video.
All the best,
Arne
Just want to say tanks again for sharing all this. I Have started my business on many of these principles you discuss. And you are right about starting and failing, but failing really is such a negative word but one to get past because you know you just learned something from it.
why won’t lesson 14 video play now, it played before. (error not found)
It should play. Have you tried all these solutions?
This has been my no. 1 problem-finding the right niche. So like you said, I end up doing nothing. I hope, with your help this will finally help me develop a niche that I can have success with. So far your videos have been awesome and I can’t wait for the rest of them.
Hi Eric and everybody
Thank you Eric this lesson gave me some some good juice for my niche, i am going to use it and put it to work I have been thinking about this for quit some time and today you gave me the inspiration to go on to the next step, and I am looking forward to your next lesson thank you Eric
and best wishes to you and everybody who reads this
Juergen
Thanks for the tips Eric–I found Best Sellars on Amazon to be very helpful, espeically with “ever green” topics.
Thanks Bryan for taking the time to share such a good list. It is appreciated.
Jack
Irene,
How about putting your website address in your signature? I would like to go to your blog but I don’t know where it is.
Jack
Hi,
Eric, your lessons are fantastic.Keep it up.Being a doctor i was planning to strat a online website keeping in mind online pharamacy store along with live consultation with doctors. Though much bigger players already have larger presence on net i just wanted your guidance and opinion about this niche.Any reply will be appreciated.
Thank you.
Eric, I am greatly interested in the above product, and will most likely purchase it with resale rightes also. However, I would prefer to finish all the lessons first, as I am the kind of individual who avoids “diving” into the water. I like to walk in. (Usually to avoid “bumping” my head too severely on “a rocky shallow bottom, or getting “stuck in the muck” on the bottom.) Therefore my question is will the product still be available, as it appears, at the end of your lessons/lectures?
I am what I consider to be a “somewhat” successful entreprenuer and business owner. (by “somewhat” I mean I ain’t no Bill Gates or J.P.Morgan, (THAT’S “success”) but I do earn a fairly decent income. This will be my first attempt at an online business oporation, so being to cautious type, I investigate and research as completely as I possibly can BEFORE I “get wet”, if you follow my metaphore.
I can be most easily contacted via my email, as I rarely revisit a previous lesson/lecture unless I feel the need.I do find your instruction as well as your delivery at once, most relaxing and informative. A shame that most of my instructors at university weren’t.
Sincerely,
Ed.
I have been stuck at this stage for over a year. I just can’t seem to get passed finding the “perfect” product or service idea. I may just try your informational product in 30 days after all. I need all the help I can get to move past my stumbling block.
There is no perfect product idea. Sometimes you just have to settle for something “good” and then take action… take a risk on it.
If you fail, you can try something else 😉
Thanks, and yes it should still be available.
It’s a profitable niche, and it’s EVERGREEN. It will never go away.
Thanks, eric for all these lessons ,they are great.
Im realy happy so far about what i see.
god bless u!
Hi Eric,
It’s been couple of days since I saw last lesson. But I’m back now and I enjoy much of these lessons, thank you.
That video gave me some ideas… on how to reach a bigger audience and other forms of content creation… And a new niche to explore possibly? Its fair to say good vid Eric!
Thank you so much for sharing this information, you gave me some good ideas that I will be trying. There are many niches to choose from, but the difficult part is to find a profitable one.
The lesson 19 video can’t be accessed.
It goes blank ! I tried several times and regret it very much. I like listening to the previous lessons,
interesting and easy to understand. Thanks, Eric.
Please try these solutions:
Hello Eric. My name is Tatiana and I’d like to join Online Community to start launching my own business. What would be my first steps?
Thank you very much.
Of course my opinion is biased, but I really recommend following all of my lessons.. step by step.
I am still stumbling on choosing a niche and getting traffic. I have run some tests with blogs and nothing is getting traffic. How do I get traffic?
I will be covering traffic generation in depth in lessons #72 – #86.
Hi Eric, I have been trying to figure out where to start from on niche, but you have given me all the clue i need. thanks.
Michael
Hi, Eric
Thank you for all the gold nuggets you are providing to us. I have a website that provides everything you need to build a website under one umbrella. I don’t know how to add other niches to it; or sell ebooks or anything else. I feel quite overwhelmed. can you help?
I’m excited to have a online business, but just as anybody got struck to start off. Kindly help.
…Hey, Eric keep up the good work brother..What about the e books i got from you are they not info e books i got them with resell rights to sell them. That was what i’d sell to fund the bigger picture. Software business, thought you made your wealth That way Or is the software biz not as profitable now. I would like to promote the 15 e books that i invested in. What do you think me starting with them as my info product. With you as my mentor on setting up this website it will be a profitable campaign. So as to them e books what would be the best domain name i have some names picked. That will go with that product niche? That will flow in the title & body content. Coming up with ideas in this niche as I become more famlure. Would it be possible to just add it to the website as an upcoming special. Dose it work that way or do I have to build another site and get a domain every time i get an idea within the same niche? I have put up the money being unemployed and that being close to my last check that was the reason i made that investment in epic fire sale my thinking was to get the website built around the e books Too make the money to fund getting the software with the source codes made as my own produce for a start on a software business unless there’s a reason you sold it. There’s still a market for it right? I hope you can under stand why i was thinking this way.
Robert Weber,
[reply]
Hi Robert, thanks for investing in the firesale. Yes you can use one website for multiple products/ebooks. For example, I sell many different marketing-related products here on my Eric’s Tips site. However, I would not organize it like an “ecommerce” site with many products on one page. I would keep each product seperate with it’s own sales page, or create bundles.
Yes there is still a market for the software. If you don’t have any money to modify and/or rebrand the software, then one option would be to find a programmer to partner with. Offer the programmer a % of your profits in exchange for the work.
I suggest taking it one step at a time. You may need to forget some other things you’ve learned in the past. Start with one niche, and build a website just for it. Keep following the lessons 🙂
I have the same problem here. I have too many good ideas but I don’t know how to turn them into money.
Hi Eric, I am a Newbie trying to get into the internet business and make a success of it. I am so glad that I ran into your website and signed up for your course. I wish it was the first one I came across when I started. All is not lost yet. Anyway, my question is, what do you think of re-sale rights products and how does that work? I have come accross quite a few and I don’t really get whether people make money off those at all. Also, I know that this course is to do with making our own products. Tell me, Do I need a website to make money as an affilliate? I have been one for past 2 months via Blog.com but am yet to see any action. Please advise if you can.
Have a good Xmas!
I do think resale rights products can be a valuable asset for your business, which is why I regularly buy and sell resale rights. The qualifier is that you need to know how to use them. This lesson series gives you the foundation upon which you can use such assets. For example, if you have your own product, and an opt-in list of subscribers… you can use resale rights products as an upsell, or to monetize your list, or as a bonus for an affiliate product, etc. No you don’t need a website to make money as an affiliate, but I wouldn’t recommend doing it that way. I recommend having your own website, and I will explain why in the upcoming lessons.
Hi Eric,
I have had a dream to help other people like me to make a better life for them self’s.
My goal and niche is to give them away so they can do this with the help from me and others. So what mt niche is to help newbie’s like to make #100,000 in there first year online.
Hi Eric,
When I arrived here in the USA from Phiippines just last June of this year as an immigrant, I never had a plan nor interest of learning this IM thing. But while doing some research on-line, I came across with this women who always greet me “Hi! this is HONEY” before doing some presentations about Blogspot and had mentioned your name, I readily visited your blogsite and registered to receive your newletters.
All your lessons are very encouraging which had excited me to try to understand and gain some knowledge about IM with a plan as per your advice to create an info product of my own. I don’t even have any ideas about FB and Twitter before. Although, I am a slow learner about internet technology but I am learning.
I am already 56yo but still a newbie in this field. I am into off-line business before, but this time, I would like your guidance regarding my plan, because I will be taking a vacation back to the Philippines for 2 years.
To update you, I have already acquired a domain name with lifedomains and the next is to have it hosted with getgator and to subscribe some stuffs which you may recommend as my guide during this so called “my learning stage”, etc. I already have a bank account here in NY and also with paypal. I had downloaded “Your Own Info Product in 30 days” to have some ideas about creating an info product.
At this stage, no amount of hardship can discourage me to continue doing my new found interest with info publishing and my eagerness in learning your 100 step by step lessons through your newsletters.
My concern at the moment is this. Will there be some requirements along the way that will require my physical presence here especially if I have to negotiate (if there will be) or a need to outsource something? I want to make all the necessary requirements be done while I am still here and also what are the advantages or disadvantages of not being physically present here in this line of business? Please advice.
Thank you very much.
Hi Nicolas, glad to have you on board. To answer your question, no there is nothing that would require your physical presence. That’s one of the great things about doing business online– you can do it from anywhere in the world with an internet connection.