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Niche research - step one

By Mike | April 12, 2008

This is probably the step that most people leave out when deciding to start a profitable blog. They just randomly pick a topic and run with it.

My feeling is that first you need a topic that is a passion for you at least for a blog that you are going to write. Now if you are out sourcing everything this doesn’t apply. Writing a blog can be a problem if you are using a topic that isn’t of interest to you.

Now this doesn’t mean you need to be an expert but it should be a topic that you at least want to learn more about. Being a gate keeper can be a very good position to be in.

What do I mean by gate keeper?

Lets take an example. I want to learn about a topic. I can write a blog about that topic and reference the various resources I find that are teaching me. Now if I am sending people other places why would they come back to me?

The reason is simple because I keep finding good places for them and they know that I am acting as a sorting house for what is worthwhile or not. Eventually through your research you will become the expert. A bit of research every day can make you an expert in very little time.

You can also use an area that you have a good knowledge of as your topic. This is ideal and an easy way to show off your expertise.

No matter what area you pick you need to check profitability first.

You need to find out if the area you want to blog about is profitable. How can we do that?

First type some of your keywords into Google and look for how many ads show. If people aren’t advertising on the topic it probably doesn’t have the potential to generate a profit on the topic.

Just the number of searches doesn’t help. There are a reasonable number of searches for ufo and extraterrestrial but there aren’t any advertisers. Now you could get traffic on these topics but you wouldn’t be able to monetize it easily.

So pick your topic with care. Doing the research first will help you to be able to create a profitable blog.

Next you will want to find the keywords that fit your topic. You will need this to find the terms you want to post about. We’ll talk more about why when we get into the actual posting to your blog.

The best place to start will be the free service at word tracker. Now this will only give you the top 100 and lacks some of the information you will want but it is a good starting point.

Once you have found your niche then it pays to spend a few dollars and do one of the paid services. My favorite is Keyword Country simply because of their sorting functions. There is a free video showing you how to use it in Videos For Beginners.

This is the basics and this will be covered in more detail in a free teleseminar on Saturday.

As always your comments and questions are welcomed.

Mike Paetzold

Saturday at 2pm edt I will have a free teleseminar on Step One that will expand what has been offered here. You can call in or listen on the web. Details are available at Profitable Blogging - Step One.

If you enjoy the information here you can buy me a coffee.


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    • 2 Responses to “Niche research - step one”

    1. Blog Lady Dee, Blog Lady Elle Says:
      April 14th, 2008 at 7:14 pm

      Great point about the gatekeeper. You also get a couple more benefits from being one:

      People by and large are lazy. They love anyone who does their work for them. Give them the resources and you’ve not only become the go to person…but you’ve begun to build your relationship with them.

      It’s not that big a step from being the go to person to being branded an *expert*.

      Another way to determine profitable niches is looking at magazines..online or at your favorite bookstore. In this era of *no time to read*, if there is a magazine in your niche (even better if it’s a subniche) with a robust subscription base, you most likely have a winner.

      Regards,
      Dee

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    2. Post blog- How often is best | WordPress Made Easy Says:
      April 30th, 2008 at 10:56 am

      [...] When you are looking for search engine traffic primarily, the more often you post the better. Caveat - You need to be posting properly and targeting very specific keywords for this to be most effective. (You can listen to the lesson I did on this at niche research or in the post earlier in this blog on profitable blogging.) [...]

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