How To Find Top Selling Niches With EzineArticles

[gregbanks]

Hey all!

The tip I'm about to share with you is so powerful that I have been debating whether to share this tip or not.... but I've decided to give it out.

Here goes...

In order to make money, you need traffic, right?
And what's traffic? People searching for stuff.

So in theory - the markets with the largest levels of traffic are the ones which will make you the most money. This means that if you can find some indication that a market has a large number of people searching for answers in it, you'll actually be able to make a lot of money from the easy traffic that market will bring you... as opposed to the relatively difficult traffic a small market will bring you.

But how do we find these "golden" niches? How can we discover the markets which have all sorts of searches each month.

One way is to sit down and think up some markets or some problems that people might be serching for. One way is to go to YouTube and see some of the most watched videos.....

but another way is to:

- Head to EzineArticles.com
- Click on ANY article topic
- Click on ANY article in that topic
- Browse down past all the text, until you get to three lists of links
- In the second list of links, you'll be able to see the most-viewed articles in that category over the past 90 days, revealing the biggest niches in front of your very eyes.

In that second bank of links, you'll be able to find the hottest topics in that category, which are all big niches that you can sell to today!

I hope this helps some of you?

Greg

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by gregbanks

In that second bank of links, you'll be able to find the hottest topics in that category, which are all big niches that you can sell to today!

Greg, what you're finding is simply the "most frequently read articles". These are commonly the ones for which the most SEO has been done by their authors in the form of banklinks and so on. There's no indication of their authors' click-through rates, let alone their eventual sales.

The logic of this kind of research is a little similar to that involved in assuming that "high gravity" products on Clickbank are the ones with the highest conversion-rates, in that it's measuring "what people are trying to do" rather than what they're actually achieving.

Sorry, but the reasoning is significantly flawed. Apologies for what may come across as a slightly contentious post, but in my experience it's terribly easy for people to be led astray by such superficially attractive "logic". There isn't really any intrinsic evidence that "best read articles" equate to "highest sales figures". All my own research has actually suggested that, if anything, there may even be a negative correlation, in some cases.

[gregbanks]

Hey Alexa Smith,

Points taken...

But I don't think it's flawed. In fact, I've personally discovered two $x,xxx a month niches from this technique.

What you're talking about is conversion rate and the resulting sales of a product. I'm talking about finding big markets that are teeming with people that are looking for an answer for something.

But yes you are pretty right. I'm certainly not ruling it out though. It's made me too much money to.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by gregbanks

I'm talking about finding big markets that are teeming with people that are looking for an answer for something.

I hear you. Let's hope we both stay away from those huge, teeming niches packed out with people looking for free answers, who never actually buy anything!

[gregbanks]

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

I hear you. Let's hope we both stay away from those huge, teeming niches packed out with people looking for free answers, who never actually buy anything!

Don't exist lol. You can sell anything to anyone if you're good enough

[edmltw]

It was almost going to be a couple's squabble until.... *grins*

[dwinland]

Thanks for the post. Even though this is not exhaustive market research, at the very least is does two things:

1. A great way to brainstorm niche ideas, including things you may not even have thought of.

2. The most viewed list is one indicator of hungry markets.

This could be a great place to start, followed up with some good ol' fashioned keyword and competition research. In fact, I think I will go take a gander right now while I am thinking about it.

Darren
BamaMarketer

[dwinland]

I did a quick look just to see if I could get any ideas from using this method. The first thing I noticed that there are 30 main categories with multiple subcategories.

I clicked on the first main category "Business". Then checked the first subcategory which is also "Business."

I clicked on a random article, scrolled down to see the most viewed articles in the past 90 days and you can see this list

Most Viewed EzineArticles in the Business: Category (90 Days)

1. The Best Ways to Start a Business With Little Or No Start-Up Capital
2. Minority Business Grants - How to Get Free Government Money You Never Pay Back
3. New Financial Advisor? Here's 4 Tips to Starting Your Financial Planning Practice
4. Guide to Implementing Business Intelligence - 1 - Getting Started With Business Intelligence
5. How to Write a Job Transfer Letter
6. Portable Car Wash Businesses You Can Start
7. Start a Restaurant Business - Design, Layout, Furniture and Themes
8. Setting Up a Company - Malaysia Vs Singapore
9. What is a Letter of Intent?
10. The Company Secretary's Duties & Liabilities
11. The Online Checklist For Offline Experts - Get Started Today
12. Step by Step Approach to Start Your Own Home Inspection Business
13. Corporate Events - Theme Ideas
14. All About the Health Fitness Business
15. Practical Poultry Farm Business Performance Calculations

You can see the many "How-to" articles suggesting people are wanting to learn how to start their own business. Not a surprise really, but it does give you an idea of the type of businesses people are interested in.

Just glancing at this one list gives me several ideas to now go and do some keyword and competition research.

Thanks for the OP...I am now inspired!

Darren
BamaMarketer

[gregbanks]

Originally Posted by dwinland

I did a quick look just to see if I could get any ideas from using this method. The first thing I noticed that there are 30 main categories with multiple subcategories.

I clicked on the first main category "Business". Then checked the first subcategory which is also "Business."

I clicked on a random article, scrolled down to see the most viewed articles in the past 90 days and you can see this list

Most Viewed EzineArticles in the Business: Category (90 Days)

1. The Best Ways to Start a Business With Little Or No Start-Up Capital
2. Minority Business Grants - How to Get Free Government Money You Never Pay Back
3. New Financial Advisor? Here's 4 Tips to Starting Your Financial Planning Practice
4. Guide to Implementing Business Intelligence - 1 - Getting Started With Business Intelligence
5. How to Write a Job Transfer Letter
6. Portable Car Wash Businesses You Can Start
7. Start a Restaurant Business - Design, Layout, Furniture and Themes
8. Setting Up a Company - Malaysia Vs Singapore
9. What is a Letter of Intent?
10. The Company Secretary's Duties & Liabilities
11. The Online Checklist For Offline Experts - Get Started Today
12. Step by Step Approach to Start Your Own Home Inspection Business
13. Corporate Events - Theme Ideas
14. All About the Health Fitness Business
15. Practical Poultry Farm Business Performance Calculations

You can see the many "How-to" articles suggesting people are wanting to learn how to start their own business. Not a surprise really, but it does give you an idea of the type of businesses people are interested in.

Just glancing at this one list gives me several ideas to now go and do some keyword and competition research.

Thanks for the OP...I am now inspired!

Darren
BamaMarketer

Hehe I was inspired a few times then I made a lot of money from those inspirations :-)

Glad my post helped you!

[Ashley Wright]

Your right Greg you can sell anything if you are good enough, but that comes down to you building the relationship with your prospects/buyer but still a very good post!

[Marhelper]

There is a lot more to research than this ... it is a start though.

[gregbanks]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the posts.

Just to clarify - there are more steps needed in order to fully "research" a market. Obviously you can't tell the conversion rates etc just from this technique... but it gives you an IDEA of what niches could turn out to be winners.

For example, I was looking the other day for an affiliate product I was wanting to promote. I saw it had some of the most popular articles along with another similar but different problem. I investigated this other problem and found a niche teaming with buyers who had no product.... cue me.

It's an effective way to get ideas and maybe the title is a little misleading... but it's certainly done well for me.

[angela99]

Great idea, Greg...

But I have to say that I disagree too. Sorry... :-)

Here's the thing -- You say: "In order to make money, you need traffic, right?"

Well, maybe. But all the traffic in the world won't help you if no one buys. In fact, a lot of traffic does nothing. (Much of any social media traffic is this kind of traffic; nice, but useless.)

To make money, you need BUYERS.

Therefore, to make money, you need to market/ sell what people are buying.

I love Ezine Articles, but I'd never use it as a primary source of ideas. I want buyers, so when I'm looking for ideas, I go to places like Amazon and eBay, to see what people are actually buying.

When I'm searching for ideas I also like to use newspapers, magazines, and the TV -- the advertisers are spending BIG dollars, and they can only do that when people are buying.

If you restrict yourself to EA you're limiting your options because you're following the herd -- and following them right off a cliff in many cases. ;-)

When you use sites like Amazon and eBay, you'll often find totally untapped niches which the EA crowd haven't discovered.

[newBum76]

You make sense here, but I would tend to agree more with Greg that these are profitable niches.

You're right, that the views are an indication of marketers putting effort in SEO and backlinking, and we don't see the click through rates. But then you gotta ask, why are they putting so much effort into it? Most likely because these marketers have found that the niche is, in fact, profitable.

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Greg, what you're finding is simply the "most frequently read articles". These are commonly the ones for which the most SEO has been done by their authors in the form of banklinks and so on. There's no indication of their authors' click-through rates, let alone their eventual sales.

The logic of this kind of research is a little similar to that involved in assuming that "high gravity" products on Clickbank are the ones with the highest conversion-rates, in that it's measuring "what people are trying to do" rather than what they're actually achieving.

Sorry, but the reasoning is significantly flawed. Apologies for what may come across as a slightly contentious post, but in my experience it's terribly easy for people to be led astray by such superficially attractive "logic". There isn't really any intrinsic evidence that "best read articles" equate to "highest sales figures". All my own research has actually suggested that, if anything, there may even be a negative correlation, in some cases.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by newBum76

you gotta ask, why are they putting so much effort into it? Most likely because these marketers have found that the niche is, in fact, profitable.

Dare I mention that this is the same logic that would make high-gravity Clickbank products good to promote: because there are apparently many affiliates apparently putting much effort into it so it "must" be a product that converts well? Appearances can be deceptive and I respectfully disagree, but I wish you well relying on this. For myself, I'm doing a lot better since I abandoned it.

[greff]

Greg,

I think a lot of people fear tackling the big time key phrases. That's ok. I don't need more competition there.

Good post, my friend!

[newBum76]

I'm pretty new at IM and admittedly haven't done a who lot of testing yet. So you haven't had good results with the high gravity products? I keep hearing mixed results about those. Way to go and confuse a newbie! lol

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Dare I mention that this is the same logic that would make high-gravity Clickbank products good to promote: because there are apparently many affiliates apparently putting much effort into it so it "must" be a product that converts well? Appearances can be deceptive and I respectfully disagree, but I wish you well relying on this. For myself, I'm doing a lot better since I abandoned it.

[JMartin]

I'm always surprised at what works.

Just yesterday I saw a guy with a portable car wash service (an idea on that list above too). He set it up right next to a drive-thru car wash where you just pay and kick back for a few minutes.

He was actually doing a customer's car while the cash wash next to him was empty.

[George Wright]

Hi All,

I like everyone's ideas here. You know why Greg is making money, because he is doing something. You know why Alexa is making money? Because she is doing something.

It's really that simple.

I've used this example before and here it is again.

The most money I've ever seen on a change counting machine was put there by a homeless beggar.

I wish I had taken a picture. He was dirty he had holes in the elbows of his layers of old jackets and he had a stack of paper money (NOT all $1s) and a BIG bag of coins.

I recognized him as a corner street beggar I had seen many times. I even had contributed to his stack.

You know why he had all that money? Because he DID something.

Now for those who think you have to give value and over deliver to get money from people, well he did. People "felt good" about themselves when they gave or they "felt relieved" when he got out of their face after they paid him to leave. Either way it was worth a dollar or two to a very small percent of the 1,000's of passers by on "his" corner.

This is an extreme example, but, just remember. It's "Doing Something" that gets you money. And like Chicken George said, "If your first plan don't work, get yourself another plan."

George Wright

[Neil Kieren]

A lot of useful tips and info here. Thanks for the share!

[Jermaine Tabor]

To the op.

Congrats on 1060 published articles and 66 pending.

What ever topics you 'choose to' look more into you can always go see how financially viable the niche is by searching over @ amazon / ebay / adsense / clickbank / etc.

I think the op mean this is a way to generate ideas and not that once you see a topic using the methods he mentioned that you should immediately jump into that niche with out doing further research.

[mdotwhite]

Great information. I do agree that you must take action and just do something. The more chances you give yourself to fail, the more chances you give yourself to succeed.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by newBum76

I'm pretty new at IM and admittedly haven't done a who lot of testing yet. So you haven't had good results with the high gravity products? I keep hearing mixed results about those. Way to go and confuse a newbie! lol

Sorry about that.

I've gradually come to realise over the last year and a half or so that a lot of misinformation is given to newbies. Even here (though less so here, collectively, than in other forums I've seen, certainly - and it's more likely to be corrected here, too).

I think most "beginning internet/affiliate marketers" looking at Clickbank believe that one should deliberately seek out high-gravity products to promote, and that one should write (or buy) good articles and submit them to EZA first, then re-write them for their own sites, then re-write them again for other article directories. In my opinion, both these beliefs are counterproductive nonsense that contribute in no small part to the comparatively high failure-rates of article marketing and Clickbank affiliate marketing in general. And there are a lot of very experienced and very successful experts here who agree with that (from whom I've gradually learned, myself, of course, and I recommend that others should do the same!) ... hence my original reply (post #2) in the thread, because I don't agree that the niches with the largest amounts of traffic are necessarily the ones which will make you the most money.

[gregbanks]

Alexa you're right...

But heres the deal with high gravity - the products sell a lot of copies

Each gravity point is an aff whos sold the product jn the past 8 weeks, which validates the fact that the product is selling very well. However, you are correct in saying that doesnt have the slightest bearing on conversion.

Greg

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Sorry about that.

I've gradually come to realise over the last year and a half or so that a lot of misinformation is given to newbies. Even here (though less so here, collectively, than in other forums I've seen, certainly - and it's more likely to be corrected here, too).

I think most "beginning internet/affiliate marketers" looking at Clickbank believe that one should deliberately seek out high-gravity products to promote, and that one should write (or buy) good articles and submit them to EZA first, then re-write them for their own sites, then re-write them again for other article directories. In my opinion, both these beliefs are counterproductive nonsense that contribute in no small part to the comparatively high failure-rates of article marketing and Clickbank affiliate marketing in general. And there are a lot of very experienced and very successful experts here who agree with that (from whom I've gradually learned, myself, of course, and I recommend that others should do the same!) ... hence my original reply (post #2) in the thread, because I don't agree that the niches with the largest amounts of traffic are necessarily the ones which will make you the most money.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by gregbanks

Each gravity point is an aff whos sold the product jn the past 8 weeks, which validates the fact that the product is selling very well.

It really doesn't, Greg; it really doesn't! Sorry to go on about it, but you have SO misunderstood this and are now leading others astray, too.

Here's a little example for you to look at, to see if you want to change your mind about that assertion:-

Clickbank Product A
- Sales-page conversion-rate 2.8%
- Solid product from well-known marketer
- Product has almost no refund requests
- He has 20 affiliates of whom 10 are superaffiliates who sell huge numbers of the product
- Product is easy to promote and sell
- Gravity figure is obviously on the low side

Clickbank Product B
- Sales-page conversion-rate 0.2%
- Crappy product from scammy marketer
- Refund request-rate is higher, of course
- Product had a "professional launch" with 100 "temporary affiliates" (accounts used once each to buy one product, privately refunded, and/or the figures were massaged in one of the other "customary ways")
- Product is obviously a complete and utter nightmare to promote and sell because the sales-page doesn't convert well
- Gravity figure starts out at about 110, and rapidly rises to 150/200 because gullible affiliates are attracted by the gravity figure, believing wrongly that it "validates the fact that the product is selling very well", and they all struggle and waste time/money, but eventually they obviously make 1 or 2 sales each anyway, and for this reason the gravity figure rises still further to 250/300 as the inevitable consequence of its self-fulfilling prophecy for the naive.

Do you still think that a high gravity figure "validates the fact that the product is selling very well"?!

[gregbanks]

Alexa,

Do what you want, I know what gravity product I'd like to own.

Greg.

[IM Headlines]

First of all... Nice post and thanks for revealing
this technique to us.

But, This concept below isn't quite right:

Originally Posted by gregbanks

the markets with the largest levels of traffic are the ones which will make you the most money.

Not really...

The most profitable markets are the ones that have a lot of
buyers.

Let me give you an example:

Humor

People search a lot for humor. If you do manage to get on top
of SEs for highly competitive keywords in this niche, then you'll
certainly get a LOT of traffic.

But what's the point?

You can't sell a whole lot of stuff in this market. You'll end up
putting ads to monetize a humor site. But the profits still won't
be that big, since the CPC (if you're using PPC ads) will be low.

It's difficult to get paid $.20 or more per click in niches like these
and you can't sell a whole lot of stuff either.

So, all in all, smart marketers will find niches that have lots of
traffic and lots of buyers as well.

Cheers,
Johnny

[IM Headlines]

Back again Lol

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

It really doesn't, Greg; it really doesn't! Sorry to go on about it, but you have SO misunderstood this and are now leading others astray, too.

Here's a little example for you to look at, to see if you want to change your mind about that assertion:-

Clickbank Product A
- Sales-page conversion-rate 2.8%
- Solid product from well-known marketer
- Product has almost no refund requests
- He has 20 affiliates of whom 10 are superaffiliates who sell huge numbers of the product
- Product is easy to promote and sell
- Gravity figure is obviously on the low side

Clickbank Product B
- Sales-page conversion-rate 0.2%
- Crappy product from scammy marketer
- Refund request-rate is higher, of course
- Product had a "professional launch" with 100 "temporary affiliates" (accounts used once each to buy one product, privately refunded, and/or the figures were massaged in one of the other "customary ways")
- Product is obviously a complete and utter nightmare to promote and sell because the sales-page doesn't convert well
- Gravity figure starts out at about 110, and rapidly rises to 150/200 because gullible affiliates are attracted by the gravity figure, believing wrongly that it "validates the fact that the product is selling very well", and they all struggle and waste time/money, but eventually they obviously make 1 or 2 sales each anyway, and for this reason the gravity figure rises still further to 250/300 as the inevitable consequence of its self-fulfilling prophecy for the naive.

Do you still think that a high gravity figure "validates the fact that the product is selling very well"?!

Originally Posted by gregbanks

Alexa,

Do what you want, I know what gravity product I'd like to own.

Greg.

Greg I don't think that you completely understood alexa's point.

She's not saying that you shouldn't promote products
with high gravity. She's saying that a product with high
gravity could not be a good seller at all. And yes she's
right.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't promote high gravity
products. Personally I promote high gravity products mostly
myself.

But not all of them are good sellers. I have promoted high
gravity products that generated no sales at all.

So what do we do?

We TEST! lol

And it's easy. All you have to do is send some targeted
traffic to the salespage. I usually send about 200 at first.
If I don't generate any sales, then I'll dump it and move on
to the next (I'm talking about the usual affiliate products that
pay the usual commisions). If a product pays $500 $1000 commision
etc... then I send 1000 or even more before I decide.

Hope that helps

Cheers,
Johnny

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by gregbanks

I know what gravity product I'd like to own.

I don't doubt that, Greg. For myself, I'd prefer to own a product with a high number of sales, regardless of whether it has high or low gravity. But I think that's because, as demonstrated above, you look at gravity rather differently from others here and imagine that the markets with the highest levels of traffic are necessarily the ones which will necessarily make you the most money - an assertion with which it seems many experienced Warriors actually disagree.

[newBum76]

Wow, when you back up your argument with info like this it's kinda hard to ignore. It does make a lot of sense when you put it this way.

But then again, I'm a confused newbie who is easily swayed :P

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

It really doesn't, Greg; it really doesn't! Sorry to go on about it, but you have SO misunderstood this and are now leading others astray, too.

Here's a little example for you to look at, to see if you want to change your mind about that assertion:-

Clickbank Product A
- Sales-page conversion-rate 2.8%
- Solid product from well-known marketer
- Product has almost no refund requests
- He has 20 affiliates of whom 10 are superaffiliates who sell huge numbers of the product
- Product is easy to promote and sell
- Gravity figure is obviously on the low side

Clickbank Product B
- Sales-page conversion-rate 0.2%
- Crappy product from scammy marketer
- Refund request-rate is higher, of course
- Product had a "professional launch" with 100 "temporary affiliates" (accounts used once each to buy one product, privately refunded, and/or the figures were massaged in one of the other "customary ways")
- Product is obviously a complete and utter nightmare to promote and sell because the sales-page doesn't convert well
- Gravity figure starts out at about 110, and rapidly rises to 150/200 because gullible affiliates are attracted by the gravity figure, believing wrongly that it "validates the fact that the product is selling very well", and they all struggle and waste time/money, but eventually they obviously make 1 or 2 sales each anyway, and for this reason the gravity figure rises still further to 250/300 as the inevitable consequence of its self-fulfilling prophecy for the naive.

Do you still think that a high gravity figure "validates the fact that the product is selling very well"?!

[gregbanks]

Well Alexa go and promote all the low gravity products you like. I'll keep my high gravity ones.

If it's really such a big problem to you that people like me only focus on high traffic markets, then please make a new thread about it.

My marketing works well for me because of the simple fact that I can sell more products to more people because I operate in huge markets. You look at all the big corps out there... they are in huge markets. You look at all the rich guys (and gals) out there.... they made it with huge markets.

I'm not contesting the fact that gravity does not give any indication of conversion but what I AM saying that is if you look in the Clickbank marketplace, ALL of the "most popular" products have huge gravity. According to you, this would be a coincidence. But it isn't - all the top products have huge gravity because they sell very well. I.E The higher the gravity, the most POPULAR the product is in the marketplace and the higher the number of sales. How many of the top CB products don't have a good gravity? Not many. I think Perfect Optimizer is probably the only one I can think of off the top of my head.

I personally know several highly successful CB publishers (and I own several CB products myself)... and ALL the most successful products we've had have all had huge gravity. This is not becuase of some scammy launch like what happens in the IM market. This is not because a bunch of fake affiliate accounts... but because these products converted, got more affiliates on board and then the gravity grew.

This is how it works if you're a publisher with a winning product. You start testing. It sells well. It makes money for you. You get some affs. They make money. The gravity grows. They continue to sell because it converts. More affs see the gravity & jump on board. They make sales and the gravity grows again. And so on and so forth.

A recent example of this would be "domwars" - a mafia wars book which literally shot to the top because it converts like water in the desert. It sells well and so more and more affs have jumped on board. Another example would be "pullex" which was launched almost a year ago now.

This is why your tirade about how we shouldn't focus on the high gravity products is actually flawed itself. Because high gravity products (in real markets) have high gravity for a reason - they sell. And as a publisher.... I'd much prefer to have a high selling product over a high converting one. Obviously, the two metrics go hand in hand, but on the odd occassion - a high selling product might not convert too well.

Here's a question.

-- how many of the most popular (I.E the best selling) clickbank products have low gravity? NONE. And you know what - that's all I'm really concerned about.

I'd much prefer to have a product that sells volume over it converting. You seem to be confused about conversion and sales. On the one hand, you say you want to make tons of sales etc etc... but on the other you say you need to stay away from high gravity products because they don't convert.

Here's the deal - you make money by selling products. The more products you sell, the more money you make. Higher gravity Clickbank products sell more each day. They make more money.

And btw.... for those "reputable Warriors" who suggest staying away from these big selling products, may I just remind you about something John Reese posted a while back: Sell What’s Already Selling

Sell what's already selling.... and high gravity products are selling a LOT.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PS - If you'd have ever seen the CB accounts I have of some of the top gravity products, you'd quickly take every single one of your posts back on here.