If you’re looking for a way to make money online, the first place to start is with your own interests and hobbies. If the topic interests you – then there is a high probability that the topic interests thousands of people around the world!

So how do you choose your topic? Well, ask yourself a few simple questions about who YOU are:

Who are YOU?

1. What is your name, age, and gender?
2. Describe where you live: House, apartment, city, suburb, neighborhood, region of the country.
3. Identify the traditional statistics about yourself: Blue collar or white collar? Spiritual or not? Liberal or conservative?

How do you use your TIME?

1. What jobs have you held?
2. What volunteer activities or causes have you promoted?
3. What hobbies or entertainment do you enjoy?

Where do you go GO?

1. Do you enjoy traveling or do you like to stay close to home?
2. Are you an indoor person or an outdoor person?
3. Where do you want to go that you haven’t?

Who do you RELATE to?

1. How would you describe your friends?
2. Do you make friends online or only in person?
3. What are the common interests of the majority of your friends?

By answering these questions you’ll get a deeper understanding of who you are, what you enjoy, and how you already share that with your friends. Look for areas that excite you and you have a passion about, then list those as possible topics to create an internet business around.

So once you’ve chosen some topics that you may want to use to create an online income – how do you know which is the best one?

This is the “marketability factor.” Just because you think it’s a good idea doesn’t mean you can sell it. You have to do some market research to find out if it has broad appeal and the best way to sell your idea.

Answer these questions to determine if your idea has “marketability”:

1. How often do you hear your topic mentioned in the news? If the news media considers your subject important enough to report on with regularity, it’s probably something quite a few people are interested in. Televisions, magazines and newspapers are looking for ratings, and they get them by drawing large audiences with the information they present. The broader the audience they feel can be reached with a topic, the more often they will seek to cover it.
2. How many products are available on the market relating to your topic? Finding out you have a lot of competition is not necessarily a bad thing. It simply means there is a large enough consumer base to support products that deal with the topic-and that will include your product.
3. What is the approximate age range of people who would find your topic interesting? The best topics have broad demographic appeal. If your subject can interest anyone from teens to retirees, you have a great shot at creating and selling a successful product.
4. How fast would you act on a great deal for a product relating to your topic? How about your friends? Would you jump at a bargain if it related to the topic you’ve chosen? And how about the people you hang out with-your easy-to-reach target market? The sooner you can hook people into a sale during the buying process, the more likely your autoresponder campaign will be profitable.
5. What are the benefits of knowing more about your topic that customers would gain by buying your product? People want to know they’re getting what they pay for. Your topic should be able to provide buyers with some tangible knowledge or skill they would not otherwise have if they hadn’t purchased your product. Being able to list the benefits of your product will also help in your marketing,
6. How often do you hear your topic mentioned in the news? If the news media considers your subject important enough to report on with regularity, it’s probably something quite a few people are interested in. Televisions, magazines and newspapers are looking for ratings, and they get them by drawing large audiences with the information they present. The broader the audience they feel can be reached with a topic, the more often they will seek to cover it.
7. How many products are available on the market relating to your topic? Finding out that you have a lot of competition is not necessarily a bad thing. It simply means there is a large enough consumer base to support products that deal with the topic-and that will include your product or service. Use Google, Ebay, and Amazon to check out the competition.
8. What is the approximate age range of people who would find your topic interesting? The best topics have broad demographic appeal. If your subject can interest a large age range then you have a great shot at creating and selling a successful product or service.
9. How fast would you act on a great deal for a product or service relating to your topic? How about your friends? Would you jump at a bargain if it related to the topic you’ve chosen? And how about the people you hang out with-your easy-to-reach target market?
10. What are the benefits of knowing more about your topic that customers would gain by buying your product or service? People want to know they’re getting what they pay for. Your topic should be able to provide buyers with some tangible knowledge or skill they would not otherwise have if they hadn’t purchased your product or service. Being able to list the benefits of your product or service is an essential part of your marketing.

Now that you’ve identified what your interests are which have the greatest “marketability,” you are on track to creating an online business! This is of course only the beginning of your quest to create a successful online business. You will need to educate yourself on a wide variety of topics to insure your success. Fortunately, from like-minded entrepreneurs who share their knowledge online, you can learn everything you need to know to have a profitable internet business.