Finding Your Nook and Cranny

Online or off, a time tested method of succeeding in business is to focus on an unexploited area. You are probably wondering how. Here is your answer.

Finding Your Nook and Cranny

When we talk about a nook, we are simply identified a very focused area of business. There are a zillion sites selling movies, but very few selling French movies from the 1960s. If there is sufficient interest in such movies, you could build a business around selling such classic movies. This concept applies to any business area regardless of whether you are selling products or offering services.

You need to do some daydreaming. Most people make the mistake of focusing on a subject that they think will make a ton of money. Problems can occur with this approach because if you have no inherent interest in the area besides money, you will eventually grow disillusioned with it. If you are going to start a business, you want it be enjoyable. If it is just another job, you have made a bad mistake. This brings us back to daydreaming.

You need to give serious thought to your interests, and not just your interests today. What have you always been interested in? Don’t worry about how you will make money, just focus on the subject matter. Remember the cliché – find something you love and the money will follow. This is exactly what you want to do. Once you have an idea, it is time to figure out how to make money off of it.

For a web business, you want to focus on something known as keyword research. Keyword research is crucial because you can type in a phrase and see the exact phrases people have used to search on Google, Yahoo and MSN that incorporate the world. Even better, you can see how many people use the phrase each day. Doing keyword research lets you determine if there is enough interest in your area and the exact phrases your prospects are using to find things in the area. It doesn’t get much better than that!

There are a variety of tools you can use. Overture offers a free tool that will give you a general idea, but is not the most accurate. Wordtracker is much better, but will set you back a few bucks. Keyword Discovery is similar, but runs a few more dollars yet. Regardless of your choice, make sure to use one of these for keyword research.

Once you identify the phrases used by your prospects, you can determine if there is enough interest in your nook. You can also identify the exact phrases they are using and tailor your site and marketing to those phrases.