LESSON #21: Surveying the Market & Focusing Your Topic

By | August 23, 2008
292 Comments

In the previous two lessons we talked about how to select a niche market, and how to determine whether there’s money to be made in it.

Today we’re going to refine your topic to make sure you’re zooming in on the desires of your niche audience. If you fail to do this, your product runs the risk of missing the target…

(Watch this video…)

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Main points:

  • You need to figure out what information people would be willing to pay for.

    In general, people may be willing to pay for information that will…
    – ease their pain
    – fuel their pleasure

  • Most successful infoproducts are focused on a problem/solution.

  • There are some niches in which people are not going to pay for information. If you find yourself in one of these niches, then I suggest you do one of two things…

    1) find a different niche
    2) figure out different way to monetize it (ie. give the info away for free to build a list, and monetize the back end through physical product/affiliate sales)

  • The best way to find out exactly what your niche wants is to conduct a survey.

  • If you have as list of subscribers in your niche, survey them. Here are three ways you can conduct your survey.

    1) email replies

    2) self hosted survey – You can put a survey on your own website using a script such as this one (available with Master Resale Rights)

    3) 3rd party survey – I recommend doing an ASK Campaign

    UPDATE: I now use Instant Form Pro for most of my surveys. That’s what I used for my twitter survey, and other surveys. I like how easy it is to set up, and how it enables me to export the data to Excel to sort it as I wish.

  • If you don’t have a list, there are several other ways to conduct a survey…

    1) Hire a market research firm (generally not recommended, due to the high cost)

    2) Make a deal with a list owner in your niche. Create a win-win situation where the list owner benefits from the data being collected (or some other mutually beneficial arrangement).

    3) Use PPC. You can send targeted traffic to a survey on your own site, or to an ASK Campaign. This will cost you some money, but very cheap compared to some alternatives (as few as 100 respondents may be enough).

    4) Find free traffic. Get involved in forums in your niche, and then poll other members. Use social networks, etc.

    5) Do it offline. Call people you know who are in your niche, text them, email them… do whatever it takes. Poll your neighbors, your church members, whatever you need to do to make sure your product hits the bulls eye.

  • Incentivizing your survey will result in a higher response rate (just make sure the incentive is targeted to your desired audience).

  • Examples of questions you can ask…

    What is your biggest problem regarding _________ ?

    How difficult is it to find the answer to that problem?

    What would you most like to learn about ________ ?

    How much would you be willing to pay for a solution to ____________ ?

  • Be sure to include at least one or two open ended questions. Multiple choice are easier to analyze, but open ended will give you more valuable feedback.

  • Dig as deep as you can. (8 questions is a good target, but you may want to do just a few questions if you’re polling your own list)

  • If you choose to not do a survey, it is imperative that you do some additional research, which could include the following resources.

  • Go to Yahoo Answers: http://answers.yahoo.com

    You want to know what PROBLEMS they are having. So pay special attention to questions like…

    “Can someone tell me how to fix/improve/avoid… ______?”
    “Is there a better/cheaper/faster way to… ______?”
    “I need help with… _______”

  • Check out Board Tracker: http://www.boardtracker.com (search engine of forums)

    Look for problems related to your niche that people are discussing on the forums.

  • Look at Ezine Articles: http://www.EzineArticles.com

    This is the biggest article submission site, and will show you what is being done by other internet marketers to provide information in your niche. Are all of your audience’s most burning questions already being answered for free in these articles? Look at the author bio boxes to see how they are attempting to monetize the articles (ie. do they have a competing infoproduct?)

  • The more competitive the niche, the more important for you to have a strong USP. (There are ways to break into a market without a USP, but I generally don’t recommend it)

  • USP = Unique Selling Point, or Unique Selling Proposition

    Action steps:

    1) Survey your market and/or

    2) Research the market in detail to find out exactly what they want

    3) Decide what the focus of your topic will be

    4) Come up with a USP for your product

    I want to give you fair warning that this is where a lot of new marketers miss the boat. If you end up with a product that nobody wants to buy, more than likely you can trace it back to this lesson and see that you didn’t dig deep enough into your market to find out what they really want to pay for.

    Once you’ve narrowed down your topic, it’s time to envision your product and come up with a great brand name. I’ll be talking all about that in the next lesson.

    As always, you are welcome to post your questions and comments below 🙂

    Have a great day!

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    • 292 thoughts on “LESSON #21: Surveying the Market & Focusing Your Topic”

    1. Eric Post author

      You’re on the right track. Yes you would use opt-in pages. The opt-in pages would be SE optimized for the keyword, but it would not actually contain the ANSWER that the visitor is looking for. In order to get the answer, they would need to opt-in to get the free report (via email, or PDF, or HTML page).

      you wouldn’t actually need to create a membership area to deliver the report. You COULD if you wanted to… (I talk about free memberships in lesson #32). But in general you can just deliver the report via email, automatically via your autoresponder once they opt in.

      Reply ↓
    2. Seth

      Sweet, that makes sense.
      That sounds like such an awesome idea! Can’t wait to give it a shot.
      Thanks!

      Reply ↓
    3. RUDOLF HENRIQUEZ

      Hi Eric!
      A lot of information your are bringing to us!
      I am doing my best to hang on!
      regards

      Reply ↓
    4. trina

      the lessons are very useful im just trying to figure out how to find a niche when i work for a company in a small town that has to do with potatoes product please help me get started

      Reply ↓
    5. JoAnn

      Eric, I had chosen cooking for my niche but after exhaustive research I think that niche is fairly well saturated. I did a small survey on Yahoo answers to see what people would pay for ecookbooks,(about $9.95). I found recipe organizers with cookbook templates(create yourown), nutrition info and other accessories, all with memberships, but the big companies do not have affiliates…Recipe Zaar for example. I looked into household budgets as a possible niche, that too seems saturated with free to very low priced software and memberships but no affiliates. Other than Amazon, Sendmerecipes, and PLR Food Content, can you recommend and another source to find more affiliates in the cooking culinary niche.I found an ebooks store on clickbank with 40K titles and affiliate program. I could add that one and choose just 12 or 20 top sellers. What do you think?

      Reply ↓
    6. JoAnn

      Further to my previous blurb. Perhaps I should pursue blog writing and/or copywriting. In which case where do I start to research that niche?

      Reply ↓
    7. Eric Post author

      I think you should keep focusing on your own business and trying to find your niche, rather then the ebooks store. Yes the cooking niche is saturated, but its big enough to support more marketers. The key, if you were to go that route, would be to carve out your own niche within the cooking niche. You would need to really think about what do you bring to the market that is unique and different?

      Reply ↓
    8. Eric Post author

      I think it’s best to have your own product, even if you get involved with blogging and/or copywriting. As you will see in lesson #37 and #38, blogging actually fits nicely with selling products, or virtually any other type of online business. The key in a competitive niche like cooking, would be to really focus on developing a PERSONALITY for your blog. It must be unique and attractive to your target market. There are plenty of blogs about cooking, but you can set yourself apart by branding yourself in a unique and attractive way. For example, there are plenty of blogs about internet marketing, but there is only one Eric’s Tips.

      Reply ↓
    9. RobT

      Eric these lessons are are GoOoD-Great keep it up, will keep reading, have learned alot from you. Thanks

      Reply ↓
    10. Anonymous

      JoAnn,

      The idea of nutrition specifically designed for children is a relatively new market. An even newer part of that market is healthy meals for children to prevent high blood pressure and other health issues. That might be your special place in that big sector.

      Reply ↓
    11. Louise

      I goofed!! I forgot to fill in the little form here so that anonymous post above is from me. Sorry about that.

      Reply ↓
    12. Louise

      JoAnn and Eric,

      I guess my “anonymous” post didn’t stay posted. That’s okay.

      What I said in that post was that the idea of nutrition for children is a relatively new area of the cooking spectrum. Cooking healthy meals for children to alleviate or prevent illnesses such as high blood pressure is really a new idea since it has only been in the last couple years that doctors have discovered children being afflicted with the illness. Maybe you can find your special spot in the cooking arena by focusing on helping mothers provide healthy meals and snacks for their kids so they do not become the next generation of fat adults. I know my mother sure could have used that kind of information when I was a kid. I weighed 4 pounds, 6 ounces at birth and passed 100 pounds in the 3rd grade!

      Louise

      Reply ↓
    13. Louise

      Eric —

      You titled the email for the repeat telecast of this lesson as DON’T QUIT! Who said anything about quitting. Searching for a niche nearly drove me crazy! I hated having to go to bed without having nailed something down. I was thinking of a couple of possibilities for my business venture.

      I will create my website for FFEDirect4U (FFE contractor) because I believe in my heart there is a market for the service in this area. I think there are less than 10 advertised on the internet and none are in California! There were only 170 searches on Google and most of those were huge construction businesses with many years of experience who do FFE contract work along with other areas of construction. There were only two websites for individuals who offer FFE. I would be an FEE newbie with nothing to show but my school portfolio. I hope I can build a reputation by helping people with residential moves or remodeling projects. I am hoping I can do residential work until I get my degree and probably a state license. Besides, my business plan is already in place for this venture.

      Although the market research seems small, I know several people who wish they could read music — one is my mother-in-law. Since the fundamentals of reading music have been around for a long time, I could probably create a series of lessons with this common knowledge. I could look in the public domain documents for more information and maybe add some pizzazz to the lessons with some sort of graphics. I remember one of my favorite music books when I was learning piano as a child had the notes in different colors on the staff.

      The last area that I researched that seemed like it would be possible was the topic of debt relief. Since I am definitely not an expert in the field, I have no clue what my unique product would be since I do not feel that I have the time to write an ebook.

      If you have any advice, I would sure appreciate it.

      Louise
      Ever other topic that I have any interest in is saturated or almost non-existant. Some of the entries in ClickBank would not open; I got the “website cannot be found” message, which adds to the frustration.

      Reply ↓
    14. ayiee

      Hi Eric,
      You always give your very BEST!! Thanks for the valuable info on lesson 21. It’s going to take me quite some time to go through all the resources you listed.
      Thanks and God bless,

      Reply ↓
    15. Eric Post author

      It sounds like you have 3 possible niches in mind. My advice would be to choose one to start with, rather than trying to attack 2 or more simultaneously. All things considered, I would suggest going with the one that you are most interested in, and will keep you motivated through the more difficult phases of setting up your first online business. Once you’ve got that experience under your belt, it will be easier to attack subsequent niches as you expand your business.

      Reply ↓
    16. Scott Gorczyca

      Thanks for this lesson! The last thing I want to do is invest a lot of time into something that has little chance of generating some income.

      Reply ↓
    17. Glenn

      HELP HELP HELP!!! I have ‘lost’ lesson #20. Could you please please please send that one ‘lost’ lesson so I can keep on keeping on. Thanks a ton!!!

      Reply ↓
    19. Paul J Miller

      Wow what a lesson! You are not going to have a very good business if you don’t follow this lesson to a tee. I still have other newbe problems and they are: I have now sign up for 2 web business and paid for them with recites in hand and your dictionary ebook and have had no results in recieving them. What am I doing wrong?

      Reply ↓
    20. L C

      Wow! These two lessons were very powerful (20 and 21)
      Learning to do the research to find a niche will take some time, but now with your help and direction at least I know how to go about it.

      I’m passionate about green products and the google, clickbank and keyword results did NOT net big traffic numbers. However, renewable energy products seemed to fare better. I still have some ideas to narrow down my topic, but it may need to stay on the back burner for awhile.

      For my first infoproduct I think I’d like to try something that would make me some startup money for some of the helpful tools that have been offered and defray the cost of a new website. In particular I liked Keyword Elite and SpyFu. I’m sure there will be others as the course progresses. I may need to find a topic that I’m not as familiar with to land a winner. Who said this would be easy? LOL.

      Eric, I want to thank you. The information you offer us is priceless. For the first time I’m starting to believe I could be successful at internet marketing!

      Reply ↓
    22. zane

      HEY Eric That was really good video eric.I got a lot from those tips you recomended.I made notes and will impliment your ideas to find the right nieche,this is great work eric, thanks.

      Reply ↓
    23. Samuel

      Hi Eric,

      thanks for this valuable information. You have just opened my eyes about finding niche.

      Cheers,
      Samuel

      Reply ↓
    24. Samuel

      Dear Eric,
      I have question regarding with research market through Yahoo Answer.
      I recently research a particular keyword in Yahoo Answer. The result is more than 2000 but I noticed that only 10 questions which were submitted in 30-60 days ago. The others were submitted more than 60 days. It means the questions are not popular anymore, doesn’t it?
      Do I need watch date submitted in the research?

      thanks

      Reply ↓
    25. Micah

      Hello Samuel,

      Taking timeframes into account when researching your market’s popularity is a great idea! Remember that there are many other places that people use to find answers too.

      Reply ↓
    26. robert

      why did you send me another copy of lesson 21 when i was expecting lesson 22. you threw me for a loop, i had to recheck what the date was.was this in error? will i recieve lesson 22?i always look forward to these lesson to start my day.keep up the good work

      Reply ↓
    28. robert

      its not a problem.thanks for the feed back.i save al the lesson and generaly go over them several times i may go four lessons see something and go back to recheck what i’m learning.i’m learning to correct my mistakes and to utilise what i have.this make them less costly.keep up the good work. i tell everyone about your life lesson they were worth taking the class by themselves.reading the comments is a lot like being with classmates and having good discussions on the subject being taught.

      Reply ↓
    29. Claudia

      These last few lessons have been very very informative. I feel I need about a week to do the research on my ideas, but I don’t want to get too far behind on the videos…I did read “How to have your Own Information Product in 30 Days!” …the hardest thing for me is making judgements about what I see on google, yahoo!answers etc…when I’m looking at results sometimes my conclusions about what the results mean are off track…I’m learning what is significant as the videos continue, but I do worry I am not coming to the same conclusions you would lokking at the same data.

      Reply ↓
    31. ngozi

      Eric, i am so excited. But I have bought and hosted my domain with the site you gave, but I am yet to get the confirmation. I have even sent the verification details. Please help me look into this and act on it.
      Thanks

      Reply ↓
    33. Arlan

      Hi Eric,
      The lessons 20 and 21 is very meaty but I need to watch them again maybe for two more times to be able to grasp the nutrients of the said lessons.

      Reply ↓
    34. Arlan

      Hi Eric,
      Suppose I have a website and as I diligently work on getting traffic for it, I end up on top of the ranking in Google search, aside from possible many sales, what will be my other benefit to that? Thanks!

      Reply ↓
    35. Eric Post author

      Traffic is the lifeblood of this business. Beyond sales, there are other ways to monetize traffic. My favorite method is list-building. Other options include contextual advertising, paid advertising, selling the website, etc.

      Reply ↓
    36. Richard

      Hi Eric, thanks for research tips. I understand the benefits of yahoo answers you showed on this video. I also understand that Amazon is a good place to research the market ie customers reviews on niche products etc. I have a better idea how to drill down for a niche now. Thanks

      Reply ↓
    37. mike

      The most important thing i am learning from your lessons so far is how to THINK again. i am so glad i stumbled upon your site. Thanks

      Reply ↓
    38. Butch

      Hi Eric,
      At least I understand the internet a bit better and I can now research specifics.

      Regards
      Butch Hannan

      Reply ↓
    39. laurie

      Eric,
      Thanks in advance, you took the words right out of my head, so much info, how do you put it together. I am a teacher as well, love your style:)

      Reply ↓
    40. David Aderinto

      This is a major area in marketing and this is deep. It looks like i may not be ready to launch my own info products now but can i use the same tools and system here to analyse the affiliate products to promote.

      Reply ↓
    41. Fred Ginder

      Hi Eric:

      Hope I’m still on your mailing list. I’ve been waiting for Lesson #22 but, to date, it has not arrived. Please let me know if I need to do something to continue with your lessons. I’m a complete nubie and have come to rely on your guidance.

      Reply ↓
    42. ibrahim shaibu

      Hi Eric,
      The niche i am interested in has a high search result,Quite a number of people are asking questions about it on yahoo, but there is no available result when i search for it at clickbank market place.
      Does it mean that the niche is still not profitable. Pls reply.

      Reply ↓
    43. Eric Post author

      It is possible that you’ve found a good niche with little competition. There’s obviously interest in the topic. The question is whether this market HAS MONEY and is willing to SPEND it on your product. Are there any PPC advertisers bidding on your keywords on google?

      Reply ↓
    44. TreasureCoach

      Thanks Eric, that was a great lesson. Not only trying to find a niche but also check out whether there is any money to make in that particular niche.

      All the best,
      Arne

      Reply ↓
    45. TreasureCoach

      Hello Eric,
      I received your email with lesson 21 twice. But no problem, because this great lesson is worth it. I think this lesson is the best so far… very very valuable information on how to find a profitable niche.

      Thanks again,
      Arne

      Reply ↓
    46. Behram

      Hi Eric – I find the content of your lessons excellent. I have virtually enjoyed everyone of them. I am on lesson number 21 and look forward to all of them. I am sure I will something which I will put to use and let you know.

      Reply ↓
    48. Joyce

      Eric,

      Do I need to have a website and domain up and running before going any farther with the next lesson which is #22? In other words can I do surveys w/o having all this.

      Reply ↓
    49. ahsan

      eric you are doing a great job.. i have learn a lot up to this point from you. thank you

      Reply ↓

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