A little bit about me first: I have a strong e-ecommerce background (6 years), and have been trying to find an under served niche online. I have no doubt that I could build, run, and market an e-commerce website. However, finding the niche has been the hard part. I had identified one niche, but the barriers to entry at this time are way too high for me as I have very little capital.
I strongly believe I have found another under served niche that will be slightly easier to break into. The reason I stumbled upon the niche is my friend Jon, a fellow e-commerce guy, told me there is no place to buy _________ online Sure enough, he's right. I've been doing as much research into the niche as I can, but I'm not sure at what point I should dive in head first. The niche itself is pretty big, but almost no one is running PPC ads, and very few people are ranking for industry related key words. The problem lies in that the main product itself is fairly complicated, and can be seasonal. Think of one of the products like a Tennis Racquet (I use to work for Tennis-warehouse.com). Tennis racquets come in a variety of grip sizes, and then you need to pick your string and string tension. While tennis veterans will already know their grip size, string, and tensions, many people will need help picking the right options for their racquet. This is similar for the niche I'm looking into.
Additionally, several high-end manufacturers of my main product do not like their products being sold online. They claim they believe only pro shops should sell their products (similar to high-end golf clubs). While you can advertise their products online, they will pull your right to sell their products if they find you violating the agreement.
My question is...how do I know if this can be a fast lane business? I believe it looks that way, but am only about 30% sure. I'd like to be 40-60% sure before I dive in head and foot. Just to get a site up and running and testing the market I'm looking at 4-6 grand (of which I only have about $1500 at the moment right now).
I strongly believe I have found another under served niche that will be slightly easier to break into. The reason I stumbled upon the niche is my friend Jon, a fellow e-commerce guy, told me there is no place to buy _________ online Sure enough, he's right. I've been doing as much research into the niche as I can, but I'm not sure at what point I should dive in head first. The niche itself is pretty big, but almost no one is running PPC ads, and very few people are ranking for industry related key words. The problem lies in that the main product itself is fairly complicated, and can be seasonal. Think of one of the products like a Tennis Racquet (I use to work for Tennis-warehouse.com). Tennis racquets come in a variety of grip sizes, and then you need to pick your string and string tension. While tennis veterans will already know their grip size, string, and tensions, many people will need help picking the right options for their racquet. This is similar for the niche I'm looking into.
Additionally, several high-end manufacturers of my main product do not like their products being sold online. They claim they believe only pro shops should sell their products (similar to high-end golf clubs). While you can advertise their products online, they will pull your right to sell their products if they find you violating the agreement.
My question is...how do I know if this can be a fast lane business? I believe it looks that way, but am only about 30% sure. I'd like to be 40-60% sure before I dive in head and foot. Just to get a site up and running and testing the market I'm looking at 4-6 grand (of which I only have about $1500 at the moment right now).
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