How to Know if Niche is Too Competitive

[notaprettysite]

Linda, you mention the whole issue of not jumping into an incredibly overcrowded market, which is a very good point. I have a couple of questions, and if this should be asked elsewhere, please let me know.

Of course everyone needs to pick a niche they have some passion for but we also need to pick niches that have the potential to make money. Is there any advice that you can give, or that I can find, about how to decide if a niche is so overcrowded that it will be too competitive?

The problem I see here is that if you pick a hot, moneymaking niche - for example, these days everyone wants to know about foreclosures and refinancing and debt consolidation - then you risk being lost in a huge crowd. But if you pick something really obscure (I just typed in "vintage books 1900s" and came up with 53,700 hits) then you hardly have anyone to sell to/click on your ads/make money off of. Am I understanding this correctly?

[Linda Buquet]

Everything you said is true to a degree but I'll start my answer with
a BIG it depends. There is no easy answer.

1st off markets like "foreclosures and refinancing and debt consolidation" are not just competitive it's uber competitive because you are not only dealing with shark Internet marketers but banks, loan brokers, news papers and other big media talking about the subject.

There ARE markets that have demand and not every marketer on the planet is targeting. There won't be as many searching and buying but you have a better chance of getting traffic and therefore making sales. So key is to weigh # of searches vs competing pages based on "all in title".

This thread will explain more;
Need help with SEO numbers - KeyWord Popularity vs Competing Pages?

The guys over at the 30 Day Challenge that are teaching newbies how to make just a little money for starters in their 1st 30 days are saying to find a niche with less than 30,000 competing in "quotes".
Here's a video about it.
Need help with SEO numbers - KeyWord Popularity vs Competing Pages?

"But if you pick something really obscure (I just typed in "vintage books 1900s" and came up with 53,700 hits) then you hardly have anyone to sell to/click on your ads/make money off of."

True you don't want to go totally obscure. The key is to find hidden niches that have interest but isnt too competitive. OR it could be a sub-niche of a big niche. Debt consolidation for Spanish single mothers. (Not saying that's a good market or even gets any searches, just an example.)

One idea that could possibly help you find some niches that would be good but possibly not too competitive. Go to the SEObook KW tool.

Try some general root keywords that signify problems people are trying to solve. Single words like: eliminate, cure, pain, relief, problem, lower, relieve prevent, alleviate, soothe, ache, comfort, comfortable, lower, reduce, remove

For each one scroll down in the results until you find something that interests you that's not at the top of the list. Too many people go after those top ones. Find one midway down and then check to see how many competing pages in Google with all in title.

Sorry carpal killing, thats all I can type for now.
Hope that sorta answered and gave you some ideas.

[notaprettysite]

Linda, that post was like a little mini-course all in itself! It was awesome! And it finally sheds some light on the whole overcrowded niche/high-paying keyword thing I've been wondering about for ages.

Specifically, if a keyword pays $10 or $15, why shouldn't I have websites featuring that keyword rather than a website that features keywords that pay 50 cents? (Answer: because a million other people will have those same websites and it will be near impossible for a completely inexperienced, underfunded beginner like me to achieve good pagerank and to ever have my site found by anyone.)

[Linda Buquet]

Yes and the other issue or another way to say it, is...

Would you rather be a small fish in a huge sea (filled with whales and sharks that could EAT YOU!)
or a decent sized fish in a small, shallow pond?

If you want people to see you - there's tons more people hanging out at the ocean but what's the chance they will ever see you? Fewer people come by the pond but the ones that do will see you and you may even look big (be able to build authority) or stand out compared to the few other fish in the pond.

At least you'll get some eyeballs instead of being lost in a sea filled with sharks.

[notaprettysite]

Am I allowed to post links to blogs that have good advice? (As in, not a self-serving link, but a link to the site of someone with great advice.)

Courtney Tuttle on his or her blog (Courtney - girl? Boy?) has a great post from 1/22 about niche and keyword research. It is very thorough, specific and informative. I was going to include a link to it but didn't know if that violated the forum rules.

[Larwee]

notaprettysite, I got to this before Linda so I'll give you an answer. That link would be OK, and here is that link: Keyword Sniping - Finding And Choosing Profitable Niches | Internet Marketing | Strategy & Services

By the way, Courtney Tuttle is a man. A lot of people simply call him Court.

We don't want people linking to their own sites.

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks notaprettysite,

As Larwee mentioned links to good resources are always welcome as long as they are not links to your own site. When people link to their own site it's typically for self serving reasons and not because it's the best resource.

[poter.alan]

Hi,
Wonderfull information really and it made my day to learn the techniques regarding nich finding and specially finding related to web hostings and affiliate marketing for my concerns.

Poter

[Larwee]

poter.alan, you can find a lot more about web hosting in these two threads:

Your favorite web host

Everything you need to know about web hosting

[Niche]

Hi, Thanks for the link to Courtney's blog. I am a regular reader of her blog but somehow I missed this particular post