Research - Web Marketing For Profit

Set Up – Research

Introduction – Get Organized – Where to start – Action Plan – Research – Hosting and Domains

Everything we do should be based in research to see if there is a market for what we do and what type of associate products we can sell. Doing this will enable us to almost definitely guaranteed to make sales.

Doing the proper research is the best insurance there is to finding and forming a successful niche business online.

Without research it’s like “pin the tail on the donkey” blindfolded.

Too many entrepreneurs make up their mind early and begin without research — a fatal flaw that causes a staggering death rate of new online businesses.

If the research does not back up your product then you will have to decide if you are willing to take the risk or maybe you just have to re work it a bit. When I built the teleprompter not many people wanted just a scrolling screen but when I added audio recording to it then the whole market changed.

My Photoshop blog site was a disaster however I turned it into a paid site and added some unusual ways of using photoshop for the beginner and it became quite profitable. So nothing is a waste or mistake just sometimes it needs reworking. http://msiphotoshop.com

Specialize first then branch out.

Why Niche Marketing?

Niche marketing is one of the easiest ways to cut your teeth in the world of Internet Marketing. It’s very easy to dominate a small niche because by definition, there’s less competition. Having said this we don’t want to go to far off the beaten track to start with.

What is Niche Marketing?

Definition: The process of finding and serving small but potentially profitable market segments and designing custom-made products or services for them. In other words, Niche marketing is when you focus in on a smaller part of a bigger market.

Instead of marketing “golf”, for example, you may choose to market “golf balls” or “Top Flite golf balls”. The further you dig into a niche, the less competition there is and the easier it is to become the “expert”.

Of course don’t forget that when you dominate that niche you can expand out into the broader markets successfully.

The Advantages of Niche Marketing

Make money faster
Easy for a beginner
Dominate a market quickly
Less competition
Easier to get free search traffic
Easier to create a product
Less expensive to market

The great thing about niche marketing is that there are new niches being created almost everyday and you don’t have to be an expert to find them! It’s all about supply and demand. During this course I’m going to show you exactly how to properly research this field so that you know exactly where to find hungry markets that are in need of a product that nobody is giving them.

Imagine being the first person to deliver a product to people who are begging for it! What do you think is going to happen when you are one of the few people selling the product and you have very little competition? You will make good money!

So lets go do some research.

Step 1

The first thing we want to do is check whether our idea is getting any traffic. It is important here to be specific. For example Health is not a niche. Usually if people are entering a single word they are doing research. People who buy products will usually be more specific. Cure diabetes, or how to loose weight. They will use terms and phrases not one word.

You can get an online tool at SEO Book Keywords. Sign up for a free account to use all the free tools plus they have some great courses to help you.

http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/

You can also use Google Keywords which is now linked with Adwords so if you have a Google account you can use it.

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

If you want to get even more specific to your region etc try the Google Insights/Trends for Search, you can compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, and time frames.

http://www.google.com/insights/search/#

There are many other tools like Wordtracker etc however the SEO Book tool is very comprehensive and the new additions to this tool make it invaluable for the researcher. Not only that but you can also tailor the searches to your own country and region. You don’t need an adword account to use this tool.

Step 2

Next we want to go to Google, MSN and Yahoo and see what is happening on those pages. Are there any Google adwords (advetrtising) for our niche, is anybody selling a similar product etc. If people are willing to pay for advertising in most cases they are making money.

TIP: Just remember having competition is not a bad thing as it gives you some affiliate products to sell in a similar niche.

I typically like my niches to have between 10,000 to 40,000 searches per month. This is not a rule of thumb, just my personal preference. You can still make money in niches smaller and larger than these numbers, so it’s entirely up to you.

If you do go for smaller niches try and do it with higher ticketed items.

Step 3

Now go to http://www.spyfu.com/ and check what people are spending on advertising and gather some great information on your niche

Step 4

If you go to Google trends you can now see how those terms you have chosen are performing. I did this one for this blogging program http://www.google.com/trends As you can see it peaked back in 2005 however we can see the tail starting to head up again in 2007. Either way it has remained quite consistent.

Step 5

I also like to keep my eyes open and look in the library, book shops and magazine outlets to see if there is any offline activity. Generally I like to take possession of what I am doing and have a genuine interest. The reason I created Blogging Empires is I really enjoy it and love all the new innovations and possibilities. Never go in to a product or niche just for the money. You might become very successful and if its something you don’t like it can become a burden.

You can also visit sites like Amazon, magazines.com and similar sites.

Step 6

See if there are any interest groups around like forums, chat groups etc. These can be a great source of prospects and also watch for questions they ask. This can be a way of getting the peoples attention buy researching and answering those questions.

Step 7

Look and see if there are any specialists in your field both online and off. A blog requires a constant stream of content and being able to interview some experts in your niche or associated niches can really spike your traffic.

Step 8

Have a look through eBay and similar sites to see if there is anything in there about your niche. With millions of viewers it is a good place to find related products and if you join their affiliate program you can add these products to your blog. More on that later. Believe it or not there were products on blogging on eBay. This is really useful data because it actually shows you what products have been sold, and for how much!

Step 9

Clickbank is one of the world’s largest sites for digital products. They have thousands of books, videos, audios and software on many topics. Couple this with their huge affiliate network that you can join and it is a great place to look through.

Why so many digital products?

Selling digital products is hands down the highest profiting business on the Internet. There’s no printing or paper expenses and the whole process can be easily automated. (Set it and forget it!) Here’s how to get some good ideas from Clickbank’s database of products:

1. Go to www.clickbank.com
2. Scroll down to view the marketplace.
3. You should see a menu that looks like this:

From this menu you can choose your category from the menu…

4. Click on the plus + next to the category you want to see.

If you want to use their affiliate program to sell other peoples products then go here to join as an affiliate for free.

You can also join to sell your products through them and use the huge affiliate base to sell your products. We will talk about this later though you can use that same link to set up your account.

Step 10 Your Own Interests

If you are brand new to niche marketing, it’s always a good idea to research markets based on your own personal interests.

Start with your hobbies first.

Chances are if you like bowling, there are probably a lot more people out there with exactly the same interest. Make a list of all your interests and dig deeper into the niche to see if there might be a sub-niche that is not being catered for?

In other words, something that you can make money from that other people aren’t doing. Remember, don’t give up because you think the niche is too small. There are a lot of “micro-niches” that make lots of money, so make sure that you do all of your research before you dismiss it as trash!

Step 11 Your Existing Business

Ask yourself this question: “Can I take my existing business online?” This doesn’t have to be your personal business, it could be a company that you work for. The point is, you know the business because you do it everyday! And many people have used their own business field to create their own profitable niche website.

My sister is a good example of this. She is an accountant and thought she was stuck in a 9 to 5 job. She really liked it but wanted to try something different. She used some accounting software that when we did the research turned out that thousands used it.

We did some more research on some forums and chat sites and found lots of people had certain problems so she made some Camtasia videos showing how to fix these problems and a blog sharing different insights and best practices.

Finally be proactive

These methods will help you greatly when searching for that goldmine of a niche! Remember, research is the key to your site’s sustainability, and therefore its profitability – so don’t take any short cuts and jump into a market without doing the groundwork first. You’ll regret it.

Trust me!

Take what you found in the brainstorming session and then apply the above research tools to it and find your place in the Internet marketing society.