Niche Selection
Choosing your niche and selecting your keywords are THE most important parts of this entire
process, so spend time on getting it right. Get these 2 steps wrong and you could jepordise your
project before you even start. Most Adsense marketers fail to see that Niche selection and
Keyword selection are two very different topics. Each has it's own criteria and each requires it's
own thought process.
Before you choose your keywords you need to find a good niche. If this happens to be something
that interests you then that's great, but don't let your interests skew your judgement. Your niche has
to be profitable.
Example: I once invested time and money into creating a site about parrots (because I own a
parrot). I spent 2 days trying to find parrot-related keywords that I could profit from. Because I
wasn't looking at the big picture the site was a failure. I missed crucial steps and paid the price. I
don't want you to do the same.
So, let's find your niche (the right way)...
In order to start off on the right track it's a good idea to think of products and services that have a
high value and/or longetivity.
If you've ever seen one of those lists of ultra-high-paying keywords then you will have noticed that
they are dominated by phrases relating to:
● Lawyers
● Insurance
● Health
● Real Estate
● Web-Hosting
Now I'm not saying you can't take a slice of the pie in any of the above niches (I have) but don't
limit yourself. Think outside the box. Note here that the last niche in the above list is “Web-
Hosting”. This isn't a particularly high value service. You can pick up web-hosting for a nominal
cost, BUT it has longetivity. If you find a good web-host you are likely to stay with them for years
to come. This is why advertisers are willing to pay top dollar for just 1 click. Remember this when
it comes to choosing your niche, as there are thousands of other niches that have the longetivity
factor.
Niche Selection
To simplify things let's split niche selection into 3 main categories:
1. High value physical products such as high-end consumer goods (audio equipment,
computers, kitchens, cars).
2. High value services such as medical claims, business solutions, vacations.
3. Products OR services with longetivity, something that requires the customer pay on a
recurring basis. This could be anti-virus software, insurance (again), magazine
subscriptions and Internet service providers.
Your choice here is really only limited by your imagination. You don't have to find that illusive
untapped niche. If there's already competition that's good. That means it's profitable. You don't need
to worry about competition in your niche, reserve this for your keyword research. Now you
understand what niche selection is all about Let's get cracking...
I am looking around right now as I write this and I can see physical products:
● Surround Sound system
● Plasma TV
● Games consoles
● Kitchen appliances
● Gym Equipment
● Laptop
If I think back over the last few weeks I can come up with services I have used:
● Claims Lawyer (had a car accident)
● Accountant
● Car insurance
● Dental insurance
● Pension
● Credit cards
It's time to brainstorm a few ideas of your own, then we'll find out if they're profitable. Remember,
don't be too specific at this stage.
.
Open And Watch The Video Entitled “ Niche Selection”
Open your “Niche Selection” worksheet (Part 1). It's time to
get some creative juices flowing.
Niche Selection
Here's a quick recap from the video, Hopefully one or more of your niches will fit the following
criteria:
● Has at least 8 Adsense ads in Google search results.
● Has two or more affiliate programs you can promote.
● Has one or more CPA offers available.
● Has established businesses already advertising.
Here's a handy tip - If you need to see Adsense ad's from another country or state, use Googles
Ad' Preview Tool.
Fill in the squares on part 1 of your “Niche Selection”
worksheet and give each niche a score as indicated.
NOTE: I know you're creating Adsense sites but it's important not to leave money on the table.
There is also another VERY important reason to use more than just Adsense. With high quality
white-hat websites this shouldn't be a problem but as you may know, Google can view some sites as
MFA (Made For Adsense), if that happens you will lose out on rankings AND the money you earn
from each click (you could even have you account suspended but this isn't something you need to
worry about with my techniques). This doesn't mean every web-page has to have more than just
Adsense but it's a good idea to mix things up a little by giving visitors other options.
Is your niche worth exploring?
By now you should have AT LEAST one or two niches that have achieved a score higher than 80,
preferably over 100. If not, simply repeat the steps above.
Note: The scoring is simply designed to help you decide if a niche is profitable, and help you avoid
wasting time on niches that aren't. This is it's sole purpose.
Once you've performed this initial niche research you'll want to expand on this so that you have the
best possible chance of finding all the best keywords to target.
There are 2 main ways of doing this. You can either go up a level or you can side-step.
Here's an example of going up a level:
“weight loss pills” could become “weight loss”
Here's an example of side-stepping:
“anti-virus software” could become “anti-spyware software”
Niche Selection
Open And Watch The Video Entitled “Niche Expansion”
Fill in the squares on your “Niche Expansion” worksheet as
instructed.
Take your niche expansion worksheet (Part 2), and write your main niche idea in the title box.
In the boxes below write down any other topics you can think of that are related to your niche.
Remember you're not looking for keywords yet, so if your niche idea is “claims lawyer” don't go
and write down “claims attorney”. Instead think of topics that are related, but not the same.
Examples of this could be “accident lawyer” or “malpractice lawyer”. Remember, you can side-step
AND go up a level on EVERY expanded niche idea.
If you're struggling to find related topics then there are a couple of tools you can use for this.
If you're using Nichebot then I recommend the 1-Click LSI Keywords tool. This has not failed me
yet.
If you're using free tools then there are still a couple of very good options. The first is the Google
Adwords Keyword Tool – Type in you're niche idea and make sure that “Use Synonyms” is
checked. When your results are returned scroll down to the second box where you will find a list of
phrases that Google consider related to your niche idea.
The other tool is also from Google but much newer and therefore not quite as well known yet. This
tool can be used for finding niches and keywords but right now just stick to expanding on you
niche. It's called the “Google Wonder Weel”.
I love this tool. It's actually similar to the Adwords tool but much easier to read. It's similar because
Google is actually telling you which topics it considers to be related to your own, which is very
handy when your researching ideas for a well SEO'd website.
It's a little hidden but here's how to find it.
● Go to Google and type in your main niche
● Just above the results you'll see a little link labelled “Show Options”. Click this link.
● Scroll down the links on the left-hand-side and click on “Wonder-Wheel”.
● Now you can find any number of releated niches to research keywords for.
As I said – This is straight from the horses mouth. Google is actually telling you exactly which
topics to explore and add to your site.
So at this point you should have at least 1 good niche idea that you've been able to expand on. Keep
any others on the backburner. If you don't find good keywords within your chosen niche idea then
you'll have these to fall back on. If you do then you can still use them for another site.
Congratulations, you've completed the 1st module and now you're ready to start finding some
profitable keywords.
