"Give a man a fish and you feed him for day.
TEACH a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
" This saying has been referred to by many of the internet marketing "gurus" out on the internet.
The saying has a valuable meaning and the so called "gurus" cleverly use this to present the idea that they are here to help us all "learn to fish".
Most have good intentions, but many fail to even give the fish out.
Mostly all we get is bait.
Every home based internet business worker knows how important it is to find strong and profitable niches.
Most internet marketing gurus have an incredibly basic way of teaching niche discovery.
The entire total of some gurus' teaching on this can be summarized as: 1.
Choose a topic that you have experience, interest in or just like.
2.
Use your main keyword from this topic and put it into a keyword research tool like Google's external keyword tool or the free version of Wordtracker.
3.
Examine the search count.
If the numbers are near 30,000 per month, it's a good niche.
If they don't reach 30,000 searches per month, there is not much of a market and subsequently, it is not a good niche.
If the number is well above 30,000 searches, there's probably too much competition and therefore it is risky to enter this niche market.
That's the sum total of what you are told.
Based on those three steps, you should find a niche and prosper beyond all expectation.
Be real.
What's wrong with this picture and way of teaching? Lack of information is what's wrong.
First of all, there is no study into the competition.
No step taken to discern how strong the competition you face in that niche is.
Secondly, where is the research on long-tail keywords? Long-tail keywords are keyword phrases of 3 to 4 words (the more words, the better).
Every home based internet business marketer knows the significance of long-tail keywords.
Long-tail keywords can lead you to lucrative sub-niches.
And third, there is no research into the intention of the searchers to buy.
It is not simply a matter of whether the searchers have money or not.
Some people in a particular niche market may have money, but don't intend to buy a thing.
You need that information.
So here are the 5 steps of how the gurus really do their niche and keyword research: 1.
Look at your own abilities, knowledge, interest and experience.
A factor from any of these may potentially be a good niche to market for your home based internet business.
2.
Identify the hot topics and buzz words within the market i.
e.
currently what's the most talked-about thing? What's buzzing or new in and around town? Could this be a potential niche? 3.
From steps 1 and 2, identify potential niches.
Then run these potential niches through these 'filters': a.
Are people in this niche ready to buy and not merely freebie seekers or looking for information? THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR TO DETERMINE, because if people are not looking to buy something you will NEVER make money! For example, "how to score high in your SAT examination" would probably not be a very lucrative niche because it would only appeal to students who probably don't have any money to buy anything, where as "how to lose 10 pounds by next week" would have much greater marketing potential.
b.
Is there a problem that the people in this niche cannot solve themselves? Any niche involving technical expertise would fit nicely into this scenario.
For example, 'how to solve Windows Vista registry problems' would likely be a good niche because very few people have the technical competence to deal with these problems.
c.
Do people in this niche have an urgent crisis that needs to be dealt with? The greater the urgency the better.
For example, "how to stop your teenager's drug addiction" is a severely acute crisis that needs answers fast.
d.
Is there an 'evergreen' need in this niche that is not a just a fad? "How to improve your golf swing" is an evergreen need compared to "Battle Strategies for Call Of Duty IV" or "Tips To Finding F Knight Mohawks in World of Warcraft"(World of Warcraft is a PC game).
Once the fad for World of Warcraft is replaced by the next hot game, the market for this niche is gone.
Obviously, the more 'yes' answers you get to the above questions, the higher the potential for profitability in that niche is.
4.
Once you have discovered a potentially profitable niche based on the first three steps, begin to look for some long-tail keywords.
The long-tail keywords will show you the sub-niches that you can profit from further.
An example would be when you place "golf swing" into the Google external keyword tool or Wordtracker, you get a whole list of related searches.
Look for keyword phrases with three and four words or more.
Some examples are, "bio-mechanics of a golf swing", "what is the proper weight distribution during the golf swing","stack and tilt golf swing" etc.
5.
You need to find out how much competition there is in this niche.
To do that just type in all the keywords you ` have discovered into Google's free keyword analysis tool.
This can show you the estimated advertiser competition (same as marketer competition), the average search volume for the previous month and average monthly search volume.
This tool also gives you synonyms for the keywords which is great because you get more keyword suggestions.
You can then identify keywords with many searches, but as less competition as possible.
Use these steps above as a much more complete way of doing niche research and beat the gurus at their own game.
You will not only discover profitable niches but also the other relevant keywords in those niches.
By doing this you will have a solid start in your home based internet business and you can supercharge your niche marketing.