Niche Watch

In the niche watch section, I want to spend some time looking at new markets that could do well with some first place advantage when applied to a proven Internet business model. I’m not talking about ground-breaking technology that hasn’t been invented yet. More like a new idea, concept or product that hasn’t been properly exploited by proven online business models. 

 

Here’s an example of what I mean. This year, Google launched a new web browser called chrome. I would then start focusing on Google Chrome as my opportunity. Now I have the opportunity, I need to establish a very crude business plan to exploit it. I would start by looking at a past opportunity and analyzing how it has been exploited. With this particular example, I would type “Firefox” in my browser and start looking for good, working Internet ventures based around the firefox browser. I soon find sites like:

• A news service internet business model
• A community internet business model

In my opinion these are two very valid and proven business models. I would personally pick the forum as I’m a fan of communities and user generated content based business models. If I were a better writer I might pick the news service. 

The next step would be to look at good domain names based on keyword research. I would be very cautious about registering and trademarked terms such as domains with the word Google in them – this is not allowed by Google and you could be risking your whole business model even at this early stage with a possible trademark infringement. My ideal name would be something like chromeforum.com as my research indicates people search a lot for “forum” related terms. If this were taken then I would go for secondary terms like talk, board, community, fans etc. Now doing a quick search based on this example it looks like someone has already been wise enough to exploit this new opportunity here. 

So look out for some more ideas coming soon in our Stake Niche Watch section.