So far, we have talked in general terms about niche selection so in this post I want to let you know about 3 tools to help in your research.
I mentioned earlier that you need to know your niche before you jump in so that you have a plan in place to dominate the market and squeeze out your competition.
I’m going to let you in on 3 of the top methods marketers use to study the needs of their audience and then you pick the one(s) you feel work best for your niche.
Keyword Tools
Good keyword tools can give you insight into the demands of your niche audience. There are many keyword tools you can use, and most marketers use a variety of keyword tools to gather their information. Some are paid tools and others are free.
Google Keyword Tool and Ubersuggest are two of the most popular free keyword tools you can use. I have used them both and they allow you to begin your research with a keyword or phrase, and then deliver a series of similar or relevant phrases you might also be interested in.
Ubersuggest ranks their list according to popularity (volume of searches) for the top 10 results, and then provides you with both an alphabetized and numerical listing of the data.
Paid tools like Market Samurai (that’s the paid tool I use) or SEMRush are tools that give you more information – such as who’s currently ranking for each phrase, what the cost per click is, and what your chances of ranking well against organic results will be.
Some tools let you spy on the ads being placed and paid for to rank for those specific keyword phrases, so you can see what products the competition is promoting.
Google Trends
Google often has tools built into their system that can help you research your niche better. Google trends is one example of this and you can find that here:
http://www.google.com/trends.
First, you’ll click on the Explore option. Then choose to add a term. Your term is your keyword or phrase that you want to look at in your niche. From there, it will deliver a glance at the topic’s interest online – and you can choose to look at its forecast as well.
Here’s what the phrase “anti aging” looks like with the forecast tacked on as a dotted line at the end. This graph shows the interest from 2005 through 2015.
You can also see a list of breakout terms that have experienced an explosion of growth in terms of searches. So here’s what anti aging delivers:
Then you can take one of those breakout phrases and investigate it as a great niche possibility – and take it to a good keyword tool to get some exact phrase ideas.
Marketplaces
Using items that are already for sale is a great way to get ideas for your own niche profit funnel! Whether you’re promoting affiliate tangible items or digital ones, or creating your own product, looking at certain things can help you understand your audience and their needs.
Amazon can provide you with a wealth of information. To start, look inside the table of content of info products. You can do a “Look Inside This Book” on Amazon. Get to know what topics within your niche that other people cover. There might be something you’ve left off your list!
Head to the product specs and description area. Whether it’s a tangible or digital product, the seller will have written out some important points about the product that he or she feels you should know about.
Go to the reviews section, too. In the reviews, you get more than just whether or not people like or dislike the product. You get information about what quirks they find important.
For example, if you are in the health niche and juicing is one of your product reviews that you’re sending traffic to, you’ll want to know that the size of the feeding tube is very important to those who juice regularly.
This helps you review products in a way that makes your readers respond better to what you have to say. They feel like you’re inside their mind when you can touch on all of the points that they’re considering (all thanks to the consumer reviews).
You can also get information in digital marketplaces like ClickBank. Inside ClickBank, you get stats of each product, so you can see what’s converting and what has a high refund rate.
If the seller has an affiliate program page set up, then you can go there straight from the ClickBank marketplace listing to gain even more information. They’ll often have keyword lists for you, PPC ad campaigns (based off of their previous campaigns), and keyword-laden articles you can use.
Grab their tools and use those in your niche profit funnel – but tweak them to make them your own. Don’t be afraid to request the information if it’s not openly provided. Most product creators will be happy to send you their research if it means you’ll be promoting for them.
There are dozens of niche research tools on the market – and more always evolving and being released on the web. Keep an eye out for new ones and give them a try.
Once I decide on my niche, I will review all of this when I show you how I use these tools to decide what to write about on my new site.
Til next time!
Barb
