You have a good list of qualifications for niche research but you shouldn't limit yourself to that last one, i.e. "Clickbank products with a gravity higher than 40/50".

You will find that most CB products with a gravity higher than 40 are in niches that are "super competitive".

You could, however, go into 'micro-niches' of that niche. E.g. instead of 'dog training', go into 'german shepherd puppy dog training'.

Tell us what niche (or niches) you are targeting, if I can, (or some other warriors can), I'll PM you some keywords that you can focus on.

First of all, make sure that you choose a niche that
you personally like. If you don't, you will probably
get bored & you will not work on it long enough
to see results.

Secondly, don't be afraid to compete for
competitive keywords. It takes a lot of work
to rank for competitive keywords I know, but
the results will be much more rewarding.

Ranking for non-competitive keywords is very
easy. I could do that without breaking a sweat.
But why even bother?

Getting on the first page of google for a
non-competitive keyword is just a
waste of time if you ask me, because the traffic
that you get from SEs will be very little.

Hope that helps

From my experience, writing about something you are knowledgeable and interested in regardless of whether it's a hot niche or not is a bit of a 'double edged sword'.

On the plus side it will certainly help you slice through writer's block and crank out lots of content and think up product ideas. However, you may be so used to this niche that you struggle to think up the kind of fresh ideas that someone with less knowledge of the 'rules' of that niche might be able to come up with.

You mention google trends as a source of inspiration. Try Trendwatching for a monthly breakdown of the emerging trends around the globe. That way you'll be able to see if the niche has any potential for longetivity.

I like amazon and ebay pulse too as these are great places to just browse around and find things that are selling well and give you ideas. Plus if you check out the Amazon Bestselling Books section you get to see exactly the kind of niches people are happy to pay for information about.

If it's desperate niches you're after then I've had considerable success sifting through Embarassing Problems as people have what they consider to be an 'embarassing' problem then the chances are they will pay good money to get rid of it.

Hope this helps.

Garry.

Really good advice, thanks everyone