Ask HN: Methods for finding niche business opportunities | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Methods for finding niche business opportunities

101 pointsTerry_B17 comments

Hi guys,

I found one of the most interesting parts of Tim Ferris' 4 Hour Work Week to be the practical advice for finding viable niche business opportunities. In particular, going to the store and looking at the magazine section and making enquiries based on those, using google test ads etc.

I was wondering if anyone would be prepared to share any other highly practical methods like these that they have for finding niche problems/opportunities to pursue?

Despite what you might think about the rest of the content in that book, I thought the practical advice was very thought provoking, valueable and something we do not see enough of. Thought it would be worth trying to elicit some more!

Thanks!

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For non-startup type products (small niche softwares, affiliate websites, or to ensure easy SEO traffic), I do the following:

- I list the frustrations I had in the last two months

- I list the list I like to do

With that list, I head over to google keyword tool, and search for keywords related to what I found in step 1 that have more than 3000 searches per month and less than 30000 exact keyword pages in google (the 30 day challenge method: http://thirtydaychallenge.com)

I keep brainstorming until I find a list of keywords that are in demand but have low competition (When you are a one man show, you'd rather focus on a non-too-competitive niche).

Then I use Market Samourai to check the competition on the first 10 pages of Google to ensure I will be able to rank my website high in Google on my keywords.

Next, I put up a website a la Tim Ferriss to test the market a little bit more. This method only adds value if the test tells you you have a profitable product. If you can't prove it during the test, it doesn't mean you should stop.

In parallel, I "talk" (surveys, interviews, forums) to as many potential customers as I can.

If I feel I am to something, I start coding :)

I wrote about this very topic on my blog.

I published my frustrations there: http://aymeric.gaurat.net/index.php/2010/my-frustrations/

How to test the viability of your idea: http://aymeric.gaurat.net/index.php/2010/how-to-test-the-via...

Got any examples of something you found that way that worked out well for you?

Good read, thanks. Here's similar :

http://startuplessonslearned.blogspot.com/2008/11/using-adwo...

http://blog.stevebarsh.com/barsh_bits/2009/01/5-surprising-w...

http://paraschopra.com/blog/entrepreneurship/how-to-do-resea...

Fantastic! Though the process sounds interesting in theory, I have always wondered the effectiveness of this process. Can you walk through a sample keyword research process with examples? I'm sure this will make an interesting blog post.

You should check out the 30 day challenge. It is free and the market analysis videos are very interesting (first 10 videos).

Shameless selfpromotion:

http://000fff.org/a-simple-model-for-innovation/

I wrote this to help people cover the possible option spaces.

Basically there are four areas that your product or service can compete in:

1) Do what others do, but do it better. 2) Do what others do, but do more. 3) Do what others do, but for a new audience 4) Do what no other is doing

The obvious space you want to be in is obviously 4) when it comes to niche business. But one often overlooked area is 3) where you take an existing product or technology and repurpose for a new audience.

My old marketing teacher told us a story about a company that he used to for worked for.

The company sold heavy duty soap for industrial use but weren't doing well.

The company had a lab that he would often spend some time in to see what was going on.

One of the things the lab had been playing around with was the color of the soap. One of the soap colors where bordering pink. It also just so happened that his daughter loved everything that sparkles. So they ended up making a soap that was pink with small sparkling bits in it, much less dry sold it as Fairydust or something like that for kids.

According to him it was a great success. And none the less it's a great way to explain point 3)

Talk to people who have money and problems. Ask them what their problems are. Figure out which problems are tractable to a software solution. Sell solution for money.

Also, anything you've ever seen on a retail shelf has to move $100k gross a year or it can't justify being made. Many times that if it is at Wal-Mart. Consider whether you can make software which competes with the physical good.

I use market samurai. I wrote a review about it today http://freestylemind.com/market-samurai

It's a genuine review and I really recommend it for internet marketing. That said, there's my affiliate code in it but you can access the product directly from http://www.marketsamurai.com/

It looks like you really spent some time to make some useful videos. I'm sure you've earned any affiliate sign-ups you get.

On the other hand, their site looks extremely scammy. They have a gigantic page for their full product, crammed with testimonials and claims of how much you can save, but the price you actually have to pay isn't anywhere in sight.

I paid $97 for the product. I agree that their page looks scammy, but I bought the product after a friend recommendation.

I usually never buy products like that because in most cases I could recreate it myself in ruby in a few hours, and to be honest that was my intention initially.

However I was impressed about the overall quality of the product and decided to buy.

They also have a series of videos that were very useful to me in case you are interested: http://www.noblesamurai.com/dojo/marketsamurai/

The product is made by people whose profession is internet marketing. I'm inclined to think that "scammy" style is what sells, to judge by how often it pops up.

That much is clear. It's also why actual scams are set up the way they are. Saying it's effective in no way means it's not sketchy.

E.g. the famous art gallery scam is what sells art near tourist attractions, to judge by how often it pops up.

Google Adwords Keyword Tool or Wordtracker (if you want to pay for it)

MicroNicheFinder, it looks like another one of those Internet marketing apps with a splash page but it's very good for niche & keyword research.

Yes, I've looked at this and it would fulfill this need quite nicely.

I can't help but think of this article on Study Hacks. In particular, scroll down to the section called The Insider Advantage. http://calnewport.com/blog/2010/03/26/how-to-get-into-stanfo...

ruby -e '%w(proven_to_work_good_ideas_like_task_management_or_erp.txt professions_and_niches.txt).each_with_index{|x,y|puts (a=File.read(x).split("\n"))[rand(a.size)]+((y==0)?" for":" :)")}'

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