Internet Niche Marketing: 6 Ways to Profit From Your Niche

A June 2012 survey showed that the average American with an internet connection is now spending 29 hours a week using the internet. That's almost as much time as people spend working at full-time jobs! Because usage of the internet has doubled in just the last couple of years, it's now more important than ever to develop an internet niche marketing plan that puts your firm ahead of your competition. Keep reading to find 6 tips for helping you make money from your new niche marketing campaign.

#1: Know Your Audience

A huge number of Americans, both young and old and from all backgrounds, use internet services every day. However, that doesn't mean that every audience uses the internet in the same way. You'll need to know how your chosen audience interacts with the internet—which websites they use, which ones they stay away from.

For example, let's say that you are trying hard to impress with your new internet niche marketing campaign that advertises help after a truck accident. While internet forums for accident victims and Facebook might be a great idea for this niche marketing campaign, you might not have an easy time advertising with LinkedIn. Conversely, if your new niche is defending people from criminal tax allegations, you'll probably have much better luck using LinkedIn for your internet niche marketing than any other social media website.

#2: Know Your Competition and Industry

Internet niche marketing puts you in a position where it's possible to advertise to exactly the right people—if you know where to look. Let's say your firm has developed a profitable niche suing manufacturers of faulty valves for sewage treatment equipment. To develop successful internet niche marketing, you may want to start offline—by going to a trade show for wastewater plant operators.

At trade shows and other networking events, you can find out where the people in the industry you want to market to are hanging out online. Often, people who are in certain job sectors have internet forums completely dedicated to talking about issues arising from their jobs. These forums are a prime place for you to place your advertising.

You should also make sure that you identify your main competitors and take a look at what they're doing with their internet niche marketing. It's not usually a good idea to do exactly the same thing as your competition (unless you know you can outspend them and have a much better campaign), but competitors can give you ideas for new places to put your ads that you hadn't yet thought of.

#3: Seek Continuous Feedback

One of the biggest advantages of internet niche marketing is that it lends itself very easily to generating a great deal of feedback. If you're not getting the results that you want, try asking your niche market what you're doing wrong. Focus groups made up of the type of people you're trying to solicit as clients will be able to give you some great tips on making your advertising more relevant to their lives.

Facebook and Twitter give you a great way to tell instantly what's working and what isn't in your internet niche marketing campaign. After making several different Facebook posts or tweets with different content, you'll be able to see which ones got the most attention, were shared most often, and so on. This makes it easier to decide where to focus your internet niche marketing in the future, and may even allow you to narrow your niche even more.

#4: Keep Your Niche As Narrow as Possible

Keeping a narrow niche is important because it's much easier to get your eyes in front of the right customers when you're marketing to a very small segment of the total audience. “Long tail” keywords tend to be significantly cheaper per click when using Google AdWords or any other keyword based pay per click advertising platform. This means that you can not only make sure that you're advertising to the right people, you also won't be overpaying for the privilege.

Even if you think you're already operating in some kind of legal niche market, consider whether you may be able to develop a more narrow niche for your internet niche marketing. Many larger law firms have begun to use internet niche marketing, even if they have many practice areas, just by advertising to dozens or even hundreds of different niches.

#5: Optimize Your Web Presence

If you're using internet niche marketing for more than one niche, which can be a good idea, you'll want to make sure your website is designed for this kind of advertising. Every different niche will need a completely different landing page, or even a whole new website designed around the concerns and questions of people seeking help with that particular legal problem.

Many websites for law firms use technical sounding words and jargon rather than explaining the law in terms that clients can understand. You'll have better luck with your internet niche marketing if you keep the copy on your website understandable even for someone who lacks a lot of experience with the law or hiring lawyers.

#6: Get Help With Software

If you can't figure out how to find a niche market on your own, there are programs that can help you find the niche market you're looking for. This software can be very helpful, almost like a computer assisted brainstorming session. You may also want to look into using software to help you manage your bids and advertising budget, as well as programs that can analyze the effectiveness of each ad campaign.

Using software to help you identify your best internet niche marketing opportunities isn't cheating. It's a great way to get the edge you need to out-market your competition. Keeping an eye on new software packages and offerings from major players like Google can help you identify the newest internet niche marketing trends and how to take advantage of them.