How do you identify a profitable niche online?

Use common sense (its free)

Get involved in a market where ....

1. You are knowledgeable
2. You have a lot of experience
3. You enjoy creating content
4. You're in it for the long haul
5. You can add value to the web
6. You can help people

Hi,

Any niche really can be profitable and you can visit ODP - Open Directory Project to find a great niche you're interested in

Hope this helps, Neil

I like to start at the free Google Keyword tool...(free)

Then I head over to Spyfu.com and research advertiser supply and demand...(free)

Then if I need more confirmation, I'll run a Google search for the niche keywords to see what the other sites ranking for that keyword look like..(free)

You really don't need to spend money on tools...I've tried them all...my method above works best for me!

Any niche can be profitable.

Every niche you're ever going to see online is probably profitable for some people.

The question for me is: am I going to be one of those people?

The answer has a lot to do with me, but typically not so much at all to do with the niche, barring some fairly superficial considerations such as the obviously important ones mentioned just above. And for you, whether a niche will be profitable has a lot to do with you.

Market Samurai?! Noooooooo ...

I think this isn't something "tools" would help me with.

SEO-based tools are going to give indications mostly about SEO-based traffic, I think? I certainly wouldn't want to have to make a living from that, so in principle it has very limited - if any - relevance to my decisions.

I sometimes look at the AdWords announcements displayed, though. This can be a very valuable indication of "the availability of profit". You need to see how many different ones there are (flick through the pages of Google's SERP's and see when they "come round again"), for how long people are advertising, how frequently they change, and so on. If people are continuing to spend money on them, then there's money in the niche, some of which can be landed by AdWords (and if some can be made through AdWords, it's very safe to conclude that more can be made in other ways, too).

To me, the things that matter are (i) whether there are products I'm happy to promote (for me, that's such a big issue that I generally put that first, and look ab initio for products rather than for niches), (ii) whether I can attract traffic in the niche (and I'm not remotely interested in whether I can attract SEO traffic, because I'm an affiliate marketer, and SEO traffic's the very worst kind I can ever get, for that), (iii) whether I can write about it, or learn to (I'm an article marketer, so that's a limitation for me, if I can't and don't want to learn to), and so on.

Other than that, I'll usually try, given an otherwise equal choice, to stay away from anything which I know huge numbers of other affiliates are selling, because there are so many profitable niches in which that isn't true that I can't really see the point in making life difficult for myself just so that I can sell the same sort of products as everyone else. So you won't find me in "MMO" or "weight-loss". :p

I use both Google Keyword Tool and Market Samurai

I use all free tools, mostly available from Google like Trends, Keyword Tools, Google Search and my common sense to research any market.

I have found Market Samurai to be an excellent tool with great insights in commercial value, traffic (rather than searches) and finding the most relevant keywords.

They have a free trial and some decent training too. However it's personal preference and what works for one may not be suitable for another. Certainly don't ignore this cool tool though.

Marcus

Don't focus on using metrics to determine a 'profitable niche.'

Focus on what John suggested. Finding a niche isn't that complicated.

Answer those questions and you have your profitable niche. It can be ANYTHING.

Please, don't build your business around 'keywords that rank well.'

Build it around delivering real value to real groups of people. It will be more enjoyable and likely more profitable in the long run.

The easiest place to start is your interests.

If you play the guitar for instance, you could make a few videos showing people how to play and there is a niche there.

When looking for niches generally - you are looking for problems that need solving.

The more desperate the problem the greater a need for a solution which normally makes for a better niche IF there are enough people with the same problem.

Check out the Google keyword tool and look for competition first.

You want it.

The more competition = the more money being made in a niche.

No competition it works the other way around.

Then what will make a big difference is YOUR approach to the niche - what can you offer, why are you different?

How can you offer MORE of what the niche needs?

If I like a niche topic and actually know something about it, I check out CPC with Adwords and search for affiliate programs/products to promote.

I don't focus on product creation, but if you want to create products, determine whether there's demand for digital products (i.e. a problem to solve).

I used to ignore CPC, but I had an interest and a great deal of personal experience in a niche that doesn't have many products to promote as an affiliate, but does garner very high cost per clicks ... so I jumped in with an Adsense-focused site and it's really going well. I kind of like having one adsense site because it's a freer mindset ... but it only pays if the CPC is high or you can attract truckloads of traffic.

Often it's not hard to find something on Amazon that can be promoted to any niche. It's not my focus, but I incorporate some Amazon promotions where it's a good fit.

At the end of the day, think about who the audience is and what they want. Often there are complementary products that will appeal to some readers.

Another example is my first website, which had terribly low search volume and no affiliate programs I could find is now my biggest earning site/list with only 200 unique daily visitors and 1,500 subs. What I did was go out and find the perfect software product with recurring commissions that was perfect for readers. I test-drove the software and negotiated a private referral deal with the software developer. Now I generate recurring mid-4 figure monthly revenue from that software with a site I thought I would never be able to monetize.

I have always been successful by starting with a passion or interest and working backwards to find what is MISSING...what would I (or others whom I interact with or watch in my niche) struggle with or like to do in a better, faster way?

Sometimes my ideas come from looking at other products or services that are selling well where I can reverse engineer the desire and then develop a different/better solution, other times it comes from a frustration or a statement like "I wished I could..." and still other times it comes purely by looking at what people struggle with.

The bottom line is though that if you are going to live and breathe your market and business for the next 1-2 years, you want it to be something you are interested in...the rest falls in place rather naturally if you learn to listen and recognize what I call "opportunity triggers".

Jeff

I'll say it with my HEART! By doing as I please and by using my brain! I mean, brainstorming! I am sure you know of a topic already but some little people have told you that it's not "profitable"....lol! Anything can be profitable as long as you know how to make it profitable! You can use MarketSam but I wouldn't spend the $$$ on it! Tried it for free, yeah good, it does the job but it certainly doesn't give you any other answer! You need to go get them yourself, to put it bluntly!

I don't like getting the advice " Stay away from..."! First of all, why should I? Are you scared? lol! :

Second, you need to find what people are looking for- ie, give them the answer they are craving for!

Third, GO get it, try, re-try, think big, but don't focus on little guizmos like marketsamurai or any other gimmick like this! They won't do the work for you and certainly won't tell you if it's really profitable or not! It's a bit like the Stock Exchange I suppose!! Try and see!

Good luck!

Yoan

Check if there are google ads on top of the page, and along the side, if there is, people are making money in that niche. You can even check 2nd,3rd,4th, ETC pages for ads to see how deep the niche is

There are a lot of different methods to find profitable niches, usually this means that there are great products available for the niche you are looking for, because if there are none, then you have nothing to sell.

But if you have a variety of products in a specific niche, and then do a search, or have a way to find popular searches, or even search rates for particular niches, then you can determine how much traffic you could be getting to these products.

If you have solid products, with a solid demand, then you have a solid business.

easiest way I find out if a niche is profitable is go to google, type something in that youre interested in making money from, if there are sponsored ads then thats a good sign that people are making money from it. not a definitive certainty but a damn good start.

just do what others have recomended then about following up your interest in that subject with appropriate research into the market as a whole and find a specific area within that niche that interests you, that you have knowledge or experience of and that you can provide value to others from in the form of information to both give away and sell. if you want t scale up within this market you need to ensure that you can continue to provide more and more information that provide solutions to the problems people have.

My tick list for niche marketing is as follows:
does you market have a pain or an urge
do they recognize that they have a problem
are they seeking a solution to that problem
is there an urgency to fix the problem


then you need to consider if you:
can you solve that problem using an information product

and finally,
continue to provide more solutions to the same customers in the future.

if you can answer yes to all of these questions then in my opinion, you have a perfectly profitable market to enter.

Indeed simple common sense backed up by CPC datas.

Before I use any tools like Market Samurai, Mirco Niche Finder, etc. I look at a market and factor in these items:

• Healthy competition. I don't like discovering "new" niches (which are few and far between). I like going into markets where others have already done MOST of the research for me.
• Demographics. As John McCabe already mentioned, can I identify the market?
• Rabid buyers. Does the market have people who buy, buy, and buy? I was once in the wedding planning niche and did pretty well, but people generally get married once or twice in their lifetimes, I wanted something with more turnover. (Personal preference btw).
• Can I follow the advertising? If I can see where people advertising, clearly, someone's making money.
• Healthy dose of affiliate programs. I want to give my list VALUE and one way of doing this is recommending things that WORK and fill a need and/or want.
• Distribution Channels. Who dominates them? And which one's are they? For example, I went into a market that had some heavy players in them, but I noticed (after some market research) that NONE of them used any free publicity to get any traffic. Secondly, they were only bidding on the most popular keywords on Google and they totally neglected Bing and Yahoo. I made a killing in this market for about 5 years.

RoD

Go to Google Keyword tool - and type in some of your keywords. Preferably anything that gets more than 30,000 visitors a month is a profitable niche

Go to your local magazine stand or magazines dot com and browse through the best sellers. People have been paid big bucks to do research to see what the public is demanding. So simply find a magazine that interest you - and wha la! You got yourself a profitable niche.

Thanks #John #Rod #Alexa

In the past I've done quite well with home hardware, anxiety market, even fitness.

Problem is, I hated it. I don't have the slight interest in those niches.

If I'm going to bust my ass again, I'd like it to be in the niches that I live n' breathe.

And besides Making Money and Chasing Girls*, I can't say I have any other interest.



*chasing girls (Attract Women, Dating For Men) - competitive, mostly young men with no money and wired 24/7 to torrent sites

There's so much money to be made in the dating / game / pick up niches it's unreal. It's a super profitable niche for those who know what they are doing.

For me, it would be how urged are the people for a solution. Like "get your ex back", people in that niche are urged to solve their problem.
If you find a niche and see that users want a solution fast, and are desperate for it, it is a good indicator that it will be a good niche.

Use Google Keyword Tool and free niche market research tools, there are tons out there. Or you can manually check hot products on popular marketplaces like ClickBank, Amazon, Commission Junction, etc.

The best way to find a profitable niche is to find products that are selling. First of all, find products that people are buying. Depending on the most demanded products you will find a good niche.

For example, go to Amazon, eBay, Clickbank to see what they are selling. Build your business with the intention to promote these products.

Try to make combinations. Try to promote things that people are buying and you know, so that you may feel comfortable talking about them in your articles and newsletters.

Here's the one question you need to ask yourself. Are there other people making money in the niche you are interested in marketing in? Is there an unsolved need that has not been met? Answering those questions will give you the answers to what you are looking for.

Look out for those niche that people are facing problems with..

You can always use yahoo answer, google keyword tool etc to spot such niche

Use free tools, Google keyword tool works really good. Depends on the type of niche that is in line with your interest.

what i like to do is to go to clickbank and type in my chosen keyword and if other vendors are are selling other information products around my chosen keyword than that is a profitable market and i go with that.The other alternative i have used in the past is look at list brokers as they have customer lists so u already know people are already hungry buyers, so that will be profitable. good luck

I only use Google keyword tool, but instead of typing a keyword I just select a category I'm interested in and make a search.

It would also be wise to use some filters when searching.

From the list of results you should consider those with decent amount of searches, good ctr and at least medium competition.

I generally start on the product research first to find a niche. I look for products that match my criteria in terms of competition and other factors and then look at the niche. Is the niche evergreen and is theproduct evergreen. Is it something I would want to write about or admit that I am promoting to my wife and a number of other factors. But niche selection comes last.

I avoid the mmo niche not only because competition and people using their own affiliate links but because so many of the products get outdated or are buggy or are developed by vendors who are constantly launching new products and barely supporting their old ones.

If there are magazines in that niche, it's likely that the niche is profitable. Magazine companies have razor thin margins and spend a fortune on advertising so you can rest assured that there's money in the niche. You can also use the Google Keyword Tool to check the search volume of the main keywords of the niche. I'm not sure whether you're a War Room member but I have a free report in there regarding niche selection.

If there are active forums in the market with your potential buyers asking questions and having problems unsolved then this indicates a very good potential market. It's one of the best ways to measure if the market is worth entering into from my experience.

With Clickbank products I look for those with the most gravity. These are most likely the most profitable.

It depends on what kind of sites you want to build. Do you want to build a small site to promote products for commissions or you want to build a top quality site where you can get customers continuously.

If you want to build an authority site, go for a topic you have good knowledge about. But if you want to build a small site, you can just go for any topic. Do some research online and if you are smart, you can easily build a small affiliate site. The most profitable topic would be a subject people are looking for, but nobody is talking about. Jump into that market and you will be the winner.

Hi,
I think you're going about this the wrong way. What is your passion? Do you have a hobby or a sport that you're good at? You can go to Google Trends.com and find niches that way.

Just keep in mind that you'll have to write about this particular niche, so you'd better like it. :-)

Good luck with what ever you choose.

Geri Richmond

Just wrote a (free) report "How to Find Niche Markets That Sell"

Seems what you might be looking for.

Regards

Timo

Very simple. Just ask yourself or google the following:

Are there paid services available or associated to this niche?
Are there products associated with this niche?
Are there companies based around this niche?

If so than the niche is profitable.

all this money and I still use the good old google keyword planner for my research..

also use a network like clickbank and see if certain markets are selling by looking at the gravity and checking the results on the first page. If you see a lot of gravity with different products then people are spending money there.

Look at the covers of magazines at your local supermarket. All those sub stories are profitable niches online!

i would visit forums online. You would be surprised what niches are out there, and how passionate people are about their niche, and willing to pay any sort of money.

I used to be in the cat niche, and deepen that down to the ragdoll niche, you would be surprised how many crazy cat ladies who have just ragdolls, and willing to spend insane amounts of money to give their cats there best.

That is what you want, people with their credit cards half hanging out of their pockets ready to buy. These are the best niches to belong too!

In my experience, these are the health, wealth, diet, and realtionship businesses. These are ever green and will never go away in the next 500 years. I can guarentee that.

I hate when people say, no no bad advice, these niches are too crowded. That is utter BULLCHIT, the reason these niches do so well, is that millions of people are spending money to buy this stuff, and you can stand in line and get your chunk of the pie.

Everyone these days, wants to lose their beer belly, be fitter, live longer, or have a better marriage, or relationship. Think about it, how many times have you searched for this info on google. So there are lots of money to be made even in the niches that are overcrowded, they are overcrowded for a reason, authors, and product owners just know people like to spend money here. And always looking for new info.