Think back for a moment if you would to some of our earlier discussions about the underlying core principles of Internet marketing.

Internet marketing (or any marketing for that matter) really is in its simplest form finding a need in a marketplace and then fulfilling that need.

So let’s talk about finding your niche for just a moment.

I think probably the biggest mistake that most everyone makes when they get started in trying to make money online is to go after a niche in a far too broad a sense.

I know I certainly did. With my first website I ever did I was the poster boy for this mistake.

The niche refers to a very distinct portion of a particular market place. The key word there is distinct portion… or narrow portion… or thin slice… are you starting to get the picture?

With my first niche I started way too broad and had no chance to get traffic from these very broad keywords. However, unlike many I was too stupid to quit and just kept promoting and writing content. Over the course of time I began to hit the longer tailed keywords and subsequently spend started to make a little bit of money.

Now fast forwarding a bit the site now makes very good money online, but it took far longer to get there by starting at the broad end of the niche and working my way down… essentially I did it completely backwards and it took far longer to be successful than it should have.

Now, since you are here, you won’t have to worry about making such a egregious mistake.

So what is a niche?

A niche can be anything… any thing at all.

Since you are here and just starting out, I would strongly suggest that your first venture be into an area that is of great interest to you. Everyone… and I mean everyone… has some area in their life that they take an interest in or have a particular level of being a subject matter expert.

Use this to your vantage… let me say that again… use this to your vantage.

Having a strong interest, a passion, or even a background in a particular niche or subject matter is going to shorten your learning curve and make you money online much quicker.

There really is no right or wrong way when it comes to choosing a niche. The key is just choosing one and getting started. And remember you can’t sell everything to everybody so keep your focus tight.

With that in mind, we’ll talk about what some of the strong indicators are that you can look at when it comes to trying to determine if a particular niche has any potential at all. And we’ll also take a look at how to evaluate and eventually pick out a product that you can either create or promote.

So check back soon… and I’ll start working on that.