Keyword research

I have some ideas for a niche affiliate marketing website but I want to research them to see what is most viable. I am new to doing keyword research but want to find out what my competition would be for certain keywords. I have been reading that Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Longtailpro are good tools to use but I am on a budget. Also there is Google's tools: suggest, correlate, and trends. Also there is keywordtool.io.

Which tools do you recommend that are not too expensive and do you know of a good walkthrough/video for using the tools? Also I think that there are paid forums which have keyword tools as part of the membership package.

 

Thanks Graybeard. I am reading the guides from your link, searchenginejournal.com. Super awesome resource for SEO! Here is some info that I have noted so far from this resource.

"Yet some things never change, one factor remains constant: Google
has always focused on quality, beneficial content that users love to
read, watch, listen to, and share. With quality content that benefits the
user as a focal point in Google’s ranking algorithm, it is imperative to
also make that the priority of the SEO when producing content.

There is one simple answer to this: give your customers value.If you
know what your customers need/want and give it to them, you will win
in SEO tremendously.
There is only one algorithm that matters: Your customers – and their
hearts, minds, and souls.

We’re currently at a turning point in the industry and the strategies we
use, making now one of the more difficult times to work in.
Many of the classic SEO elements still hold a lot of weight, things like
incoming links and internal structures so we’re having to optimize for
those but at the same time most see the writing on the wall – AI is pushing
its way into the algorithm and with it an increased ability for Google to
understand a user’s intent and whether a page meets that intent
and deliver that as a result that irrespective of many of those classic
signals.
Essentially, SEOs today (and for the next year or two) need to optimize
for two sets of signals, the ones that have worked historically and the
ones we can see working in the near future – and the same content
and strategy isn’t necessarily ideal for both."