Month: October 2018

Pros and Cons of Branching Out of Your Niche

Niche marketing has become one of the amazing successes of the internet. Instead of trying to sell to everyone, targeting a specific group of prospective customers has meant greater precision in marketing, with more return on investment.

With any luck, you’ve started your business and made it as automated as possible, and have a regular income each month you can rely on. You’ve been creating new products and services regularly in order to make your customers happy and keep up with your competition.

But at this point, you might be starting to feel bored, or interested in a new niche you think you might be able to do well in. There are a number of pros and cons to branching out. Here are some key points:

Pros

There’s nothing more exciting than starting a new enterprise, especially if you research the market well and see there is a big demand for that niche, and you can easily find lots of products and services in the niche that people will be eager to buy. If it is a topic you are enthusiastic about learning more about, this might help you drive towards success even more quickly than you did with your first niche.

A second niche will offer a whole new stream of income. And while no two niches are exactly the same, the lessons you’ve learned from setting up your first successful niche business can carry over to this new endeavor.

If you are selling digital products, it should be a simple switch to creating or sourcing similar items for your new niche. If you are selling physical products, it will involve more effort and commitment, but if you know your niche, you should be able to go head to head with a whole new set of competitors.

Cons

There is a lot of research required to ensure the niche is a paying one and to locate prospective customers. Unless you’ve engaged in this niche as a hobby, chances are you are going to have to start completely from scratch. You will have to source products to sell. Physical products will be even more of a commitment.

Starting a new business will eat up a lot of time, which you will have to be willing to sacrifice. But you don’t want to damage your existing mature niche business on an unproven niche. Maintaining a work-life balance and a two-niche balance can be tough.

You might also be lacking in the kind of experience in the second niche that allowed you to succeed in your first one. It can tough to position yourself as an expert in a second niche, especially if you’ve made a name for yourself already in one which is completely different.

Some online marketers assume fake names in order to branch out into different niches, but this tends to give an air of dishonesty to the marketing. You could of course use a business name only, and have a member of staff as the contact person. However, you will still have to set up the business as a full legal entity with a bank account, tax identification number and so on. This also takes time and money.

Branching out into a second niche can be an exciting opportunity, but be sure to weigh all the pros and cons before you start working on it.

Online Shopping Scams

Everyone loves to get bargains and enjoys life being as convenient as possible. Online shopping can offer both. However, it can also be a double-edged sword due to the number of online shopping scams that have sprung up. Here are several to keep an eye on.

1. Copied Sites

Many name brands’ sites are being copied in order to trick shoppers into buying from them instead of getting the real deal from the genuine site. At best, you might end up with knockoffs from China. At worst, you might have your identity stolen. Knockoffs cost companies almost one trillion dollars a year, so check out the sites you shop at carefully to make sure they are real.

2. Huge Discounts

Sites that offer huge discounts all the time are suspect because brand-name goods should sell for more and these supposed bargains are more than likely either knockoffs, or lures to spend money but no goods will ever be delivered. Go to Google Shopping to compare prices and then shop around until you find the right item. Avoid the bargain basement — you get what you pay for.

3. A Bad Website

If you see spelling and grammar errors and the whole site looks like it has been thrown together, this is not a site you should be shopping at.

4. Not a Secure Socket Layer (SSL)

Sites with https:// in front of them have an SSL certificate, which is a higher level of security than a regular website. Most scam sites will not bother to get certified.

5. Suspicious Domain Names

In terms of URLs, the brand name and .com extension are preferred and usually a sign of a legitimate site. However, many new extensions have become available, meaning scammers can use the brand names for a time until they are eventually caught. Extensions such as .net, .us, .info and more are all used to create sites that look like the real ones, but aren’t.

6. The Site Was Just Created

Search for the URL at https://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp and check the creation date. If it is recent, chances are the site has been started for the express purpose of scamming unsuspecting shoppers.

7. They Don’t Accept Credit or Debit Card Payments

Beware of any site that requires you to pay by wire transfer, pre-paid gift cards, bitcoin or other cryptocurrency. These are not secure methods and in most cases, you will not be able to get your money back.

8. They Ask For Too Much Personal Information

No site should ask you for your social security number or other details that could be used to steal your identity.

9. Their Physical Mailing Address Is Not Legitimate

Thanks to Google and MapQuest.com, you can pretty much find any address in the world, see a map of it, and get a Google satellite image of it. If the address does not exist, or the building looks suspicious, don’t shop at that site.

10. No Clear Terms for Doing Business with Them

The site should have terms of service and a refund policy. The refund policy should usually be to refund in full within 30 days. Some states, like Florida, give only 20 days. Full details should be provided on how to return the item and get the refund. Beware of charges like credit card transaction fees and restocking fees, which can take a big bite out of your refund.

11. Bad Reviews

Type in the name of the site or the product you are thinking of buying, and then add the word “scam”. Take seriously all the feedback you find before doing business with that site.

12. Delivery Problems on EBay and Amazon Marketplace

Beware of individual sellers who don’t send your goods. They have either mixed up their inventory levels, or they are running a scam.