LESSON #20: How to Choose a Niche (Part 2)

By | August 14, 2008

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…)

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Main points:

  • Google your topic (in quotes) and look at these things…

    – How many results?
    – How many paid ads?
    – What kind of sites are in the top 10?

  • Regarding number of search results: If it’s too few, your niche may be too obscure. If it’s too many, you may need to zoom in on a tighter niche.

  • Regarding number of paid ads: Lots of ads equal proof of money in the niche. But keep in mind that more ads also means more competitors.

  • Analyze the top 10 results. What kind of sites are they? Does it look like the sites are making money? Are there any information products, or direct competitors with your product idea?

  • Check the PageRank of some of the top listings. You can use Google Toolbar, or a free PageRank lookup tool.
    (This shows you how hard it will be to compete with their listings from an SEO standpoint)

  • Find out how many times the topic is being searched for each day. You can use this free keyword tool

    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

  • Spy on the competition using the free Spyfu search tool

    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)

  • Search the ClickBank marketplace to see if there are similar information products, and how popular those products are. (Look at the grav score)

    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

  • Search Ebay and Amazon for your topic to see if people are buying related products. (Are they hot sellers, or are they mostly getting 0 bids?)

  • Don’t ignore your gut feeling (if your gut is often right)

    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!

  • 376 thoughts on “LESSON #20: How to Choose a Niche (Part 2)

    1. Jon G

      went to spymarketer.com today 2009 Aug 23 and could not find a free version of it any more, are there any other free spy sites you might suggest?

      Reply
    2. Gayle

      Help please!! I can’t figure out how to make the page ranker work on my google toolbar.I tried looking up under google buttons, but what I got doesn’t work and I found many blogs that say the same thing.
      Thank you in advance.

      Reply
    3. Eric Post author

      It looks like most of the pagerank tools on the web are having problems right now… probably due to something implemented by Google. You could just do some searches on google and see where the site ranks. And overall, don’t worry too much about Pagerank. It’s helpful for organic SEO, but it’s not the most important thing, and I don’t put much stock in it.

      Reply
    4. arlan

      I am thankful for the series lesson on video about niche marketing, I really learned a lot from that series. In line with that I would like to know few more things concerning the criteria, like;
      1. what shall I do if all my choice keywords fall to “not enough data” or over 10k search per day on the Google Adwords Keyword Tool?
      2. What shall I do if all my choice keywords went over 50k on phrase match or 1,500 on all in title or both?
      3. What is the “Long Tail Keyword: 3-7 Word Phrase” and what its advantage?
      Ty

      Reply
    5. Eric Post author

      If your keywords are too broad (very high volume of search), the main disadvantage is that it will be hard for you to rank well for those keywords. But if there are not a lot of competing infoproducts in the niche, then it might not be a problem.

      The advantage of long-tail keywords is simply less competition for certain keywords/phrases that have less search volume than the more popular keywords, but still enough search volume to make them worthwhile.

      Reply
    6. Eric Post author

      Sure you can give it that title on your blog if you’re promoting it as an affiliate.

      Reply
    7. arlan

      Thanks! I’m so glad to say to you that in spite of my discouragement due to long waiting of my first income, I still can continue hoping that one of this days I will receive my long awaited income this because of the foundation of my vision if not with that vision I can easily break down. Again thank you I hope I will be able to bless you in return when the time comes. God bless us!

      Reply
    8. Michael

      Hi Eric,
      I’m wondering can anyone teach about anything. Should I choose to teach about a microsoft or adobe product for example do I need their permission to do so. Thank you for videos so far. Love what you have done.

      Reply
    9. Eric Post author

      As far as I know, you would not need their permission to teach about their products. I would not use their trademarks in your domain, and you might want to attempt to contact them regarding the use of their trademarks in general. But yes it’s OK to teach it.

      Reply
    10. Bert

      Hi Eric,

      Thank for the great lesson.
      I have attended a paid training for internet marketing, but it didn’t teach the elaborate steps of looking for a niche. Here you are teaching for FREE.
      Thank a lot for the refresher. It sure add to my knowledge.

      Regards,
      Bert

      Reply
    11. Carol

      Hi Eric,

      Does spyfu still offer a free option? I don’t see it. Also, why is it when I search inventions my google results are 17,900,000? A lot different than your results.

      Thanks for a very eye opening lesson!

      Reply
    12. Khadeejah

      Peace Eric, I know this is an important lesson but for some reason the video stopped at 26 minutes. How can I get the rest? Did I miss much? I can still do the action steps.

      Reply
    13. Howard

      Hi
      I have been following the video tutorials, but I sometimmes find that I have to break and return later. However, when I do this, I have to start all over again at the beginning. It’s frustrating and a time waster.
      Is there a way to start the video again where I left off??
      Thanks

      Reply
    14. Micah

      Hello Howard,

      You may want to minimize the window instead of closing it if you need to take a break.

      You may also want to try updating your browser. You should be able to click anywhere along the bottom bar, to select the point where you would like to resume the video.

      Reply
    15. Eric Post author

      Yes Spyfu does if you just go to their home page.

      As for google… their results are constantly changing.

      Reply
    16. Rachel

      Thanks Eric
      for this quality education, would it be possible to receive all these lessons compiles or should we keep our own records? I have had problems trying to save the videos though.

      Reply
    17. Patrick

      Hi, Eirc, thanks for the lesson. Well, I have something to ask, once I create a blog or website, how to popularize it, I mean how to make it visible on google search engine?
      thank you.

      regards,
      Patrick

      Reply
    18. Paul

      Hi Eric.
      I love this information series, soo much info avail, & at the right price too. Have been doing some research on my chosen niche following the steps you give.
      When I type the niche word into google there is no paid adds on page one of the result, as you say, this was a little concerning, however I find that there are adds on page 2 of the search result.
      984,000 pages in search result, 16,000 searches at freeword tracker.
      As you can see, I not sure as there is nothing on page 1, very curious if this is a concern or have I really found a red hot little niche.

      Reply
    19. Bjarne

      Hi Eric,
      Do you have any resource or tips where to find a excel blueprint for the research stuff you teach where I can put in my data?

      Thank you.
      Bjarne

      Reply
    20. Eric Post author

      Hmm… I generally just make all my own Excel spreadsheets. I don’t really have any templates…

      Reply
    21. Eric Post author

      Hmm… it’s hard to know, but it sounds like it may have good potential if you think these people have money to spend on your product.

      Reply
    22. Eric Post author

      The easiest way to get indexed in the search engines is to put a link to your site on a page that is already indexed. Google’s bot will then find your site and crawl it.

      However to get ranked for certain keywords, it takes work… known as Search Engine Optimization. I’ll be talking about this later in the lessons.

      Reply
    23. Randal Blanchette

      Eric,

      You said you don’t believe in aliens but saw a UFo…how do you reconsile this? Just a one off question 😉

      Reply
    24. Eric Post author

      Well a UFO is just “unidentified”… it doesn’t mean it’s inhabited by aliens 😉

      Reply
    25. Anonymous

      Eric,

      First of all I want to tell you what a fine job I think you are doing.

      I jumped in this fire and got bombarded with all types of niche this and niche that.

      I finally ran into you along the way and took your advice , “Quit looking and focus”, I slowed down and am finally getting a feel for what you are doing. I know there are lots of products out there that help a newbie, but until you really get some things figured out , it’s better to slow down and catch your breath before you hyperventilate on the newest, bestest, get richest thing on the market.

      I can see right now that your advice was right on target. I can’t wait to research my niche now that I understand more about adwords, etc.

      Hopefully when I get rolling I can become an affilliate for you. Your are a great teacher and I like the fact that your don’t have to slam dunk every point. I’ll hang as long as your lessons continue and then I’ll buy whatever you are selling.

      If a professional fiddler, country western singer can learn this stuff then I’m sure anyone else can . You have my vote. Keep up the good work.

      Clay Mac

      Reply
    26. Anonymous

      Eric,

      I had a trail run with Market Samuri, what can you tell me about it, and would it be worth having, or should I wait ? I just wanted your opinion. It seems to get a little confusing, or maybe it was just me.

      Thank you,

      Clay Mac

      Reply
    27. Eric Post author

      Actually I am not familiar with it at all, so feel free to let us know your opinion about it 🙂

      Reply
    28. Eric Post author

      I do not know… but my educated guess as to the # of people making significant income selling information products would be somewhere between 10,000 and 100,000.

      Reply
    29. TreasureCoach

      Hello Eric,
      great lesson… As I have mentioned before, I purchased for Nich Blueprint 2 recently. There are great tools included like e.g. Niche finder, Keyword Blueprint etc. I believe that with these tools together with your lessons I will find a good niche for sure.

      All the best,
      Arne

      Reply
    30. Steven

      Hello Eric, this is my first time writing you because I felt like the information your lessons were teaching explained enough to keep moving forward. In lesson 20 part II I did research according to the homework using the topic “Stock Market investing” because I bought into your Informational e-book series and also signed up for the back end affiliate product. I was a bit disappointed when I did the Click Bank research and found that most of the ratings and subscriptions for this niche was 0! I know you tell everyone that your product has been making you money every week for the last year and is a proven system to sell but why then would it show up so low in the ratings?

      Am I missing something? I am totally new at this but I believe I can be successful as I meet all the criteria to be an internet marketer. I know I will make mistakes but I want to be clear on the signs for reading a niche and making sure my odds of being successful are better then 0. Please advise.

      Reply
    31. Eric Post author

      I think you are overlooking a lot of successful products in the niche, with high gravity scores, including mine.

      It’s a very profitable niche, and I personally know of many people who are making good money in it.

      In any highly competitive niche, like this one, there are also a lot of people making no money, because they aren’t treating it like a business.

      that having been said, it’s important to go with a niche that you really want to pursue 🙂

      Reply
    32. amy

      this was a great video, but i tryed ur spy marketer and it wasnt free, is there another site to find out the same information

      Reply
    33. Pierre William Trudel

      Tried that but how do you get to their home page?I even registered to get to the other side but could not find anything free.
      My niche is obesity.I know their is a huge market and I have a product about how to train obese people to think smart when they go to a gym.
      I would love to sell this to gym owners and fitness trainers.
      How do I research this niche?
      I am following you to get answers. Most tools talked about in courses are hard to use and are seldom updated.
      Can you help me?
      Thanks Pierre
      Thee Quest

      Reply
    34. Pierre William Trudel

      Eric, you are so right.Many guru’s do not put up or shut up.I am so happy to communicate with someone I know really exists.
      I have a great product with many people in this obesity niche. Their is a world problem with obesity so bad the Presidents wife is involved.Everybody talks about the problem but no solutions are offered.
      I am writing and have “The 28 days to perfect health challenge”running right now and many readers very interested.They do not want to hear old stuff.They want real solutions.How do I get that to market.
      Thanks
      Pierre

      Reply
    35. clay vess

      Alright,actual homework.I really enjoyed today’s lesson and I plan on spending the whole day researching niches.this morning I was thinking of doing like 5 lessons a day,know I see that might not be a good idea.Thanks for your help.

      Reply
    36. clay vess

      I don’t know if this is proper and you need not answer, of course that’s a given,but what do you think of the rich jerk.

      Reply
    37. Joyce

      Love all the comments, they were all helpful. But..I still don’t have a niche yet. Tried researching something on Google (not that easy for me) related to my background in design but did not know how to to narrow it down or understand what I was reading. Would it be easier to try another research tool? I’m getting stuck or anal, any advice here?

      Thanks for your help.

      Reply

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