Niche Business Ideas for Online MLM

OK. So you’re in MLM (or thinking of joining a Network marketing Opportunity) and you’ve decided to do a little online research.

You want to go online to generate leads and customers and in a flash you’ve realised: You need to find a profitable niche and focus in on a target market.

This article will give you some nice niche business ideas for your MLM- whether you want to focus on the business development side, or the product side (retailing).

Well done. You are already way ahead of the pack. The future leaders in MLM are going to be the ones who are able to carve out a piece of internet real estate for themselves- i.e. a niche market that they can dominate! A way to differentiate themselves from all the other distributors in their MLM’s! And indeed, all the other MLM’s.

But, you’re confused. You’ve got a 1000 products you could sell (your MLM products). Or, your MLM nutritional product is a cure all! Anyone with any aliment will be cured- or prevented from getting the ailment- if they take your products- so who do you choose to market to?

Or, you don’t really want to focus in on the health/insurance/skin care/travel/whatever issues related to your MLM products. You’d much rather get into business training.

You might know exactly what type of niche target market you want to focus in on. Or you might be overwhelmed by the sheer choice your MLM company and the MLM industry itself gives you.

Or you have a niche business  idea, but are unsure if it’ll be profitable.

Finding your  profitable niche business is a combination of doing what you love (and know) and finding a little gap in your market that you can fill.

Obviously the customers having that need  (that you are going to fill), must also be buyers who have money! In MLM there are many potential niches you could look at- from using Facebook as a business development tool, to acne cures for teenagers!

In a way, the MLM industry itself is a niche market.

There’s over 15 million network marketers in the United States… an estimated 53 million worldwide… and 95% or more of them have never made a dime in profit with their business. That’s a lot of people who are looking for help.
It’s a very hot niche, but it’s not the only one.

Attraction Marketers Manifesto

Its a great place to look for prospects (they are already sold on the concept of Network Marketing). But to be successful you’re going to really need to dig down deeper within yourself and within your MLM to find your sub niche.

Niche Business Ideas: Digging a little deeper..

Is it business training you enjoy? Are you a video marketing expert? Do you do well on prospecting or using the telephone to convert leads? Or are you in love with one of your products, perhaps? Do you (or a close friend or family member) have an amazing story that you can tell about your weight loss, or your excema or your acne that went away as a result of your MLM’s product?

Or you may be starting from scratch and are actually researching a whole new niche from the beginning. Perhaps you want to start an online home based business and you like the idea of having a residual income element (MLM) attached to it.

The trick is to “marry” a niche you love, with your MLM as one of the back end products.

Once you have a general idea (broad niche topic) you are going to need to narrow down your niche to find a small segment of the market (your target audience) and get to know them intimately.

Once you’ve done that, you’re going to need to find your angle, your hook and “spin” and package your story.

But lets back track a little……before you do this, you might want to take a look at these Niche Business Ideas- specifically suited to MLM.

Niche Business Ideas: Sales Funnel Consideration

You want an easy flow throughout your sales funnel, that leads your prospect in a smooth and logical way from your free offer to your front end (low cost) product, to your middle of the range (medium ticket item), to your back end(s).

Your MLM product could be your medium priced item and your MLM Business opportunity your higher priced (and higher committment item). It will also be your continuity item (recurring monthly income). You can later also build out other medium and back end or continuity items to compliment your MLM.

Examples of your non-MLM medium to higher priced/continuity products could include:

• A monthly paying membership site,
• a home study course,
• an affiliate programme you know and love,
• personal coaching,
• group coaching,
• seminars,
• video bootcamps etc.

More on the Sales Funnel for MLM here.

But back to the Niche Business Ideas for MLM….

Here’s a list of niche business ideas that might get your creative juices going:

It’s a table that comes from the Attaction Marketers Manifesto by Ann Sieg.

Picking one or two of these areas and becoming an expert in them- and then teaching people how to use these methods will generate more leads than you will know what to do with!

These are going to help you find people who want to build businesses. (We’ll get to retailing MLM products in a bit.)

Look at the categories: There’s Personal Development, Traffic (Lead) Generation Methods, there’s Sales and Marketing and there’s a whole lot more lumped under the category “Other”.

What tickles your fancy? What resonates with you? What would you enjoy studying? Could you become the “Pay-Per-Click” guy? or the “Video Marketing girl”?

These are specialized niches aimed at educating business builders on how to build a business using your technique of choice.

Niche Business Ideas: Example

And you can go deeper into each sub niche: For example, here are some  Marketing with Squidoo Topics (Under Content sharing Niches)

*  What it takes to gain the attention of Squidoo visitors.

* What parts of your Squidoo lens are the most magnetic for search engine results.

* What it takes to establish yourself as an expert in your area of choice.

* What you must include on your “lenses” to increase reader response.

* What steps you can take (without spending a lot of time or money) to keep your lenses fresh.

* What methods you can use to keep your readers returning to you over and over again.

* What Web 2.0 is all about and what role it should be playing in your business.

And if there happens to be alot of competition in the niche- don’t worry too much! Do it better, cheaper, differently, more conveniently!

Or, as Ann Sieg says in her Marketers Manifesto

“How about taking any of the sub niches from the diagram above and specifically
focusing on teaching them to people in XYZ or ABC network marketing
company?
With over two thousand network marketing companies out there, that idea alone
multiplies your niche possibilities exponentially.”

Niche Business Ideas: Focusing on Your Company’s Products

What if you want to focus on retailing your company’s products rather than recruiting other distributors? (Or first focusing on Product customers and then recruiting distributors)

The same thing applies. Rather than focusing on “everyone with a beating heart”, focus in on a specific group of people with a specific set of problems. I outlined the example of the Sinus-Wellness.com website of a friend of mine, Mark, who has done just this.

He has focused on finding people who want to get well from sinus problems. His theme based content site is all about Sinus Wellness. He has a free and a front end (low cost) E Book- on….guess what ….yup, Sinus Wellness!

Actually his paid E book talks about the nutritional (sugar) requirements required to keep your sinuses healthy. (Of course his MLM Nutritional Supplement has all these sugar requirements!!)

His MLM Products are his middle ticket items and his MLM Business package is his high ticket and continuity item.

The people who’s specific problems Mark is addressing – people with sinus– will respond in droves as opposed to if he were marketing his product as a cure-all (even if it really IS a cure-all).

Niche Business Ideas for Health and Nutrition Industry

Here are a few Product Niche examples if you’re in the Health and Nutrition industry.

Taken from the Attraction Marketers Manifesto: Page 65

And this applies in all industries.

For example, if you sell legal insurance there are all kinds of different niches.

Traffic violations
DWI/DUI
Criminal actions
Civil actions
IRS audits
Personal injury
Divorce
Workers comp
Medical malpractice
Bankruptcy

Attraction Marketers Manifesto

Well, there’s some things to think about!

Once you’ve brainstormed your niche and found a smooth way to integrate your MLM products/opportunity into your sales funnel, you are going to need to do some niche  keyword research and niche target market research.

Niche Business Ideas: Keyword Research

This can be done using Google’s free Adwords Keyword Tool or a paid for tool- I recommend SBI’s Brainstorm It! Tool. I outline this process in detail in my Find a Profitable Niche series (Part 1-5 ).

Niche Business Ideas: Target Market Research

Once again I go into detail in a post called Niche Market Research, exactly the steps that need to be taken to get to know your target market intimately.

Here are some important questions to ask when researching your niche target market:

Who is your ideal customer? (Customer avatar)

What are their demographics?(Income, age, ethnicity, education, what other sites do they visit)

Where do they hang out online (forums, blogs, social networking sites, groups etc).

What are their needs and desires?

Who’s already serving them (your competition- or perhaps your future JV partner)?

How much disposable income do they have?

How do they like to receive their information?

What are the price points, features and convenience factors of the competition’s products?

Where’s your competitive advantage?

I invite you to look into these questions and learn how to answer them (and a whole lot more), in the Training Course “Savvy MLMers in Training” which you can access at Put Your MLM Biz Online.

Niche Business Ideas Resources

Put Your MLM Biz Online

Attraction Marketers Manifesto

Lots of Niches PDF

Niche Business Ideas Related Posts

Definition of a Niche

What is Niche Marketing (coming soon)

Find a Profitable Niche: Part 1 – Brainstorm

Find a Profitable Niche: Part 2- Compare overall Demand and Supply

Find a Profitable Niche: Part 3- Assessing Demand

Find a Profitable Niche: Part 4- Assessing Supply

Find a Profitable Niche: Part 5- Expand Your Keywords

How To Find Your Niche: Finding Your Niche Within Your Network Marketing Business

Niche Market Research

Internet Niche Marketing (coming soon)

Niche Affiliate Marketing Program (coming soon)- for MLM (Ann Sieg, Magnetic Sponsoring)

Niche Finder Software (coming soon)