Location, location, location
by
Rick Hendershot, www.small-business-online.com
Niche marketing is where it's at, and if you're Canadian,
the best niche market could just be "Canada"!
"Find something you really love to do, something you're
really passionate about, and build your web business around that passion." If
you've ever thought about getting into an online business you've probably heard this
advice a few dozen times.
This is what we might call "theme-based niche marketing". The idea is that you create a website that focuses on
something like your love of golden retrievers, or your interest in 1950s Ford
Thunderbirds.
Since you already know something about your topic, you will
supposedly have lots of interesting
things to say in your website. Then, because your site is filled
with content of interest to other golden retriever lovers, or T-Bird
enthusiasts, they will flock to your site. And because they are
interested in buying things related to your area of interest, you will make money selling these
things to the people visiting your site.
If this sounds too good to be true, it probably is. The
biggest problem is that you will be up against hundreds or even thousands of
others who are already focusing on all the lucrative niches. Even with a
well-worked out theme you need an "edge" to set you apart from everybody else.
Location, location, location
In the very near future, the hottest way to get an edge will
be to use a
location-based strategy. Especially for businesses that already exist. For the most part these are ordinary, mundane operations — like
restaurants, plumbing companies, legal services providers, swimming pool maintenance
outfits, etc. — most of which are only interested in local markets, and all
of which already have a pre-defined "theme niche" — their product or
service.
Very soon, thousands of these
companies will start using the web to focus on a
specific location niche — namely, their local town, their region, their state
or province, or their country. They will offer "pizzas in Denver", "homes in
Wyoming", "fasteners in Ontario", "legal services in New Orleans",
"vacation rentals in Fife", etc., etc.,
etc.
And as the web eventually replaces the Yellow Pages as the
default source of local business information, companies that properly develop
their location-specific identity will easily, and inexpensively dominate their
category.
Just think. No more hard-to-read,
environmentally-unfriendly, 20 pound directories. No more ridiculously
expensive Yellow Pages ads.
The Canadian niche
In fact, any Canadian company doing business on the internet
already has a ready-made location-based niche market just waiting to be tapped. It's called "Canada".
And for internet marketers it has all the features you look for in a
ready-to-be-exploited market. The Canadian market is easily defined, easily
reached, distinctively different, technologically advanced, relatively
wealthy, and one of the most internet savvy markets in the world.
The most significant advantage is that it is relatively easy
— and will be for the next year or so — to create a distinctive
"Location-Focused Identity" that you can use to promote your business both
online and offline. This involves registering an easily remembered
location-specific domain name. I am talking about domain names like
"pizza-toronto.com", or "goldens-ontario.com", or "plumbing-oakville.com", or
even domain names like "homes-kingston.com", or "pools-canada.com".
All of these are available at the time of writing this article.
If you play your cards right, your location-specific domain
name will help you get prominent position in the search engines and you'll
immediately reach thousands of people
looking for your products or services.
Names like this also give you a focus for your local
marketing. That's because they offer you a direct bridge between all of your
offline marketing efforts and your easily remembered online identity. Imagine
if all your correspondence, advertising, vehicles, etc. were plastered with a
domain name like "Homes-Kitchener.com"
Would it be possible to generate traffic with domain names
like these? You bet it would.
And while these factors apply to local markets wherever
there is a large pool of web users, they apply even more for a
distinctive and easy-to-dominate market like "Canada".
So if you're seriously looking for an edge, and are
interested in reaching a location-based niche (like Canada), there's no better
time than the present to get a major jump on your competition. Because as you
can imagine, domain names like "homes-kitchener.com" are not going to be
around for very long.
For more information, contact
Richard J. Hendershot, www.small-business-online.com
We specialize in helping small business reach local markets through the web.
This article is called "Location, location, location. Niche marketing is
where it's at"
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