So you think that you found “The One.” The one niche that, in your opinion, will make you bank. our opinion, will make you bank. It’s one of those niches that you believe no one else knows about or at least other marketers aren’t already competing in it.
Be careful.
In the real world when you take off those rose colored glasses and come back to reality, there really isn’t such a thing.
There are no unknown niches.
If you find one that isn’t being actively or overly marketed in, there is most likely a reason for that. Usually because there isn’t any money there or little demand for the particular niche.
It’s a much better bet to go after evergreen niches that have a demand, customers, and a proven track record.
Let’s dig a little further into how to find a niche market.
What are you passionate about?
As discussed previously in How to Research a Profitable Niche Market – Part One, you might want to start the process by picking something you are already interested in or knowledgeable about.
Grab a notepad, open up a blank document on your pc, tablet or phone and start brainstorming your passions, interests, and hobbies.
Examine trends, markets and look at what’s popular…
If you automatically think you’re interests aren’t something that can be monetized then you’ll want to look at existing markets, trends and products and see if you can find a way to make some money from them.
Places you can look at for inspiration:
1. Amazon (discussed briefly before)
Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer, and growing by leaps and bounds still to this day. They sell pretty much anything and everything and are a great source to find hot niches.
Simply click on the “Shop by department” icon on the left of the main search screen. This will then open up the what Amazon calls it the “Earth’s biggest selection.”
From here you can drill down into more specific niches. First pick a category of your choice, then click on a sub-category, and one step further into a more specific category.
From here he can sort by “new and popular” to find new “hot” products or sort by “customer reviews” to see what people in that particular niche think of the products.
Even better is to choose the “Best Seller” option (found at the top of the screen) just under the search box to see what is currently selling the best. This particular section is updated hourly.
2. Clickbank
Clickbank, even though it has gone through it’s recent bumps and hurdles, remains the #1 digital marketplace. Their marketplace listing, much like Amazon, shows a list of niches and sub-niches with a list of products available for sale.
There are two main ways to look for products on Clickbank. Either search for a particular keyword or sales statistic, or browse through their product categories and subcategories as you did on Amazon.
They have 23 different categories, with several sub-categories in each.
Clickbank has put together a video to show exactly how to use the Resources, Filters and Attributes in the left sidebar of the Marketplace.
3. Google Trends
Google Trends tracks how often a particular search term is entered into the search engine. It also tracks what language and various regions of the world that the term came from.
This site will show you what is trending “right now.” Keep in mind though that everything in this industry changes quickly. So what might be trending now, might not necessarily be trending tomorrow or 2 weeks from now.
As I pull up the site today, I can see that the World Cup is currently still on top along with Brooks Wheelan, the Garth Brooks Tour, and the newest Weird Al video “Tacky.”
You will want to pick a trend from the Google Insights tab, once inside the site. These trends are more stable. There are filters that will help you narrow your search to a specific time period and category. You don’t want to pick a trend that is too long or too short. From 7 – 30 days is a good time period.
You may pick a specific country or you can choose worldwide for location. A graph will show you the interest in this keyword over time. It will also show you terms related to your keyword.
4. LongTailPro
Most keyword tools only allow you to search for 1 seed keyword at a time. However, with Long Tail Pro you can input 5 or more seed keywords at ONCE and generate thousands of keywords.
Check out the software in action right here.
In addition, you can PRE-SET the filters for keywords you want to eliminate. So, if you only want keywords that have 1,000 or more exact match searches and a Cost Per Click of $1 or more, the software will automatically filter those out for you. And you can save your settings, so you only have to input this once! Again, most keyword tools don’t offer this pre-filter option (they only let you filter keywords after you generate them, which adds a step and significant time since you can only run 1 keyword at once).
And if you are building small niche sites, you will LOVE the fact that you can automatically search for exact match domains. As soon as your keywords are generated, the software will tell you with an easy to read green symbol if the domain is available, or a red symbol if its taken.
5. Google Adwords
Adwords is a great resource for getting keyword information. Let’s take a look at how Adwords can be used for SEO optimization software:
Adwords tools can be used to do research on advertising and pay per click campaigns. All by linked into the largest search engine around.
It’s free to use for all.
Google Adwords is a good, basic tool for the early stages of SEO for a given site.
5. Keyword Spy
Keyword Spy is an SEO optimization tool that’s primarily used for keyword research. Keyword Spy can be used to identify the keywords that your competition is using, as well as do research on keywords for your own website.
It can also be used to create targeted campaigns, view competitor keywords, look at SEO rank software, and even look at regional information.
Pricing ranges from $89.95 per month for a research or tracking account, or $139 for a Professional account that includes both. There are also options for agencies and enterprises.
Keyword Spy can be a useful tool in your overall SEO optimization software strategy, and a good way to understand the marketplace.
What tools are you using to find those big money niches?
Very good advice. Drilling down to find something that isn’t being over-saturated is an important first step.