Why a Niche Can Help You Sell More Information Products

Before you begin selling information products online, you want to make sure you’re targeting a niche that will be profitable for you in the short and long-term. A niche is just a fancy term for your "target audience."

Some niches, as you’ll discover, aren’t as profitable as others. You need to look at your audience and see if they’re willing (and able) to spend money for the solutions they’re seeking.

For instance, executives are often willing to invest significant sums in their career development tools, like LinkedIn, or their resume. Many of them also understand the value of having third parties advise them in matters of personal advancement and career.

But another niche, such as new college graduates, might not be willing to pay $67 for an information product showing them how to get their first job. Sometimes it depends on the solution itself. Targeting this same niche of college students, you may find that their parents are willing to make an investment in their kids, paying $197 for them to take a three-session program on finding a job.

One good place to find your niche is with online groups and forums. LinkedIn is a great place to conduct research. Search their Groups offerings and find a couple that target the niche you're interested in.

You’re not just looking for a broad group of people to cater to – you’re looking for those with a lot of problems. When you start creating your information products, you’ll want to build an empire of products that all focus on the same niche, allowing you to market to existing, loyal customers who buy from you time and time again.

Sometimes, you’ll find one large niche and then realize you need to build your information product line around a more targeted, narrow niche of people. For instance, take college students. Instead of targeting all college students, pick one major -- for example, engineering students. You can help them with creating a resume for an internship, landing an internship, creating their online presence (and online reputation management), networking their way to their first real job, and negotiating their first salary.

Just remember that an information product is not really a product at all — it’s a solution, so it needs to be marketed as something that will improve lives. You're not teaching them how to get an internship — you're giving them skills to land their first paying, productive job.