Help finding a niche

[Adammo]

Hi all,

Sorry to bother, I hope my questions are not too stupid .

As my title says, I am trying to figure out a niche for myself. I thought this was going to be easy as anyone who knows me would instantly think sports. But as i've noticed, starting a sports news page is going to get me no where as I will never compete with the big guys.

My problem is that I am not sure how to trim my results down and find a niche that would be both profitable, and less competitive. Should I narrow it down into a specific team? a specific sport? a specific league? I have also considered other areas that interest me such as collectibles.

Anyways, I just wanted to see if anyone had any advice about whay might work, and what would not work at all.

Thanks!

 

[Ron Bechdolt]

Here is a great place to start, How to Find Your 1st Niche

My advice is to not take too long worrying about the niche, but to dive in with something. And don't limit yourself to one site, do 2-3 and see what works.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Adammo,

If you have already narrowed your BROAD niche down to sports, then use the links in the 1st post below to drill down and find a less competitive, yet profitable niche.

<a href="http://affiliate-marketing-forums.5staraffiliateprograms.com/niche-marketing/14441-how-do-niche-keyword-research.html#post43897">How to do Niche Keyword Research</a>

 

[Adammo]

Thanks you for the links! I will give them a try and hopefully find a smaller niche.

I am thinking with going with collectibles, but wanted to ask another question. I know this will sound bad, but I do like to play the sports lottery here in Canada. It is about the same thing as playing 6/49. But I do know that gambling sites do exist and do have quite a following. I have also noticed that there are many "offshore" sports betting web sites that offer commissions on sales.

Now I do enjoy it, but certainly do not condone any illegal activity. So i'm wondering is it illegal to write about the different sports betting lines and have sports book affiliates on my site? I assume I am opening up a can of worms, but am curious.

Thanks!

 

[Adammo]

Sorry to ask again...but I was thinking about things and I think i'd enjoy writing a general sports blog alot more than a specific area. Is it still possible to make some money doing this? Or am I really putting myself into a big hole to start off with? It just seems that I like all sports and am having a really tough time narrowing it down!

Thanks!

 

[Linda Buquet]

I think a general sports blog is much better than a sports book blog since online gambling is illegal in the US.

A general sports blog is of course going to be very competitive, as you are not only competing with other affiliates but official sports sites, news sites and other established authority sites.

But if you drill down into each sports category to find long tail keywords to blog about that have some demand but aren't too competitive, then you still have a chance of getting some traffic for those keywords.

Holler if you want some pointers about how to do the keyword research.

 

[Adammo]

I think a general sports blog is much better than a sports book blog since online gambling is illegal in the US.

A general sports blog is of course going to be very competitive, as you are not only competing with other affiliates but official sports sites, news sites and other established authority sites.

But if you drill down into each sports category to find long tail keywords to blog about that have some demand but aren't too competitive, then you still have a chance of getting some traffic for those keywords.

Holler if you want some pointers about how to do the keyword research.

Thanks Linda,

I would love some pointers on how to do keyword research. Do you have some links on this site?

I do worry about the general sports blog having too much competition. But I really am having a tough time narrowing it down. I could still go with the collecting aspect, but I like so many broad topics in sports. For instance, I am just watching football now and felt like writing my opinion on one of the games. Do you think I can have success with this type of blog if I choose my keywords properly, and add a signature in sports forums I visit?

Although I am in Canada I believe you are correct about the gambling. I don't want to really open up myself for a chance to get in trouble. I think if I have a general sports blog I can talk about things like that.

Finally, would talking about a specific team/league/sport be better than a general sports blog?

Thanks again for all of your help!

 

[Linda Buquet]

OK use the instructions in the following post using one of your main sports.

http://affiliate-marketing-forums.5...h-keyword-competitive-research.html#post35998

Initial KW research is a 2 step process and there are many ways to do it, but here's an easy, effective way. 1) Check how popular the term is based on how many times it's searched for with Wordtracker.
2) Check how competitive the term is by checking Google using the format: allintitle: "key phrase"

1) CHECK POPULARITY

So for example use the WordTracker KW Tool and enter Football
Free GTrends Tool From Wordtracker

Now drill down quite a ways to phrases that have around 300 searches (for example - not an exact number, just trying to get to some that may have lower competition.)

One that jumped out at me (just for example) was "famous football players" with 296 searches.

2) CHECK COMPETITION

Next we check Google. <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;q=allintitle%3A+%22famous+football+players%22&amp;sourceid=navclient-ff&amp;rlz=1B3GGIC_en___US345&amp;ie=UTF-8">allintitle: "famous football players"</a>

Not bad - 14,300 competing pages with the exact phrase in the title of the page.
(As compared to 2.3 billion with just the word football in the title).

Also look at the TYPE of sites that are in the top 10 on Google. Are they all authority and news sites or are there some other sites that don't look quite as established? To me this looks like a phrase that would be doable.

So just keep checking back and forth like that between Wordtracker and Google allintitle, to try to find phrases that interest you, that you think you'd be able to write articles about, that have the highest popularity vs the lowest competition.

 

[Adammo]

Thanks again!

I will try that now and see if I can have some success in finding something i'd like to write about.

I just wanted to ask one more confirmation question if you don't mind. Do you believe it would be more beneficial for me to narrow my focus down to a specific niche as opposed to doing a general sports blog?

Thank you again for your time and advice. This stuff is tough and intimidating for the newbie .

 

[Adammo]

Well I gave this a try with my favorite sport hockey, and only came up with the following:

1443 hockey
320 1980 olympic hockey team
286 usa hockey
284 field hockey
249 the hockey news
243 hockey monkey


How low should I consider going in Word Tracker? When I search for my favorite team for instance, I receive 122. Should I be looking for 300 and above?


I then decided to try sports cards and collectibles. Baseball cards were quite high (450 ish), but football and hockey were low. But when I did an allintitle with Google and sports cards, I received about 24 million results. When I use hockey cards, I recieve about 34 in Word Tracker and 3.4 million in Google. Are these topics to stay away from becuase of the high google hits/low wordtracker?

Finally, I decided to look at swimming and found swimming technique had about 318 in WordTracker and 17,000 in Google. I have tons of swimming experience, so I am leaning towards this topic. Unfortunatly, I would rather write abotu sports .

Just want to see what you thought, sorry for the long post!

 

[ArizonaJay]

I'm VERY new at this. But I've also learned that those with lots of experience sometimes explain things in a very complicated way - they understand, but newbies like us don't get it. so I'll try to explain my KISS approach to this. I'm hoping that others who are more experienced chime in and either confirm that I'm on the right track, or tell me to shut up because I'm spouting off crap.

Your interest is sports. You are considering narrowing it down to hockey. Ask yourself, as a hockey fan, what do you want to buy? what do you want to know? what might make you go to a site about hockey and hang around to read it for awhile? If you were targeting hockey mom's, what would they want for their hockey-wild kids? If you were targeting hockey players, what can you tell them or sell them that would make them better hockey players? What can you sell them that would help them protect their bodies and their teeth when they are playing hockey. What about their aching bones after they get off the ice? It's all about WHAT can you DO for them. And then figuring out the keywords that they are using to search for that help.

Then go in and do the KW searches, keeping those things in mind. You'll probably find very targeted results that WILL BE smaller in numbers, but likely to convert better.

So, using your "swimming technique" example: Are they looking to improve their swimming technique? If so, can you help them do that? Can you find something to sell that helps them do that, or provide enough information about that so that they will keep returning to your site? In other words, making money is all about delivering a product that somebody is looking for and wants to buy, then making it easy to find you. (I don't think this is any different, really, from a brick and morter store. Buy the right inventory, display it properly, hire good sales people/use good sales copy, and let people know where you are located and that you have exactly the products they are looking for, and are a trustworthy source of information and products. Then make it as easy a possible for them to buy.)

Now - you super affiliates - I know I'm oversimplifying. But am I on the right track?

 

[Linda Buquet]

I just wanted to ask one more confirmation question if you don't mind. Do you believe it would be more beneficial for me to narrow my focus down to a specific niche as opposed to doing a general sports blog?

Thank you again for your time and advice. This stuff is tough and intimidating for the newbie .

I think you could still do a general sports blog so you can focus on different areas of sports that interest you - just be sure to do keyword research to find sports subniches, sports figures and niche topics that aren't as competitive to focus your blog posts about.

Re your questions about swimming and hockey. They are both considered sports so they can be two of the categories for your general sports blog.

 

[Linda Buquet]

I'm VERY new at this. But I've also learned that those with lots of experience sometimes explain things in a very complicated way - they understand, but newbies like us don't get it. so I'll try to explain my KISS approach to this. I'm hoping that others who are more experienced chime in and either confirm that I'm on the right track, or tell me to shut up because I'm spouting off crap.

Now - you super affiliates - I know I'm oversimplifying. But am I on the right track?

You are definitely on the right track! In fact one of the main reasons I recommend that newbies start off with something they know about and hopefully even something that they are passionate about is... it's easier to put yourself in the shoes of your niche visitor to figure out what they would be interested in learning more about or what problems they may need help solving!

Thanks for simplifying!

 

[Linda Buquet]

It turns out Adammo was confused about something else and I don't think he'll mind me posting it here so I can answer it. He wrote:

"I don't really understand yet how my blog posts would get picked up by search engines. I think this is where I am getting confused about choosing topics and stuff. I wasn't sure if my WordPress posts would be picked up in google, or if only my site name was picked up."

One of the great things about blogs is that search engines love them due in part to frequent updates via new posts.

But whether a blog or a site, the search engines scan everything on each page. (If they find it, which they will if the pages are linked, which they would be in the case of a blog.)

So while the homepage of the site will get indexed by the search engines for whatever keywords are used on the homepage of the site, each blog post is also indexed for the keywords on that specific page.

The most important place to put keywords to get indexed by the search engines is in the title of the post. But they also need to be in the body of the post. So my example of using the keywords "famous football players".
Your title could be "Discover the most famous football players". Then in the body as you write you would naturally talk about "famous football players" so those keywords would also be in the body of the post.

REAL LIFE EXAMPLE:

Keywords: Find Profitable KeyWords
Competing pages: 1.6 MILLION pages.

Guess who's #4 out of 1.6 MILLION pages??? My blog post from just 2 weeks ago. "Find Profitable KeyWords and Big KW Lists with New WordTracker"

<a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;rlz=1B3GGIC_en___US345&amp;q=Find+Profitable+KeyWords&amp;btnG=Search&amp;aq=f&amp;oq=&amp;aqi=g-m1">Google Results - Find Profitable KeyWords</a>

How did I get to the #4 spot? That exact key phrase was in my title and in the content of the post. Also important I have a highly ranked and well established blog, with lots of inbound links. So a brand new blog without any inbound links would not rank that well. BUT the 1st step for a new blog is getting the right kw in the title and in the page content.

Does that long answer help to clear up some of the confusion?

 

[Adammo]

ArizonaJay and Linda,

Thank you so much. Those posts were very informative and are helping me figure out what to do.

I'll explain one more thing that hopefully will finish off my last obstacle. I realize that as an affiliate marketer, I want to sell things and earn commissions. ArizonaJay brought up some very good points in this area. But in most places I have read (as linda just posted) write about something you like or have a passion for. My problem is that I am a sports fan but I haven't played many sports since I was younger. So for me to promote hockey equipment to people is quite a challenge! Should I compile data from (and reference) other sources?

I'm starting to think a little more along the lines of what can I sell. I'm just not sure how to gather my data properly .

Hope that makes sense! Thanks again for any help/insight.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Yes you can quote other sources, like news stories and blogs. Just be sure to only use a small snippet and link to the source.

My problem is that I am a sports fan but I haven't played many sports since I was younger. So for me to promote hockey equipment to people is quite a challenge!

You may be overthinking a little. Think of it as helping people find something or making a suggestion, not necessarily 'promoting'. You could write about hockey from a fan's perspective and then say "By the way if you're looking for hockey team jerseys, XYZ is having a great sale." Or "I'm just a big hockey fan, but if you also play the game and are looking for hockey gear, you should check out ABC. They seem to have some of the best prices and have a free shipping special right now."

There's equipment, sports memorabilia and collectibles, sports related clothing, gifts specifically for hockey enthusiasts and probably a lot more. (I'm not into sports so can't brainstorm as well as you could.) Just think outside the box and get creative.

 

[ArizonaJay]

I'll add another way to think about to Linda's great advice. I began to think about what I have actually searched for on the internet. What information did I want, and would I have paid for it? What have I bought off the internet? What have I researched and looked for reviews on using the internet?

That pretty much gave me place to start as to what I was interested in, since I was already looking for it, what terms I was using to search for it, and what I was buying.

So - you're a big sports fan. What do you search for? What do you buy or what information might you pay for? What sites/blogs do you read that might have an adsense ad or a banner hanging around on the side that you might click on?

(BTW, I know that eventually my method will have to be expanded out into niches that I may not be so personally 'into.' But keeping within my already existing interests and knowledge areas seems to make it easier for us newbies. and eventually, my ability to figure out KW and stuff for people other than myself will improve with experience.)

 

[Adammo]

Thanks again to you both. It gives me lots to think about, but I appreciate it .

 

[Adammo]

I thought of something else that I am quite passionate about...my two cats .

I believe there are also lots of affiliate opportunities in the pet industry. Now that I am thinking a little more of a marketer instead of trying to get numerous users to visit my site each day, would I just need to create a series of posts such as:

1 - Cat Food...my cats love Brand X, you can find Brand X here.
2 - Cat Litter...I have found Brand Y really good for odor control. You can buy Brand Y here.
3 - Cat Toys...My oldest cat rarely plays except for this toy Brand Z. Brand Z can be found here.
etc.

Am I on the right track? I just worry that people would hate my site as it just refers them elsewhere, but I think that is the job that most affiliate marketers do anyways isn't it?

Thanks again for listening to me babble!

 

[Linda Buquet]

A couple thoughts...

1) FOCUS on helping people 1st, making money 2nd. It?s the helpful content that YOU would want to read if you were looking for info about a niche, that's going to attract people to your site. You need the traffic before you can make any money. So write good helpful content to attract them.

If you had a cat site you'd want to write about problems cat owners have, diseases they may need to look up, topics cat lovers would be interested in.
"Cat Food...my cats love Brand X, you can find Brand X here." isn't exactly compelling content. Although you could get traffic from people looking for a review of cat food brand X I suppose.

2) Think about the potential money you could make realistically. I buy my cat food and litter locally. I'm big on online shopping, but I think like me, most people buy their pet basics at their pet store, grocery store or Walmart.

Now there are pet supply affiliate programs that have all kinds of pet products that you could market. Things other than food and litter that people may shop for online. Things they maybe can't find at the local grocery store.

Also think about the cost and commission. If the bag of cat food is $15 and commission is 10% you'd make 1.50 per sale. Average conversion rates are 2% (but are often times much less). So that means 2 sales per 100 visitors if you are lucky. Which means you would need to get at least 1,000 visitors to make $30.

So I'm not trying to rain on your parade (or niche). Lots of affiliates focus on the pet niche, so it's competitive but doable again IF you focus on the more long tail keywords. I was just trying to teach you some of the logic as far as how to evaluate niches and the types of products to focus on.