How to Conduct Research for Niche Marketing

Once you have determined the topic for your website or affiliate program, you will need to begin putting together a niche marketing campaign. Though a bit different from an at-large marketing campaign, the steps to putting together your campaign are a bit easier to navigate.

Determine the search phrases most likely to generate users who would be interested in your product or site. Get as specific as possible. “Gardening” is too general. “Petunia gardening” or “beginner organic gardening” are better terms that will generate people looking for exactly what your site has to offer. Once you have determined a set of 10 to 20 good keywords, find out where those searches lead.

Google is the largest search engine, but Ask, MSN, and Yahoo have significant amounts of traffic as well. Use all four to see what the top results are for the terms you have located about your topic. Your niche marketing plan will need to include getting on those top sites or creating back link channels between your site and theirs.

After doing your research on the sites out there, determine how you can use them to get people to your site. If your job is to get people to your site with good content, then you will need to find ways to convince readers to come from the larger site to yours. That typically means becoming a good participant in any social networking community there. Most sites now have ways for visitors to participate through ranking articles or commenting on postings. You need to begin to be a participant at this site and include links to your site in your signature when permissible.

At the research stage, however, your job will be to determine how you can get involved from the “top results” pages. In addition to social networking and other organic methods, check into the advertising rates. If you are conducting a niche marketing campaign with the primary goal of getting people to purchase a product, then you need to evaluate the various advertising options available on the sites with the niche marketing audience you are seeking.

Advertising online can be done through direct placement. You would contact the site and set up an arrangement with them. While these ads often get top placement, they are expensive. Another option is a contextual ad, such as Google AdWords. In this scenario, you would run ads for the key phrases your niche marketing campaign is after, and the ads would go on relevant pages. This method is less effective in many cases but costs less, making it a good option for those just starting out.

Going through all of the keyword and advertising research can be tedious. It takes significant time to weigh all of the factors involved in creating a quality niche marketing campaign, but doing so will help guarantee the success of your campaign. Well-placed ads are the best way to make sure you can compete with larger, more established sites on an equal footing.