![](http://www.cashseeker.co.uk/wp-content/themes/Advanced-Newspaper142/timthumb.php?src=/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Keyword-Test.jpg&h=&q=90&w=90&h=65&zc=1")
Maybe you hate keywords, maybe you love them. Either way, finding out what people have typed into the search engines is an excellent way to determine if your niche is viable.
I use freekeywords.wordtracker.com to research my topics. Here’s a quick search I pulled up on ‘shoes’ as an example:
![](http://www.cashseeker.co.uk/wp-content/themes/Advanced-Newspaper142/timthumb.php?src=/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Ezine-Article-Test.jpg&h=&q=90&w=90&h=65&zc=1")
Ezine Articles is an article directory that is home to massive amounts of articles published by over 200,000 authors. If there’s a niche that’s profitable, you’re going to find articles about it on EzineArticles.com.
![](http://www.cashseeker.co.uk/wp-content/themes/Advanced-Newspaper142/timthumb.php?src=/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/cj-test.jpg&h=&q=90&w=90&h=65&zc=1")
CJ is short for “Commission Junction,” a site like Clickbank.com where marketers can sell their own products and become affiliates for others. Sign up for www.CJ.com and look around at all of their advertisers and products. Not only will just spending 15 minutes in their site uncover enough niches for your entire entrepreneurial career, it’s also a great site to test out niche potential, like we did with Clickbank.com.
![](http://www.cashseeker.co.uk/wp-content/themes/Advanced-Newspaper142/timthumb.php?src=/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/ClickBank-Test.jpg&h=&q=90&w=90&h=65&zc=1")
If I’m planning to offer ebooks and other information products as my main business model for the niche I’m considering, I like to head to Clickbank.com to do some quick market research. I search through the main category my niche idea falls under and see if there are any popular products that would fit in my niche.
![](http://www.cashseeker.co.uk/wp-content/themes/Advanced-Newspaper142/timthumb.php?src=http://www.cashseeker.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/google-adwords.jpg&h=&q=90&w=90&h=65&zc=1")
One of my favorite tests to see if a niche has good potential is to do the Google Adwords test. To perform this test, think of a problem that someone in your target market has, and then figure out what search term they would enter into Google to find a solution to their problem.
![](http://www.cashseeker.co.uk/wp-content/themes/Advanced-Newspaper142/timthumb.php?src=/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/walmart_logo.gif&h=&q=90&w=90&h=65&zc=1"){kind=logo}
The “Wal-Mart Test” works very well if you’re thinking of creating any type of ecommerce site. The idea is to ask yourself if the products you are considering selling could be bought at Wal-Mart. If they can’t, you have a pretty good chance of selling them online.
![](http://www.cashseeker.co.uk/wp-content/themes/Advanced-Newspaper142/timthumb.php?src=/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/494277_old_books.jpg&h=&q=90&w=90&h=65&zc=1")
Yep, we’re headed back to the bookstore – but to the magazine section this time. When you come across a market or niche that sounds interesting and appears that it has some potential, see if there are any magazines available for your niche. Sometimes your niche is so narrow that there may not be an entire magazine dedicated to it. That’s okay right now – just bump it up a level.
![](http://www.cashseeker.co.uk/wp-content/themes/Advanced-Newspaper142/timthumb.php?src=/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/money-stram.jpg&h=&q=90&w=90&h=65&zc=1")
A profitable niche has two important components: 1.It is “hot,” meaning there is at least a fair amount of interest in the topic. And… 2. More importantly, it attracts people that are anxious to buy. Most of us are investing our time in internet or affiliate marketing to earn a living, not because there wasn’t [...]
![](http://www.cashseeker.co.uk/wp-content/themes/Advanced-Newspaper142/timthumb.php?src=/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/niche-market.jpg&h=&q=90&w=90&h=65&zc=1")
A niche market is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focusing; therefore the market niche defines the specific product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality and the demographics that is intended to impact
