What are your business options if a niche market becomes overcrowded?

15 December 2009

Focusing on a tight niche is the best way to turn your business into a real money maker. However, there are times that your selected niche market can be overcrowded, especially online.

So many people are involved in Internet marketing that, like it or not, an “original” idea might not be so original after all. You have to learn how to identify an overcrowded market. But the idea isn’t to flee from this market; instead, it’s to excel in it.

The way to spot an overcrowded niche market is simple: pay attention to your competition. With some products you sell, you may find that the keywords you use earn you high ranks on search engines with little interference. For others, however, you will find that the competition is stiff.

Some people’s natural inclination is to run far, far away from this and regroup. Well, you can’t do that. Even if you do find a wholly original idea, it will be copied, ad nauseum, as soon as you begin to profit. You need to learn to separate yourself from your competition.

Believe it or not, even if you’re selling the exact same products, you can run an original business. Let’s say you’re going with Italian cookbooks. Well, some may refuse to go this route from the beginning, convinced that Mario Batali and other popular/famous cookbook writers have the market cornered.

This isn’t the case at all. For just this particular niche, there are so many ways you can go to separate yourself from the competition. How about a low-carb version? With pasta, a food very high in carbs, your cookbook will be something original in a crowded market. And what about something like “101 sauces that don’t use tomatoes”?

Of course, the idea isn’t to copy these ideas word-for-word, but to think of ways you can create a slight separation in the market you’re in. You don’t want to stray so far away that you lose your market base. Instead, you only want to become the authority of your particular branch of this niche - a niche within a niche, if you will.

There are a couple of surefire ways in which you can separate your respective products from similar products without losing the niche. The first is all about how far you’re willing to explore your creativity.

Take an hour, or two, or even the whole day to brainstorm ideas. Think of ways you can spin it so that your product isn’t just like everyone else’s products. Maybe you’ll offer better bonuses, a better price, or any one of a number of things.

Another way you can separate your business is to separate the search results. People will only know about the businesses they’re able to locate with search engines. If you put emphasis on different keywords, then your product will come up in a different search base within that same niche. For example, using the cookbooks again, a “low cost” version or even something like “what to do with leftovers” will turn you on to an entirely new base.

Remember to always do the proper research and find out how you can separate yourself for your competitors. There is no truly original product on the ‘Net. Everyone’s selling variations of the same thing. Look at what the successful people do compared to the unsuccessful. You’ll easily find the working formula.

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