Online Business L(a)unch™ > Business Idea: Find Your Market

Find Your target Market

Even if you have already decided what you want to do, this is only the first step. Good idea alone isn’t enough: nothing will grow even from the most brilliant idea if there's no market for it.

Absolutely all successful products or services are developed to solve particular problems or meet the basic human needs or wants.

Find  market with some particular needs/wants or problems first, then create product/service that meet their needs. Believe me it would be much easier than developing your product or service and then trying to convince people that they need it!

If you went for a 'passion approach',  find group of people (your niche market) who share your interests or have the same passion. Start looking for related discussion groups or forums, check how many and how active they are. Remember, this is the place where you can find people who will most likely become your customers or visitors to your website.

Pay attention to what these people talking about, complaining, etc. Remember, you need to identify unmet needs/ wants and problems they have.

Google Groups, MSN Groups or Yahoo Groups can help you to find discussion boards and newsgroups related to your target market.

If you don't know what your passion is, try to make a list of the common problems: what problems do you have? What problems do you hear your family or friends talking about? Then spend some time thinking about solutions.

Ask your friends or relatives about additional services they would like to see or products they’d like to have. Think of product or service you really want but haven't been able to find. Is there any product or service that would make life easier for your or people you know?

Again, while thinking of human problems or needs/wants, try not to think “global” – you can’t be everything for everyone. Focus on a specific group of people - your niche.

For example, you could divide people into 9 age groups: Newborn babies, Infants, Toddlers, Primary school children, Teenagers, Young people, Adults, People taking early retirement, Retired or Elderly people.

Then each of these groups can be further subdivided. Adults, for example, can be subdivided into male and female then each new group can be subdivided into single, married, and divorced, or into people who is married with kids, and single parents, etc.

After selecting specific group - your target audience - try to identify what needs, wants and/or problems they have.

One of the options is researching frequently searched keywords so you can see what your target market is currently looking for. You could start with free Overture's Keyword Selection Tool or  sign for WordTracker free database trial.

Another useful tool for brainstorming your niche market is NicheBOT - an online keyword analysis tool. NicheBOT offers free keyword research services, innovative web site software, search engine ranking tools, and more.

For more complete research try Keywords Analyzer - one of the most helpful tools for keyword research (and your marketing pay-per-click campaigns)!

Keywords Analyzer will show you how many people are currently looking for your specific keyword/phrase, how many results/competing websites with that exact keyword/phrase are listed in the search engines; how many Google AdWords competitors you'll have and how many Overture pay-per-click campaigns are currently running for your keyword/phrase.

When you find great number of searches for any given keyword/phrase and related key phrases but not too many results/competing websites that cater to that search, this is an IDEAL niche for you!

Next Step: Know Your Customer