Niche Selection process - need feedback!

by affiliatepro15

Posted: 13 years ago 8 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

I have been reading countless forum posts and WSOs about amazon affiliates and trying to sort through all the information. A couple weeks ago I started a site, but I was not able to get an exact match keyword domain and I think the niche I selected is too competitive to see results quickly.

Anyway, I have been trying to pick a new niche with a exact match keyword domain to start on and wanted to get some feedback on the data I have collected. Below are the Google keyword tool data for local searches and also the number of Google results for each phrase. The exact matching domains are available for each phrase. Most of them are taken from Amazon product categories. For example "utensils for cooking" and "electronic cooking scales"

Phrase #1
Local Search/month: 33100
Google results: 250k

Phrase #2
Local Search/month: 5400
Google results: 217k

Phrase #3
Local Search/month: 9900
Google results: 216k

Phrase #4
Local Search/month: 1300
Google results: 483k

Phrase #5
Local Search/month: 480
Google results: 118k

Phrase #6
Local Search/month: 6600
Google results: 508k

Phrase #7
Local Search/month: 1000
Google results: 76k

Phrase #8
Local Search/month: 27100
Google results: 838k

Phrase #9
Local Search/month: 1900
Google results: 83k

Phrase #10
Local Search/month: 6600
Google results: 462k

How do I know which one(s) to go with? They all have fairly high Google results, so I am not sure if I need to just pick the ones with the lowest results.

#feedback #niche #process #selection

magnus1 13 years ago

Do you have Market Samurai or Micro Niche Finder? These can tell you very quickly the strength of your competition, i.e. the top 10 pages. If not, I'd suggest installing SEO for Firefox and/or looking at SEO Spyglass (both free, although Spyglass has limitations for the free version). You need to look at the strength of the top 10 competing pages - thinks like backlinks, PR etc. I'm pretty sure Market Samurai has a free trial also. Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Michelle
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Simon Lim 13 years ago

Like Michelle said you need to analyze the competition in the top 10 results. Essentially, you just have to beat out those sites to get to the front page. What you also might want to do is to search for intitle competition...so in Google enter intitle:keyword.

This gives you a more specific indication of how many sites are actually optimized for that keyword, which is the true number of competition you have.

So to determine which one, or ones, to go with, it would be a combination of all these factors.

Simon
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- hitsintoprofits 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Simon Lim
  
  you just have to beat out those sites to get to the front page.
  
  Thanks for this phrase Simon!
  I never saw it this way but this is actually the best way to discribe how to reach the first place in Google
  
  And it just made me realize that I still focus to much on my page...
  
  Thanks
  
  Signature
  Cheers!
  
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Fraggler 13 years ago

Make sure you pay attention to the value of the type of site you want to make. How much money are you going to get selling cooking utensils? There is going to be a cap on the price someone will pay for a woodenspoon and spatula and you will only get a small percentage of that...will it be worth the effort?

There might be more money in electronic cooking scales but what is the price range of the best sellers?

Do competition analysis of the products you are going to cover on your site. Come up with a list of different types of cooking scales, the brands, the colours. Check to see if they are selling and for how much.

Why not take a step back down the niche ladder and look at cooking equipment in general. You might find it more rewarding to make your site a little less specific. Basing a site around a domain name can pigeon hole it and make it harder to grow into its own brand. The EMD will give you results quick but it might also put a ceiling on the potential.

Don't just focus on the competition, make sure it is worth your time. Still a great way to learn though.
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JeedoAquino 13 years ago

Hi there,

I assume you are doing this manually. If this would at all help, I made a post specially for this purpose:

Poor Man's Guide to Niche Research

This should give you an idea on which phrases to go after. I even suggest going ahead for keywords with searches as low as 500 per month, why? It's fairly easy to rank for those long tail keywords and once you get to number one on a couple of these phrases you'll have an idea which converts which don't.

Then the next step would be to go after the higher volume keywords that are related to the converting keywords. Hope this helps.
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affiliatepro15 13 years ago

Thanks for the advice everyone...

@magnus1 - I don't have Market Samurai yet, but once some money starts coming in, I will reinvest and pick it up. Right now I am using SEO Quake for Chrome.

@Fraggler - The products I have narrowed in on have higher prices. Also, I am hoping to have some lower priced items so I can get my Amazon commission level up.

@JeedoAquino - I did read that post and several other really good WF posts. That is how I have made it this far. Just looking for feedback to make sure I am on the right track and not missing anything. My current niche site is moving slow and I think it is partly due to no exact domain match and high competition.

I did some further research last night and nailed it down to 2-3 out of the 11.

Phrase #1 (describes the type of product)
Local Search/month: 33100
Google results: 250k
Exact domain match: yes
Product Price range: $25 - $100
Commerical Intent: 0.89
Google Intitle: "keyword" : 7700
Top 10 Google spots: pr3, pr3, pr0, pr0, pr0, n/a, pr1, pr0, pr2, pr1

Phrase #9 (product type + "reviews")
Local Search/month: 1900
Google results: 83k
Exact domain match: yes
Product Price range: $150 - $1000
Commerical Intent: 1
Google Intitle: "keyword" : 3700
Top 10 Google spots: pr0, pr3, pr4, pr2, pr0, n/a, pr0, pr2, pr0, pr0

Any other things I should be looking at?
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- Tony Marriott 13 years ago
  
  First off Market Samurai has free trial so worth doing. You get to keep the keyword research module anyway so that a real freebie. If you want to check the top 10 results (and you absolutely do!!) you could use traffic travis. It's free and gives good idea of top 10 competition.
  
  There's all sorts of "critera" bandied around for keyword research but basically it boils down to 3 things
  
  search volume - bigger the better -obviously
  competition - just your top ten - forget the rest
  commercial value - this is crucial if you want a decent ROI.
  Commercial intent index from microsoft is good guide but don't let it be your only one as it seems a bit "guessy" at times
  Just checking the Adwords estimated CPC will give a good idea of commercial value and make sure there are adwords ads showing in the search results for your keyword that are for a related product to the one you intend to sell.
  
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affiliatepro15 13 years ago

@Tony Marriott - Thanks for the tips... I do see adwords ads next to search on my terms and I will check the CPC and download the Traffic Travis and Market Samurai software.

Other than that, do those numbers I posted look ok to you?
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