5 Free Powerful Ways to Conduct Online Consumer Market Research to Find a Profitable Niche that has nothing to do with Keyword Research
Hey there,
And welcome to another powerful and insightful edition of The Keyword Informer where we’ll be taking a look at how to really pull up your sleeves and conduct real online consumer market research the right way.
What I am going to reveal may be quite shocking to you given that I run the leading keyword research tool on the internet.
It was just a few months ago when I broke my silence in an interview with the 60 Million Dollar Man and divulged the ways to uncover a profitable and thriving marketplace and revealed an insider tool to detect depth in a marketplace that most do not even know about.
Sadly, most webmasters, newbies and online business owners approach market research (or how to find a niche) the wrong way. Today, I intend to publicly correct that situation. 
See, I receive questions all the time from our paid subscribers and newsletter subscribers asking. . .
“How do I determine if I have found a viable marketplace or know that a niche is profitable? What number should there be in the search count?” and so on.
As one of the most sought after global experts on keyword research, most people anticipate that I point them directly to a keyword tool and shoot off some count figure that is like some magical number to someone finding riches. It’s just not that way.
In fact, my answer is quite the opposite. I’ll say something like…
“No — don’t look at any search count. In fact, don’t even look to any single keyword database, tool or source to look for a profitable market. Keyword research is what you do AFTER you have confirmed that you have found a thriving marketplace through a few certain criteria that tells you sales are strong, the commerce being moved shows some stability and, yes, there may be a little stiff competition which is actually a good indication. Why get involved in a potentially shaky marketplace where not much action is happening, right?”
Now here’s the why…
Why Keyword Research Utterly Fails at Market Research
As my trusted friend and colleague, Jay Stockwell of KeywordWorkshop.com had this to say in his article entitled “Keyword Data Is Almost Always Wrong“:
You know what really frustrates me? People who talk about keyword research as if it’s an exact science. Let me give anyone who needs it a “heads up”. Keyword research is not an exact science and shouldn’t be discussed like it is. It’s more of a black art based on skewed and inaccurate datasets. As a result it’s very easy to screw up.
In fact, Jay conducted a search (as an example) of the leading keyword data companies for the phrase “fly fishing” and each of them had different opinions of which keyword phrases were the most popular. He went onto say:
Let me break it down for you. If one tool says that there are 1246 searches a month for a particular keyword, that doesn’t mean you can say that during the past month the entire World Wide Web had 1246 searches.
What this figure means is that in this particular chunk or sample of data, that keyword was found 1246 times. The only time we could ever be sure that there were 1246 would be if the sample was every single search engine on the Internet and included 100% of their search volume. No tool does this – not even close.
In fact, when you look at Comscore.com’s “December U.S. Search Engine Rankings” — it’s very clear to see where MOST of the keyword data lies. It lies with the big five search engines like Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft Sites, Time Warner (AOL) and the Ask Network (and no one currently has that data).
The current keyword databases available to the general public maybe account for 2% of the internet’s total keyword data collected. This is exactly why most services have their regular count number and then another Predicted Daily Count that predicts using a formula how many searches may occur across all search engines for a given keyword phrase. There is no way that a mere sliver or sample of data can predict what is happening on Google, MSN or Yahoo! That is why it is merely called a prediction and should be taken as such.
Furthermore, any keyword database that proclaims to know what the market share is for a given keyword phrase on Google, Yahoo! or MSN is simply giving another prediction and is as good as staring into a crystal ball. There is no way to know any sort of market share for a given keyword unless Google Yahoo or MSN either hand over their ENTIRE set of data or start their own keyword service — and I can guarantee you that won’t be happening any time soon.
This is absolutely why I cannot (in my right mind) recommend to someone that a certain search count in some keyword database would be an adequate measure to find a profitable niche or marketplace. That’s just downright absurd.
I have seen and heard in late 2007 some of these self-proclaimed gurus dispensing information about using the dying Overture keyword suggestion tool to do market research by finding at least 10,000 searches a month for a certain topic. Outlandish! Don’t worry — I’ll have my rant about that one soon enough!
Every keyword database will have a different search count number as to the popularity of a given keyword phrase. So which keyword database is right? They are all right! Each keyword database is accurate as to how many times a given keyword phrase appears in that given dataset. But it has NO relation as to what is going on with the rest of world when 98%-99% of the data is held by the Big Five search engines.
This is exactly why there has been a sudden shift in keyword research professionals relying on Google’s keyword engine that gives hints as to the relative popularity of keyword phrases on a scale of 1 to 5. Although Google does not divulge the search counts for a given keyword phrase, it is easier to trust a source of data that covers 58.4% of searches when it comes to search volume than a source of data that maybe covers 1% of the what the rest of the world is searching. Wouldn’t you agree?
So that pretty much establishes why keyword research has no place in market research and falls flat on its face when finding a marketplace to create a thriving online business.
Simply put, keyword research shows you what people are searching for, not what people are buying.
Sure, you can use keyword research to find profitable keywords to create websites that monetize strictly on Google Adsense, but I do not see that as a sustainable business model that will allow you to prosper for years to come.
That begs us to move on and uncover exactly what factors should be used when conducting market research and looking for a profitable marketplace.
Does a Given Marketplace Have a Published Magazine?
Have you ever walked into one of those magazine stands that has just about every single magazine on every topic you can imagine?
I mean — you walk into the place and it’s just aisles and aisles of magazines.
This is one of the greatest places to do market research. Here’s why.
If a publisher has the money to print up a full color magazine, there’s probably a good chance that there are advertisers that are advertising products, services and information for sale. And if the magazine has been around for a while (each magazine will disclose this information), then there’s a good chance that it’s a thriving marketplace because the magazine would not be continually printed up unless there were advertisers to support it.
A good online source to look for all different types of magazines in different market places would be Magazines.com.
You can easily locate thriving marketplaces. Look at how many golf magazines there are at the magazine. We already know that’s a thriving arena.
The really smart marketers know that the Standard Rate and Data Service (or SRDS) has a searchable database that allows you to uncover how many subscribers a given newsletter, magazine or mailing list has. Do you think that would be useful information when sizing up a marketplace? You betcha!
In fact, during one of my interviews with Michael Campbell, I divulged to him a competitor of SRDS that allows you to search for FREE through a database 60,000 different mailing lists…
Now that’s what I call getting to the bottom of some real market research.
And paid NicheBOT subscribers get access to the full 2.5 hour interview I did with Michael Campbell that divulges that hidden gem.
Speaking of Michael Campbell, during seasonal times, he likes to go into large retailers and see what the aisle cappers (those products at the end of each aisle) and see what products the retailers are displaying or pushing. This is usually a good indication that the retailer already knows what will sell or is being hotly promoted. Michael advocates taking a notepad with you to the store so that you can record your findings.
What are the Hottest Selling Products on the Planet’s Biggest Marketplace?
Instead of using some database to find out what people are searching for on the world’s largest marketplace known as eBay, why not find out the most popular products people are actually buying?! Now there’s an idea…
In fact, it’s free and it requires absolutely no subscription.
Simply click on the “Buy” button on the home page here:
Then scroll down to the bottom of the screen on the next page and see where it says “Popular Products” …
You can click the “Popular Products” link and instantly find the hottest products that people are buying right now on the worlds largest and most trafficed marketplace. These are items that are either purchased through “Buy it Now” transactions, eBay stores and through auctions that have closed and sales that have consummated. In fact, just take a look and half of your keyword research has already been done for you in advance. 
You’ll have model numbers and exact name brands right at your fingertips.
If that is not the most fantastic and instantly gratifying market research that presents itself right to you, I don’t know what is.
Search One of the Biggest Online Retailers
Another great marketplace to comb through and look at are the most popular products being sold is Amazon.com.
Wanna find out the most popular brand of running shoe to represent or whatever you can imagine?
Check Amazon.com and you’ve literally got instant market research at your fingertips.
In fact, there are number of online retailers that will show you exactly what their “Most Popular Products” are. The only thing you have to do is figure out what you want to sell, put up the website and then do your keyword research based upon your market research.
You can find these online retailers that literally hand over their market research through the “Most Popular Products” section in the fashion industry, electronics, sports and recreation, and more.
The only hard part is choosing what products in what marketplace you wish to represent or sell directly through your own website.
Are You Wanting to Sell Digital Products Instead?
Okay — so perhaps you don’t want to move any physical items through your own website or promote physical products through affiliate programs, but you’d rather sell digital products instead.
So you’ll need an effective way to conduct market research to find out what is selling on a digital marketplace.
The best place to look as a resource and find exactly what is the most popular selling items that digital publishers are moving is none other than the Clickbank marketplace.
What’s really nice is that you can easily browse through categories and find out in real time what the highest selling products are moving in this fast paced digital marketplace.
Whenever you click into a category — you instantly see which product is on top and that is the TOP SELLER.
For NicheBOT subscribers, we even have a copy of the Clickbank marketplace right here on NicheBOT for you to search through in easy fashion without ever leaving the site:
There’s no guessing whether a product is a top seller or not. You’ll know from the getgo.
Once you find your marketplace, you can then do the keyword research to find keywords to position your website in the marketplace.
There’s definitely a formula here.
1. Find a profitable marketplace first that shows promise of commerce being moved and a hungry audience (a good indication of a hungry audience is finding a magazine that serves the marketplace)
2. Only after doing your market research, then do the keyword research to build out the website and acquire inbound links using the most popular keyword phrases. And when it comes to looking for the most accurate keyword popularity, you’ll want to look to the source with the largest database and marketshare on the planet — Google’s keyword engine.
A Quick Word About Competition
A lot of webmasters/online business owners feel hampered or discouraged that there is a lot of competition in a particular market.
There is NO reason to feel that way. In fact, you should get excited when there is a lot of competition. Here’s why…
If there is no competition whatsoever in a marketplace, there may be no marketplace (or people to market to) at all. You should actually be worried if you don’t find any competitors for a market you wish to enter.
The more competition there is in a marketplace, the more commerce is being moved. The more commerce that is being moved, you’ll have a chance at grabbing a bigger piece of the pie.
One of the best examples of that is David DeAngelis of DoubleYourDating.com.
As you and I know it – the dating market is huge and very very competitive. Yet, in the last couple of years, David has been able to grow his business into a blossoming $20 million dollar a year company. And that’s with all the popular dating services advertising on television of how they can pair you up with the right person.
So I hope that makes it quite clear that you want to make sure there is ample competition in a marketplace which is a true indicator that there are enough customers with cash in hand worth fighting for.
One of the best ways to find out if there are competitors in a niche market is to access the Google Adwords information as to the number of advertisers for a number of the top keyword phrases for your intended marketplace. You can easily do this inside your NicheBOT X account.
Lastly, the more thorough you are in conducting your market research, the more solid your potential is going to be at long term success.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this edition of The Keyword Informer down below… thank you!
Best of success,
Jim Morris, Founder
NicheBOT.com — Finds exactly what people search for
Hi I have started to look at shopping aisles now and magazine racks to see whats hot. I also tend to look at head lines. I have been using these as titles for my blogs and webpages and am having results. I notcied alot of people here just sign these names instead of using a long tail keyword along with their name. I have been finding good results. Thank Claude from Blogging4TheFuture.com, Brisbane
I feel like I’m finally getting somewhere. I admit that you lost me with the beginning discussion, but the main points sank in with your tips. Market research and keyword research are definitely two different things. Now that I have ways to conduct market research, I hope that keyword research will be explained just as well.
Thanks
Thanks, hadn’t thought about keyword research this way; how would one know this when being told the results are for the day, or month, etc.
Isn’t David actually Eben Pagen (sp?)…
Wow! I feel like reading a $97 ebook about how to research a market and dominating niche
Really good information Jim, and definitely useful! Thanks for the article, subscribed and bookmarked!
Cheers,
Justin
http://www.jumpingpet.com
Nice article, Jim.
Your point about cruising retail aisle cappers brings to mind casinos – the tend to put the higher-odds slot machines on the end of the aisle to attract the most attention.
Particularly with large chain retailers, where very little is left to chance and huge resources are applied towards knowing what sells, simply noting the things that stick out can provide invaluable first-person market research.
Michael Ullman
Analogy Marketing
What a fantastic post, I am currently moving into niche marketing and found this information very helpful.
Thanks again, Sally
Hello Jim,
Great information on searching for products to promote always looking forward to your next post.
Thanks again,
Nick Makaryk
Hi Jim,
Thanks for giving us such useful and profitable information for free. I can’t imagine any of the so-called guru’s giving any of this out unless they were making a hefty profit from it. I can’t wait to start implementing my newfound knowledge!
Thanks again,
Neil Gerstein
Movies, Music, Games & More
OK, Jim. After casually reading so many of your emails, I paid attention to this article and it makes sense. I have some personal goals to generate income through Internet marketing, so you’ll be hearing from me.
Hi Jim,
This is an awesome article. It opened my eyes. I was trying to do market research using keywords databases. Now I know where to look for market research. Thanks a Ton.
Tushar
So obvious really… now that you’ve pointed it out! One of the best things I’ve ever done is discover NicheBot and Jim Morris.
Your generosity with information is very heartening to someone who has become very cynical with the IM landscape.
Thanks Jim
Wendy
Hello,
I like your blog post. I have to say that I put up many pages and sites devoted to popular products on Clickbank. Every one of them got lots of clicks. Yes, the clickthrough was a nice 10 to 25%. After hundreds of clicks to these hot info products, not one sale, not one! Newbies have to be careful when doing this, especially with ClickBank products, the devil is really in the details.
TomG. – Word from the trenches.
No website to promote here.. Sig out to lunch.
Thanks for an eye-opening article. I guess that gets me to changing the steps I need to follow when searching for information on the net market before I proceed with what I’m doing.
Hi Jim & all-
Although this article is very eye-opening and I will certainly look at niche research differently from now on, this solution sadly doesn’t seem to address the needs of us Adsense farmers.
I decided years ago that plodding away at AdSense content sites (VREs) without any emphasis on sales or affiliate marketing is the business solution that is right for my lifestyle… Finding the niche market for each of those sites has been one of the very biggest challenges for me.
I’ve bought all the tools like Keyword Elite and have subscribed to WT, Wordze, KwDiscovery, and even a few others… And each and every one has clearly failed to represent the real number of searches from Google & the big five search engines.
After reading this I keep trying to find a way to apply it to a simple Adsense Farming business model, but to little avail.
Sure, I could use the eBay list and write Adsense sites all day long about products that come up there, (with low competition) but truthfully I don’t know anything specific about those products… Hence writing about it is difficult, and they’ll convert poorly.
What I need to figure out is a way to come up with low-competition niches that meet other factors outside of KEI or a mere # of searches now… I just hope it can still be automated with software.
I don’t suppose Jim or anyone else here has thought about the best way to apply Niche search for simple Adsense sites?
(And for those of you who doubt such a thing is worthwhile, I usually make $200 a day in adsense for just these simple sites, and it keeps growing every day. All shiny-white hat.)
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
James
Thanks Jim! This post has been an eye-opener for me. I’m a beginner on niche marketing, but I’ve always had a hunch that keyword research wasn’t the equivalent to marketplace research.
Even though I somehow was managing to get some clues here and there (I had been using Clickbank, E-bay and Google data as separate entities), your post has set all (or most of) the pieces of the puzzle together.
Thanks again!
Anthony
Hi Jim
Another great post and I found many nuggets to further my SEO skils.
Thanks so much for helping each one of us. I have been recommending you to all my contacts and I hope they really see the worth in your advice.
God Bless, Claude from Usana Health
Great information once again! Thanks for the enlightenment on the subject.
Vitallywell
Very nice article. Its possible to get lost in the everyday running of a website business. Your article reminded me once again to take a step back sometimes and look at the whole marketplace instead of just sitting in front of the computer all day! Guess I will have to take 1 day a week and spend some time in front of the magazine rack at borders.
Thanks for the information and a great keyword tool.
Mark
Now that explains what i been doing wrong, or at least part of what i am doing wrong. Thanks – that knowledge will help. nice tools
Jim,
Thanks for providing such great information not just on keyword research but other topics that has helped me with my online projects.
I totally agree on your perspective on keyword research.
Chris
Great article on market research. So simple I never thought about some of your suggestions. I am going to create a site which gives access to the Most Popular Products on Ebay, Amazon and Clickbank for a given keyword that applies to all three.
Hi Jim,Thanks for a great read.I have always been told to use keywords first to find your niche market even if you don’t have a website yet.I was thinking keyword research and market research were the same thing.You have certainly made it easier to understand thankyou.
Hi Jim,
I’ve been signed up with Nichebot for most of this year, but I don’t know where my head has been! I’m just finding all this valuable information and help that you provide. This is great – thanks for all the support(not counting Nichebot keyword search tools)
Janelle :0)
So much good stuff in the article that I do not know where to start. There were 2 key points. 1) I now understand the importance of market research. I am just 5 websites and thousands of dollars in the hole too late! 2) I understand why search numbers are different. No more spending money on the “tool of the day.” You really only need 1 paid tool (Nichebot) and Google as backup.
Hi, Jim
I just sign-up with Nichebot, actually today is my second day going over everything, and to my surprise I found this link and article. I know that it was a act of faith that brought me to the page, because the information was truly needed and of good use for me. I was very confused about finding the right keywords and niche market to work with, after this I’m sure were to go and how to find it. I especially like what you said about the Dating sites, and finding a mate, I would never believe anyone would make money with them, you made a believer out of me, after I heard someone made millions!!! What a Info.!!! I live in a big market place NYC, and will be visiting all those huge magazine stores, starting today, to get all those well hidden Niches. Thank you.
Hai..
Very informative and easy to understand. Before this i did not know much the different between market research and keyword research. Now i know what i need to do. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
regards,
arisking
I’ve just reread this after coming in from “Aisle Shifters and Spying on Big Business for Market Research Purposes”. Now that I’m quite a few months further down the track of learning my ‘new’ business, it all makes even more sense than it did the first time I read it.
My advice to anyone new is to either bookmark all these posts from Jim or do what I do which is to copy them into a Word document then print them out and highlight what is important to you. Each time I go over something Jim’s written I highlight it in a different color. It makes it really easy to find what you want and also adds some color to your day – always a good thing.
I’ve missed you. Now I understand why Keyword research doesn’t work by itself. I will now do Market research. Thanks.
We were happy to see your research on mailing lists reveal our free list search portal. We have an online video now that shows users how to find mailing lists using this tool. It’s also on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfVZ7Clfm0s.
and Google at http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=mailing+lists&emb=0&aq=f#
Hi,
Thanks, great post on market research and keyword research.
Mike
Thank-you for sharing all this “eye opening” information and resources. It seems like I would be busy the next several days checking them out. LOL.
Hey Jim,
That was one of the most complete explanations of keyword research I have read. Thanks for providing such an in-depth look on this subject. I will be awaiting more information from you on this and other subjects you may cover. Keep it up.
I am still a rookie in internet marketing and finding a perfect niche has pose to be a huge problem. But with Jim;s post, i can smile again. No doubt, this post is SO REVEALING. Thumbs up…
hey
its an amazing information, but i wonder people would need a quick receipe these days than an everlasting email, no matter if it is as good as this one by Jim and Team.
nevertheless, every word about the research looks active and true.
Cheers
Mir
Hi Jim,
Wanted to thank you for the great keyword research tools. With your help we are now ranked number 1 in three keywords with competition of over 15,000,000 sites and number two with a competition of over 100,000,000 yes you see that right. I read this article again because the information is great.
To your financial success,
Nancy
WoW! Great insight… It`s not the keywords that are used for general searches,it`s the Kewords that are relevant to the Internet Buyer`s!!!
You want the Keywords that the buyers are using. You don`t want to target the general searcher, you want the “targeted buying consumer”.
This really Narrows the focus in on the Bulls Eye!
Thanks for the heads up Jim,
Dwayne
Need some advice here about using magazines.com to gauge the profitability of a market. If a magazine doesn’t exist for a particular niche it doesn’t really mean that it is not profitable. Take an example, the “Acne” niche market. This is a proven profitable niche. But if you search “acne” in magazines.com, it doesn’t return any result. What does this tell you?
We are always told how to find the hottest best selling products but what if I want to know if the product I am interested to sell will sell well ?
Great content. I learned more reading your article than I have from anything else I’ve read on the internet and my searches for information. Thank you!
Dear sir,
I think either your report is seriously outdated or you are sound asleep!
In it you say:
“There is no way to know any sort of market share for a given keyword unless Google Yahoo or MSN either hand over their ENTIRE set of data or start their own keyword service — and I can guarantee you that won’t be happening any time soon.”
Wake up and smell the roses my dear sir, it has already happened!
May I refer you to the NEW Google Adwords Keyword Tool at the following URL: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Please try to keep with the times!
Rabola,
We are well aware of Google’s tool and the fact that it gives numbers and counts.
You should read this report about Google’s numbers and exactly how accurate they truly are:
http://www.nichebot.com/blog/160/google-assessment/
And once again, may I remind you that the Google keyword tool is Google’s tool for their advertisers and therefore the data is leaning more towards higher traffic figures especially since Google will estimate in their partner’s traffic as well.
NicheBOT’s own tool draws from Google’s database and while great, it doesn’t return EVERY keyword on the planet because those smaller in demand keywords are not going to show up on the charts because why? Because Google’s tool is more interested in showing those keywords that meet a minimum number of searches that an advertiser would be interested.
I will agree that knowing demand numbers are great, however inaccurate they are, but counting on these numbers is what is called KEYWORD RESEARCH.
This article is about market research and there is NO better place to do market research than on the actual sales sites that give you the data as noted up above.
And I can assure you that there is NOBODY asleep here as there is NO WAY that Google Yahoo and MSN would get together and create ONE complete keyword service.
Just because Google gives us access to their Advertiser Tool only allows us to see what they want Advertisers to see.
Please show me a keyword tool that is FAVORED to the webmaster that wants to conduct organic keyword research and see the real long tail keywords that are way below the radar of Google’s tool because those keywords don’t have the minimum demand of traffic for them.
That’s exactly why NicheBOT has multiple keyword database sources and why if you do not fish from one pond, you ARE missing keywords in your marketplace.
But I digress.
This article is about Market Research and how to conduct surefire market research that guarantees you’ll have an actual market to plunker some profits from.
Best of success,
Jim
And as far as this report being outdated, I beg to differ. It’s evergreen!
I have to say it is not only evergreen, it is priceless. Best information (and most complete) I have come across in 6 months of daily digging. (Of course, that may just prove my total ignorance and mental density.) I have been involved with several membership sites and always felt’ something’ was missing, outdated, biased, or lacking. Sure am glad I found my way here.
Jim,
You offered some really great ideas, and resources here for consumer market research. Can you recommend some similar resources for business market research? Clickbank loks useful, but ebay and amazon wont help as much with b2b stuff