Finding Your Niche – Look at Newsstands

Posted by Christina Hills | Articles | 12

Before you can have a successful online business, you need to find an avid market. And one of the best ways to find an avid (aka “hungry”) market is to look at the magazine racks in the supermarket for specialized niches.

Well, on my trip to New York City, I stopped at my step sister’s house to visit, and in her bathroom I saw a copy of “New York Runner” magazine.

I thought: “What a great niche!” This proves that if you are starting a website on running, specializing in a certain city would be a great idea. If someone else has created a magazine for it, then that means there are readers for it. And that means that there are advertisers for it. And that means that YOU can make money at it.

So, if you are wondering what business you should go into, first find something that you are passionate about, then go see if someone has made a magazine out of that niche.

If so, then you know you have a passionate, viable, hungry market!

And if you are eager to get that website built for that passion you have, then I hope you will join me in the next Website Creation Workshop. The fall semester starts next month.

About The Author

Christina Hills

Christina Hills helps entrepreneurs setup their websites using WordPress without having to rely on a webmaster. Her trainings are fun and she makes it easy! Get the free PDF "The Do-It-Yourself Website Creation Checklist" Report Here

12 Comments

gertrude lawler on August 4, 2010 at 7:06 am

Hi Christina, great tip!! I work with stressed and burned out exhausted people alot, many of these are planning their wedding, so as im am now organising my own big day i have been buying wedding magazines..i never knew so many of them existed before. now i am thinking..ok maybe i could write an article for one of these magazines…thank you 😉
- Christina Hills on August 4, 2010 at 7:14 am
  
  Gertrude,
  Not only is it a great place to get confirmation that you have picked a good niche, but it’s also a great place to get inspiration!
  See what they are doing, and get ideas for your website!
Flora Morris Brown, Ph.D. on August 4, 2010 at 9:40 am

This is an excellent tip since magazine publishers have already studied the demographics and income potential of a given market. In addition to look at the magazines in the supermarket, we can also check on Amazon where we’re likely to see a more comprehensive listing.
- Christina Hills on August 4, 2010 at 10:18 am
  
  Flora,
  
  good idea to check Amazon too for finding niches
Ann Reynolds on August 4, 2010 at 10:13 am

Great tip Christina-

my business in definetely a very specific niche- winery compliance education!
I am learning more and more every day about marketing my products and services effectively and having fun doing it!
I also just switched my website over to a Word press platform and am loving that too.
- Christina Hills on August 4, 2010 at 10:18 am
  
  Ann,
  
  Now that is a niche! Winery Compliance Education. Gotta love that.
KathyAlice on August 4, 2010 at 11:13 am

Hi Christina,

Great tip, I’ve done something similar but at a bookstore, I figured that if there is a book on the topic then it is viable. However your approach at using the magazine stand is a better bet due to the fact that all magazines are run as a business and need advertisers.
- Christina Hills on August 4, 2010 at 3:13 pm
  
  KathyAlice,
  
  Books are a great idea too, but I think a magazine is a better gage of a market for all the reasons you mentioned.
Kristen Poborsky on August 4, 2010 at 12:07 pm

Hi Christina,

Great article. Some other places to find out if your market is viable:

ClickBank – Look up your topic/market in one of the sub-categories there and if it is in the top 10-20 titles then it is doing well.

Amazon – Go look at the book categories in the topic/area you are interested in and look at the best sellers. If there is a book with similiar information, then you know people are intersted in that topic/market.

Dummies series of books – if a book has been written about the topic/market, then you know it is viable because they spend lots of money on research for those books.

Kristen
- Christina Hills on August 4, 2010 at 3:14 pm
  
  Kristen,
  
  I had not considered the “Dummies” series of books. Yes, if the publisher decides that it’s worth it to write a “Dummies” book on a topic, it’s a great yardstick of that market being a good one to pursue!
  
  🙂 Christina
  
  p.s. get your gravatar.com picture so we can see your face
Annette on August 4, 2010 at 9:56 pm

I don’t agree with marketing only what you’re passionate about. How about being passionate about your paying bills … ?

First make money, then do what you’re passionate about.
- Christina Hills on August 6, 2010 at 7:57 am
  
  Annette,
  
  I agree that paying your bills is important. My point is when looking for a business to get into, find something that you LIKE, something you are passionate about.
  
  Then look to see if there is a viable market for that business. Looking at magazine racks, clickbank, amazon, will all give you clues as to if the market is viable.
  
  Then you will be picking something you can make money at!
  
  🙂 Christina

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