Are you a gamer?  I’m not but I have many cousins who are.  I also have many friends in my age-group that are die-hard gamers; it’s odd that even their spouses are gamers!

Gamers spend thousands of dollars on their “rigs” – one of the last places I worked, the gamer there routinely would shell out $300 – $1,000 for high-end video cards not to mention all the other “goodies” needed to run games at the highest possible resolution at the best possible speeds.  I mean, the last thing you want is to be playing something like Grand Theft Auto 4 and your system halts because it has to load some graphics.

One thing you will notice about games, like World of Warcraft (WoW), Grand Theft Auto and the like is their staying power.  They just don’t die.  They have cult-like followers that eat, sleep and breathe these games.  They know everything about them.  I swear, if there was a way to hack the games and put their faces on the characters  – they would do it (who knows… there probably is — I’m not a gamer so don’t spend a lot of time on it).

But there is something else you should notice about these games is that there are small industries built around them.  For example, do a search for Grand Theft Auto – in Google there are over 30,000,000 sites indexed for the term Grand Theft Auto (without quotes)!  I’ve spotted maps, additional cars, skins, editors and utilities for the series of Grand Theft Auto games.

Mind you, I don’t have a clue how you would use these and what they are all for — but hundreds of thousands of gamers out there certainly do.

Have you also seen the hype and buzz generated for Grand Theft Auto?!  Here is some information from CrunchGear: 

“That” game comes out today, I think, and one of the best parts of its launch is seeing how the regular, non-gaming press handles it. For example, the New York Times, has a cute little story describing gamers’ “craving” for the game. All the bases are covered, including the numbers (five million copies expected to be sold in the next two weeks; the industry as a whole is already up 63 percent over last year’s numbers), pithy analyst quotes (”People say that if consumers are down to their last $50, the last three things they’ll buy are milk, eggs and video games”), and man-on-the-street perspectives (one college student would give up his cellphone to buy it, but not food—sensible!)

Then you’ve got glowing reviews from the likes of the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle, which calls the game a “cultural revolution.” Not sure I’d want to be associated with quite that phrase, but I get what they’re trying to say: the game is big.

And wouldn’t you know, “grand theft auto 4 cheats” is the number one item on Google Trends right now. In fact, three out of the top ten, or 30 percent, are GTA-related.

So you’re probably thinking – what the hell does this have to do with running a internet business?  Well – a lot.

As I mentioned there are small industries built around some of these games.  This is a perfect example of a niche business or niche opportunity.  They would not exist unless the games were out there, and they add additional value to the games by giving the users that play them what they want — the ability to customize the games.

This is nothing new, for those of you out there that remember Doom do you remember all the add-ons you could get for it?  I remember pac-man monsters plus loads of others!

You see this niche business on the Internet today as well, in the form of plug-ins, and widgets for WordPress and popular social media sites like Facebook.  Many of these are free, but if you could build a “must have” add-on and sell it you could effectively monetize your work.  Even if you give it away, the traffic you build to your site would be immense.  The next step, of course, is to monetize that traffic.  Sure AdSense would work — but remember, you are now targetting an entirely NEW group of individuals — the webmaster.

Webmasters needs differ from the average jane/joe.  Most are not going to fall for AdSense — but if you target them with well placed information on related products then you could have a winner.  A few fine examples that I can think of are:

1. MaxBlogPress (at maxblogpress.com) - they offer several FREE WordPress plugins/widgets and at the same time monetize the traffic to their site effectively by targetting webmasters with tools that they can use.
2. Semiologic (at semiologic.com) – offers quite a few freebies; but once you download some of their themes and try to access the additional items you see that you need to purchase a license to use them.  Again they’ve targetted webmasters with something specific — not Adsense.

As you build your internet business, consider the niche you are targetting then ensure that you capture that niche by offering relavent advertising and products that will help that webmaster get the most out of their site — most webmasters want to know how to monetize their traffic but this is not the only thing that they want or need.

I will talk about an excellent method for getting into the minds of webmasters in a future post.  If you’d like to get instant notification of the post, just subscribe to my Blog Alerts at the top right of the page.  I don’t spam and you only receive an e-mail when I update the blog.

Anyway before I head out… here is something for my cousins and others that hit this post looking for something related to Grand Theft Auto – CHEAT CODES!

These are from CrunchGear…

We’re still working on getting some face time with the game before launch, but CVG already has 16 cheat codes posted. That was quick.

Health And Weapons – GTA-555-0100
Weapons – GUN-555-0150
Advanced Weapons – GUN-555-0100
Health – DOC-555-0100
Wanted Level Down – COP-555-0100
Wanted Level Up – COP-555-0150
Climate Change – HOT-555-0100
Spawn Cognoscenti (Mafia Car) – CAR-555-0142
Spawn Sanchez (Dirt Bike) – MBK-555-0150
Spawn FBI Buffalo – CAR-555-0100
Spawn Turismo – CAR-555-0147
Spawn NRG900 – MBK-555-0100
Spawn Comet – CAR-555-0175
Spawn SuperGT – CAR-555-0168
Spawn Police Chopper – FLY-555-0100
Spawn Jetmax (Boat) – WET-555-0100

If you’re a Grand Theft Auto fan – enjoy!

Technorati Tags: gamers, gaming, grand theft auto, Internet Business, niche business, niche marketing

Hi,

Have you read Niche Marketing 101 – Part 1?  If not, read it first then come back and continue with the second part.

So we have wow developed a list of question, lets start to answer them. You can do this by visiting forums that deal specifically with organic farming and products, and search the article repositories for expert content written by individuals on the topic. You should also do some research by conducting searches in Google or other search engines to see the number of sites that are shown and visiting the top 10, 20 or 30 to see what information they have that you can legally use to develop and market your website.

Once you’ve got your research in hand, and have sorted it out and prepared a logical flow it’s time to start building your website and going through search engine optimization techniques to attract visitors to your site. Along the way, you may want to sign-up for affiliate programs that may be offered by companies such as Commission Junction or others so that your site can also produce some revenue in addition to providing valuable content.

You will also want to start link exchange with other relavent sites so that you add additional credability to your site, which will also attract visitors.

It doesn’t stop here. As you learn more and more about your niche, consider developing your own content and selling it. You could write an e-book about organic farming techniques, or how you could be an organic farmer right in your own back yard. You may want to hire a ghost writer to produce a series of articles for an autoresponder or to use as mini-reports that you could sell on your site. Or you may want to use the ghostwriter to produce an e-book on organic farming and products and the various aspects of this niche.

The possibilities are endless, and are only limited by your imagination.

As you become more knowledgeable in your chosen niche, start writing your own articles and submit them to article repositories so that you gain additional exposure. Before you know it, you may well be considered an expert in the field and will be asked to contribute your knowledge for other ventures.

By becoming an expert in your niche, and marketing to this niche you also have the possibility that your site will rank high in the different search engines since it will be optimized through organic (or natural) search engine optimization methods.

Best of luck with your niche marketing, and search engine domination!

Regards,

Mohamed

Technorati Tags: Internet Business, internet business blog, internet marketing, niche marketing

Hi,

By now you have probably heard all about niche marketing and how niches are the “next big thing” – but in fact, niches are nothing new. Take a look around you at the bricks and mortar world of business. You see niches everywhere. From high-end, boutique style grocery stories that carry only organic products, to vegetarian restaurants that cater specific food taste – such as Japanese, South Asian or African. You’ll even see businesses that cater specifically to individuals with alternative lifestyles.

So how can all this diversification help you?

More and more, individuals are using the internet to find local businesses to meet their needs. At one time, consumers relied on newspaper advertisements, flyers from local businesses, and directories to find the product or service they needed. But today, they are computer savvy and are using the internet in increasing numbers to find what they need. Businesses which use a dual-pronged approach will see their customer base grow – both from local participation and international growth, especially if the service provided does not have boundaries.

But many businesses don’t have the marketing knowledge or expertise to reach a wide audience, so they hire search engine experts to help them. But even then, these services do not come cheap and many small owner-operated businesses may not have the resources or knowledge to find the right expert.

This is where you come in.

We have all heard and read about niche marketing. It exploded onto the internet marketing scene about several years ago with dozens of unique products like e-books, specialized product websites, mini e-courses and even web based audio and video products. These individuals saturated the market, soon everyone was trying to get in on the action – but what was missed was how the average joe (you and I) could make money with niche marketing. You see, what happened is everyone thought they could make a quick buck becoming a niche marketer by creating a product to sell to others.

This isn’t the way to get rich. Internet marketing is tough, but niche marketing to a specific industry is a little bit easier – don’t get me wrong, you still have to do your work to get ahead.

So how does niche marketing work?

Simple. Think about the example I gave earlier, high-end boutique style grocery stores providing only organically grown products. That is a niche, and it is one that is growing every day. Now how do you fit into this picture? What you would do is provide visitors to your website with the facts about organic products. Assume nothing, and start from the basics. Make a list of question you would want answered if you decided to start purchasing organic products. Here are a few suggestions to get you going:

• What are organic products?
• What is considered an organic product?
• Who determines what is considered organic or not?
• Are there any organizations which certify whether a product is organic?
• Is there an association of organic farmers?
• What are the best places to shop for organic products in your area or in major cities in the United States or Canada?

I will continue this article In Niche Marketing 101 – Part 2, where I will give you some information on what your next steps would be once you’ve established your questions.

Regards,

Mohamed

Technorati Tags: Internet Business, internet business blog, internet marketing, niche marketing