In the previous lesson, I talked about some important things to keep in mind as you choose a niche market.
I ended the lesson by asking you to brainstorm some possible topics for your information product.
Today we’re going to do some research to help you determine whether your topic has good potential for success…
(Watch this video…)
Main points:
– How many results?
– How many paid ads?
– What kind of sites are in the top 10?
(This shows you how hard it will be to compete with their listings from an SEO standpoint)
If you plan on launching many niche sites, you should consider investing in a tool that will help you automate most of the above processes. I recommend Keyword Elite
Look at:
– How many advertisers?
– How much traffic they are getting?
– How much they are spending daily?
– What are they advertising?
– Do any related advertisers have an affiliate program? (potential back end promotions)
UPDATE: The CB site has changed, and now you have to be signed in to see the marketplace. You can sign up for a free CB account here:
https://accounts.clickbank.com/public/#/signup/form/key//cid/AffiliatesDIY
Action step:
1) Go through the research process I used in this lesson, and answer these 4 questions for each topic that you are considering.
– How big is the niche?
– How competitive is the niche?
– How potentially profitable is the niche?
– Is there potential for back end products?
2) Choose a niche that seems to have a good balance; one that you want to pursue. We will be further refining it in the next lesson.
Once you’ve identified a potentially lucrative niche, you need to go the extra mile and dig deeper. You need to zoom in on the market and find out EXACTLY what they want.
There are some simple ways of surveying the market and focusing your topic to give it the best chance of success, and I’ll be detailing those strategies in the next lesson.
As always, you are welcome to post your questions and comments below 🙂
Have a great day!
Hi Eric,
After reading all the comments, I’m beginning to think I’m the only one with this problem. I was listening to lesson#20 and it goes as far as the 19:30 counter mark and stops. Can’t get it to continue. Help!! Thanks.
Hi Eric,
Of course, I went through your research proccess and I ask you:
1) How will us determine how many advertisers and how much traffic they getting and how much they are spending daily?
2) Which are criteria to determine how a niche is bigger or less?
3) Which is the method to determine if my niche is competitive and profitabile as well?
4) What is a back end product?
Thank you for your answers.
Sincerely,
Petre Tudor
hi great videos , i watch till 20 , when you post the others?
What niches are we finding? Health is a huge topic. When I’ve looked at “sleep” I found tons of searches being done and lots of good information. I haven’t found that niche yet.
When I blogged on GrandmaPeg.wordpress.com about a sleep lab test I immediately got some feedback from one of the sites I had checked out.
I keep recommending your site to all the newbies I meet. Your reply to comments is very valuable, as well as others sharing. Thanks for the individual help for Net Business Ventures as it applies to a lot more of us, too.
Hi Eric,
This could be interesting for everyone & absolutely for us. Checking ‘keywords’ or ‘searching’ something to do for businesses Online as the way you do, always given us the confident on your experiencing on this business. We have alots to learn as to achieve our vision.
Ths, regards.
hi eric i found a nice niche but i really want to tell you what is it , how can i do it privatlly? thanks eayl
Thanks for pointing out the need to look at what kinds of products are being sold on the ads/sites that show up in searches. I guess I mistook popularity and competitive keywords to mean that a niche has a good market, but it looks like for my niche, people want the info for free, and the money is being spent on “real” products. I found only 2 info products and neither looked to be doing well. So I’ve wasted some time writing half an ebook, but better to figure that out sooner than later! Your lessons are great!
Good overview. How should Clickbank grav scores be interpreted, then, going beyond the fact that if the products all have “-” it’s a strong indication the niche isn’t profitable for infoproducts…….. what, for example would scores ranging from 17 downwards tell you? Cheers.
Just Post It….Ha Ha…. Just Kidding!
Hi Eric,
Very basic,useful and detailed information on niche selection and reasearch.
Thanks for sharing.
Best wishes,
Kannan Viswagandhi
http://www.growing-self.blogspot.com
Hello Jerome:
Since you seem to “know it all”, I can’t help but wonder why you are bothering to read these lessons!!!
Eric is providing extremely valuable information using a fundamental approach to a VERY LARGE and varied audience whose experience level for the most part appears to be elementary (no offense intended).
The readers, myself included, are most appreciative of Eric’s efforts.
Generally, he tries very hard to provide FREE resources, but for those at a more advanced stage who have the inclination and ability to BUY additional tools, he recommends what he feels are good investments based upon his own experience.
I HAVE NO QUALMS WHATSOEVER WITH THAT.
Eric DOES NOT use high pressure tactics or try to make you feel inferior if you don’t buy his recommendations. If you do buy anything … cool, if not that is fine as well – no hard feelings. The choice IS ALWAYS yours to make.
P.S. Eric feel free to correct any assumptions I may have made about you.
I suggest try closing all other programs to make sure your PC has enough memory available, close your browser, and reopen it and try again. You might also want to try a different browser, such as Firefox, which is a free download.
1) that’s basically what I cover in the video. Use Word Tracker, Spyfu, and/or google’s free keyword tool
2) How many search results are there? How many paid advertisers? How many existing infoproducts?
3) Look at existing advertisers as well as the top organic search results, and see if they are making money.
4) Products you sell to your customers after the initial sale
I’m currently posting them as I make them. #21 will be up in a couple days.
Thanks for recommending my site 🙂
Currently I don’t have time to do any private communications. However, I am considering a private coaching program sometime in the near future.
Popularity and competitive keywords usually means there’s money to be made in the niche. It’s possible that you can do better than the existing infoproducts. Maybe they have a bad marketing plan, or bad sales copy, etc.
Also if it’s a profitable niche in which people are looking for freebies, it’s possible that you could build a good list by giving away your ebook for free and then monetizing it in other ways on the back end.
If people are spending money on “real” products, find out how you can make money selling those products or recommending them as an affiliate. Use the free info to build the list, and then sell them what they’re willing to pay for.
There’s a lot of variables there. My advice in that regard is just spend a little more time studying the CB marketplace over a period of time and see the rise and fall of various grav scores. Some people probably make killer money with a high volume of products with relatively low grav scores. For example, maybe there’s someone on there with 10 products in the 5-10 grav score range, and between their 10 products they’re making a great living. The other thing to keep in mind with grav scores is that they are driven largely by affiliate activity. So it’s possible that someone is selling a lot of their own product (without many affiliates promoting it) and making money even though their grav score is relatively low.
the problem is that your lessons so good that we all want to hear more, and to wait few days for new lessons its hard becuase you all exicted to learn more
Eric,
nice of you to take a quick look. You have brought many things to my attention that I have overlooked.
I’ll get busy on these suggestions and thanks again!
D
Hi! Eric, it took a lot of time to write this because I was doing… key research! My brain is in flame now.
In a nut shall:
1) I find a niche, very popular, but using a long tail key, in which I am interested, I get Google competition 12,200
2) A lot of adv for the large niche, but medium adv. for the long tail key niche
3) Just 3-4 eBooks on Clickbank, a little more on eBay, some are selling some are not
4) Gravity is between 3-4 in Clickbank
5) In SpyFu: cost/click is 0.48 – 1.33; click/day is: 3.95 – 5.00 (but when I search on SEOBOOK, I got 21 clicks per day), and cost/day 1.89 – 8.00
6) Huge possibilities to create OTO/back end sells
It looks a little as your “invention” but it is not invention.
I think it has potential and risk as well. I’ll do it, why I am risking?
Because this niche is at a border of 2 important subjects, and always when you are a pioneer at the border of 2 disciplines – it is a real potential, this is my theory, what you think?
A question which is important for me: if the eBook has a limited popularity because of a long tail key I am using, the OTO/Back end sells has to be a general subject or a even narrower subject then the eBook itself? What is the general wisdom on this?
You are a terrific teacher! I am glad I am part of this!
Thanks Michaela
Eric
It has been a while since I have commented. I am enjoying your lessons and I am learning much!!!
My information product is Inventors. After three months I am making some progress and I am following your lessons. I have a business model that I feel will help me.
My first adventure in direct marketing was 1979 Popular Mechanics as will as one section of T.V Guide. Poplular Mechanics was a small 1/12th of a page with a circulation of 2 1/2 million paid subscriptions with a reader ship of over six million. The results from a 5.95 plus postage and handling information package was incredible and I was unable to keep up with all of the out croppings of additional business avenues. Inqueries from around the world. What an adventure from my brick and mortar. Cautiously excited and awaiting your next lesson……
There are various strategies for back end marketing. If its an upsell at the time of the intitial purchase, it should be as closely related to the original subject as possible. for example, if I’m selling an ebook about how to become an inventor, the upsell might be an inventor’s workshop on DVD. But as you build a customer/prospect list, you can test all sorts of related back end offers. Some of your customers may be interested in purchasing additional materials related to a certain aspect of the niche, and other customers may be interested in something at the other end of the spectrum.
Thanks Eric,
then it isn’t really a rule, except to be close with the initial subject of the eBook. Perfect! this means that at the border of those 2 major topics really will be a lot of other back end topics to consider. I am happy about that. I have a big entusiasm about my new eBook, but I promise I am not going to fall in love with it. And I have to find out realy quick if it is a good choice… I want to keep my milestons.
Now some considerations about long tail keys, it is good to use them or is better to use the large topic. I am sure, you are not going to call your eBook “inventions”, probably in the next lesson we will learn something about long tail keys and where to use them:
1) eBook title
2) Website title etc
All the best
Michaela
Hey Eric,
Another great lesson and notes for me to follow through. Just for example sake,I’ll be putting a link below, is this a good way to cloak affiliate link?
http://www.dbookworm.com/recommend/aweber.html
I used in frames to load my affiliate page, is this a common technique used by Internet Marketers?
Thanks
Great lesson!!! i will take it by heart^_^
hi Eric i must ask you something, you talked about scam in one of your lesson plwase look at this :http://www.sixfigureyearly.com is it a scam? thanks so mucn
Thank you for the data on niche searches I learned a lot! Some of the steps I already knew but this really helped me get the whole picture of the niches.
Another great Lesson Eric!
Continue with the good work.
Thank you for impacting knowledge unto us.
Together we shall win!
Adesegun Akitoye
http://www.repeatrichrelief.com/pips.html
I just bought SBI site and don’t know what kind of topic I should go with.This video is very helpful.
Thanks Eric
Hi Eric
Thanks for this lesson. I noticed you said more than once “My way is not the only way”. To me as a beginner, it seems that your way is a basis for any other way, at least, because it is about supply and demand, which is essencial part of any economy.
I have some keyword research, but it seems that what I am interested in is high in demand, but also has a high competition. 🙁
I will be interested in a private coaching program when you start it.
Regards.
Eric;
Thank you, Thank you. You’ve made me feel so much better and I WILL go ahead with my plan. I should have thanked you sooner but I had to replace my modem.. Thank you again.
Amelia
Hi Eric
Great material as always.
I have Keyword Elite and I’ve been getting stuck on interpreting the results. Do you have any point that you would interpret the R/S Ratio or the KEI figure as indicating that a niche is likely to be profitable for selling an info or software product?
I know the lower the R/S figure the better, but its all relative! ie would a R/S ratio of 2,000 indicate a potentially profitable niche or is that still to high?
Don’t get me wrong I recognize Keyword Elite as being very powerful, problem is “its in my hands” and that could be dangerous! at least for my bank balance if I don’t get a handle on interpreting the results.
What sort of R/S Ratio or KEI do you look for?
Thanks for your help
I would also be interested in your private coaching program when you start it. Do you have any idea the cost at this point?
Thanks again
Ray
David,
I tried to look at your site, but after it took a while to load, it appeared in my browser (IE6) as a totally blank page with yellow background — the status line says “Done.” I could see the HTML in view source, but nothing in the browser. I suspect this is a major reason for your results.
— Thought you would want to know…
Hey Edward, Eric made a post awhile back on affiliate link cloaking:
😉
another very important and impressive lesson – I know my competition forgot the importance of this one which certainly worked out in my favor over the years. The additional links for ongoing research was priceless.
Thanks again Eric!
God Bless
Karan Kinder
Thanks Ray. Honestly I don’t have a targeted R/S or KEI to tell you. There’s other factors involved in determining the profitability of the niche, so I would try to keep the big picture in mind and couple the Keyword Elite data with additional research if it is not clear whether it’s a good niche. Perhaps Brad’s support team could provide you with some direction in that regard. I do not really have any idea of the cost at this point. Of course my subscribers will be the first to know once I decide to launch it…
Hi Eric,
I have to start by saying that I look foward to reading (and Applying) your tips as soon as I get them. Excellent,Excellent, keep up the good work. I was wondering, do you have an affiliate program in place for your tips or anything else that you have going or in the works? I am an up and comming affliate marketer and would like nothing more than to be able to link to your page for my customers, especially the “NEWBEE’s” because there is a wealth of “GREAT” information in each of your articles. Compensation is not the issue. I just think you have the info that all persons in, or thinking of getting into any kind of internet marketing should read/have.
Thanks again for the great work.
Tom Lewis
tflewis@dslextreme.com
As always, a good lesson (#20). I am little behind as you can tell.
Well, I chose a niche and it turns out it is very similar to area 51 except it has lots of sites (1.8M for one and a slightly more defined niche has 5400) but only a few sites are monetized, and there is nothing in Clickbank. Ebay has lots of items with zero bids or just one. Definately a disappointment because it is my passion. While I would definately want to develop the niche, I don’t have the time or money to develop a niche that is not profitable.
My second niche choice is overly competitive but has lots of product on Clickbank with good gravity. Looks like I am stuck between a very profitable competitive niche and a hobby site. Since the profitable niche is the way to go, what would you suggest? conectrate on affliate marketing or build my own product?
I opted to receive Stompernet. But, I cannot open the DVD’s. Where do I go to find “index.html”? I guess I will have to unsubscribe if I can’t open it.
Hi Eric:
My question regards ethics. Say for instance I subscribe to various health related articles and magazines. Is it unethical to condense some of this material I’ve read and include it in my info report? I checked and don’t see copyright information anywhere. Thanks for all
your good work and assistance. Kathy
Hello all, Eric
I was watching the videos so far, and i would like to comment on this one vid#20 niche, part 2 you choose two subjects who are no linking with money.
That’s why you got those results. I think you puposely chose those 🙂
I would like to ask
1. if some of the lessons will target affiliate marketing i think this area is for me, but i lack experience and advices on how to do aff marketing!
Thanks
Dear Eric,
You are the bomb. The first time i came across your tips, i was overwhelm and i made up my mind to sign up with immediate effect. Your Lessons are very simple and easy to implement. You are a blessing to as many that will make up their minds to earn legitimate cool cash on the internet.
I love you Eric!
Hi Eric,
am I the only one having problems playing the video(s) ? Some work and some don’t. Now I am at number 20 and it stops after 3 min.
OMG, you really hit it! Thanx Eric, your awesome!
Eric,
Thanks for the great lesson.
I need some help. Could you please explain in a bit of detail what back-end products mean? Could you also give an example of a few back-end products on the niche – “Making Money on the Internet” ?
Thanks,
Summit.
Eric,
I immediately need to know about transferring some of my domains to your domain-registration company lifedomains.net.
Can you please tell me how I can get in touch with you on this at the earliest. Eric, I would prefer to have this conversation in private at my email address xxxx
Please respond at the earliest. It is VERY IMPORTANT. I’ll be looking forward to your reply, preferably at my email address xxxx, at the EARLIEST !
Thank you,
Reed Hummer.
I don’t currently offer any personal support, however its very easy to transfer domains to Lifedomains.net. Just click here to go to the transfer utility, or click here if you are transferring multiple domains.
Eric,
The thing is, I just booked a number of domains with Network Solutions. It just been about 7-10 days. And they are very expensive.
And the thought of renewing them next year is already sending chills down my spine. My main question is, when is the best time to transfer the domains – now, or just before expiry? And will Network Solutions charge me anything to transfer the domains.
Eric, I have been a very attentive student of your course, except for one thing – please pardon me for that – I couldn’t keep my wallet away – I suddenly got a brainwave, and booked up all those domains. Now I am shivering at the thought of the renewal of all of those. So PLEASE help me !
Eric,
I found I could spend hours in this research. I ended up with a few questions. Do you know a good book which gets a little more in depth that I could read?
I really enjoy the videos, thanks
Sue