February 6, 2008
After yesterdays post about Discovering your Niche Market, it was immediately clear that I could not leave you all hanging without providing more info on how you go about researching the efficiency of targeting one of those markets. Aside from a few posts requesting that exact thing, there were several emails from readers who weren’t thrilled about being kept on the edge! :-)
Starting with this post, you will begin to get a good idea on whether you should pursue a niche market or not! While we are not yet going to get deep into how you optimize your site for the markets you decide to go after, we will be using alot of our research throughout the entire process and you should get used to using a spreadsheet program or at least a notepad to write information as you go along.
During this portion of our research, we will be using several tools that are very common to keyword and general research. Some of the tools are free for all, some have trial offers and others are fully paid subscriptions. While the free tools WILL get you enough information to get started with, if you plan on staying for the long run in affiliate and niche marketing, there will come a time when you should enroll in one of these services in order to take advantage of the advanced options.
Before we even get to the point of recording any information, we have to figure out if the niche is worth recording info for. My own first stop this is always the source, eBay. While I still find it hard to believe, there are some people who do not have eBay accounts still! In order to use the initial resource, you will need to have an eBay account… ultimately, it will come in handy for several things and once you start buying on eBay, it will be hard to stop!
Note: I will be adding video walkthroughs to this post tomorrow
Step / Method 1 - Go over to eBay.com and type a very generic term related to your niche market. Since I mentioned Hybrid Golf Clubs yesterday, I am going to use the word “hybrid”, then narrow it to the golf category after I see initial results. Once you have the appropriate category in front of you, in this case golf, you will notice a number to the right of the main category that shows you the number of active auctions in the golf category with hybrid in the title or description. More than 25,000 in this case… which means our product base is very large!
As you continue to scroll down the page, check the box to “Show Completed Auctions” and click search just below it. Now the list of items includes both active and completed auctions, including the price they sold for! Nifty huh? Looking down the list, the initial research shows fair to good prices on all that sold! (Shown in green) I like to skip to the 4-6th page of completed auctions and see if the trend is the same… in this case, it is! Since I also have a few options of the eBay categories, I will scroll back to the top left side of the page and click on one of the categories to do the same process… in this case, Full Sets. The number of sales goes down a bit but as you can see, the selling price rose significantly! :-) So far… it seems like a good niche! Volume of products + Volume of listings + Moderate Selling Price = Good so Far!
Now that the initial outlook seems good, where do you go next? Well…
Step 2 - Check the Build a Niche Store Competition!
Before I even decide to go into a Niche market with Build a Niche Store, I like to see what I am up against with other BANS users. Open your web browser and go to Google (Click) In the search box, type this exact phrase…. (Quotes and + sign are very important, replace niche market with YOUR niche market)
“niche market” + “Build a Niche Store”
In this case, I will search for: ”Hybrid Golf” + “Build a Niche Store” (results) Essentially, what I have just done is told Google to ONLY show web pages that include both, “Hybrid Golf” AND “Build a Niche Store” on the same page. In the upper right side of the Google search engine result page (serps) the results show that there are currently only 282 pages in the billions of Googles page index, that contain BOTH phrases. That means there is not much BANS competition! :-) Did anyone happen to notice the first result?… Anyhow… I change the word golf to club, and search for: “Hybrid Club” + “Build a Niche Store” (results) and the results are even a bit better! Only 62 pages in the index!
So, why was it important to check BANS competition? If there were already 10,000 pages in the index with those two phrase in them, I would know that someone with BANS is already in the market and my work will be harder! If they did not optimize the site, it is just another site to bypass… but if they followed a guide like this and took a few days to really optimize their Build a Niche Store, it would take more work and time to rank well.
Not much competition with BANS - How about other websites?
Step 3 - Check Other Niche Market Competition!
In step 2, you learned how to see if there were BANS users targeting a phrase, now take the same search phrase and remove the “+ Build a Niche Store” portion… in other words, search (with quotes) for “hybrid Golf” (196,000 results), then “Hybrid Clubs” (111,000 results) and you will get a good general idea of how many web pages are targeting the exact terms. You might say… wow, that sucks, that’s alot of people going after this niche market and just move to another! Not so… these are simple key phrases, and we aren’t going to target these anyway! Huh?
What did I just say? These are simple phrases and we aren’t going to target them? That’s right… in order to succeed with Build a Niche Store, you want to go after “Long Tail Key Phrases”… for example, lets expand our hybrid golf search:
Can you see what I have done? I have taken the short keyphrase that is targeted by hundreds of thousands of web pages and added a few extra words to it to narrow the results. That is how people search! They try to type the most accurate description of what they want, in this case, Callaway Hybrid Clubs. Now you see why you MUST target the long tail phrases… you have immediately narrowed your competition!
I can hear you all saying… great, so if I just put together phrases on my site, it will succeed! The correct answer is YES and unfortunately, NO! :-) First… wouldn’t it help to know EXACTLY what people are typing into those search boxes so you don’t have to guess at the phrases?
It’s getting late and I want to get this first part published today. I will likely spend the next two days discussing different ways to continue researching your niche market. From keyword and keyphrase research, to predicting traffic, to determining approximate PPC estimates, we will get much deeper into our niche research!
Mark
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26 Responses to “Build a Niche Store Empire Series in 12 Weeks - Niche Market Research”
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Mark, you mentioned using a spreadsheet or using notepad. Well, I wanted to share with everybody a tool I started using recently. Google has a program called notebook. It is always there for you waiting to be used.
When you highlight something you just right click and there will be a selection available to add to notebook. You will be able to add folders and comment on what you copy. Photos will also copy!
I hope you all can benefit from this very useful tool. It follows any gmail account you are logged into.
http://www.google.com/notebook
BANS on!
Hi Curt -
Thank you for the tip! I have actually used notebook as well! Very quick and easy to use!!
Great Tip I didn’t even think about!
Mark
[…] your Niche, Researching your niche, and Registering a Domain for your first Niche Store. Signing up for various affiliate accounts you […]
Is there anyway to get Google Notebook to also copy text from non-web browsers? For example, can it copy text from a MS Word document or a PDF?
Fred - I really dont know the answer to that!
I know Google Docs has a word processor that works well, but I have never used notebook in that way.
Anyone else know?
Mark,
Can you outline a few things to look for when evaluating your competition? Like, if you find a site or two that are already targeting you niche…how do you determine whether or not it’s optimized…or if you can do a better job of SEO?
Thanks,
Eric
Eric -
Great question and one that I am actually planning on discussing in greater detail throughout the week along with how to determine NOT to follow a niche market etc.
As an example - if you open up the result pages listed above in step #2: ”Hybrid Golf” + “Build a Niche Store”, you will notice the second link within the result page: GolfClubsHome .com. As you enter the store portion of the site, the first things you start to notice:
1 - Old version of BANS with non-friendly urls.
2 - Main page title is Build a Niche Store.
3 - The page title is the only meta tag that changes per page, all other info remains the same.
4 - The site, while done well and indexed very well, is not really a Niche Site. It is a in a very broad category of Golf Equipment… versus one single or a much narrower focused site.
The analogy below could be used to describe it well…
Golf - Not a niche, focused on a wide subject.
Golf Clubs - A little closer, but still rather wide.
Ping Golf Clubs - Yet even closer to a Niche…
Ping Hybrid Golf Clubs - Very much a Niche Store!
Then beneath this you would break it down even farther into subcategories or product pages of Ping Hybrid Golf Clubs, based on the exact terms people look for in search engines.
Ping G5 Hybrid Driver
Ping G2 Club Sets
etc.. etc…
If you view the menu of categories the user has chosen, they are all generic terms associated with golf and/or clubs. Even though it was narrowed down to manufacturer specific phrase like Ping Driver and Ping Putter, it still needs to be optimized further for the quickest turnaround!
As we build out the site, you will see that while there still may be competition out there, when we focus on long tail key phrases that are not currently being targeted by others, it is much easier to rank better.
I hope that helped a little bit for now…
Mark
Yeah, it helps! I asked because it was one of the questions I had when I was starting out a couple months ago. I’ve sinced learned what to look for, but I wanted to ask so that newbies following this blog would be able to identify crutial SEO mistakes.
…I also didn’t know you would address this later in the series! :D Sorry!…
Eric
@ Eric
For me I look for content. Content IMO is a sure sign that a site is optimized. Content pages and content on each page of the site. Also a search to see if the site has backlinks. Look around Google and see were else the web address turns up. If the builder of the site has been building backlinks they are surly actively working on SEO. The address could turn up anywhere, forums, blogs and directories. Next thing I do is look to see what keywords they are using.
Hope that helps a little
This may not be important but, in addition to what Mark and Bill said, I also look at the aesthetics of the site. Did the owner take any time to change the default template? If not (and there are a TON of BANS sites out there that are using default templates with no changes) then my thinking is they haven’t taken the time to do much SEO-wise. It really isn’t hard to change the way a BANS site looks. Once you get the hang of it making changes will be fairly quick.
[…] yesterdays post about researching your niche market, I left off right at the point that we start getting into some of the more advanced tools you can […]
Fred,
Yes, you can copy and paste from Word and pdf files into notebook. just click in notebook and a small window will pop-up and you paste into that window. It also will allow you to tag and comment.
Curt
BANS on!
Mark
Thanks for the great tips. I build a bans store about golf too. But I didn’t realized about competition. After reading this post, now I realized that avoiding wide competition is a must.
Do you put keyword phrase in the home page? or in each pages?
Do you think it is necessary if we put some content before the product list on store page?
Edy
Mark,
Man, now we’re starting to get into the REAL meat of a BANS store.
I have one set up that I went through a similar process with but not as much with the ebay data as this time.
I think all I did to start last time was get ebay’s “Hot Items” PDF and go from there to WT keywords, etc.
I’ll be following right along for sure.
Jeff
Hi Mark,
As you go thru this course could you tell us which programs we
actually need to complete the course. You recommend alot of
programs to help with the results, i.e. Wordtracker and others
that are paid programs.
Even though I have most of these including one year paid for
Wordtracker I see that you mention others that I don’t have and
was wondering if I really need these to succeed with your course.
I realize you can do it the free way but thats not for me. I don’t have
the time for that. However, I would like to know which of the paid
programs that I really need.
Thanks,
Phil
@ Phil -
If you have wordtracker… you have enough to succeed!
While this can be done with the free tools you can find around the web, nothing compares to having access to the information a paid tool like wordtracker provides.
I have been a devout WT user for several years and only recently started using a new one named Wordze. The jury is still out on whether it will prove to be effective or not…
Mark
Thanks Mark.
I assume the 12 week course has started.
Phil
I was doing some research tonight and came across this site.
http://www.gordonphoto.net/store/index.php
I’m seriously hoping this is a work in progress (if it belongs to anyone on this site, I apologize!) but since the page I found was already indexed, I’m not so sure.
What I’m seeing is a domain, header and website name that don’t even go together (please don’t do this!) There is no other monetization on the site (Adsense or other affiliate products) so things look bare and the graphics on the home page are missing! And this was on page 1 for the term I was searching for (can you say “no real competition” from other BANS stores!!)
Aside from all the things wrong with this site, what I do like about it is the use of pictures (if only they were really there!) Has anybody tried this … having pictures leading to your categories from the home page? Any comments on whether it is a good idea?
Cindy
@ Cindy -
Great find on the site - it is actually one of the first editions of BANS, before the url rewrite function was added.
As you can see, this site was one that was put up and forgotten about… with no real focus on a niche market, just eBay as a whole. The site is indexed very well!!
in regard to the pictures on the main page… it is just like any other page of the site and can be setup within the admin fairly easily with a little html knowledge.
Mark
[…] times than not… my domains are built using the keyword research tools we discussed in the Niche Research post, google adwords sandbox , wordtracker, wordze, and ANY other keyword tool you come […]
I have a non-BANS site that gets quite a bit of its traffic through Google images due to some images I used from the merchant’s site.
I’m thinking using images could be a good thing. It certainly makes the home page look different.
I’ll have to give it a try and see how things work out.
Hi Mark,
First off I really want to thank you for setting this up for everybody. I am sure it will be a great learning experience.
Is there any way you can give us an idea of what kind of numbers you look for in your research? i.e. live auctions (over 1000?), price ($50), etc.
Obviously golf is huge and the numbers reflect that. However, I have a niche I would like to research and I am getting 1250 for the number of auctions and the google search yields 80,000 pages versus 211 BANS sites.
Are these numbers adequate?
By the way where are you located in NC? I’m in Raleigh.
@ George -
I enjoy hearing myself talk (or seeing myself type) so this is not a chore, but a pleasure to do!
There really is no magic number of products to qualify a niche. As long as there is demand for a related group of products and you can create a site that delivers what you want users to find, you have a good niche!
That being said - you wouldn’t want to limit yourself to a single product with very limited search demand, unless you found you were the ONLY site doing so. (see: usbhumpingdog.com) I know I am using the site as a negative, but if NOBODY ELSE ever targets his niche, he could actually have a winner. This also assumes people are searching for usb humping dogs! :-)
One of my very successful niche sites has an average selling price of $2.00 - commission is usally .25 cents or in that range. BUT - the site sells MANY items every day, which adds to the bottom line in its own way. Small change, I know, but with 10 small change niche sites generating $10-$15 each, every day, it becomes worthy very quickly!
In regard to where I am… Charlotte! Good to see another Tarheel in here!!
Mark
First I want to thank you for taking the time to do this. I’ve played with BANS a bit but have not had huge success. This will help me become better focused. I am still not sure just want to look for when doing research.
The niche I may want to focus on shows 107 BANS sites with the same “general” search term when googling. TerraPeak show 230 listing with a sell rate of 30% and an average price $1300.
Google sandbox shows a lot of competition for that “general” term (full bar) and volume at half. If I add a more descriptive term (such as a brand name) I get little to no competition with volume at about 1/3 bar.
So my guess is that the target and domain I would want would include the brand but we know that could lead to disruption later. Would the volume of listings at eBay (230 per week) justify using this niche because the avg. selling price is high?
Also, one last question. I notice a keyword(s) when using the Google sandbox that is fairly short, has no competition but decent volume but really doesn’t make real sense as a domain name. Does that really matter?
I guess my next step is to get a subscrition to Wordtracker for the info I need. TIA!!!!
Great, interesting and very useful tutorials you have on the go Mark. I am going back through them again and noticed that you mentioned:
Note: I will be adding video walk throughs to this post tomorrow
I noticed it isn’t there and thought perhaps you forgot to link to the video.
BTW: I am having a great time getting started and have 6 sites now. Today I am getting ready to back to them and add category pages right after I get more data from WordTracker.
Mark,
This 12 week course is awesome! I keep coming back to it an reviewing it and learn something every time.
Thanks!
Jamie