How to Find a Niche Market - A Guide to Finding New Amazon Product Niche Markets

[phpnetpro]

Many thanks again for everyone's comments on this thread.

For those of you who are looking for some additional information beyond keyword research, I have recently put up another thread here that you should find useful:
Niche Affiliate Marketing

[penpal6]

wonderful post! a very good Amazon affiliate guide for the beginner

[thegreatnapi]

Originally Posted by phpnetpro

Hi Fortony,

I have seen other people say that they get better results just using text links for their Amazon products. I have not personally seen a website that uses text only links, so I can't really comment on how well/poorly that works.

I have tried a few different approaches with various sites of mine, but I really wouldn't say that one works better than others. Take the dog crate site, for example. I went with the standard small rectangle widget that shows a pic, name and price for the product. Since I've done some price comparison on the site, I feel like that particular method works well for that site. When someone goes to one of the page categories for the various sizes, they'll be able to look down the list and quickly see the prices.

I think people that use the text links probably have higher click-thru rates, but I often hear of them getting 2-3% conversion rates. I don't really track my click-thru rates because it's not important to me (as long as clicks/sales are indeed coming in), but I do know that I get 10-12% conversion rates on the dog crate site. I think this is because people actually click it knowing that it's going to sell them something. When you put out a text link, half the people that click it probably don't realize what they are clicking (which results in the low conversion rates).

Two of the product websites that I've made since I made the dog crate site (my November projects) have used the new tooltip widget that Amazon recently made available. With this option, you set up an image link or a text link for a product. When someone hovers their mouse over the link, they get an Amazon box that shows info for the item. I've actually been using both an image and a text link for each product to create my own product box that I show at the bottom of pages. This tactic seems to be working out pretty well for me so far - both of those brand new Amazon sites have already made sales with 6-10% conversion rates.

I would share one of those sites with you guys, but I'm not finished with the niche yet and I know my plans would be ruined by sharing. One of the sites is a product that was just released this year and the keyword phrase is quickly gaining popularity. There's tons of untapped domains and keywords for the niche. I've only seen a few articles out there trying to promote this new product, so I've rather been enjoying the lack of competition .

The best advice that I can give is to put yourself in the customer's shoes. Figure out what they are looking for when they search your keyword phrase or when they come to your website. Try to identify their problem, help them solve it and then pass them along to a recommended product choice. That's exactly what the dog crate site does and one of the biggest reasons it's so successful.

Hi Ryan, Many thanks for this thread. This is very very helpful.

[phpnetpro]

Originally Posted by penpal6

wonderful post! a very good Amazon affiliate guide for the beginner

Thanks for your comments penpal6. Most beginner internet marketers don't think that they can easily make good money. Amazon affiliate sites are one of the easiest ways to do it and I wanted to encourage them to give it a try.


Ryan

Originally Posted by thegreatnapi

Hi Ryan, Many thanks for this thread. This is very very helpful.

You're quite welcome thegreatnapi. I am happy that I could help.

Ryan

[Linder]

Very Nice Guide....Thank You!

[jlw]

Thank you phpnetpro, very motivated to dig in!

[R0CKY]

Hellp, I'm a bit late to this party, but phpnetpro great post thank you very much.

How refreshing to read a down to earth and realistic strategy, no hype, just an honest recounting of your experience.

What some might have missed is that you clearly focus on adding value when you actually create your website content, rather than focusing on sell-sell-sell. This is perhaps why you are achieveing SERPs that would appear beyond what may be expected for their actual SEO stats.

Apart from the dogcrate website which you sold on, have you shared any of your other sites that we may see "a site in action" so to speak?

And do you still offer the niche finding service?

Thanks again.

[seoman76]

Great insights on keyword research, you took all my doubts away. Thanks!

[spigven]

Hello phpnetpro.

Came across your post after searching the web for help in finding niche keywords. I was so impressed that I've signed up to the forum. Are you still offering coaching ? If so I wouldn't mind some more details. I'm a newbie (but you already guessed that of course) and I'm having a fruitless time searching for niche keywords.

Thanks.

[rvdp]

Hi, sorry if this has been asked before (don;t have time now to go through thread). What conversion percentage do you get on average from your Amazon reviews site(s). And what's the ratio of people buying your reviewed products vs people buying random stuff through your link? Thanks

[spigven]

Thanks for the reply, I got your PM. I can't reply via PM because apparently my post count is too low ?

Anyway I've decided to persevere this week and if I get nowhere I'll buy your product (actually I may buy it anyway) or I'll consider some coaching.

I bought a course recently and have some other info on niche selection but it all requires a substantial amount of traffic (plus other criteria) which is where I'm struggling (and I think this is compounded by being UK based). You stating that smaller amounts of traffic may be viable has given me encouragement.

Thanks.

[phpnetpro]

Linder, jlw, seoman76:

You're quite welcome. Thank you for your comments as well.

Ryan

Originally Posted by Linder

Very Nice Guide....Thank You!

Originally Posted by jlw

Thank you phpnetpro, very motivated to dig in!

Originally Posted by seoman76

Great insights on keyword research, you took all my doubts away. Thanks!

Hi R0CKY,

You're very welcome. I have shared a few more of my sites in my training lessons, but the short answer is no. I'd love to be able to share all of my sites. Unfortunately, too many people take advantage of my generosity. A perfect example is that someone copied dogcratesizes.com almost word for word to dogcratesize.com.

I truly believe that Google knows the difference between a "sell sell sell" website and one that offers real value to a visitor. Indeed it is one of the driving reasons why my sites are able to get great results in the SERPs.

I do still offer the niche research service, although it is generally upon request. You can easily contact me by email through a number of my websites, two of which are in my signature links.

Ryan

Originally Posted by R0CKY

Hellp, I'm a bit late to this party, but phpnetpro great post thank you very much.

How refreshing to read a down to earth and realistic strategy, no hype, just an honest recounting of your experience.

What some might have missed is that you clearly focus on adding value when you actually create your website content, rather than focusing on sell-sell-sell. This is perhaps why you are achieveing SERPs that would appear beyond what may be expected for their actual SEO stats.

Apart from the dogcrate website which you sold on, have you shared any of your other sites that we may see "a site in action" so to speak?

And do you still offer the niche finding service?

Thanks again.

Hi spigven,

Sorry for the PM rules on the forum. I still never got used to those (been around since it was a free forum). I mentioned it above but in case you didn't see it, you can always contact me by email through my website contact forms.

For those of you looking for more in depth information on niche research and building the actual websites, I have a Warrior Forum Special Offer that may be of interest to you:
http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...ot-harder.html

Ryan

Originally Posted by spigven

Hello phpnetpro.

Came across your post after searching the web for help in finding niche keywords. I was so impressed that I've signed up to the forum. Are you still offering coaching ? If so I wouldn't mind some more details. I'm a newbie (but you already guessed that of course) and I'm having a fruitless time searching for niche keywords.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by spigven

Thanks for the reply, I got your PM. I can't reply via PM because apparently my post count is too low ?

Anyway I've decided to persevere this week and if I get nowhere I'll buy your product (actually I may buy it anyway) or I'll consider some coaching.

I bought a course recently and have some other info on niche selection but it all requires a substantial amount of traffic (plus other criteria) which is where I'm struggling (and I think this is compounded by being UK based). You stating that smaller amounts of traffic may be viable has given me encouragement.

Thanks.

Hi rvdp,

My average conversion rates range between 3% and 12%. It really depends on the niche, product price, ad technique used, website content/effectiveness, etc.

I don't count the random purchases in the conversion rate averages (they're product link conversion rates). I do see a fair amount of random purchases, but they probably only account for 5-10% of my total Amazon income. At least half of my random product purchases are related to products that I promote.

I consider the random purchases an extra bonus. Most likely, those happen when someone decides not to purchase something that you were trying to promote, but then they continue browsing on Amazon and buy other random things. Since you get 24 hours after the product link click, random sales may even be a result from pre-existing Amazon customers clicking on your link and then completing a random purchase before the 24 hours expires.

Overall, I think the random purchases are helpful to boost monthly sales volume, but the actual commission amounts generally don't add up to much.

Ryan

Originally Posted by rvdp

Hi, sorry if this has been asked before (don;t have time now to go through thread). What conversion percentage do you get on average from your Amazon reviews site(s). And what's the ratio of people buying your reviewed products vs people buying random stuff through your link? Thanks

[zafar]

Ryan,

You have done us a great favor by writing this long Amazon money making guide that new Internet Marketers like me will use for a long long time. Good job man...!

Zafar

[coronaborcalis]

Nice thread, however finding .com domain is not as easy as its sound. in my opinion .net is also good domain to catch

[phpnetpro]

Originally Posted by zafar

Ryan,

You have done us a great favor by writing this long Amazon money making guide that new Internet Marketers like me will use for a long long time. Good job man...!

Zafar

You are quite welcome Zafar. I'm happy that this thread is still found useful five months later and should still be useful for a while to come.

Ryan

Originally Posted by coronaborcalis

Nice thread, however finding .com domain is not as easy as its sound. in my opinion .net is also good domain to catch

Hi coronaborcalis,

.net domains are decent, but I ultimately prefer the .com for a few different reasons. It's a lot easier to gain returning visitors to a .com site, in my opinion. .net will still get a bit of a boost from Google, but it just doesn't seem to be much compared with a .com domain. My other worry is competition from the .com domain. I would never consider opening a .net site when a .com site exists and is targeting the same thing.

.com domains are harder to find than they used to be, but I still find it rather easy. Each Friday, I find around 10 niche .com domains to give away to my email newsletter. I likely would not do that if it took me forever to find them .

The real trick to finding an available .com domain is to look for keywords with lower traffic (around 500/month) and to stay away from generally high competition markets. When you start poking around niches that you'd probably never consider as a personal interest of your own, you usually end up finding something quite easily.

Ryan

[JustinG30]

I just wanted to say thanks for all the available information you have given us so for. Im new to IM but new to business. I currently own 4 businesses and do not have a minute to give to my family or friends and its really taken its toll on me. This is what has lead me to IM to see if maybe i can make enough to pay someone to help manage a couple of my stores so i can take a step back and give time to my family.

I did have a couple quick questions if you dont mind answering (i tried PM you but it wouldnt let me because i havent sent 50 PM yet)

Who do you use for your hosting with wordpress? Also have you done a tutorial on how to use wordpress? Also, did you just sign up with Amazon Associate? After reading your article, i purchase my first keyword.com that has about 500 exact. Whats nice is its related to one of my businesses.

Any further help you can provide would be greatly appreciated!!!

[tanero]

Really, clear and realistic guide I have ever read.

[srik12]

This thread is of huge help to a newbie like me.
Thanks for all the help fellas.

[HarryPothead]

Great advice indeed..I'm actually going to build my first website based on your niche selection advice. I'll keep you posted on the progress.
Thanks again.

[CopyAcolyte]

Hello, OP.

Thanks for this guide.

You said that any niche with over 30,000 website results will be too difficult to market. Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time finding any niche that doesn't return anything less than 50,000 search results.

Maybe I'm not searching for the terms in the right way..

But how should I go about finding a niche that has that little search results? It seems like there are too many Amazon review sites out there.

Thanks.

[HarryPothead]

Hi Ryan,

I know you've heard it atleast HUNDRED time on this thread but THANKS.
I can't thank you enough for many reasons. You actually gave me inspiration to get into affiliate marketing.
I don't want to all thanky thanky and all..but this is the first thread I've subscribed to, first thread that I've finished from head to toe and first thread that made me sign up for WF. I've bookmarked your other keyword research thread as well.

Ryan, I've combed your thread 2wice to get the depth of it. After reading I've some queries that I've mentioned in your visitor msg section..don't have 50 posts so can't PM. If possible kindly reply to them.

Also I checked the "dogcratesize(dot)com" you mentioned..the one that has stolen your content. MAN!! the nerve of that guy..you are giving such an incredible info for free and that guy rather thanking you is taking advantage of your..thats not done people.

i did notice that he/she even put the tag line of ur site as it is..and even though the domain is dogcratesize..the title reads dogcratesizeS..lol.

[waywyrd]

Hi,

I also like to say thanks for this guide, and I've also purchased your course.

Personally I think the course overdelivers for what you charge.

But like CopyAcolyte's post:

Originally Posted by CopyAcolyte

Hello, OP.

Thanks for this guide.

You said that any niche with over 30,000 website results will be too difficult to market. Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time finding any niche that doesn't return anything less than 50,000 search results.

Maybe I'm not searching for the terms in the right way..

But how should I go about finding a niche that has that little search results? It seems like there are too many Amazon review sites out there.

Thanks.

I run into the same problem, too many website results.

Regards,

Waywyrd

[Instantfruit]

Brilliant post! (and thread)

Thanks for sharing!

[xxxJamesxxx]

Ignore me as I copy and paste this and turn it into a WSO ;-)

Joking aside, some serious good tips and advice for any Amazon affiliate starting out

James

[msudawgs56]

Excellent Post

[dagaul101]

Nice tips, it's a great idea to find products to promote that will be around the long term

[phpnetpro]

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since I checked back with this thread. It's amazing to see that it's still frequently found 9 months after writing it. I'll try to do better with checking by from time to time to answer any questions.

I've gone through all of the replies that have been posted since I was last here and left replies for all of you below.

Ryan

Originally Posted by JustinG30

I just wanted to say thanks for all the available information you have given us so for. Im new to IM but new to business. I currently own 4 businesses and do not have a minute to give to my family or friends and its really taken its toll on me. This is what has lead me to IM to see if maybe i can make enough to pay someone to help manage a couple of my stores so i can take a step back and give time to my family.

I did have a couple quick questions if you dont mind answering (i tried PM you but it wouldnt let me because i havent sent 50 PM yet)

Who do you use for your hosting with wordpress? Also have you done a tutorial on how to use wordpress? Also, did you just sign up with Amazon Associate? After reading your article, i purchase my first keyword.com that has about 500 exact. Whats nice is its related to one of my businesses.

Any further help you can provide would be greatly appreciated!!!

Hi Justin,

I do think this type of site would be a good fit for you. They don't take much time to manage, but it does take a bit of time to devote to creating each site.

If you want to contact me privately and can't use PMs here, feel free to visit one of my sites and send me a contact message through there.

I use HostGator for my sites. Wordpress and the plugins I use work great on their servers, plus their support is excellent.

I have not done overly detailed Wordpress tutorials yet, although it is something I have considered. I am in the midst of making videos that show how to make these niche affiliate sites, but I'm not entirely sure when those will be finished.

I've been an Amazon Associate for close to four years now.

Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions.

Originally Posted by tanero

Really, clear and realistic guide I have ever read.

Thanks a lot for your comments and kind words tanero.

Originally Posted by srik12

This thread is of huge help to a newbie like me.
Thanks for all the help fellas.

You're quite welcome srik12.

Originally Posted by HarryPothead

Great advice indeed..I'm actually going to build my first website based on your niche selection advice. I'll keep you posted on the progress.
Thanks again.

Hi Harry,

I'd love to hear some results from your site(s) . It's nice to hear when others have success using my methods.

Originally Posted by CopyAcolyte

Hello, OP.

Thanks for this guide.

You said that any niche with over 30,000 website results will be too difficult to market. Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time finding any niche that doesn't return anything less than 50,000 search results.

Maybe I'm not searching for the terms in the right way..

But how should I go about finding a niche that has that little search results? It seems like there are too many Amazon review sites out there.

Thanks.

Hi CopyAcolyte,

You don't want to perform a standard Google search and look at the search result numbers.

One of the easiest ways to gauge keyword competition is with an allintitle search. I've given an example of what to search on Google below - just replace keyword phrase with your target keyword phrase.

allintitle:"keyword phrase"

For that search, I generally want to see less than 10,000 results to register a domain for that keyword phrase. That's really my upper limit here, so I'd really recommend as low of a number as possible for a first-time website (1000 or less is considered fairly low competition).

Originally Posted by HarryPothead

Hi Ryan,

I know you've heard it atleast HUNDRED time on this thread but THANKS.
I can't thank you enough for many reasons. You actually gave me inspiration to get into affiliate marketing.
I don't want to all thanky thanky and all..but this is the first thread I've subscribed to, first thread that I've finished from head to toe and first thread that made me sign up for WF. I've bookmarked your other keyword research thread as well.

Ryan, I've combed your thread 2wice to get the depth of it. After reading I've some queries that I've mentioned in your visitor msg section..don't have 50 posts so can't PM. If possible kindly reply to them.

Also I checked the "dogcratesize(dot)com" you mentioned..the one that has stolen your content. MAN!! the nerve of that guy..you are giving such an incredible info for free and that guy rather thanking you is taking advantage of your..thats not done people.

i did notice that he/she even put the tag line of ur site as it is..and even though the domain is dogcratesize..the title reads dogcratesizeS..lol.

Hi again Harry,

I'll have to take a look at my visitor messages to see what you wrote there. The best way to ask me questions if you can't PM is to contact me through one of my websites.

I appreciate your sincere thanks and everything else you said.

It is sometimes a bit nerve racking when people take advantage of things like this, but I try not to let one bad apple spoil it for everyone else.

Originally Posted by waywyrd

Hi,

I also like to say thanks for this guide, and I've also purchased your course.

Personally I think the course overdelivers for what you charge.

But like CopyAcolyte's post:



I run into the same problem, too many website results.

Regards,

Waywyrd

Thanks for your kind words Waywyrd.

I'm happy to hear that you feel like I over-deliver with my training course. Even though I know the information can help people earn nice recurring incomes, I still like to make it available for a price that's affordable for anyone.

I responded to the other question above, so hopefully my response there will help to clear some things up for you.

Originally Posted by Instantfruit

Brilliant post! (and thread)

Thanks for sharing!

You're welcome Instantfruit. Thanks for your comments.

Originally Posted by xxxJamesxxx

Ignore me as I copy and paste this and turn it into a WSO ;-)

Joking aside, some serious good tips and advice for any Amazon affiliate starting out

James

LOL James. I have been told that I could've made this into a WSO instead of giving it away for free, but I know not everyone has money to invest to get started with something like this. Even though this thread isn't my entire plan for building Amazon affiliate sites, I tried to deliver a lot of great introductory information in this thread that should help a wide variety of people.

Thanks for your comments.

Originally Posted by msudawgs56

Excellent Post

Thanks a lot msudawg.

Originally Posted by dagaul101

Nice tips, it's a great idea to find products to promote that will be around the long term

Hi dagaul,

Yes, a lot of people will refer to these as evergreen products. Some products come and go, while others are a pretty safe bet that they will still be in demand many years from now.

Although I do like building sites for evergreen products that will last long-term, I also like making sites for passing fads. Even though the site may not be making money a few years from now, some of those products become very popular for a couple of years and produce a lot of income.

If you do target non-evergreen products, just keep an eye on trends, new development, etc for that type of product so you can stay on top of changes. In many cases, I've found that I can usually start a site for the product that will replace another product I've previously promoted that's not very popular anymore as long as I find out about that new product in a timely manner.

Thanks again for everybody's comments.

Ryan

[elitesalesgroup]

Hi!
Quick Question. Do you think this wors better for review sites, OR can you do a strictly shopping site like a shopperpress?

[miltonolave]

Thanks for the guide, take into account many points to apply.

[Dealdoll]

How do you feel about domains with dashes? if you find the key word but have to split it up? key-word.com ?

[Michael_Le]

i know this thread is old but you are giving out bad info. always go for EMD and .COMs? i have sites with names that arent anywhere near the exact match of a keyword and i couldnt care if i got the .com or not, heck most my sites are .INFOs! and guess what? im still raking it in.

so guys, when you read this, don't do exactly what the OP did, work with what works for you.