This week’s Weird Wednesday Website was suggested by one of the girls in our neighborhood about a year ago and I promptly forgot. Well, last week we took her out to dinner with us and she said “Miss Nicole, did you ever blog about the giant gummy bears?”

oops! I grabbed my iPad and emailed myself a reminder.  So Brooke, this one is for you!

Presenting the World's Largest Gummy Bears.

www.giantgummybears.com

At GiantGummyBears.com – you can get what is called the “World's Largest Gummy Bear” – which is roughly 1000 times (yes, one THOUSAND times)  the size of a regular gummy bear.

For you dentists and health nuts out there, that is five POUNDS of pure sugar and gelatin and is bigger than a football. Yikes! I think I gained a pound just thinking about eating one.

The 2 foot long, 3 lb. gummy worm is pretty impressive, too.

Their Story.

in 2003 Derek Lawson had an idea.  While continuing to carve out a niche’ in the multi-billion dollar candy industry, he decided create his own candy – one that would be unique and only he would manufacture and sell.  In a time where the prevailing attitude was that of big-box stores carrying cheaply made imported goods and discounted merchandise, he would move to create a specialty item that emphasized grandeur and audacity – yet with eye-appeal and irresistible charm!  He would create the WORLD’S LARGEST GUMMY BEARS!

Truth is the advent of the candy was part of a joke he played on his older brother, and born out of frustration over many other failed candy-product ideas!  Nonetheless, the idea was born, and the impact was immediate!

Notoriety ensued!  Friends and customers were awestruck and began to demand more of the gargantuan gummies. Their store was prominently placed in the local tourism guide’s list of “Things to Do and See”.  The brothers were asked to become part of a popular call-in radio show and the Giant Gummy Bears achieved a local celebrity of sorts.

You can read the entire story at: http://giantgummybears.com/about-us.aspx

What lessons can we learn from this weird website and their huge success?

1. Go big or go home.

These guys didn't just make a “big” gummy bear. They went for the biggest and then went all out for it.  Sometimes the answer is simply right in front of you. Go bigger. Is there anywhere in your business where you can be the biggest? Strive to make your business different and know what your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) is. What makes you special? If you don't know… ask someone else!

2. You may need to come up with a clever way to state that you are (or that your business is) unique.

Rather than being another seller of Gummy Bears or candy in general, they focused in on being the biggest. In your business, find what makes you special and then put it into words that are undeniable. I could not comfortably state that I'm the “Best Affiliate Management Expert in the World” as others would (and should) come to mind before I do.

However, I probably could say that I'm the “Top Female Affiliate Management Expert in the World” and have that be pretty hard to argue.

3. Sometimes trial and error is taking you to right where you are meant to be.

If you read the story of how these two gentlemen came to success, you'll see that they helped to start a chain of candy stores and had to close nearly all of them in the 1990s. The candy stores apparently just weren't unique enough and were trying to compete with Walmart.

Through sheer determination, they got through it and are now the talk of this blog.

4.  Don't lose your focus. It confuses your customers.

The website is all about Gummy Bears, but they didn't expand into teddy bears or gum. They stuck with gummy things. Now, they've expanded slightly to include gummy skulls, gummy worms and a few other cool things like gummy tongues. (Yes, really!)

Are you a lover of all things gummy bear?

I knew nothing about gummy bears before starting this blog post. I started to explore this niche of gummy bears and I found some interesting things when I ran my keyword research.

Who knew? While the gummy bear niche isn't huge and it may not a good niche for you, I did discover that the gummy bear niche showcases a lot of *other* niches.

See the words in bold below.

• gummy bear song
• gummy bear recipe
• gummy bear implants (Yes, these are breast implants that are apparently tough like gummy bears. I have NO idea!)
• who invented gummy bears
• worlds largest gummy bear
• gummy bear cake
• gummy bear mold
• gummy bear birthday party
• sugar free gummy bears
• gummy bear lamp
• gummy bear bracelet
• how to soften stale gummy bears
• flaming gummy bear experiment
• gummy bears mini golf instructions (for Wii)
• gummy bears soaked in vodka
• gummy bear costume

You could create a website based around any of the bolded terms above. Pretty cool, eh?

So, talk to me. Have you ever ordered a giant gummy bear or would you? What do you think about their story? I'd love to read your comments.

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

Where Can You Learn More about Finding a Hot Niche Market?

Recommended Resource #1

My friend, Susanne creates Niche Research Packs and can help you to determine if you’re entering a profitable niche or not. She’s done the research for you.

In each pack, you get…

• Detailed niche description
• Who your target market for this niche is
• List of affiliate products available
• 100 domain name ideas (plus list of modifiers for hundreds more)
• Detailed keyword report for over 1000 keywords
• 100 article and blog post ideas
• 15 different author resource boxes
• 2 different detailed marketing plans (beginner and advanced) with action steps to get you up and running right away.
• List of available PLR products for this niche
• Recommended tools and resources

Here’s the link: Niche Research Packs

Recommended Resource #2: Free Webinar by Kevin Riley

Click on the arrow to go to the page where you can listen.

(You’ll find this hour long webinar free to listen to on that page.)

Kelly asked…. “What are your thoughts on sugar and caffeine? Good, bad or you don’t care?

Hey girlfriend. Sorry it took so long to reply. I've had a heck of a sore throat this week. I think it's nothing but allergies, but it's making me just curl up on the couch watching HGTV much this week.

This “gimme” question is actually a tough one for me. On a recent blood test, my doctor thought I might be pre-diabetic. This would make perfect sense since every time I do the South Beach Diet, I drop 10 lbs in a week, so a low-glycemic diet might actually be what my body needs.

I'm straying from your question a bit, because, this also fits with that food plan I promised to tell you about. This would be a really cool idea for a Work at Home Mom to start if she had access to a restaurant kitchen.

I'm getting my meals delivered from a company called Fitness Solutions Now. The food is made locally and I pick it up every Saturday. I get 20 meals per week, which is 5 days worth of food. I eat every 3 hours and it's working quite well. I'm still exercising every morning, too, but I hadn't been losing at all doing just that even though I eat a healthy diet — soo… this is working much better. Plus, while Joe coaches football, I am pretty close to a single mom, so having my food ready in the fridge makes my crazy week a little more manageable.

My gym said that your weight is decided 20% by exercise and 80% by diet, so I though that was interesting. The funny thing is that I'm eating a LOT more than I used to on this meal plan, and I've lost 5% body fat in under a month. So, obviously it's helping my metabolism to speed up and burn my food more efficiently.

So, to make a short story long… I do try to avoid sugar as much as possible, including fruit. If I do crave sugar or fruit, I make sure to get it in before 10 am so it's not spiking my blood sugar while I'm inactive at night or in bed. (Of course, my wine has sugar, but I'm not giving it up!)

Caffeine doesn't bother me much, although our mutual friend, Diana, has shared some interesting information about it that has made me try to limit my caffeine intake, as well.

The thing that I'm still confused about is the talk about how artificial sweeteners are bad for you, too. Diana has an interesting post about that, too. I'm undecided in that, other than the fact that I won't give it to my kids, so, maybe I shouldn't be drinking it myself. (Otherwise, I feel like a hypocrite when they ask and I say “No, it's bad for you” and I keep drinking it.)

So, that's my answer, girlfriend.

I know I've been pretty tough on you with my questions, so here's an easy one for you…

What's your favorite TV show these days? And, what do you do for fun?

Talk soon, my friend.

N

(Keep an eye on Kelly’s blog for her reply.)