Monday, October 17, 2011

Is It Safe To Start A Home Based Businesss In Today's Economy?

As more and more people lose their jobs in this economy and people realize that the “recovery” is more likely going to take place for them in their own home office or basement, we will see that good home based business ideas will become worth their weight in gold. Niche marketing and trade specialization have been important from the beginning days of business. In times of yore, you didn’t hear of blacksmiths working in textiles, and now you certainly don’t hear of pediatricians dabbling in highly specialized disciplines such as plastic surgery or brain surgery. If you are familiar with supply and demand principles and the forces that drive the marketplace, you’ll know that less competitive spaces on the internet will always be more profitable. I would love to sell ipods for a living on my website, but it wouldn’t be a profitable business model because of the sheer number of competitors in that vertical. Additionally, these are prohibitive because of the razor thin profit margins for electronics. If Circuit City can’t compete with Walmart, Best Buy, and Costco, then I’m not going to try either.

If you are thinking about selling a product, you should come up with a broad idea to start, like outdoors. From there you can begin to drill down to a more specific niche. From outdoors, you would consider outdoor décor, and from there you would choose something to sell like “outdoor wall water fountains”. The thought process unfolds like this: outdoors > outdoor décor > outdoor wall water fountains. Your ideas start broad and develop into very small areas where you can reduce your competition on the web by up to 99%. If you ever think that your idea might be too narrow or focused to be viable for an online business, you'll probably be just fine. Another point to consider would be doing some research on how to develop long tail keyword phrases, which is just another name for a niche market. If you ever need help finding great home based business ideas, there are many resources on the web to help you find your way.