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How to Select Profitable Niches For Your Shopify Online Store
In the past, I've been lucky enough to get my hands on a lot of information about how to create and grow an online store. But the one thing that always seemed to be missing from those resources was a clear, step-by-step approach for identifying and choosing profitable niches for Shopify online stores.
I had no idea how I was supposed to know what products were going to sell! It felt like there was so much out there—too much! How was I supposed to keep track of everything? Well, after some time spent doing research and asking questions, I have developed a process that really works for me—and hundreds of my past clients. And now I'm going to share it with you!
Selecting a profitable niche for your Shopify online store can be a challenge, but it doesn't have to be. I'm going to share with you the five steps I use when I'm looking for a new niche to sell in, and how to use each of these steps in order to find something that will work well for your business.
Facebook Audience Insights
Facebook Audience Insights is a tool that can help you find profitable niches for your Shopify online store. It's easy to use and the data it provides is invaluable.
For example, you could use this tool to explore a niche like fitness and wellness by typing in any keyword related to that industry. Facebook will show you how many monthly active people are interested in the topic worldwide. You may see how many people are interested in the topic, their likes and dislikes expressed on it, as well as where they live.
From there, you can explore further by using other data points related to these people. For example, if you want to sell fitness-related products but only want to sell them in countries where those buyers speak English, you could use this tool's language filter to narrow down your audience even more.
The possibilities are endless when it comes to using Facebook Audience Insights as a tool for finding profitable niches!
Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner allows you to search for keywords related to your product or service and see how many people are searching for those terms in the U.S., Canada, or the UK. You can also use this tool to see what people are searching for in each country as well as what their average cost-per-click (CPC) is, which will help you determine how much it will cost to advertise on that keyword.
You can also use Google Keyword Planner to discover long-tail keywords that are more specific than broad terms like "dog food" or "dog grooming." If there are too many searches for broad terms like this, then it may not make sense for you to target them because they aren't worth advertising on due to high competition and low CPCs.
To find out which keywords are most profitable for your site, go ahead and enter one of these long-tail keywords into Google Keyword Planner's interface and see if it has any data available for it. If there are enough searches on that keyword and the competition is low, then you may want to go ahead and target it with an ad.
If there aren't enough searches on a long-tail keyword or the competition is too high, you may want to consider targeting one of the broader terms with your ad.
Keyword research is an ongoing process, so keep in mind that changes could occur over time. For example, if one of your long-tail keywords suddenly becomes more competitive and expensive (which would cause its CPC to rise), then it might not be worth advertising on anymore and you should look for a different keyword to target instead.
Search Location
When it comes to selecting profitable niches for your Shopify online store, it's important to make sure you're considering your search location.
When looking at search volumes, be sure to consider both local and global results. If you’ll primarily be selling in the US, focus on local (US) search volumes instead of global ones. You can easily see which search terms are more popular in your area by using a site like Google Trends.
You can also use Google's Keyword Planner tool to find keywords with high search volume and low competition—but keep in mind that this is only useful for global searches.
It's also helpful to take note of what kinds of products people are searching for around you (or at least within your target market). For example, if you're selling clothing but most people are searching for "jeans" or "pants," then maybe it's time to branch out into other types of clothing!
Long-Tail Variations
Google may suggest that you focus your efforts on one- or two-word search queries, but don't forget about longer, more specific ones — which tend to get less traffic. These more detailed search terms are commonly referred to as “long tail” searches.
Long tail searches are very specific and thus have a lower volume than broad search terms. However, they can still be valuable for your e-commerce business. In fact, if you're looking for profitable niches for Shopify online store, long tail searches might be exactly what you need!
To use long tail variations to select profitable niches for Shopify online stores, follow these tips:
- Generate long tail variations of your keywords using Google AdWords Keyword Planner (GKP) or other tools like SEMrush or Ubersuggest
- Choose the most promising long tail variation and add it to your list of target keywords
- Use an automated tool like Long Tail Pro or Market Samurai to find additional long tail variations for this keyword
- Choose the most promising variation and add it to your list of target keywords
- Repeat steps 1-4 until you have a long tail keyword list with at least 100 different variations
- Use Google Keyword Planner (GKP) to see how many people search for each keyword and which ones are most profitable
- Create a list of all the long tail keywords you found using GKP
Once you have your list, you can use it to narrow down your niche and create a niche website. You can also use it as a starting point to build an authority site in your niche.
Google Trends
Google Trends is a great tool for Shopify store owners to use when they are looking to find profitable niches. It allows you to see what topics are popular in your area and how those topics are trending. You can also see how well your competitors are doing, which is a great way to compare yourself against them and see where you can improve your business.
I've used Google Trends several times to select profitable niches for my Shopify store. It's very easy to use—you just go to the site and type in your keyword or phrase, like "women's clothes" or "dog food," and it will give you some data about what's trending in that niche.
You can also use it to see how well other companies are doing in that niche. For example, if I search for "dog food" on Google Trends, I can see that there are about 3 million searches for that term every month on average over the past year—and most of those searches come from people who live within 25 miles of my city! That means there is probably a lot of demand for something like dog food here.
Then I can look at how many results appear on page one of Google when someone searches for "dog food." There are usually only two or three results that show up on page one. This means there's a lot of opportunity in this niche because the competition is not very strong!
You can also use Google Trends to see what people are searching for in your niche. If you click the "Explore" button at the top right of the screen, you'll see a list of related searches that people are making.
Seasonality
So you're trying to select a profitable niche for your Shopify online store. You want to find a product that people are searching for, but you don't want to get too caught up in the details right now. That's understandable—you're still building your company and probably have a lot more important things on your plate than keyword research!
But what if I told you that understanding seasonality can help you find great products and avoid bad ones?
Well, it's true! Understanding the seasonality of a market—that is, if the demand for a product changes dramatically at different points in the year—is crucial. Because the keyword tool provides data on a monthly basis, you can draw some misleading conclusions if you measure search volumes during the wrong time of year.
For example: If you measure search volume for "pizza cutter" on Google Trends during November, it'll look like there's no interest at all in this product. But if you measure search volume for "pizza cutter" on Google Trends during July or August, it'll look like people are searching for this product all day long!
The takeaway here is that if you're trying to figure out whether there's demand for something in your niche before deciding whether or not it would make sense to start a business that sells that product, you need to measure search volume over time.
This will help you get a better picture of how much people are searching for things at different times of the year and in different parts of the country.
The Takeaway
You can find a profitable niche for your Shopify store by starting with the things that interest you and then looking for opportunities to turn those interests into products. If you're into hiking, maybe there's a way to turn that interest into a product line.
If you like reading, maybe there's a way to turn that into a book club. A lot of people start their online stores out of frustration at not being able to buy what they want, or because they have an idea for something that would make their lives easier.
That's all well and good, but the most important thing is to keep in mind that whatever your niche is, it needs to be one that people care about enough to spend money on it—and they need to be able to reach your site easily.
When choosing a niche for your Shopify store, it's important not just because it'll help increase sales—it's also important because narrowing down your focus can help you create better marketing content and better customer service strategies.