Video Games and Consoles are the second item on the list in the Forbes article. Their theory on why we’re still buying this is that Consumers want a quick escape from reality. I say it’s because Video Games are addictive and addicts buy stuff! Whatever the reason, people are still buying them in droves. Pick a game and build a site around it. Websites about the Wii, PlayStation and XBox are really popular. Unless you can come up with an unique angle, I’d concentrate on picking a game since the Console market is flooded right now.

Gym memberships are also on the list. I’m not sure why people would cut back on their spending then blow bucks on a Gym membership when you can get a decent workout at home or by walking/jogging around your neighborhood, but Forbes says it’s so. I’ll just stick with my Health niches and maybe write some articles on Gym reviews if I need that traffic.

Personal care also made the list of things we keep spending money on. This would be an easy one to implement with Health. You could also start a affiliate site with a lot of persona care items. Just research the niche and try to find one not full of big players like Johnson and Johnson.

Toy building sets also made the top 10. This one surprised me a bit and I’m still not sure if they mean the Toy Building Sets their self or Toys in general. Their theory is that it’s hard to say NO to you kids. There’s a lot of truth behind that statement as I can relate to that! The article says that Lego sales were up 12 percent in 2008! In November, the word “Lego” was searched for over 673,000 times according to the Google Keyword tool. Anyone have a Lego blog?

Car Maintenance is also on the list. Consumers aren’t rushing out and buying a new car now days but they are spending money on the ones the do have. This would be a good niche if you could find some specific products and build an affiliate site around them. Everything from products that clean and beautify your car to performance enhancing products would be good sellers.

Another surprise for me on this list was Dress Casual Shoes. Google shows 33,000 searches for Casual Shoes and 49,000 searches for Dress Shoes. Grab a domain with the words Dress Casual Shoes in it and you have several options to profit from this niche. A blog reviewing Casual and Dress shoes to an affiliate site selling both Casual and Dress shoes would be a hit if you can rank the site on page one of the Google SERPS.

Restaurants was on the list also. Most specifically fast food chains as people are looking for inexpensive meals. I’ve always thought about starting a blog and reviewing the popular menu items at fast food places since I eat out a lot. But I just haven’t had the time.

Movie tickets took my be surprise also. I guess the American Family is looking for alternatives when it comes to entertainment. The article says that attendance is down but profits rose in 2008. I’m not sure how good a niche this would be because I the prices of everything at Theaters are outrageous these days. I also believe services like NetFlix, Blockbuster and Red Box have taken a big chunk of money away from the Theaters. But hey, maybe you can get an unique angle on this niche and make some money from it.

Netbooks is a niche I think some money could be made at. These are relatively new to the market and due to the low price, becoming more and more popular. Review sites and affiliate sites would be a good way to monetize these niches.

If you were looking for something to make money from in 2009, the above 10 hot niches should do you well. Several have been good niches for years and will likely be so in the future. Do some research on them and pick one or two and give them a try!

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Do free trials really work? Are they cost effective? Whether you’re considering a free trial or sampling of some kind, keep in mind that many products are best “experienced”. For example, its difficult to know whether or not you’ll like the flavor of a new toothpaste without trying it. On the service side, you don’t know if you’ll like a new dry cleaner until you get your shirts pressed.

As a result, many marketers are using free trials to lure new customers. This is particularly effective when the lifetime customer value of a new customer is substantial.

Picking up on our dry cleaning example, once acquired, a customer may stay with the dry cleaner for many years to come. Therefore, offering a free trial for a few shirts equates to a low acquisition cost in relation to the total revenue that can be generated from the newly acquired customer.

Another example is Salesforce.com. A business-to-business company that specializes in online management solutions has been offering free trials for a long time. These free trials have accounted for significant revenue growth and the addition of more than 40,000 new subscribers per year.

Make Your Free Trial Effective

The key to having a successful free trial program is to make it simple and risk free. For example, don’t ask clients for tons of information in order to begin their free trial. Make participation clear and easy requiring only minimal information. Make sure this information allows you to track their participation and follow up with them at a later point in the process.

Solicit feedback from those who participate in the free trial. Ask them, “How’s it going?” This can improve your chances of conversion and also give you the information you need to enhance your program moving forward.

Most Popular Free Trials

The most popular free trial is “30-day Free Trial”. This is effective for a number of reasons. The first and foremost is that a new habit is formed within three weeks. By getting someone to participate in a program for a minimum of 3 weeks (like subscribing to a cable channel) makes it habit forming and creates some switching costs. Remember the old saying, “I want my MTV”. Yeah, of course… because once you’ve watched it for a while you can’t do without it.

Other types of free trials are available as well. The key is to look at what competitors in your industry are offering and finding the offers that have been out there for a long time. This means that the offers are effective. No company can survive by giving their products and services away for free indefinitely.

Is a Free Trial Right for You?

If your product or service is a high price, and a free trial may not be idea. As a result, you many want to consider sampling. Perhaps sampling involves a small portion of the complete service you’re going to deliver.

Just the other day, I received a free trial of something for my website. The free trial only included a partial scan of my website. After some items were identified, I had to upgrade to receive the additional benefit. This works extremely well for service businesses or those where products are too expensive for a free trial.

In conclusion, think about the free trial as another marketing tool in your tool chest. Free trials are ideal when selling products and services that can generate an ongoing revenue stream. Don’t hesitate to try a free trial offer. If it works, you can have a consistent stream of users and conversions.

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