How to validate a niche before you begin a YouTube business with no face?

It's easy to see the hard work that goes into starting a faceless YouTube channel.

Find a niche, write some scripts, make some thumbnails, upload videos and wait for the viewers.

In fact, a lot of the challenging choices are made in the early stages before the first video is released.

What niche you select impacts nearly everything which follows: the audience you draw in, the difficulty of creating videos, the quantity of ideas you will be able to think of, the amount of competitors you'll encounter, if you can even make content 6 months later.

Thus, niche validation is important.

The niche does not have to be 100% free. An empty niche, in fact, can be an alarm if there is little evidence that it is cared for by people. There needs to be an audience that has a strong demand for the niche, and there needs to be some way to differentiate yourself from the competition and make a profit, and there needs to be a way to produce and sustain that niche.

This is how you should check them out before spending hours and dollars.

What is Niche Validation?

Niche validation is just the procedure of confirming if your YouTube niche is worth creating around or not before you make a commitment to it.

There are three questions that are most important:

• Is anyone already consuming this sort of material?

• Is there room for an alternative channel to join the group without it being a doppelganger?

• Are you able to continue creating content with no end of ideas, resources or energy?

Each of these can be the cause of failure of a niche.

For instance, a topic could have a lot of interest with the audience but be very difficult to produce with consistency. A third could be easy to make, but not very well known. A third one may be in demand and easy to produce, but all the successful channels are likely to be creating almost the same videos.

It's not about catching one strong signal, it's about good niche research.

Begin with a survey of the market to determine what needs exist.

The first mistake that the creators make is beginning with personal interest.

It's helpful to like a topic because you will be engaged with it for a long time, but it's not proof of an audience.

Rather, use YouTube to browse for the sort of content that you're considering and find patterns.

It's not about one video that has a ton of views. You're searching for reoccurring indications of attention.

Check several channels. Unlock their more powerful videos. Make comparisons about subject, title, format and frequency of topics.

Be especially mindful of videos which are outstandingly good for the channel where they are posted.

Now picture a channel where all of the videos get a little bit of attention, but a certain subject outperforms the channel in several ways.

Now picture a channel where all of the videos get a little bit of attention, but one subject outperforms the channel in several ways. I'd recommend your investigation into that video. It can show a topic, angle, or interest of an audience that the creator stumbled upon.

The relevant question is:

• What is unusual about this video?

Perhaps it is a more specific topic. Perhaps there's a deeper mystery in the story. Perhaps the following title establishes a better information gap. Perhaps something about the subject appeals to more people.

A lot more useful than a viral moment in isolation are repeated patterns.

Competition does not necessarily mean bad sign

Many niche research tips are wrong.

Creators should look for sites that have "low competition" and assume that having fewer competitors means it will be easier.

This is not always the case.

Competition is a sign that there is a need for an audience.

The key is how you'd play the game.

What are the channels already in place and available in the niche and ask:

• What are the subjects that are repeated again and again?

• Do they feel their videos are repetitive?

• Do most channels adhere to a storytelling form?

• Do thumbnails feel like they can start to get interchangeable?

• Are some questions not being heard?

• Smaller channels, too, are in focus?

The latter question is particularly helpful. It can be necessary to take a different approach to the niche if the only people viewing are the big established players, but if smaller creators are also making high-engagement videos, then it may be less of a challenge.

Don't ask, "Is this niche crowded?" Ask:

• At what point does the current content begin to feel like it's from a script?

That is where there might be some room to differentiate.

Look for Gaps Before You Look for Ideas

You can make a list of ten ideas that are similar to the video you found on YouTube that is popular.

Reverse the process.

Learn from the strategies of the competition they are not using.

Imagine that the majority of channels in a niche continually cover the same well-known topics. However, this doesn't imply the subjects are depleted. That could be a step deeper into the opportunity.

May contain missing information in:

• Topics
  A subject that is related is discussed, but very few creators discusses it properly.

• Angles
  The same subject is always explained from the same perspective.

• Audiences
  The majority of content is geared to a particular type of viewer, while yet another group of viewers has different questions.

• Formats
  All have long form narration, and related information might be presented in another manner.

• Follow-up Questions
  Competitors give an answer to the headline question, but ignore an obvious question that follows.

The latter of these is the one that is easy to overlook and can be very helpful.

An explanation may be provided in the form of a video. A follow up video might provide an explanation of why it happened or what happened next, or how different choices might have affected the outcome.

You don't want to find something that nobody's ever mentioned.

You are looking for something viewers would be able to reasonably want next.

Test the Niche Ideas with Video.

A niche should allow you to create content without the need to do repetitive filler.

This is amongst the most basic tests and amongst the least done.

Open a blank document, and list ideas for video topics.

Don't add extras like weak variations to make the niche look bigger.

Rather, ask if you can think of truly new ideas for topics, questions, events or points of view.

A healthy niche will allow you enough room to explore.

Every few uploads, the channel shouldn't really change its identity, you should be able to go from one topic to another without changing the whole channel.

This also reveals shallow niches at an early stage.

A niche can sometimes seem like a thrilling place until you have 30 good ideas for it. If you start doing the same theme and topic, with a different expression by idea #12, you might be repeating yourself.

This is not a content strategy. It's a warning that is given early.

Test the Production Model, and not only the Topic.

You might have a great niche idea, but it doesn't work for a face.

You can have a great niche idea and it can sound great on paper but not be a great face.

Before one agrees, have a look at how the content would be created.

• Are there any visuals you can get?

• Is there an effective way to research the scripts?

• Is there a possibility to consistently narrate the story?

• Are hours spent editing for each minute of video necessary?

• Is it possible to produce thumbnails without continually redoing the visual style?

A channel is not a bunch of videos.

If there is an easy-to-make video and the next one is increasingly more complex, the niche may start to get hard to maintain.

Consider the entire production chain:

The path to start research, which then leads to the script, voice, visuals, editing, thumbnail and upload.

Any weak connection can be a restriction to the whole channel.

It doesn't matter if your niche idea is the best idea on paper but you know that publishing it is going to be too costly or time consuming to continue to do it on a regular basis.

Take a Small Test, Before Going All In

Don't have to create an entire content collection to determine if a niche is worth the effort.

Make a few videos, and examine the patterns.

Look at metrics such as:

• What do YouTube systems do to provide opportunities for videos to be seen?

• Are viewers interested in the topic and package?

• Average View Duration: Do they stay after they click?

• Retention: What's lost?

• Topic Performance: What is the performance of the subjects?

It is comparison that is important.

A niche doesn't have to be made up of a weak video. There is no guarantee that a successful video is a successful strategy.

On multiple uploads, question if there is a trend.

Maybe some topics are always more popular. Perhaps one kind of hook yields greater grip. Perhaps the packaging is effective but so are the videos at the beginning.

It's much more helpful than just viewing the overall views.

Some of the red flags to be aware of before beginning.

There are problems that you are able to see when you seek to see them.

• The niche is on fire with one Viral Video.
  Know that if your research relies on one exceptional upload, and other videos in the same category are not being watched at all, use your own judgment when assuming high demand.

• The same face appears on all the competitors.
  All of the competitors's faces are the same.
  Differentiation becomes more difficult when the title, thumbnail, subject and format are very similar.

• They have a very small idea pool in the niche.
  After dozens of uploads, it will get harder and harder to come up with new topics if it is hard to come up with new topics already.

• It is too difficult to produce.
  If the niche you're thinking of requires special graphics, hard-to-find information, or massive editing, it may not be available in your budget.

• There is no obvious reason to select your channel.
  If you don't know or can't explain what makes your version different, the audience might not be inclined to leave their current channels.

These do not automatically mean that a niche has to be given up. They are signs that the concept requires further research prior to development of the concept.

The Three Part Niche Validation Formula helps you select a niche that is both profitable and easy to validate.

When making a judgment about a possible niche, three factors must be considered:

Audience Demand + Differentiation + Production Feasibility

Audience demand is evident in people's interest in the topic.

Differentiation is you have a realistic approach to that audience that can be done through different subjects, angles, hooks, formats, packaging.

Production Feasibility – the content can be produced repeatedly with existing resources and workflow.

Having a niche that receives a high rating for only one part is not sufficient.

But there can be high demand and low production.

Production can be easy but people will not be engaged.

You can have demand and capacity but no way to be different and meaningful.

The opportunity arises when they all work together.

It has a basic pre-launch checklist.

As you prepare to start the channel, be honest and answer the following questions:

• Does there appear to be an audience interest that is repeated?

• Do I recognize two or more opponents and know what they are doing?

• Have I identified and/or filled gaps as opposed to just rehashing successful topics?

• Can I come up with a long list of ideas that are really different ideas for video?

• As a faceless creator, is it possible to make those videos on a regular basis?

• Is there a purpose or reason for the viewers to select my version?

• Have I tried the idea rather than going on assumption?

If more than one answer is "no", then the niche is probably not well researched and you might want to consider more research before making a large investment.

Final Thoughts

Selecting a faceless YouTube niche is similar to selecting a business model, not to picking up a random topic for your initial upload.

You're taking on a production system, an audience, and a line of future ideas.

The best time to find out if there are any issues is before you have 50 videos on your channel.

Analyze the facts, observe the competitive strategies, identify opportunities they miss, try out a small number, then own metrics to tweak the concept.

You're not required to have a niche that has no competition.

You must have a niche where there is an audience, a value that is different and can continue to be created without the model being destroyed.