First let me start out by saying thank you for all the great comments, feedback, and tips I received in the first Niche Site Challenge post. I was totally blown away by it and to be honest, I didn’t expect so many to be this excited about it.
Ok, so this post is sort of a curveball for the both of us. But it’s ok, it’s actually a good thing. No matter how well or how much we plan things out, unexpected things can and will happen.
As I said in the first niche site challenge post, I was going to go over market research and some of my keyword research techniques. We’ll since announcing this challenge, the response has been crazy and some what overwhelming (in a good way though). I’ve received many comments and emails about it. Many are even going to join me and take part in this challenge, which is great and I’m totally stoked about it.
I also got a ton of questions on how I chose my niches and what process I took to choose my niche. To be honest I was only going to briefly go over it, but after many requested it, I’ve decided to dedicate this post to the process of how I go about finding profitable niches.
Fair Warning!
Now I first have to state that I’m not an expert in creating niche sites or ranking in google or even an SEO freak. I haven’t done this in years. So this will be a huge learning (or in my case re-learning) experience for us. But no worries, as I said before, learn from my gains and failures. Use what worked for me and what didn’t work …well that’s obvious right, lol. Your process should be a lot smoother than mines as you’ll only be doing what works.
However there is one advantage I do have, and that’s monetizing and optimizing for maximum results. Once I have solid data to review, I can take it and run with it.
I’ve done extensive research on SEO strategies, backlinks, and ranking high in the search engines. I will be using the tactics I’ve gathered and let you know all about it.
Finding Profitable Niches
Many people get caught up or hung up on this process. They tend to over think the entire process. Trying to find the “perfect niche”. Well to be brutally honest, there is NO perfect niche.
There’s no chance in hell you’re going to know what’s what right off the bat.
- If a certain keyword and phrase is a money maker…
- If a niche is profitable or not…
- If the niche is worth going after…
This is why research, market research is so vital to this whole finding profitable niches thing. You need to do the research. No if, ands, or buts about it.
Once you’ve got a few niche sites under your belt, you’ll develop an eye and a sense for what is profitable or not. And finding profitable niches will become sort of like second nature to you.
Here’s how I do it
This is how I did it back in the days and it’s the way I’m doing it now. It was taught to me this way and it’s the only way I know how to go about finding profitable niches. I’m sure there’s a ton of ways to finding profitable niches, but this is a very effective way to find a niche, especially if you’re brand new to this.
I first start out by creating three lists. A Passion list, Problems list, and a Tips and Advice list. This is the easiest and best way to get ideas for niche sites.
For each list I then create ten sub lists. You don’t have to do 10. You can do 3, 5, 7, it doesn’t matter. As long as you have some kind of idea of what niche market to research.
The way I go about it is simple.
- list what myself, friends, and family are passionate about
- list the problems that we might find with those passions
- list any tips and advice on those problems
Passion List: This is just a list on things that I’m passionate about. I also jot down stuff my friends and family are passionate about. For example, my brother loves to cook, My best friend is an MMA freak, my mom enjoys knitting, my wife’s heavily into this Zumba thing. It doesn’t have to be all my passion. The object is to find a passion that people may be searching for.
Once I completed my 3 lists, I then pick the top 5 from all three and create a “Research list”. These are just ones that I like the most and that I think would be good to start with. They don’t have to be in any particular order. Just write the first five you think of.
Research List:
- woodworking
- knitting patterns
- home repair
- poker
- gambling cure
I then begin my research on these 5 keywords/phrases. If for some reason during my research I find some or all of them aren’t any good, I can always go back to my 3 lists and create a new top 5.
Why Create Three Lists?
You maybe asking yourself why or how creating these 3 lists would help you in finding profitable niches. Well you’re not only finding profitable niches. You’re actually doing multiple things here.
By creating these three lists, your creating:
- a list of super targeted keywords
- subject lines for your articles (keyword rich)
- domain ideas (potentially find keyword matching domains)
- highly relevant content to write about
These 3 lists are so important, especially when you’re first starting out. It will save you so much time and energy from having to find targeted keywords for your niche, finding the right domain name, and what I believe to be the hardest, find highly relevant content to create.
Anyway, that’s how I do it, that’s how I go about finding profitable niches. It’s probably not the most effective and best way to do it, but at least it helps me in narrowing down and minimizing the amount of work load that goes into finding niches, keywords, domains, content, and all that jazz.
Hopefully this will help you in finding profitable niches.
Keyword Research
In the next post I’ll go over how I take the top five in my research list and show you how I do market research. I’ll be doing it in video as well. Just to show you exactly how it’s done.
Ok then, I’ll c-ya on the next one.
peace and I love ya for free ;-)
Finding Profitable Niches Tips & Tricks …
If you know or have any tips & tricks of your own on finding profitable niches, and would like to share them, please do so by commenting down below. Thanks in advance ;-)
About Joey Kissimmee
Niche Site Challenge 003: Keyword Research
Niche Site Challenge 007: Ranking in Google
Niche Site Challenge 004: How to Set Up a Niche Site with the Plugins Needed
Niche Site Challenge 005: Backlink Strategy
Hey Joey,
I like your way of separating topics for niche sites… passions, problems and tips & advice.
I don’t consider myself new to marketing and/or keyword research but as you stated in the beginning that you’re not an SEO freak nor are trying to appear to have done this a number of times before, I have never done this either (built a niche site).
So as my lists are already defined, I’m jumping to the next update!
Sergio
PS. Can’t cook rice man? LOL me neither haha I always seem to miss the ‘right’ time to shut the flame off.
I just learned how to cook rice last week, lol. I still need practice though ;-)
Hello Joey.
As other have commented here I am a newbie also. My idea was to build micro niche sites and combine all of them into one site to try and build a brand in that niche. I am also confused about websites and blogs, the website above is a static page which my understanding I will not be adding any more content to it so would it be considered a website and not a blog. Also does a micro niche site with a static page is it still a good idea to start with list like the other niches in the Niche Site Challenge Finding Profitable Niches. A little over a year ago I only could send e-mails and was afraid of computers totally, I just turned 70 in August and spend a lot of time learning but as you can see I also take action from the website above as long as I get instructions that is not in (techie talk) which you explain things that I can understand.
Thanks in advance.
J. B.
Thanks for sharing this! I just found this today and will be reading along…although you might already be done, I don’t know. But you have given me inspiration to actually try this thing. I’ve always wanted to try building a niche site and I think this is the perfect opportunity for me to try it out. I work full time as a teacher and I also do quite a bit of freelance writing as well. I would love to get to the point of being able to work from home to stay with my family so I’m looking at ways to make that possible. Thanks again for sharing this.
P.S. I can’t cook rice either. It’s always either mushy or crunchy. I really think my husband sabotages it…some kind of conspiracy if you ask me ;)
Hi Joey,
Your approach of finding new niches is unique and inspiring looking forward for more on market research.
This is great Joe. So many of the other people out there in Internet Land tell you 80% of what works, keeping the most important ingredient hidden, and listening to advice makes you even more human.
Thankyou,
thanks Barry. My intention for this challenge is to let you know EVERYTHING that I do. Whether it be doing it my self, tools that I use, and even outsourcing, which I’m sure I will do. I want to be totally transparent with everything I do with this project. Hopefully it can inspire many people to do the same. Thanks again brotha.
I like your approach here. Really appreciate your openness and that you’re not pretending to be an SEO guru, etc. The opportunity to “follow along” is great and we can all learn from your results.
Question on the three lists. Do the three lists line up on the same set of niches? It doesn’t seem like the items in each of the three lists are necessarily in the same order, or if they’re even supposed to line up. For example, for the “home repair” niche …
passion ==> home repair (#5)
problems ==> door handle holes (#1)
tips ==> fix door handle holes. (#1)
So do you start with 10 passions, and then list 10 problems associated with the same 10 niches, and then 10 tips related to the same 10 niches? Or are the three lists not necessarily related to the same 10 niches?
Great question. No, the problem and tips list does not have to be in the same order as the passions list. What I do is look at the passion list and try to come up with potential problems people might have. Some of them may not even get on the problems list. Once I get 10 I stop.
Then I take the problems list and create tips, advice and solutions for them. Again, not in any particular order, and again not all of them will make it. If they do then it’s fine. Once I hit 10, I stop and proceed to the Research List.
hope this helped…
Hey Joey,
I just wanted to say, you are definitely giving good content on this site. Keep up the work brotha.
Now when it comes to niches…I believe thats a good way to get some good ideas. After i get a couple of ideas, I go to google trends like Jon said, and then also google insights. Trends shows me how often a keyword phrase is getting used. But then insights, shows more narrowing data like where the searches come from, other keywords that are under this phrase and so forth.
Peace
Here’s what I would do. I would do the exercise I stated above, then take the Research List and go to google trends and do some research. This way I’m not spending valuable time on researching every single niche idea I come up with.
You really don’t wanna spend to much time on research when you don’t really have to. Narrow things down. This will speed things up, and you’ll get a lot more accomplished.
The three list idea is a great way to get started. I look forward to reading about how you refine the niches during the next steps?
Joey, Your words re-enforce. What I need to do. Make a list, make a list, I’ve heard,seen, read this advice a thousand times. I believe I did a written list once, in my three year affiliate life.It is my 300 lb. gorilla. I’m gonna be a “NIKE” and “JUST DO IT”.
GREAT EDUCATIONAL & INFORMATIVE POST!
I have read so much about finding profitable niches, but this post hits it dead on.
Simple and to the point. I am going to start using this method, too.
THANKS A WHOLE LOT!
I find some of your posts informative to the point of asking myself, “Haven’t I already read the same stuff on 1,000 other IM Guru sites?” Agreeably, you presented the info in a way that even the freshest newbie can understand and I applaud that. Yet, it’s still the same stuff.
Please point me to somewhere I can get info on how to design in WP without being an HTML expert or having to spend money I don’t have. It seems to be the one area that not a single “Expert” ever lets out of the bag. Why? I can only imagine that there remains some area of collusion to protect designers.
Another area that I believe we all struggle with is how to get backlinks. The other day another “Expert” sends me list of high PR sites. OK. What do I do with it now. Yes, I’m a newbie and am not afraid to admit it. But if you say it’s “Free”. Is it “F*r)E_E” or not and what’s the point of all the gobble-gook.
Yes, you can easily find the same stuff out there. But here’s the thing. It’s nearly impossible to create 100% unique content. The best you can do is interpret the content in the way you see it and how you apply it.
That’s what I do. I give it the way I see it and how I do it. It’s my version. My audience knows me and likes me for who I am. Many ask me for info and direction on things I know they can get out there. I can send them somewhere else but I feel it’s my duty to provide my people with what they want and need.
Here’s how I look at it, if it were me looking for information, tips, and tricks on something, I would rather get it from someone I know, like, and trust.
As for how to info on WP design, I have no idea to be honest. I generally just go to sites like studiopress, woohoo, or just do a simple search for custom themes and use those.
If I’m creating a product then I simply hire a WP graphics designer from oDesk or Warrior forum. The most I’ve paid for a custom design is $100 bucks.
I honestly don’t have a preference or try to hold on to designers. I just hire them on a per project basis. And I honestly just search for a new one almost everytime. Sometimes they are busy and can’t work for you.
I’ll be dead honest though, if you haven’t a clue on how to do a simple html site, then you would literally be wasting valuable time in learning how to do this your self. You can easily hire someone to do it for dirt cheap, and then you can use that free time to do other things like, SEO, market research, etc.
However if you’re hell bent on doing it yourself, then just go to the good old google and do a search ;-)
Anyway, hope this helps in any way.
Thanks Joey, I’ll keep at it.
This was a nice post and simplistically written but this is a much tougher deal than that. I am very interested in building hundreds of niche sites because I think that is what it takes to begin to get wealthy on line. One question I would ask is, do you use WordPress to build your sites???? If not, what do you use and where do you get your header graphics from???? What I do for ideas in doing niches is every time I see an advertisement, such as replacing hair loss as an example, I put it in a “possible niche” folder so I have hundreds of ideas. What I am having a problem with is header graphics, and the development of a logo so that every niche site I build will have the same logo located somewhere on the site.
Anyway anything that you can do to continue to give us information as to building these things would be greatly appreciated.
I also would like to compliment this wonderful site of yours. Very nicely done and always good to come to.
Paul
I got to push back on your idea of “hundreds” of niche sites. It’s not the quantity it’s the quality . If the few sites
you have has real good information ie. content , people will read and come back, IF you refresh your content
serve your customer.build your list.get paid for your recommendations to products and/or services.
I with Russell. It’s not the quantity, but the quality that gets you great results. If people continuously keep coming back, google will see it as highly relevant and helpful content. With just a few good backlinks, the rest will come on it’s own.
Yes I use WordPress to build all my sites. The only time I use regular html sites is on my 4DF sites (4 day formula).
As far as header graphics and logos, I don’t go crazy over it. As you can see on this blog it’s just straight text for my header and logo. The right hand graphics are just banner ads.
If that’s what is holding you back, then I highly suggest you just get rid of it and go with plain text, or just outsource it.
There’s no need to get hung up on stuff that’s really not that important. Trust me, all people care about is the content provided. This sites a perfect example. I have no header graphics or anything close to it.
Hope this helps.
Simple yet elegant, powerful yet refined. That is just as good a way to find a niche as any I guess.
But then there are the issues of searches, competition, buyer words, etc., you get the picture…
good luck to us all!!
You will probably cover this in the next couple posts. Once I choose some keywords I use SEO Quake to get the page rank for those url’s that come up on page 1 of google so I can see how competitive it will be to rank on page 1 for those keywords. If the average PR of the 10 url’s is 2 then I go for it as long as the keyword/words is in the url I am using to create my niche site.
the only time I look at the page rank is when it’s a real site. What I mean by that is a site from a real person like us. Not Amazon, Bay, or even Youtube. From my research I found that those company sites can be out ranked.
I’ll cover that more in the next post.
I’m new to your site. Glad I clicked on. Am looking forward to how you go about market research. You seem “cool” and helpful; not too greedy like a lot of other gurus. Good for you. When you give, you often get back more.
thanks Donna, really do appreciate that ;-)
Hi Joey,
Great content your putting out lately. It’s always refreshing to get solid content and I love how you demystify all the ‘Guru’ talk and give solid info and actions.
Another excellent way to determine a profitable niche is to listen to what’s HOT in the news and media. If one is quick enough they can jump on a profitable niche and dominate. Checking out Google Trends has always been helpful and piggy backing off the buzz of the next cool thing. One thing that comes to mind right now that seems to be super hot is couponing. It drives me crazy, but my wife is extremely in to it:)
Take care Joey,
Jon McNeil
Hey Jon, thanks brotha for the kind words ;-)
Now you mentioned google trends, lol. man I use to use them for everything back in the days. I didn’t even think of checking it out. Great tip and I’m definitely going to try it. Thanks again bro.
hm, for a cooking blog, this would REALLY force me to think outside the box… thanks for the great headsup joey!
What do you think about further narrowing the niches for the sites? Say, instead of doing ‘home repair’ so broadly, doing things like bathroom repair or teaching simple plumbing skills?
that’s exactly what you want to do. If it’s such a broad term, you definitely want to narrow it down some. I’ll go over that part more in the next post, which is all about keyword research.
Some times I believe that a person can go after broad terms. I’ve just recently started a site and I’m going to hammer out anything I do that pertains to remodeling. It is remodelingdream.com. If I get the term remodeling on top of Google that will get me loads of traffic. I checked out the first page competition and it looks pretty doable. Of course each page will target long tail keywords. If you can rank for several of the long tail keywords than Google will give the big eggs to you too. If your site is the best site about remodeling or what ever it may be.
Here are some tips I’ve learned:
1) Always look to see who holds the top 3-5 positions. ask yourself if you can make a sweeter site with better content than those.
2) Steer away from keywords held by people like Apple (Big businesses).
3) I use a tool called Niche finder (By Brad Callen) “Great tool” . Micro niche finder has some more options I believe and may be better than Niche finder.
4) I do keyword research with my niche finder tool with all the content I send out. So my titles target the best and less competitive keywords.
I’ve checked some of these long tails out and there are loads of them in the low green (easy to rank keywords) and there are loads of them.
This is so helpful! I assume, though, that we should stick to topics we know?
Not necessarily topics you know about. It can be things your interested in. And if you can’t think of any, then look at your friends and family. There has to be someone you know that loves something, or has a hobby.
If fact I believe that it’s best to sometimes not now much about it. That way when you’re researching, creating content, etc. you’ll actually be thinking like the person doing the actual searching.
Just an added tip ;-)
never thought of it like this. having even simple directions like this to be pointed in work wonders for actually getting people productive! Out of curiosity, how many keywords are present in this article?
Great post Joey.
I want to build some niche sites myself but working out which, where to start etc is dificult but your list building excercise is ideal way to form some ideas.
I’m hoping to do this challenge with you (if time allows) so looking forward to your next post.
Hey Rob, if you wanna do something like this, I suggest you start writing down your lists, even if you don’t get ten. The most important thing is that you start.