Terry Dean and "The Truth About Internet Niche Marketing"

Last week, Terry Dean wrote an excellent article on “The Truth about Internet Niche Marketing.” You can find it here: http://www.terrydean.org/truth-about-internet-niche-marketing/

 
As I continue my journey into mastering the art of online marketing, I found this article to be very helpful – and I picked up some great tools and handy hints along the way.
 
The truth about internet niche marketing is that you should quit looking for the “ultimate” niche that has no competition. When a term is profitable, competitors advertise it. That’s because people are buying stuff from the advertisers there. If there’s no competition, it means no one is buying. We all continue to reinvent the wheel, don’t we?
 
In his article, Terry gives 6 helpful hints for picking the next market niche. I’m going to summarize them here, but check out his article, and his website to learn more – this guy is genius, and I’m learning a lot from him.
 
Here are the 6 Steps:
 
1. Find the Intersection of Passion and Profits.
 
Some people prefer to choose a profitable marketing that they have no passion for, while others choose to do what they love and hope that the money will follow (and like my Sales Manager used to tell me - hope is NOT a strategy!) The truth of success in online marketing is somewhere in the middle of passion and profit.
 
Your research should including making a list of markets you have interest in. Don’t stop there though. You may think you’ve found the coolest niche on the planet, but you need to do the research on those markets to determine which ones have the best chance of producing profits for your new business.
 
After all, the internet lifestyle is not all about the money – it’s about creating a lifestyle you enjoy and want to be connected to. You can have a lot more fun if you find something that you both like AND is profitable. I know that if I’m not having fun, I’m really not sticking around for all that long, so it makes sense to me.
 
 
2. Do keyword research to find a phrase that has people looking for it.
 
The Google keyword tool is Terry’s preferred tool for keyword research. When using it, make sure you consider not only the specific phrase by itself but related phrases and additional phrases which come up hooked into this phrase.
 
Business has become extremely focused. Words that are similar can have wildly different customers looking for them. A great example of this is “headache” versus “headaches.” Think about it, people searching for a “headache” are people who have one right now and want to solve it. Those looking for “headaches” experience them regularly and are looking for a solution or are students doing research on the subject. (Amazing how much difference an “s” can make.)
 
3. Use the Google estimator to make sure that phrase is worth ranking for.
 
This is a cool tool which I wasn’t aware of until I read this article. Google estimator will give you price/cost estimates on the keyword phrases you find. When you find a phrase that people are willing to spend money for, you may have found yourself a winner.   Google estimator lets you know how much your phrases are WORTH to advertisers. This information can be quite valuable when it comes to selling, advertising, figuring out income per visitor, etc.
 
4. Check the front page of search listing to make sure it is practical to rank for these terms.
 
Terry Dean is using SEO as a core method in the majority of his marketing. So, make sure you do some online exploration. See what the top sites on Google look like. Do they have a large number of links coming in or a small number? Do all the front page listings use the keyword phrase in their title? Do you feel you can push your site up into the ranks for the terms you’ve chosen?
 
You can also use pagerank scores to determine your link’s competition. Keep in mind though, the PR ratings don’t mean everything.
 
5. Check the Adwords ads to see what people are currently selling to these visitors.
 
Find out what your intended prospect base is purchasing from the big players and make sure your product fits what they are looking to buy. Are you willing to do what it takes to be profitable in that market?
 
Even better would be to track the Adwords results over a 2 month period to see who can afford to advertise continually on the keyword phrase. Affiliates today need to be thinking about how they can add value to the market – not just an affiliate link any more.
 
6. Remember what People buy.
 
People buy because they want more money, more time, or to feel better about themselves. They want to fit into a group. They feel a sense of duty to those they serve (this can be best seen by firefighters, the medical profession, etc.).
 
Blogging is an excellent way to build a site with content and value for your target market. 
Aside from that, Google has shown they love Wordpress sites and the way they’re setup.
 
When you find your marketing and do your research, you’ll be able to turn your traffic into income. 
 
Check out Terry Dean’s Blog at: http://www.terrydean.org/