By W. Lockhart

Researching a niche market is the most important step to creating an online business or online income.

If you spend adequate time understanding niche market research concepts your success possibilities will increase substantially. Not only will you increase your chances of online marketing success, you will also greatly increase the chance of avoiding many headaches that are associated with poor niche market performance.

A great deal of niche market research can be performed on teir one search engines like Google, MSN, YAHOO etc.

I recommend Google. Why you ask? 65-70% of “information, product and service seekers“ in the world depend on Google to find answers to commercial questions. Many start by simply typing in a term or word to perform a search. What better place to do business research. You’re getting the information directly from “the horse’s mouth“ as so to speak… the information is relevant, current and in most cases very accurate.

When performing nich market research the objective is to become very knowledgeable on “your specific prospective market”. This is important and should not be under estimated.

The good news is this… the process is relatively easy if approached correctly. It’s also a good idea if your “prospective market“ or “prospective online business idea “ is related to subject matter that interests YOU…

Many marketers debate this idea, however I’ve found that this will help you stay focused on the research process as well as the subsequent process of content development for your chosen niche.

Many new online marketers target a niche because of it’s commercial possibilities. This is understandable and quite appealing, however, if you’re a new online marketer you may find that you loose interest in the subject matter long before you make substantial progress relative to marketplace penetration. Besides, you can always take that approach later, but for starters, I highly suggest you begin with an area that has personal interest to you. This simply makes your work easier and more interesting.

Many people will reply to this concept by stating what appears to be the obvious, “I’m not sure if I can make any money with the topics that interest me…” That’s usually the initial reaction and it’s a quite normal reaction, however nothing could be further from the truth. People are making money in niches that are quite obscure and non traditional. Don’t limit your possibilities here…

When performing niche research it’s a good idea to leave “no stone unturned” as so to speak. Here are a few ideas as to how you can approach this important task.

Using Notepad, MS Word or even on a piece of paper, list several topics or areas that are of personal interest to you. Be sure to use “specific keywords or specific keyword phrases“ that describe these topics. It’s a good idea to make a list of 15-20 topics and trim them down as you acquire additional information about each topic.

Here’s an example of a few topics that one might target:
Golf
Weddings
Photography
Family Entertainment
High Tech Gadgets…. (whatever you wish…)

After you’ve listed broad or general areas, be sure to return to your list and add more specific terms and key phrases. Specificity is important to the process so take your time developing more specifics.

Now let’s head over to Amazon.com… (heard of these guys?) to get additional ideas about the markets we’re researching. Take a close look at the “Best Seller List“…. Maybe we can find books associated with areas that we’ve targeted. This will also help with specificity and brain storming. Why target the best seller list? Because they are BEST SELLERS! We don’t have to guess as to whether these topics are of commercial interest. Again, they’re best sellers right!

Many authors have identified specifics in their books that are closely associated with your targeted areas of interest. They’ve done lots of the hard work and research for you. Obviously people are interested in the subject matter. In addition, it’s important to note this key fact… few people go to Amazon to “look around“ or “browse”. As a matter of fact, many people have credit card “in hand“ before the Amazon page even loads, confirming the commercial intent of the topics listed on these pages. This is key to keep in mind.

Here’s another idea… go to Ebay.com and search for items that are relative to your area of interest with “high search volume counts. This also indicates high commercial interest… it’s Ebay… yes… people go to Ebay to BUY also!

Now that we’ve look at a couple of viable research sources…here’s a quick but important word about “commercial intent”.

As you perform your research you will want to pay special attention to the “keyword or keyword terms“ that you choose. This is very important with respect to the commercial intent of the keywords you’ve chosen. Remember, not all key phrases are “buying” key phrases. We’re only interested in words and phrases that are associated with the act of purchasing right? This is a common mistake made by many amateur online marketers make. They choose descriptive phrases and keyword ideas that are relative to their chosen market but have no “commercial intent”. Pay special attention to this area.

Another great tool for performing research on your market is Google Insights… this is a great tool for understanding demand of a product, service or idea anywhere in the world… You can find it by searching Google for “Google Insights“…. There is a wealth of information that be gained by using this online research tool.

Last and not least… also try finding “popular trend“ information… by researching topics of interest at Google Trends… Google Trends reports on popular trends throughout the world and can be a great source of information when you’re brainstorming product ideas…

Take your time and perform thorough research before deciding to enter a niche market. Even if you’ve chosen subject matter associated with a hobby, a sport, or a particular area of personal interest, performing preliminary research will always give you addition insight and bolster your chances of online marketing success .

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