In the business world, the race to the top is never easy… but you’ll be pleased to know there are plenty of ways to score that much-coveted spot – one of which is by dominating a particular niche.
So, how does that work? By positioning yourself as an industry leader and authority by providing your target market with much needed answers. While this process can take a long time and work, you’ll be stoked to learn I’ve done most of the footwork for you. I’ve compiled the core essentials on how to create your master plan, which may also quicken your pace to successful niche domination.
Define Your Target Market
Ask yourself, who’s your target audience? It’s important to nail this question upfront because your answer will shape most of the decisions you make. The key here is to put yourself in your potential customers’ shoes by asking questions like, “If I was looking for X, what would my needs be?” or “If I had no industry knowledge, what words would I use to find X?” Get inside their minds and poke around. Once you work out who your target market is, write it down. For example, your ideal customer might be a married woman in her 30s with two children and a dog. Okay, now we’ve ticked off the ‘target market’ box on your to-do list, let’s start putting your expertise to work.
The key is to always play to your strengths!
Put Your Strengths To Work
I know without a doubt, you have skills that can make your business perpetually powerful and engaged. You might be a brilliant sales person, selling ice to Eskimos, so why spend any time trying to balance accounts? Or you might be a genius at creating new gadgets, so would you bother trying to write a press release? Your core strengths will come easy to you, so put them to work in the right areas of your business. So you’ve powered up your expertise in the appropriate areas, it’s time to talk about mapping out strategies. This next step is crucial to building a solid launching pad for your business’s future…
Map Out Business Strategies
I’ve been asked, time and again, about how to ensure a business stays on track towards success. And I always reply with three words: solid business strategies. It’s easier than you think, trust me. Pull out a bit of paper and identify the problem you want to solve, then write out what specific steps would deliver that resolution. Now go straight to establishing what you want to achieve with your business and evaluate any and all opportunities within the industry. Also make notes about your competitors – it’ll do you worlds of good to know how they got where they are, and what you need to do to catch up. Alright, your game plan’s in place, let’s start building your reputation as an industry expert…
Build Your Blog
The next thing you need to do is actually a lot of fun…it’s time to build your website and/or blog. When combined with the wonders of social media, blogs allow for easy sharing of content, which makes both search engines like Google and your prospective customers happy. Make your blog informative and interesting enough that third parties will see you as an industry leader and want to share what you say with others. This adds a viral element to the info you spin out and can get your business in front of many (many!) eyes.
Moving on to the key pages you need for your site – Your Homepage must grab visitors’ attention and hook them in. How? By telling upfront what you offer, what problems you solve, or how you can help them. The About section should feature a bit about “your story”, and the Services/ Products pages naturally list your wares and offers. Your Blog, as I’ve mentioned earlier, is your outlet for regular content to your audience (e.g. News and updates), while the Testimonials provide proof you always deliver on your promises. Last but not least, include all the ways people can get in touch on your Contact page; this not only increases trust but gives prospects more than one way to reach out to you. So, your site’s now floating around in cyberspace, what else can you do to supercharge it? Get a few industry authorities on your side…
Interview Experts
This is your trump card! Not only do quick interviews with business gurus top the Contagion System, it also grants tremendous positioning for you. It creates that halo effect of “he’s-talking-with-the-experts-therefore-he-must-be-an-expert-too”. How do you interview a guru? Just ask them. ☺ What’s more, while at it, you end up with loads of valuable information and insights into the industry, which is always great. It’s like a two for one deal! Once you’ve rubbed shoulders with some gurus and have built up your own ranking as an expert, you need to single out your core content and get it out there.
YouTube is not rocket science!
Make The Most Of YouTube/ iTunes
So, you’ve got your game plan, website and blog, and have a few expert interviews under your belt…it’s now time to use YouTube to the max. Both YouTube and iTunes are the perfect environment for exhibiting your business proficiency, and allow others to pass it on. Remember, you’re an expert now, so it’s time to get your videos or audios out there. While you constantly update your blog, you’ll get better results by complementing posts with your videos and audio files. I know I’ve downloaded a lot for you to take in, and I promise this is all going to help you with your niche domination. But I have a couple more tips up my sleeve for you…
Pump Your Content Contagion Machine
Besides dominating a particular niche, you want your content to add more value to the web. Let’s say videos are all you’ve got to offer right now. So, make the best use of them by cutting them up into little (yet helpful) pieces, uploading them to YouTube, and providing supplementary articles for each on your blog. How easy was that? Yeah, and it not only creates loads of content but does that wonderful expert-positioning thing, too! The end result is basically you, getting a healthy “content virus” going around the web, giving people something of great use as well as something they’ll be eager to follow back. Since I’ve touched on people following back to your site…
Make It Easy For Your Customers
When potential customers get to the bottom of your content, they usually look around for somewhere to go next. Because you’ve done an excellent job, they’ll at least hang around your website for a little longer to see what other goodies you can offer them. It’s now your job to make it super-duper-easy for them to place an order, ask for more info, or hit your newsletter’s “Subscribe” button. Don’t make ‘em click a million times to find a deeply embedded contact page, you can’t afford to let them slip into the slightest confusion. Instead, make sure the next step for them is the easiest.
So there you have it – the master plan to successful niche domination in a (sorta) nutshell! Yes there are loads of steps, but if you take it one at a time you’ll get there for sure! Or perhaps you realize building websites, SEO and web video don’t form your core strength…and need someone to help out. Luckily, these are rock-solid skills for that team at Melbourne SEO Services, so to find out more about how you can conquer the Internet, click here.