How to Tell if They're Willing to Buy?

No products normally means that there is a good chance that no money can be made in that niche.

But you can always do your research, determine a product for the people of the niche and test it with a phantom offer and see if there are enough biters to gauge interest.

You can find out for perhaps under $50.


For others that want a quick gauge of a niche's potential...

One good, quick indicator system is to...

- go to google.com

- input your main keyword

- see if there are more than 6 ads on the right hand side of the page

( these are paid ads / adwords)

- If more than 6 paid ads it indicates that the advertisers are willing to pay for visitors and most of the time the advertisers won't do that unless they're making money.

- Check out the sites that are being advertised to see exactly what being offered.

It's quick and dirty and a very good indicator but I'm sure other Warriors will give you a few other quick ways to tell if people in a niche are spending money.

Hope This Helps!!

TL

A good first step is to run a cheap PPC campaign targeting a free offer in the niche and see what kind of response you get. In addition, make sure there's some good quality freebies in the autoresponder sequence.

If you get a good conversion rate from the PPC to leads and then a good number of people viewing your freebies after that it's a good indication there's a high level of interest. If PPC converts badly or if you get leads but no one comes back for more info the market is far less likely to be interested.

It's by no means fool proof but it's definitely a good (and most importantly cheap) starting point.

Howdy,

Thanks a lot for your feedback - I completely forgot about the Adwords ad test!

When I research a niche, I first look for active forums.

If there is one (or a few) I'll spend some time lurking to read the common "points of pain" discussed paying close attention to the level of frustration and desperation when they're seeking a viable solution to their problems within the forum.

I do my "keyword harvesting" right there on the spot delivered to me by my target market- Most of the quality keywords are located in the thread titles.

Pay close attention to the hottest threads and read them.

Take your keywords and search for Adwords that pop for them but more so, look into what in particular is being sold. If a particular product/solution trends high in the Adwords then you can be sure that the market more often than not responds to that particular product over any other type (I.e. Info product vs. Hard good).

Forums are goldmines for "current" market research.

Clark - great advice, thanks a lot!

Is the product/service something a person MUST buy (A Need) like Food, Clothing, Shelter... or a Want (iPod, BMW, LCD).

Is it available for "free" or at a reduced price in most local areas?

Can you create an emotion within your visitor that makes them feel like they are missing out if they don't buy? Can you create a credibility on your offer that makes them feel like if there is any problem at all they will be quickly taken care of and treated with courtesy and respect?

It's really about the customer. And the people that know how to make money "Get it".

Well I agree with all the advice offered so far. And I would also add that you could look into doing a survey or a poll....if you have a blog and you get frequent traffic...pose the question there and maybe have choices of amounts that they would be willing to pay. Just a thought! Hope it helps.

George,
Ultimately this is something people vote for with their wallets. So, it's best to do that kind of testing as early as possible.

You could see and judge how people are passionate about it. You can see that by the way they act and talk. When people are very passionate, they spend the money (more than they should!) they get irrational.

You can do a survey, with some open questions, drive traffic to it by Adwords. This works in a situation where there are no products to be tested. This way you get only people who are actively searching for the solution. If it doesn't work on them...don't try on others. You can judge by looking at the questions they ask whether they would spend money for the solution. Obviously, for physical products it's much easier to tell that, but this is a good way to tell for info products, software..

Or, just go the other way round. Go from up to the bottom. Think what people ultimately want very hard and work from there to the bottom. People want to be happy, want love, better looking, they spend money on vice... Going from there will get you to money makers only.

But let me go back to the beginning: it's better to test as early as possible. Don't let some prejudice hold you. I personally have no idea whether people would pay for a turkey recipe, and how much etc. Testing...