The choice of which niche to build a business around is crucial to your success. This choice can determine your attitude and the outcome of your business. Choosing the wrong niche can leave you frustrated and unmotivated. Picking the right niche can be invigorating and empowering. Building a business requires hard work and determination to overcome the obstacles. It sure is a lot easier when you know you are in the right business. So, how to you pick the right niche. Here are three criteria.

Passion

Do what you love and the money will follow. It may be evident to all what you are passionate about. When you are passionate about something, you “light up” when you are doing it. You feel compelled to talk about it. You invest your time and money to do it. While it may be “work”, you find it renews you. You just have to do it.

Maybe you haven’t discovered your passion yet. A great way to find out is to ask yourself some questions. What do I enjoy doing? What experiences have I had that were positive? What subjects do I enjoy reading about most? What topics of conversation get me excited? What would my ideal job be?

Another effective way to discover your passion is to read about the niches others have chosen as themes for their online businesses. You can access a list of success online businesses in a variety of areas or read in-depth case studies.

For more tips on how to discover your passion, visit the SBI Action Guide.

Popularity

Another important factor in the choice of a niche is popularity. Are there enough people who are interested in the niche? Is it a topic that people are searching for? You can use Google’s Keyword Search Tool to get an idea of how popular a niche is.

Profitability

While passion and popularity are important, your intention is to start and grow an online business. A business can only thrive if it is profitable. Profitability takes into account both the popularity of a niche and the present level of competition. You also have to consider the number, quality and commission levels of the products and services available to offer your visitors. Finally, you need to consider the potential for creating your own products.

Visit SBI to brainstorm profitable niches.

Which niche should you choose for your online business? Choose one that you are passionate about, is popular and has good potential for profitability.

Infopreneurship is a business model based on the sale of information. Information is a commodity. It is what people look for on the internet. They want answers to their questions. And many are willing to pay for these answers.

Becoming a successful  infopreneur is not as difficult as you may think, especially infopublishing the SBI way. All you have to do is publish what you know using the right process and the right tools.  Let’s look at each one of these.

The first ingredient is your knowledge. You’ve gained knowledge through study, research, experiences, hobbies, jobs and other means that could be easily shared with others who are looking for the knowledge that you already possess.

Next, is the right process. Sharing your knowledge is the first step in the process. Creating good content is a matter of writing out your knowledge in a way that reflects your personality. When visitors arrive at your website, they find helpful information. This breaks down the barrier of anonymity and creates credibility. When you recommend a product or service, your visitors are more willing to check it out and give it a try.

Finally, you have to have the right tools. If you had to build a house, which of the following objects would you choose in order to drive nails?

a. shoe

b. hammer

c. nail gun

I hope you chose letter “c”. The nail gun allows you to work smarter. You get the job done much quicker and with a lot less effort.

SBI! is like having a nail gun to build your business instead of a shoe or a hammer. There are some tools out there that are just not appropriate to building an online business. Others, like the hammer, get the job done but they sure leave you worn out.

SBI! offers you a complete set of online business-building tools that help you to work more efficiently and effectively. The tools do the work they are supposed to and you add the BAM (brains and motivation).

Traditional business courses rarely provide students with the opportunity to build a real business. Oh, they may get you to go through some simulations but this is a far cry from the real deal. Most of what you learn is a lot of theory that you might get to apply years down the road.

The SBI! eLearning course is different. Students graduate from the 12-week, 10-lesson course “with a critical life skill and a genuine business.”

There is no theory to this course. There are, however, proven principals of successful online business. In the first lesson, you will learn about CTPM.  What is CTPM? Here is a quick preview.

C is for Content

People access the internet to find information. They want solutions to their problems. Help them find it by sharing what you know. No, you can’t solve everyone’s problems but you can help those who have the same interests and experiences that you have.

T is for Traffic

The content you write ranks high in the search engines due to SBI’s proprietary website building and search engine submission tools. The majority of internauts find websites by using a search engine. By ranking high, your site will be found. Sixty-two percent of all SBI sites rank in the top 3% of all websites on the internet. No other online business system can make that claim.

P is for Preselling

When a visitor first arrives at your site, there is a natural sense of distrust. Hey, they don’t know you. One way to establish credibility is to provide quality content that answers their questions. This is what preselling is all about. You share something helpful.

M is for Monetization

Because you have been helpful, your visitors are more open to your suggestions and recommendations. And then you write, “Hey, by the way, there is this product or service that I have found helpful and I think you will like it, too.” When your visitors click the link and make a purchase, you make money. If the product or service is your own, you keep all of money. If the product or service is from an individual or company you represent (affiliate program), then you get a commission.

Once you understand CTPM (the principle is only part of the first lesson), you move quickly into the practical part of building your own online business. You will generate ideas that interest you, research their potential for profitability, generate relevant keywords, plan methods of monetization, choose a domain name, build your website and generate traffic to your site.

Through this process you will be guided by a dedicated SiteSell instructor. You receive personalized assistance each step of the way. At the end of the 12-week course, you graduate with your own online business.

Learn more about SBI’s eLearning Online Business Course.

SiteSell recently announced that their popular online business building system Site Build It would now be offered as a 12-week online business course. To determine whether the course if right for you, SiteSell prepared a self test.

1. Do you prefer the reassurance and sure progress of hands-on instruction?
2. Do you appreciate the discipline (and sense of accomplishment) of scheduled weekly progress?
3. Do you enjoy working with people in a small group (people who become friends) and progressing with them?
4. Do you want your specific questions answered directly and completely?
5. Do you like the idea of graduating with a business and a clear roadmap ahead?

Have you ever been assigned a task without the proper instruction? It can be pretty frustrating. A step-by-step plan serves to dissipate the confusion and create direction and drive. The SBI Action Guide does just that.  SBI eLearning goes a step further. Not only do you get the roadmap but you get a mentor as well. An experienced SBI owner will serve as your teacher and guide you through understanding fundamental concepts of online business to choosing a profitable theme that you are passionate about to creating web content to generating traffic to monetizing your site.

There are many reasons to take this course but the best reason is that is SBI works. With SBI eLearning you don’t graduate with a certificate, you graduate with a business. Take advantage of the introductory $200 rebate to start and build a thriving online venture based on something you know and love.

Sign up for SBI eLearning Online Business Course today!