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.

So here’s my advice on a quick and easy way to increase registrations via search. When the user gets to the same page I did – the dead end – I would present them with a form to enter some basic information about the person they are looking for:

• Name: Tucker Jenkins
• Gender: Mr
• Description: Ginger hair, blue eyes, white
• Where you met: Grange Hill School
• Your strongest memory together: Skipping class
• How old were you when you lost touch: 16

That’s probably enough before the member starts getting bored and wonders if this effort is worth it. Then the smart thing for a social media company (like facebook) to do would be to construct a search optimised page centred on the phrase “Tucker Jenkins”. This page – titled Tucker Jenkins – could be presented like a wanted poster if the company felt like getting creative. The main content on the page would be constructed from the user generated information I had input. It could read something like:

Wanted Online

“If you are the same [Tucker Jenkins] who was at [Grange Hill School] more than 19 years ago and could be described as [ginger hair, blue eyes, white] then we have a member that wants to get in touch with you. His name is [Bob Sheth] and his fondest memory with you was [skipping class]. If you would like to talk to [Bob] then register now for your account.”

Now put yourself in Tucker’s shoes. It is very likely that he will search for his name in Google one day as most people do. Rather than seeing random lists of all the obscure Tuckers around the world – he sees a message from facebook and clicks on it. In my opinion that click will have a seriously high rate of success and will convert into a new member and more loyalty from a satisfied existing member – a “win-win” situation.

Seeing as I can’t find anyone really applying this method I shall name it the “not found search” principle.

The “not found search” principle can be applied to a lot of other sites and niches. For example let’s take a record store with a typical e-commerce business model. I’m searching the shop and I can’t find an obscure track I’m looking for. Under normal circumstances I don’t have many options apart from bouncing back to Google and looking for another store. Wait – now lets say instead of the dead end again, I was presented with a page which read something like “I’m sorry we don’t stock this track but if you fill out some basic information about it, we will do our best to find and stock it soon”. So I fill the information out and the record store then uses it in a similar fashion to create a user generated page around the “obscure track” term. What makes even more sense is for the record store to create an “out of stock” or a “Pre-order” page for the obscure track and start booking sales for it. So the next time somebody searches for the “Obscure Track” in google there’s a strong chance of them landing on this pre-order page. The net result is a potential new customer who will be very happy (and loyal) when the record store fulfills the order for the obscure track.

A real world example of the “not found search” principle

I applied the “not found search” principle to an e-commerce venture I’m involved with – The Internet Gift Store. It was a rather crude method which was not automated. A number of customers called the sales line asking for a “Rocky Dressing Gown”. Apparently the product had appeared on a popular TV show so there were a few enquiries in a short space of time. We immediately published a pre-order page for the product and a couple of months later the term ranks within the top 3 search results for Rocky Dressing Gown. This has resulted in around 30-40 sales daily for the product and has made a big impact on the small online venture’s business. 

It works, so let’s discuss how you can apply the “not found search” principle to your business model.

Over the last 2 years, most of my time has been dedicated to 2 key projects. My first project is Property Community – an online community / portal for overseas property investors. The project started in January 2007 from scratch. It has since been built up to have over 20,000 members and receives 4,000 unique visits per day.

The second project is Expat Forum – a community of ex-pats who have either moved or are planning to move to new destinations around the world. The project started (again from scratch) in April 2007. It now has nearly 25,000 members and receives an average of 10,000 users daily.

I will refer back to these key projects and new projects in future posts.

My aim for this site is to create a community of like-minded Internet Entrepreneurs. We will aim to attract people who are making the majority of their income online using various business models.

One of the areas I am keen to focus on is new niche opportunities. I believe there are so many new opportunities opening online on a daily basis. We need to report on what these are and on the companies that are exploiting the opportunities and creating the new internet markets for tomorrow.