Once you have begun to think that you may have decided on your niche, it’s becomes time to really do your homework. In my last post I talked about finding your passion, something that you really enjoy, something that does not feel like work, but that’s only half the battle.  There is still a lot more to be done, to be certain that you are making the right choice. And, once you are sure about being in the right niche you then need figure out how to go about appealing to the people who utilize it.

Marketing on the Internet, even opening a brick-and-mortar business takes a lot of work, a lot of hard work.  It is not uncommon to see someone who just started a business working 15, 16 or 17 hours a day.  And the last thing that you want to do is open a business that is doomed to fail.  When you open a business you want to make sure that the deck is stacked in your favor, you want to have the odds on your side.  You want to make sure that your business is going to be profitable.

But how do you make sure that the business you open is going to make money.  Well, unfortunately you can’t, but you better make sure that you have done everything possible to give yourself a chance. Listen, being in business is difficult enough even once it begins to become established, why not make it as easy on yourself as possible.  The obstacles that you can avoid now will only make your life easier in the future.

Along with finding something that you really love, you had better be darn certain that it’s something that other people will appreciate as well.  Because remember, no customers equals no profit.  Then once you know that there will be customers for your new business it is vital to know who your customers are going to be.  And this is even more important and more difficult in an online business then in an off-line business because your customer contact is so much more limited.

Only once you know what type of person will be interested in your product will you be able to market to them effectively.  Men versus women, old people versus young, college educated versus non-college-educated, they all have different buying habits.  Today content on the Internet is more important than ever and the competition is fierce.  It includes all kinds of Web 2.0 stuff including articles, videos, web sites and a whole lot more.  If you want to be successful you had better know what type of customer that you are going to have so that you can set things up to appeal to that kind of person.

Here is how I go about it.  First, I put the keyword for whatever niche that I am considering into a browser to look for competing sites.  If I want to sell furniture, its furniture, if its jewelry, I put in jewelry, you get the idea.  Then once I have located the same type of sites within my niche I go over to Quantcast.com.  By putting the site’s address into Quantcast.com you will get much of the information needed to see who your visitor’s to your site are going to be.  Remember to only use larger more established sites, smaller ones will not be listed.

Establishing yourself online is not an easy task. Taking the time to plan and establish a strategy cannot be underestimated and knowing who your potential customer is should be part of that plan.  It may seem like a trivial thing to do, but in today’s fiercely competitive world whatever can give you an edge over your competition can make the difference when it comes to your success.

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