Comments on: Researching Potential Niches

By: Carnival of Making Money Online

Carnival of Making Money Online — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:54:43 +0000

You should also check out google trends. Great for getting comparative metrics.

By: Zacky

Zacky — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:34:20 +0000

Michelle, you are damn right. i totally agree with you 110%. we are selling to people and also we are writing for people and not search engine. People buy our product and not search engine.

Survey and study your market and put yourself there and that will give you a better idea of what that market is.

Zacky

By: Michelle

Michelle — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:56:20 +0000

Okay this is a topic that really gets to me sometimes. I’m sorry but I have to disagree with that the main and most important focus of an affiliate marketer should be keywords. Have we forgotten that we are selling to people and not keywords?? Keywords don’t buy products…people do! Keywords come later in the mix, they can help give you an idea to research further or help give you some direction. But I disagree that they should be put first. Figure out the people in your market, study them, feel them out, and really put yourself in their shoes. You don’t want to be selling meat to a vegetarian….

By: Edwin

Edwin — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:19:07 +0000

I believe that the single most important thing a marketer should do is pick a keyword. Any niche can be profitable if you monetize the right set of keywords. Just like the civil war example above…I am sure that there are 5-6 longtail keywords in that niche that people search for and are not at all monetized. Even if they are, who will you be competing with? It is easy to compete with Adword advertisers if you rank first second or third on the first page!

By: Backlink Builder

Backlink Builder — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 12:23:06 +0000

i signed up with Hexatrack, makes things easier, thanks.

By: Olivier - MotivAider

Olivier - MotivAider — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:38:43 +0000

I just signed up for Hexatrack. Hope this will yield some compreshensive data. Because up to now I have been a bit lost.
Thanks for the tip.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:31:44 +0000

Absolutely. Clickbank is usually a goldmine. But then again, lots of other people know that.

Ebay and Amazon are two underutilized resources as well.

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:40:40 +0000

Hey Bryan, thanks for commenting! I agree Yahoo answers isn’t really the best place to determine whether people will buy, but you can get some decent ideas to look into at least.

Personally I like to use affiliate networks for good ideas; see what is selling well and research more. Nothing replaces conversion and advertising data, gotta follow the money

By: Bryan

Bryan — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:04:04 +0000

Tim,

I personally don’t recommend Yahoo answers. Just because people are asking about it doesn’t mean they will PAY for it.

Story time: I was researching the Civil War niche. Believe it or not, there are LOTS of people searching for civil war related stuff. Lots of Yahoo answers, as well. HOWEVER, type in [Civil War] into Google. See how many advertisers? 0.

[civil war memorabilia] on the other hand – lots of advertisers, but very few searchers. Not a good niche to get into. Too much competition, not enough searches.

For general ideas, go to Wiki or DMOZ and just browse the categories. For further research, I think you need to visit forums, use Wordtracker and Quantcast and see what people want. With those three, you’ll find out quickly what people are willing to pay for.

Here’s a freebie for you and your readers: try the Numerology niche. Over 600k searches a month just for [numerology], it’s unbelievably lucrative, and the advertisers there are real rookies.

Just my 2 cents.