Last week I had the pleasure of speaking to Irwin Dominguez who reached out to me on email recently.
Updated 2018
Here is what he said in his email:
As you can imagine, Irwin’s email really piqued my interest.
I responded immediately, suggesting that we have a chat on the phone because I do not have a coaching program (yet) and I really wanted to, a) help the guy, and b) understand what I can offer to the world that I should be talking about on my fledgling blog.
Irwin is smart, articulate, well-written and has a drive to do well online. If I can’t help this guy in some small way, I should not be trying to help others. 🙂
Fortunately, I think I did make some sense.
During the call I could hear Irwin taking notes. I want to share with you some of the things that I think really hit home with Irwin because I think you can use them to start your business or to improve it in some way.
When building a site think about monetization first
Like many, Irwin has learned from others that to build something successful online you need to focus on things like:
- Key Words
- Writing Content
- Link Building
I told Irwin, “if you want to make a few hundred dollars a month from one website I think this strategy is fine and can work well, but if you want to be cubicle free and make six figures or even tens of thousands per month from one website, I would focus on monetizing the needs and desires of others first.”
To do this I use a spreadsheet with the following headings:
Step 1) Ideas
Step 2) Possible Names
Step 3) My Passion (1-5)
Step 4) My Knowledge (1-5)
Step 5) Problems (for others online)
Step 6) Fears (for others online)
Step 7) Irrational Passion (for others online)
Step 8) Noteworthy Competitors
Step 9) Market Potential
Step 10) Keyword Research
Step 11) Potential Business Models
Step 1) Ideas
The secret to finding great niches is to focus ONLY on finding ideas, not on analyzing, until you have at least ten ideas, or better still, 20 ideas. I use cloud-based free services like Trello (still use and love Trello in 2018) on my smartphone and computer to keep track of these ideas that come at me throughout the day. Rather than wasting any time on them now, the key is to store the idea away for further analysis. In this way I can compare my ideas side by side – logically and rationally – not emotionally.
Where do these ideas come from?
Personally, my ideas come from a number of sources: listening to podcasts, having personal trouble doing things online, or from problems I see others having online. The last two websites I built came from problems I saw others having online.
Your ideas can occur in many other ways. There are no limits to how you get your ideas, but just look for needs and desires from yourself and others. Like I said – and I can’t stress this enough – refrain from doing any analysis (Steps 2-10) until you have a bunch of ideas, otherwise you are not experiencing the full potential of idea generation. Spending time on this step will allow you to fully examine what the problems are before launching into how you can fix them – and make money from them.
An example
One example I gave to Irwin was that I was recently looking for a bookkeeper in Canada. A search online did not help me immediately – Bingo! This idea went into my list for further analysis. If I have this problem maybe others do too? If I am about to spend money, chances are others are too. It really is this simple – and fun.
Coming up with potential ideas is just that – potential. No idea is silly. Every idea is just an idea. So get creative, have fun, and do not worry about anything else. I promise this is the best way for you to make huge money online.
Idea generation is a creative activity and you can use brainstorming techniques, such as these, to come up with some awesome ideas.
Step 2) Possible Names
Much has been written about choosing a great name. For the purpose of this exercise, just go with what you think will make people want to click on your service.
Step 3) My Passion Rating Scale (1-5)
Just score 1 (no passion) to 5 (love this subject). This is important, but I must point out that a score of 3 (I am kind of interested) is still potentially a great niche. I would probably not bother doing 1s and 2s but I am building websites that are 3s.
Step 4) My Knowledge Rating Scale (1-5)
Once again, just score 1 (no knowledge) to 5 (guru). This is important too, but I must point out again that a score of 3 (I have some knowledge) is still potentially a great niche.
Step 5) Problems (for others online)
Step 6) Fears (for others online)
Step 7) Irrational Passion (for others online)
The next three columns – Problems, Fears, and Irrational Passion – fall into the same category – market need. I separated them because the thought process is completely different for each, but in many cases you will only need to fill out one step for each idea.
This is where it gets really exciting.
What you are looking for here are real problems, fears, or irrational passions that other people face and just can’t find an easy solution to through search queries.
To see the deeper importance of this subject, I suggest reading forums and blog comments. Twitter and Google Alerts are also platforms that I use to really understand the problems of my target market. I wrote a post about ninja marketing that covers this issue in greater depth.
Step 8) Noteworthy Competitors
To make this simple, I just do a search on terms that real people are using to try to solve the market needs we generated in our analysis at Steps 5, 6, and 7. Use Google’s “Auto Complete” feature to help you. Then just look at the top three results for some of the top searches. These are your top competitors – list them.
Step 9) Market Potential
I love this subject. How much money can you make for your idea? There are many ways to approach this, but I like to think about it from the point of view of what product or service I could create and what I could charge. This is real – this is tangible.
Take a little extra time with this step. I wrote recently about focusing on value not price – start with this mindset. Ultimately what you want here is to get a sense for your monetization strategy.
- Look at competitors
- Brainstorm new and random ideas
- Consider all options to monetize – advertising, affiliates, ebook sales, training……
Do not get caught up on this step. If you find yourself getting frustrated, move on and come back. This step can be a little challenging because there is much to consider, but it is also very important and could form the basis for your entire monetization strategy.
Step 10) Keyword Research
I have used Market Samurai in the past and in the future I will most likely be using Long Tail Pro. Keyword research in some ways helps to validate a market and your potential to make money from it. In 2018 I use – keywordseverywhere.com
Step 11) Potential Business Models
For me, when it comes to building websites that quickly and simply generate outstanding returns, it is hard to beat affiliate income. The biggest opportunities in the affiliate space also happen to be the easiest to find. However, there are many other terrific ways to make money online.
- eCommerce: Selling stuff online. For this, I recommend eCommerce Fuel – I have read Andrews Youridan’s free ebook and had the pleasure of speaking with him recently as well. I can assure you he is the real deal and we share many similar philosophies.
- Membership sites: an awesome business model most easily applied to niches where there is an irrational passion. I recommend reading this case study I wrote.
Conclusion
Maybe you’re in the same boat with Irwin. You want to have a profitable online niche. Also like Irwin, you need to figure out a problem – or problems – and then figure out how you might make money fixing it.
There are plenty of problems out there – and plenty of people who experience them everyday. Perhaps the next problem you come across can be easily solved – by you. I noticed it was difficult to find a good bookkeeper online. Why couldn’t I easily find a reviewed bookkeeper? How were bookkeepers advertising? How would I know who to trust with my books? This problem became an idea. Maybe others had the same problem. Once you come up with a list of ideas, based on problems you and others may have, you can start answering questions like these. And start solving the problems of the world – online. To get started, use my spreadsheet headings and begin brainstorming ideas. Go!
Dominique says
I am in the same boat as Irwin. I love that you focus on monetization as an important first step. Why does everybody seem to just worry about building traffic first? Thanks for the post and I have sent an email for the spreadsheet. Dom
cubiclefree says
Hey Thanks Dom, The old mindset of chasing traffic worked for a long time. Nowadays however it is much more important to focus on traffic that converts. I was also recently reminded me that you also need to target people who are willing to get their credit card out – the ones that have done in the past. No good chasing the crowd who just hunt for the free stuff or have never paid for something online. Quinn
Kashif says
I was wondering how long will take (in number of days/weeks) to generate $100 from a website, with or without affiliate income?
cubiclefree says
Kashif -Really hard to say I am afraid – my site that I am using as a case study did it in about 6 weeks. More important to focus on the long term though I think. How much can you earn every month after a year? Thats a better foundation for a sustainable – long term business. Quinn
Irwin says
Hey Quinn,
Thanks again for taking the time to talk to me and “showing me the light” for how business should be approached online. There’s so many different ways to make money online that it’s easy to lose focus on what’s most important and that’s to solve problems people are having and to provide value to HUMANS.
That keyword you mentioned “HUMANS” is not talked about enough today in the world of internet business and I’m glad someone like you, one of the real good guys in this industry, is going to let people know.
Making money online and making a business online are not synonymous, but unfortunately people focus on the former and get caught up chasing one money making ‘scheme” after the other. Anyways… thanks again and I’m looking forward to reading about the progress of your business and your new VA!
Irwin
cubiclefree says
Thank you for your kind words! Like I said it was an absolute pleasure my friend. Let me know what I can do to help you further. It was a nice surprise to see your post too! Quinn