If you’ve been in network marketing for any length of time, I am sure you’ve heard the term “niche marketing.” But, do you really know what a niche is, or whether or not you’ve found yours? According to Miriam Webster, a “niche” is a place, employment, status, or activity for which a person or thing is best fitted, as in “finally found her niche”, or a specialized market.

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.