By Shannon Cherry © 2005

To some online business owners the thought of specializing is terrifying. They think that if they specialize they'll miss a huge part of their potential market.

The reality is that if they don't specialize then their target market will be way too broad. Marketing to a general audience can put a huge strain on a marketer's budget and reduce a campaign's return on investment.

It's important for every business to find its niche, so it can market to those who will use its products or services, not to those who can.

Let's face it, you can't be everything to everyone ­ and you shouldn't try to be. The best marketing experts know that the more they keep driving down to their niche, and right for that specific group, the more success they have. That's because they focus their message.

So how do you find out what your niche is and who the people are that will use it?

By determining what your customers have in common and what common products or services these customers purchase, you've just discovered your niche and the market you should be targeting.

If you're just starting out and need to discover what your niche is and whom you should be marketing to, then you first need to ask yourself two questions: what are you best at doing and what do you like doing the most. Your answers to those questions should determine what your company specializes in.

To find out who will use your services or buy your products check out your competition to learn how they do business and what customers they attract. You should also conduct a survey to profile and build a database of potential clients/customers to market to.

Specializing might be a terrifying thought, but throwing money into a marketing campaign that only focuses on the possibles ­ not the probables ­ is even scarier.