I use Market Samurai, by Noble Samurai, for much of my market research, along with SEOBook.  Market Samurai is still in Beta test and being used by Ed Dale’s 30 Day Challenge bloggers.  You can use it free for 40 days as part of the 30 Day Challenge, which is a very good way to learn how to research, set up and manage a profitable blog.  The 30DayChallenge is also free.  Just Google that term and you’ll be able to start researching and blogging!

Liz Nichols

Technorati Tags: niche research

I am particularly interested in the legalities involved in identifying content in other magazines and reusing them in my publication after editing/condensing.

Should I get permission from them? Should I pay them? Should I share profits with them? How did Readers' Digest do all this? Are there any case studies that will provide details?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Yes you should always ask permission before using someone else's written product. And you should always give credit to the real writer's and/or publisher' s of the copied work. As copy right laws are real and can hurt.

My supposed “niche” ‘new online income opportunity’ had a 24-hr search result of 580 according to a very popular keyword research tool when I started optimizing it. For the past 4 months, it has been fluctuating between 450 to 650 which is fine.

Now, for the past 1 week or so, I find that there are “zero” searches being shown in the 24-hr count. On the contrary, my own website is recording more than 100 hits per day through Google organic search itself.

Likewise another of my keyword ‘where is dubai’ that is drawing a traffic of average 150 visits per day through Google organic search has a total search of 20 per day according to this super tool.

Any comments?

I thought I was pretty good in using such tools, but now I wonder if I know to use them at all. For how can such well reckoned and vastly used research tools be wrong?

Regards,
Joseph Ponnou
http://www.internetmarketingtoolsntips.com

I am not aware of any keyword research tools that are “very accurate,” and at best they tend to be “somewhat helpful.”

There are several issues here. First, no tool is more reliable than the data it is “fed,” and neither Google nor Yahoo provide their search data to third parties. WordTracker uses data from a pool of smaller search engine sites, and often shows high traffic levels for very bizarre search phrases. (In my experience, WordTracker’s data includes “fake traffic” including traffic from other keyword-research bots.)

In addition, even your own data is not complete: you may find that your bidding draws 150 impressions per day for searches for “where dubai” but in fact, your ad might not be shown for 1,000 other searches done each day. (Your data may also be “over-inclusive,” as you may be including searches through the Search Network, which aren’t done at Google, or traffic on the Content Network).

Second, search patterns change over time; the number of searches for “Santa Claus’ address” rises in December and probably zeroes out from January to October. In addition to predictable seasons like that, there are random fluctuations as well as “surges” (when Jay Leno mentions widgets, there may be a bunch of web searches in the next 24 hours).

There are also “cycles” for certain search terms. For example, searches for “porn” peak on weekends (Friday and Saturday night), while searches for “football scores” peak on Sunday and Monday. For some search terms, it’s possible that 80% to 90% of the total searches occur on a single day each week (”lotto numbers”), or even a single day each month or each quarter (”Fed interest rate change”).

Another crucial factor to consider is the activity of “fraud operators,” who use keyword research tools to identify high-bid keywords; when bid amounts rise, those terms attract more fraudulent activity (because fraudsters can make more money from each click than for low-bid terms), increasing volume.

The bottom line is that you should absolutely NEVER rely on any tools to be reliable — not even within an “order of magnitude” — in predicting search volumes for specific keywords or even “keyword families.”

Mark Welch
Internet Marketing Consultant
http://www.MarkWelch.com/

The comment from Mark Welch not withstanding, it is a good idea to research your niche as thoroughly as possible, and that includes doing keyword research.  Google’s free keyword tool is pretty good now in giving you perhaps a picture of relative keyword activity.  I also use the new research tool built in to Market Samurai, which is in beta test and available only to those going through Ed Dale’s 30 Day Challenge (which you can join free).  You’ll get free service from Market Samurai for 40 days if you sign up through the 30DayChallenge site.

No amount of research will substitute for just plain trying a niche and experimenting with it.  It is important to split test headlines, layout and other factors so see what is really working and what is not.  It is a long process, but, at least some of your blogs will rank well it you keep them up consistently for a few months and you maintain a number of them.  You can always sell off or use as Adsense farms the ones that are not working out with other means of monetization.

Liz Nichols

www.myblogbuilders.com

Technorati Tags: keyword research

I am looking for someone to create software for me along the lines of niche research, and adwords combined for me, so which website or company in the USA or International that I can outsource my project too that will do a good job and not rip me off! Help

You can find many freelance programmers at website like http://ww.getafreelnacer.com/ . Hire only those programmers who have got good amount of reviews.