How To Find a Niche to Write About
77Finding the Perfect Niche
From a lot of the data I have analyzed, it turns out that finding an untapped niche is the best way to drive traffic to a Hub. What do I mean by a niche? Simply a narrow content category, or even a Hub focused to one topic. So what's an untapped niche? Well, since most traffic comes to Hubs via a search engine, an untapped niche is a narrow content category or topic that has little competition in the SERPs (search engine result pages), but also has enough search traffic to be worthwhile to create the page.
How To Measure the Competition in a Niche
There are three tools you can use to measure the attractiveness of a niche and the reletive competitiveness. First is looking for an idea to research. I made a hub on high traffic ideas, but the main tool to use first is the google keyword tool. Look for keyword phrases that have at least two words in them, and preferably three. It's much easier to get traffic for a three word phrase from search engines than two or one. At the same time, we need to pay close attention to the estimated search volume. Look for search terms with over 30,000 searches per month and lots of variants or related searches. We want to make sure that there is enough volume to bring in real traffic. My goal for Hubs done through this method is to get 20 referals a day from the search engine.
Second, is to perform the search on Google in quotes ("My three word phrase") and look at how many results they return. It's important to use quotes because this will give you an idea of how many pages contain the exact phrase. I like to look for phrases that return less than 150,000 results. This may seem like a lot, but if you compare it to a search for Las Vegas Hotels, there are over 3.7 million results. Good luck ranking for that phrase:).
If you pass the first two barriers, then you want to look at the number of incoming links to the pages that are ranking well. This may sound tricky, but it's pretty simple. The main reason you want to do this is that the main search engines (google, yahoo, microsoft) look at links that are point to your site from other sites. Pages with many incoming links are more difficult to compete with, while pages with a few can usually be competed with by creating a higher quality page. Do your search on Google and click on one of the links in the first five results. Then copy the URL of the page and paste it into a search on yahoo that checks the number of links. Add link: infront of the URL and then click the search button. Next, you'll need to modify the drop down box on Yahoo to show links not from this domain. This will limit the results to links from other sites. If there are under 5 or so links to the page, there is a good chance to rank for the page. We have to switch to Yahoo because they do a better job of showing the total number of links.
Let's Walk Through an Example of Finding a Niche
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Comments
I probably should have said that this is more about finding a niche to get search engine traffic.
Informative hubpage..
Great Hub, Paul. I haven't been on here for a while for a variety of reasons and this is the first Hub I have checked out since coming back, and a great one to come back to!
Great Hub! Will keep this in mind while writing.Thanks!
Thanks Paul. Just what I need for my personal write-a-thon to reach a pageview of over 50000 by 1 October 2008, see How To Reach 50000 Pageviews In 60 Days Chapter
Benson
Thanks, this is timely.
This is great info, Paul. Thanks so much!
Very useful advice, thanks!
Thanks, keep up the good work.
This is the one I was looking for. I have bookmarked this and will keep a Hardcopy too. Thank you.
Maybe u can write some more about this subject
Very informative, Thanks
very interesting approach.
i'll put it to the test.
thanx !
great ,, will keep that in mind while writing
Paul, this Hub is very valuable to me, since I'm new to keyword research and niche finding. But I'm having a little trouble following your process because I can't see the details in the screen caps. If you used the Hub photo capsule to lay out these screen caps, would you be so kind as to enable the *Original Image Popup* feature so we can view larger images?
Many thanks, Sally.
@Sally's Trove - Sure. Just did it. Hope it helps.
Paul, thanks. That made a world of difference.
Thank you for this great Hub! If I ever make it to the #1 spot for a search result I'll surely have you to thank.
Great hub. I totally agree that writing about an untapped niche is a great way to drive traffic. My hub about the sprinkle diet (a very new weight loss strategy), for example, has been getting much more traffic than my other hubs that discuss more famous or broader topics.
Wow, this is very useful and very condensed information.
Do you know the Thirty Day Challenge of Ed Dale and Dan Raine?
It is on now, for 30 days, free membership at http://www.ThirtyDayChallenge.com/challenge/2148
They take you step by step principally through the above mentioned process, and there is a new training video every day. I take part again this year, because it is fun, and I learned a lot last year.
They even have a free tool for keyword research and niche finding, which automates lots of the steps of the process, the tool is free for the TDC attendants too (during the challenge).
If you click on the above link you will find my profile as charlotte, would be nice to connect inside :-)
Charlotte
Great hub, i needed this
Valuable advice. You walked thru it clearly. Thanks!
Excellent hub. I'm sure hubbers will find this article valuable.
Informative figure-wise. But don't forget to add what's important: know what you're selling and for long-term committment and growth, have a passion in the niche or move on. You'll lose interest fast in mantenance. There are enough mindless Adsense junk sites out there. Quality content = goal, and long-term, as you see here with Hubpages.
good I like it! Keep the good writing
Thanks Paul! Now I'll know what to write about to drive more traffic to my hubs. Hopefully I'll also be able to address topics that people are hoping to learn more about, that way I'm helping them, and driving more traffic. -David
Thanks for the good article. I'd better start finding my own.
Thank you, Paul. It is very much appreciated that this hub was written in easy-to-understand terms for the lay person and not just an Internet marketer. Thanks also for providing a concrete example and walking us through the process!
Pretty please with a cherry on top write more how-to hubs like this one!
thank's paul, very interesting!
Wow. I've been looking for this. Many thanks!
Thanks for the helpful advice. this is a great resource for all of us Hubbers.
Thanks for this informative hub. I'm going to try my shot at finding a niche in travel industry.
Helpful to a new Hubber! Thanks.
Now you're really talking my language ~ great hub!
Thank you for this hub Paul. You give advice that is different from many articles I have read on keyword targetting. I like what I see here. I will have to try your method for sure -- and right away, as I'm in the Hub Challenge.
Thanks I like the way you explained how to find a niche, its true that this is how internet marketers have been making money online by setting up niche and micro niche websites, that are specific to one topic, google likes to rank those that focus on one narrow area of interest.
So like you said if you build a site on baby girl dresses you would want to include other search phrase for that niche, such as baby girl dress patterns.
Uninvited Writer says:
16 months ago
Exellent hub with great advice.