To niche or not to niche

This post is in response to Aaron’s comments on the blog from yesterday

“My question is this: As a web designer, which to you is best… To target a niche (realtors, lawyers, resorts etc.) Or to work for anyone in need of a web presence? In your web design business kit, your way to do business sounds like take in as much work as possible from anyone. Though I’ve read recently from some of Andrew Neitlich’s articles (on SitePoint) that you should target a specific niche. What’s your opinion?”

Thanks for the question Aaron

You have a couple of things to consider here, especially if you aren’t a well-established designer.

# 1:  Most businesses fail.  The vast, vast majority.  To start to build a successful business you need as much income in as you can get.

You need to reach as many potential clients as possible.  To limit yourself in the early stages to a specific niche would not be in your best interests.

# 2:  Love the idea of developing your own niche or specialty.  Whenever we make a pitch for new business, we try and demonstrate our expertise to the client by showing them similar work with similar clients.

Clients often approach us

We’ve had clients approach us quite a few times because we are widely acknowledged as web experts in their field.

With a niche you can be very specific in your marketing, not to mention it makes it far, far easier to make sales because of your credibility within the marketplace.

So the short answer is this: identify and attack a niche.  But don’t put all of your eggs in the one basket especially in the early stages of your business.