Niche Research

Check out the first page for the keywords your considering using, check how many links they've got, how good the websites are and what not. For example if all of your keywords have high authority websites ranking on the first page, then it's going to be pretty tough compared to a keyword which has a load of sub-pages (Like yahoo answers, article directories etc)

There are so many factors I take into affect its hard to list them all.

I generally look around for a min of 1000 exact matches per month.
However I will give or take on this number depending if the keyword is a buying keyword or a loose keyword(as i like to call it).

I have went as low as 100 searches a month with a good buying keyword (i dont really recomend this though).
My search volume depends on various other factors to. If I think a keyword will have a good search volume in the future I will take that into account. If the keyword has the year 2010 or 2011 in it, I will also take this into affect.

I also narrow my niche results by competition "keyword in quotes". This is not real accurate but I can eliminate keywords not worth competing with. I usually look for sites with less than 200,000 results.

As far as competition, The main thing I look for is to see the top three sites. If they are all real authority type of sites that is a strike in my book. Out of the top three sites I will pick the one(s) that I think will be the hardest to outrank. I will then use seo spyglass to see all their backlinks. I use this information to see if it is worth the trouble to build a backlink campain to out rank them.

When it comes to research there are several Golden Rules I follow.

1. 9000+ Exact match Global searches
Sometimes I'll go for less, especially if rules #3 is met.

2. Nothing brutally hard to beat on page one.
This means page one isn't dominated by high pr, high domain aged sites with tons of optimized links. This is by far the hardest part. I'll jump for a highly searched keyword with page one filled with low pr, low domain age, little backlink juice.

Also ensure you check for keywords in the title, meta, and h1 tags. If the keyword is in the tags on all of the sites you better believe they are optimized for that keyword and will give you hell when you come knocking on their door.

3. Plenty of active related forums.
Just in case the fight on Google is going to be insane.

4. Exact Match Domain is available.
Suffixes are better than prefixes, so if I have to slap a 101, 411, info, today, now, news, pics, vids, or what-have-you, on the end I will.

5. An interest in the niche.
It's far easier to get motivated to work on a site where the niche interests you. Don't waste your time on niches you have little interest in, especially when building and writing content yourself. If your outsourcing, of course, this rule doesn't really apply.

Keyword/niche research is a finicky thing, and honestly it depends on your level of SEO expertise in addition to your ability to create (or outsource) content.

It isn't as easy as everyone likes to make it sound. There are a lot of variables, that simply can't be understood without getting some experience under your belt.

1. Do I have cool stuff to tell people about this niche?

2. Do I know where those people hang out?

3. Do they have money?

Hi,
I always like to have a .com domain available. Then I like to make sure there is plenty of article content available. While, I'm doing that, I check out competition on the first page. No use spending a lot of time on a niche if you can't make the first page.
Thanks,
Jim

Do I have first hand knowledge on the topic

How "much" knowledge do I have on the topic

Market saturation

My ability to promote the site with unique content.

I get the feeling many people here are hesitant to divulge their niches. Which seems silly, because anyone wanting to get into the same niche still has to do all the work.

Is it taboo to tell?

I don't think so...

Unless you're looking to get traffic using organic searches then a lot of it comes down to finding a market that has money and is prepared to spend it.

For Amazon stuff... sure I look at exact match domains and if I can rank on page 1 of Google. But that's ranking for individual products and aimed at buying keywords.

The then niche is purely based on what you can rank for.

But if you're creating products and looking at alternative traffic methods (ie. paid traffic, affiliates and JV partners) then it just has to be a hot market.

Are there a variety of different products, different affiliate programs, is the paid advertising, can you sell multiple products, can you sell high ticket products and continuity membership?

But then that's a more amateurish approach... I know Dr. Glenn Livingstone takes it to another level...!

There are different tools available to do that job ! I think 3k exact searches are worth to go and with top 10 websites having few backlinks .

keyword research is what i start with always. monthly searches are very important as it is the number of website competing for a certain keyword you will need to rank. i never create a website for a certain product, instead i create a website for a bigger niche, so in the future i can turn myself to better products if their conversions are better!

1.) My own knowledge.
2.) Can it be monetized? Use Logic
3.) If so, volume? Google's KW Tool comes in handy. I just look for good volume.
4.) Keywords...Domains...these 2 go hand in hand, If my main keyword is in my domain I know my chances of ranking is very good.
5.) Build my Blog, set up my funnel and avenues of getting traffic. Research more and start working on content.