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How I Found My Top 3 Most Profitable Niches, So Simple It's Overlooked.......

by Rod Cortez
28 replies
Hey Warriors,

Sometimes things that will make you money are so simple and so basic that they are over looked. Several years ago I became obsessed with discovering new niches. I mean REALLY obsessed.

I bought nearly every niche-finding, keyword software or membership site I could get my hands on. I did so much niche and keyword research that I came up with over 100 different ways on how to get new niche ideas and how to research them.

You name it I probably did it, whether it was using keyword software, using Google trends, checking social networking sites to see what people were talking about, to checking my server logs to see what keywords people were typing to get to my websites, looking at Amazon, visiting hobby stores, and on and on it went.

Then one day I decided to do a profit-analysis of all of my products, and I noticed that my top 3 niches were discovered using one simple technique:

I asked people what they were passionate about and what their hobbies and interests were.

That's it. People generally love to talk about themselves, so once they shared what they liked it was pretty easy to use the Socratic method to dig deeper.

Sure, I asked my friends and family, but at social events and seminars, I made it a point to ask people what their passions were. I came up with so many new niche ideas that there was no way I could research them all thoroughly.

So the next time you're struggling to get niche or market ideas, just start talking to people. Then you can go back home, whip out your niche-research tools and get to work.

Feel free to share your niche-finding ideas here.

RoD
#found #niches #overlooked #profitable #simple #top
  • Profile picture of the author RedShifted
    People love talking about themselves yes and usually its always complaining about meaningless garbage. =]

    "Blah blah gas prices are pissing me off what can I do about this crap?"

    Answer: Here I have a hybrid to sell you.

    Usually what people complain about just can't be fixed, thats why they complain. But yes I suppose if you looked hard enough you could potentially find something to sell them. Not saying its as easy as listening to them though. =]
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  • Profile picture of the author Bill Farnham
    Hi Rod,

    I like to take the Yellow Pages and throw it at the neighbor's dog when it squats on my lawn. Whatever page it's open to when I retrieve it there's at least one niche, maybe two, sometimes three.

    I often wonder if that's why the dog training niche is so popular.

    ~Bill
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    • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
      Originally Posted by Bill Farnham View Post

      Hi Rod,

      I like to take the Yellow Pages and throw it at the neighbor's dog when it squats on my lawn. Whatever page it's open to when I retrieve it there's at least one niche, maybe two, sometimes three.

      I often wonder if that's why the dog training niche is so popular.

      ~Bill
      How did the split-testing go and did you test different kinds of phone books? And did you use word press? lol

      RoD
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      • Profile picture of the author Bill Farnham
        Originally Posted by Rod Cortez View Post

        How did the split-testing go and did you test different kinds of phone books? And did you use word press? lol
        When I first started out I thought I invented split testing. Wherever the book split open was a niche worth testing.

        I will admit it was a lot easier to rank on Dogpile back then than Google. :p

        ~Bill
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        • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
          Originally Posted by Bill Farnham View Post

          When I first started out I thought I invented split testing. Wherever the book split open was a niche worth testing.

          I will admit it was a lot easier to rank on Dogpile back then than Google. :p

          ~Bill
          (Jots down new niche-finding technique).

          Ahhhh, Dogpile, I used to use Dogpile and Copernic a lot to search multiple search engines for ideas........

          RoD
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          "Your personal philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how your life works out."
          - Jim Rohn
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          • Profile picture of the author umacs
            I remember Copernic I used to use it instead of Google, put all my clients onto it, came up with more relevant results than Google in the early days! And had a lot more features too!
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    • Profile picture of the author seococonuts
      Originally Posted by Bill Farnham View Post

      Hi Rod,

      I like to take the Yellow Pages and throw it at the neighbor's dog when it squats on my lawn. Whatever page it's open to when I retrieve it there's at least one niche, maybe two, sometimes three.

      I often wonder if that's why the dog training niche is so popular.

      ~Bill
      LOL- This actually made me laugh! With all these "Guru" techniques and deep discussions About niche research, Bill's outside throwing the Yellow pages at dogs!

      I feel a WSO coming on here!
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      BarryinSiam - 1300++ Happy Seo Clients @ Seoclerks

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  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    I find that I have 4 absolutely essential tools for niche research that few people use completely.

    The average person will use 2 or 3, and very seldom 4 of the tools that I use.

    My essential tools for niche research are similar to yours, in the following order:

    1. Mouth - I ask;
    2. Ears - I listen;
    3. Eyes - I watch; and
    4. Brain - I think about and analyze what the first three tools acquired for me.

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    Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
    Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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  • Profile picture of the author PPC-Coach
    We do spend a lot of time trying to figure people out when in reality all we needed to do was ask.



    Totally agree.
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  • Profile picture of the author gasman
    This is a great idea and so simple. Depending on what I plan on doing when making a site, when looking for a niche, I normally will check somewhere like offervault or some kind of CPA search engine, maybe even a clickbank search engine, to find different offers. Then I can come up with ideas on what niche to use next. I find it's easier to determine a good product to promote first than think of a niche and hope you can find a good product for that niche.
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  • Profile picture of the author seococonuts
    Quite an interesting idea really. Thing is most of my friends enjoy, either trekking in the countryside, drinking at the bar, windsurfing,football or computer games etc. Bit tough to come up with profitable online niches that way.
    If I were to answer this question about the things I enjoy, I would probably answer something like "making money, SEO, mixing with friends and reading books"...bit boring I am- LOL
    It's an interesting place to start researching though- I may give it a try this Friday and see what my mates come up with...
    Have you managed to come up with anything interesting and profitable this way?
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    • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
      Originally Posted by seococonuts View Post

      Quite an interesting idea really. Thing is most of my friends enjoy, either trekking in the countryside, drinking at the bar, windsurfing,football or computer games etc. Bit tough to come up with profitable online niches that way.
      Really? I know two Warriors, one whom does very well marketing to video gamers and the other who sells different kinds of camping and hiking equipment. Now let me ask you, have you ever really asked them about any other interests or hobbies? What about talking to strangers at social events?

      If I were to answer this question about the things I enjoy, I would probably answer something like "making money, SEO, mixing with friends and reading books"...bit boring I am- LOL
      It's an interesting place to start researching though- I may give it a try this Friday and see what my mates come up with...
      Have you managed to come up with anything interesting and profitable this way?
      Yes, in my OP I stated I found my 3 most profitable niches by simply asking and observing. For example, one of the first niches I ever got into was giving dating advice to men. Why? Because I had a few friends who really needed it. One of them had no game and no confidence while the other friend had divorced and had no idea how to start dating again.

      This was something I was good at which is why they came to me for advice. That was the impetus for my first dating e-book. I knew there was a market for it.

      I had another friend a few years ago who needed help in planning her wedding, but her and her fiancee were on a tight budget. So we both ended up interviewing a few wedding planners and WHAM BAM! I got an idea for another niche.

      One of the wedding planners specialized in planning weddings on a budget. I hired her on the spot, worked out a deal that was beneficial to both of us, and I created my first wedding planning infoproduct. Bear in mind this all started with a friend's dilemma and I knew nothing about wedding planning. But you can always outsource product creation. If you don't have your niche-dar on, you'll miss a lot of good ideas.

      Just a thought. You can generate tons of ideas if:

      1. You ask for it and KNOW what to ask for.

      2. Pay close attention to what people are saying and doing.

      Like your friends that like to drink. What do your friends do when they're at the bar? Do they just sit there? Do they watch sports? Do they try and pick up on single women? I see opportunities there.

      RoD
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    You could always go to Clickbank and look at the wide variety of products there and gain an idea of some niche markets to enter into.
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  • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
    Good tip. My family was once visiting relatives and I saw a type of collectible all over their house. Something I never would have thought of. Got home, started building a website, and it is now the authority site on the topic and making money.

    .
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    • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
      Originally Posted by kindsvater View Post

      Good tip. My family was once visiting relatives and I saw a type of collectible all over their house. Something I never would have thought of. Got home, started building a website, and it is now the authority site on the topic and making money..
      Now that's what I'mma talkin' about Brian!

      One of my marketing buddies had a train collection in his house. A train collection! I had NO IDEA that people collected trains. And boy was he passionate about them; spent a lot of money on them.

      RoD
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  • Profile picture of the author Andhisnamewas
    Awesome post! Sometimes it's better to keep things simple.
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  • Profile picture of the author David Sneen
    I like the idea of observing popular niches and finding ways to combine them. Many inventions have occurred that way. For instance, snow skiing + a motor boat = water skiing. Certainly there are similar combinations just waiting to be found.
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  • Profile picture of the author Fernando Veloso
    Just to let you know, don't try that Yellow Pages trick with an IPhone while viewing YP website...
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  • Profile picture of the author Onora Oz
    Rod, I've read your niche research WSO long ago, and I've been always "listening to" you since then, especially when it comes to generating niche ideas. I know where you're coming from. People do forget these basic things sometimes (or most of the times).

    Listening to the people gives me tons of niche ideas, and being aware of the spoken language gives me tons of profitable keywords every day.

    But sometimes, my moneymaker niches come from what is not being talked about openly. People do really hate talking about some specific problems in their lives. So, what do I do to locate these? I read. I read books, booklets, magazines, brochures I find in pharmacy stores... You get the idea. Great method for niche research if you ask me. And it's "underrated" too.
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  • Profile picture of the author umacs
    Awesome posts and replies, I always struggled trying to find niches. My first site I got into had way too much competition, sure I sell product but only from a handful of pages I rank well on (and I have 155 pages) and I only average about 5,000 hits per month (not sure if that's good or not?). It was not until I sat back and really understood the whole niche thing, SEO and link juice etc that I realized what to do.
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  • Profile picture of the author ryuchi
    It was that easy? Well no wonder why people make everything more complicated than it should be, its what gurus say. I am happy to be at least be reminded of the simple things to do niche research.

    This is practically why surveys is important. We should listen to what people say to ensure that there is indeed a market what we'll do.

    Ryuchi
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Two of my best came from discussions with strangers. One while waiting for a doctor appointment (never got the appointment to be a doc, so had to see the one already there), and one waiting to see if I would be stuck with jury duty. Haven't spoken to either person again.

      Got a two-fer out of those chance encounters - a profitable niche and an enjoyable conversation quizzing them about something they had obvious passion for.

      Originally Posted by joseph7384 View Post

      Lol,

      Did you do any split testing, I mean were niches more profitable if you clunked the dog on a Friday verses Tuesday and were mornings better or were evenings better, was it sunny outside or cloudy.
      Originally Posted by Rod Cortez View Post

      How did the split-testing go and did you test different kinds of phone books? And did you use word press? lol

      RoD
      Is there a (preferably free) plugin for that?
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      • Profile picture of the author cashp0wer
        One of the hardest things for some new people is finding a niche to start out in. I remember those days but I ended up doing what I was interested in and to me that helps a lot. Talking with people is very helpful and something I have done in the past.
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  • Profile picture of the author jbsmith
    Yep, definintely...and even better, they will not only tell you what they are interested in/want, but they will use the EXACT language that will often convert the best when you market those products back to them. So, not only will you get the idea, but also the main benefit statements and a good idea of the keywords that they will use when trying to find what they are looking for.

    Talking to people is one way, tapping into conversations and popular content online is another.

    The more challenging part is what product and how to position it correctly.

    For example, you may hear someone talk about badly wanting to find information on getting a job or going through a career change...and you may assume that giving them an ebook on writing killer resumes or using social networking sites to do this is what they need...but in reality you dig a little deeper and what they REALLY are buying are resume writing services NOT information on how to write those resumes themselves.

    So there are nuances, but listening is a great start!

    Jeff
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  • Profile picture of the author TamilYoung
    Amazon category sidebar, 43things.com are my favorites.
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  • Profile picture of the author Christophe Young
    Here's what I did to generate content for a new product of mine. Although it wasn't to find a new niche, but the ideas are similar.

    I sent out an email to my list asking my subscribers what they would like to see in a new Video course from me. I didn't think I'd get a lot of responses but I did, and some guys really put a lot of time into it. I ended up with around 100 questions!

    I compiled the list and now each of those questions are going to be split up and answered in several modules in my new Video Course. And of course, all the questions are going to be presented and tweaked a bit as bullets on the sales page for the course.

    It's working out well and I hope to finish the course in a few months. My subscribers are already looking forward to it.
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