Ever heard of the Thirty Day Challenge? (You may have seen it as 30DC on Twitter) Or perhaps you’ve heard of Ed Dale?

The Challenge is the new version of Ed Dale’s free internet marketing boot camp. The tag line remains the same this year:

But, the format of The Challenge has changed drastically. For many of us, it is a very welcome change. I seem to always miss the start of the program when it rolls around. Don’t ask me why. It’s at the same time every year. And, I’m a subscriber, so I know I have received advance notifications via email, but somehow managed to overlook them.

In years past, I found myself trying to do it on my own because I had missed the time frame altogether (they keep the year’s content live on the internet until the next year rolls around so, technically, you can take the challenge at any time). Or, I have joined late and found myself working into the wee hours of the morning for days on end trying, in vain, to catch up.

Last year I even started a support group for other late comers. It was actually a lot of fun and we got some good synergy going and I believe many people benefited from being able to bounce ideas off of one another and trade off tasks. I did some ghost writing in exchange for some technical support on my website, etc. All-in-all, a good experience.

This year The Challenge isn’t limited to thirty days. In fact, after week of instruction, you actually have time off to accomplish your assigned tasks or, for those chronic late joiners such as myself, time to catch up with the group without falling even further behind.

So, are you ready to take The Challenge? You can follow along with me, or go to http://challenge.co/ and join in yourself. What can you expect from The Challenge 2010? According to Ed Dale:

The Challenge will help ANYONE even a beginner learn about internet marketing and get started building a profitable online business even if you have no time, no money or haven’t got a clue how to get started on the internet.

My take? This is one of the best programs out there on the internet to help you get your feet wet and learn a lot of the tricks of the trade. And, did I mention the best part? It’s FREE!

Many people look for a niche in network marketing by focusing on the specialized market they think is popular and will lead to massive sales. Then they jump in and try to carve out their own piece of that pie which, incidentally, has already been cut into a multitude of little slivers that aren’t even big enough to feed a little field mouse. In fact, one of the things you are told by most of the experts in the field is to make sure that there is a market out there. Make sure there are plenty of other people already doing what you are planning to do if you want to be successful. To a point, I agree with this philosophy. However, it can be fatally flawed.

Yes, you need to make sure a market exists for your product or service, and one of the best ways to do that is to simply Google or Yahoo the key words associated with what you are trying to sell. How many hits does a search for those words generate? How many groups or forums are there devoted to this product? If there aren’t very many hits, it’s unlikely that very many people will be searching for what you have to offer. On the other hand, if several billion sites are returned — many of them site by other would-be internet millionaires — it could be that the market is already saturated. I’m not saying it would be impossible for you to break in and make some money in this area. But, you had better have a better mousetrap than what is currently available, or you’ll get lost in the shuffle.

The other important thing to focus on is the first definition I gave you for niche: A place or activity for which a person is best fitted. In other words, what are you good at? What do you enjoy? What are you truly passionate about? You see, the only way you can offer something that will stand out from the crowd, is if you truly care about what you have to offer. If all you want to do is make money, it’s unlikely that you will succeed in an internet marketplace that is already crowded with the too many brilliant ideas on how to make millions overnight.

What gets you excited? What has you so wound up that you want to climb up on the rooftop and yell about it? What could you talk about for hours and never get tired of talking? What can you look at from 500 different angles, and always see more possibilities? When you have found that, you’ve found your niche. When you’ve truly found your niche, you can sell your product because your enthusiasm will be so contagious, that suddenly everyone will want a piece of your pie.