Keyword Planner

Until you are a paid advertiser who spends a decent amount of money, you will not get exact search numbers. What they are telling you is somewhere between 33 and 330 people per day search for that phrase - a huge difference. Still, even at the low end, assuming a 1% conversion rate, it would be some sort of "sale" every three days.

The competition numbers are absolutely meaningless unless you are paying for advertising. They have nothing to do with organic search. There are tons of phrases that do not get high bids that are very competitive for organic search.

Ryan

There is an easier way , Just find the best competition for the niche and go to their website look at the keywords they use via the page source and use them

Jason

You need to understand that the Google Keyword Planner tool was built specifically for Adwords users, so, most of the columns/data are for Adwords users/bidders (everything in red above).

Ryan,

Yep the keyword planner is a great way to see if you're in a good niche or not. However, you should use a slew of different ways to check out your niche to see if it is viable.

The late and famous copywriter and info marketer, Gary Halbert used a variety of different ways to check out a niche before he even thought of marketing a product. (And a lot of that was done BEFORE the Internet came along.)

One of the things seasoned info marketers will do is figure out a way to advertise your product before you actually put one together. Dan Kennedy recommends this method highly. He'll advertise a product by saying he's going to give you the first chapter of his product or report that he literally put together in a weekend.

So if you're going to see if someone is in a particular fishing or casting method you could offer a free report on a site you've set up and advertise on Google Adwords. If you get a solid conversion rate, you know that you might have a winner of an idea or niche.

Another way you can check out your niche, is to go on Amazon and look at books related to your niche. If you see there is a lot of books that are similar to what you want to do, it may be a good indicator that you're in the right arena.

You'll have to come up with your own angle or USP on the subject area that you're selling in, but if there are books written on a very similar subject and there are loads of comments on them, then this is a pretty good niche to operate in.

By the way, about the comments, READ THEM. There is gold in them thar' hills. Those people will literally point out what they wish were in those books. You'll find out what they liked about the subject and what they didn't as well as what they wished was included.

Look at a lot of magazines and their ads. If you can't find any ads or articles for the type of subject you're trying to promote, you may have a loser. The book and magazine industry can't afford to publish losers, so if you don't see your niche or subject there, chances are you need to rethink your niche.

Look, there really isn't much new under the sun. So, if you think you're going to come up with some totally new idea, forget it. I can almost guarantee that there's something out there that is very similar to your niche.

If you see that there is nothing that is similar to what you want to do, you need to forget it. Usually, if you can't find other courses, sites, books and other vehicles out on the market, then you'll be fishing in a very small pond.

There are also a couple of direct mail mailing lists online that will show you how much demand there is for each subject. I believe experian is one of them, but it has been awhile since I've been on their site.

You could also do the obvious and Google the tar out of your niche and look at all of the blogs related to it too. Once again, read the comment sections to see what everyone is talking about. This will give you more ideas and help you develop a USP.

I hope these ideas help you out in your quest to find a viable niche!

Elmo