It comes from Katerina, who writes:

I have read all the ebooks and have the programs to find niches and still I come up empty handed because when you follow the directions you discover that most of the niches I like have a high demand but also high supply.

I have not found yet a niche that has a good demand but a low supply.

Are niches all dried up now?

Well, Katerina, if I said the Internet isn’t becoming more competitive, I would be lying. If I told you that finding a niche market on the Internet is as easy today as it was five years ago, I would be lying.

The Internet is a competitive hunting ground, and it’s only going to get more competitive — but does that mean all the good opportunities are gone?

NO!!!

You are talking about a business medium that allows you to reach every wired corner of the world from your computer at home. According the Internet World Stats, as of June 10, 2007 there were 1.133 BILLION people online — and it’s still growing at a phenomenal rate.

With those kinds of numbers, I’d be willing to guess there are still a few great opportunities waiting to be discovered!

However, the fact is: If your hobby or interest happens to be something like “golf” or “health products,” the chances of finding a niche are slim to none. These are saturated markets, and it’s time to expand beyond them.

If you are serious about making money online and you have explored your interests and have found them to be too competitive, then it’s time to broaden the scope of your search.

What would you enjoy learning more about? Don’t let your lack of knowledge stop you from exploring a topic you’re interested in. I know if I set aside an hour a day for the next month and immersed myself in an unfamiliar niche, I would have enough knowledge to start an online business based on that topic.

The point I am trying to make here, is don’t limit yourself to what you know today. Broaden the scope of your search and explore new niches where you aren’t already an expert — and all of sudden different potential businesses will start to appear.

My final comment is this: Don’t always write a business opportunity off simply because there’s some competition in the market. Rather, you should determine the viability of an opportunity by analyzing the quality of the competition.

If you look at the competition and believe you could do a better job meeting the needs of the market — if you can come up with a unique selling proposition that offers more value and truly differentiates you from all the other sellers out there — then you can be massively successful in an already competitive market.

Remember: Perseverance is key! Like Albert Einstein said:

It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.

To your success…

Derek Gehl

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Derek Gehl specializes in teaching real people how to start profitable Internet businesses that make $100,000 to $2.5 Million (or more) per year. To get instant access to all his most profitable marketing campaigns, strategies, tools, and resources that he’s used to grow $25 into over $60 Million in online sales, visit Internet Marketing Center

Today I’m going to tell you how to increase the kind of web site traffic your business really needs…

AND build your crediblity…
AND improve your ranking in the search engines…
AND get your customers talking to others about you…

… all with a simple four-step process that won’t cost you a single dime.

Sound too good to be true? It’s not!

Let me give you a quick rundown of the plan before we dive in:

1. You’re going to find a handful of keywords that the ideal visitor to your site would use to search for your product.

2. You’re going to plug those keywords into your web site.

3. Then you’re going to write a SHORT article that contains those same keywords.

4. And finally, you’ll distribute your content all over the web and get people passing your information on to other people who will be interested in what you have to offer.

You’ll be surprised how quickly and easily you can get this strategy going — AND how fast you’ll see an impact on your traffic numbers when you put yourself on the radar of people who are looking for what you provide.

Let’s check out the first step in a little more detail…

STEP ONE: Set up your web site for maximum “searchability”!

If you haven’t taken the time to…

• figure out the keywords your potential customers might be using to search for your product AND
• place them throughout the copy on your site…

your traffic is going to be sluggish right off the bat.

How are the people who really want your information supposed to find you?

When I tell people that they’ve missed an important step in their traffic-building strategy, they always ask me: how are you supposed to figure out the right keywords for your web site?

Here are the two tools I recommend to help them with the job:

• Yahoo Search Marketing’s Keyword Selector Tool is a good place to start your investigation. You just type in a word or term you think people in your market might search for, and the Keyword Selector Tool will tell you how many people searched for that particular term in Yahoo Search Marketing over the last month.It will also show you a list of related words and phrases, and tell you how many times people typed those terms into the free search engines over the last month.This is a great way to find out how many people may be searching for information to solve a particular problem, and give you a picture of the demand for your product on the Web. But best of all, it gives you tons of ideas for keywords that you might never have thought of.

Once you’ve generated a list of useful keyword ideas, you’re ready to dig in and do some serious research with Wordtracker.

• Wordtracker goes into more depth to show you not only what people are searching for online, but also how many other web sites are competing for the same audience.Basically, it keeps a record of how many times a particular keyword or phrase was searched during the past 90 days across the Web.When you enter the keyword phrases your market is searching for, you search the Wordtracker database of over 330 million searches (or “queries”).

  You’re looking for search terms that are popular, but don’t have too many sites competing for them. You can also pop all of this detailed information into useful reports that help you determine which keywords and phrases will bring you the most traffic.

  To check out Wordtracker and get a step-by-step guide to the process, just head to: http://www.marketingtips.com/wordtracker and click “Tour” on the navigation bar.

  Wordtracker is a paid service, but you can sign up for a day for under $8.00 and a week for under $27.00. It’s a great investment.

STEP TWO: Plug your keywords into your site

Now that you have some great keywords for your market, find as many places as you can to plug them into your web site! Use them in your title tags, in your source code, in the copy on your pages, and in your opt-in offers.

If you find your domain name isn’t telling people what your web site is about or showing up in the right search results, consider purchasing a new one. A keyword-rich domain name is a small investment that really pays off by making your site easy for your potential customers to find and remember. (One quick note: remember to use only keywords relevant to your product — search engines will penalize you if they find keywords sprinkled through your code that have nothing to do with the content of your site.)

Now to move on to the next step — your foolproof way to snag people searching for your product on the Web and bring them back to your site!

STEP THREE: Create a keyword-rich article to distribute on the Web

When you’re ready, get your keywords, sit down, and write a keyword-rich article that relates to what you sell. Then give it away to other sites — for FREE!

Believe it or not, this is one of the best ways you can drive a steady stream of eager customers to your site.

Why does it work? Well, people basically come online for one of two reasons: To check their email or to look for information. Sure, some of them end up making purchases, but this is not generally the reason they log on. They want…

• the answer to a question
• the solution to a problem

That’s why it’s your job to give them that information, as it relates to your product. You already do that with the copy on your web site, but why stop there?

Writing a short, informative article to distribute on the Web is a great way to gain recognition as a valuable resource in your industry.

Of course, you’ll want to write about something that relates to your products or services, since the ultimate goal of the article is to drive visitors to your site who are interested in what you’re selling. But the article should be informative, not “sales-y”.

Make sure that each article you write contains rare, valuable, or hard-to-find information. Not only will this increase the chances that other site owners or managers will post your article, it will also increase the number of visitors who click through to your site after reading it.

For example, if you have a web site that sells used golf equipment, you could write an article about three things to look for in a good, pre-owned putter.

Or if you sell an eBook about setting up your own home computer network, why not write an article about common problems people have in setting up a wireless router?

Look for article ideas in the questions that people ask you all the time, or in the things you often see people doing wrong. Share hot new tips on how to use the products you sell, or talk about trends that you’ve spotted in your industry.

I’m not talking about a major essay here, though.

Did I just hear a big sigh of relief?

Nope — you don’t need to be a professional writer to turn out a solid, traffic-boosting article! Your quick piece should…

• be no longer than 400 words (not even a whole page!)
• contain a keyword related to your product in first 90 characters
• contain the keyword in the first and last paragraphs
• have a short, credibility-building “bio” with link to your site at the end. Here’s an example: “ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joe Smith is a recognized authority on the subject of widgets. His web site, www. JoesWidgets .com, provides a wealth of informative articles and resources on everything you’ll ever need to know about widgets.”

Now for the fourth step in this traffic-driving strategy.

STEP FOUR: Get your content headed EVERYWHERE on the Web

Once you’ve taken a few hours to write one or two quick articles, head to one of these top online content distribution sites. Upload your keyword-rich content to:

• http://www.contentdesk.com
• http://www.ezinearticles.com
• http://www.freesticky.com
• http://www.goarticles.com
• http://www.ideamarketers.com
• http://www.findsticky.com

It only takes a couple of minutes, but the rewards for your site will be huge.

These sites carry hundred or thousands of articles on a range of topics. If someone is looking for content for their web site, they can download or copy an article from the distribution site without paying a dime to use it!

They can’t change the text of the article, and they must publish it with the author’s name and information intact.

Now people who are plugging your keywords into search engines will be directed to your content at these highly-ranked sites, and web site owners who are looking for fresh, search engine- attracting content will download your article — along with your bio and link! — and put it up on their pages.

And once visitors see that you know what you’re talking about, they’ll click on the link in your bio, and head straight to your web site!

The best thing about this strategy is that these visitors are QUALITY, TARGETED traffic — they actually WANT what you’re selling, because you are meeting a need or giving them help with the problem they came online to solve!

Some content distribution sites also offer “send to a friend” links next to articles posted on their sites — so make sure you’re uploading your articles to sites with this kind of capability!

Every time someone enjoys your article enough to pass it on, your audience grows. And since people don’t forward BAD content on to their friends, they are basically recommending you as a credible source just by passing it on.

You can also create a “send to a friend” link on your own web pages with the help of a simple script added to your code. Here are some examples of what this kind of link might say:

• “Did you enjoy this article? To recommend it to a friend, click here…”
• “To pass this important info along to a friend or family member, click here…”
• “Share this with a friend — just click here…”
• “Can’t wait to tell a friend about this? Here’s how…”

To find scripts to make links like these ones fully functional, check out the resources at:

• http://www.freewebtemplates.com
• http://www.javascript.com
• http://www.scriptsearch.com
• http://www.hotscripts.com

The visitors who come to your site through articles or forwarded material are highly targeted… and likely to take action when they actually arrive at your web site seeking your specific information.

Final thoughts

See how much you can do with one little article? It’s amazing how effective a small piece of content can be when you…

• know your keywords, and…
• know all the places to position that content so it’s viewed again and again

Once you’ve done your keyword research, you might feel a bit intimidated by the idea of writing something yourself for the ‘Net. Or maybe you don’t feel like you have the time to do it justice.

Remember — any free content you create shouldn’t be too long, and it definitely shouldn’t be too complicated, since the people reading it won’t know your product or your subject as well as you do.

If you’re still concerned, you can always hire a writer from a freelance web site like Elance ( http://www.elance.com ) to do a couple of short articles or an eBook (with a bit of basic information from you, of course.) Expect to pay anywhere from $25 to $35 an hour for their time.

But I recommend that you try to write something yourself first. You definitely don’t need to be a professional writer to create something readable and interesting… (I sure don’t have a degree in creative writing myself!)

Just try to think like your audience — what do they want to know, and how much do they know already? Then tell them simply and clearly. We’re not talking Shakespeare here.

Here’s one more quick peek at my easy four-step plan to increase web traffic:

1. Find the keywords people are using to search for your product.

2. Make sure all the content on your web site contains these keywords!

3. Write short, keyword-rich articles with links directing people back to your site — nothing too long or complicated; just enough content to establish you as someone “in the know” about your industry.

4. And finally, send your article to content distribution sites and — with just a simple suggestion or a script-based link — encourage people to pass your material on to their friends (and direct them back to your site!)

These simple steps are things that practically anyone can do to drive traffic. They’ll help you get the kind of targeted, quality traffic that can make all the difference to the success of a business, especially when you’re just starting out!

In other words, these are the types of visitors who are most likely to take action on your site, whether they make a purchase, or simply opt in with their personal information.

And I don’t know about you, but I’ll take more of those visitors any day of the week!

Privacy note: The VRE Toolbar collects anonymous statistical usage data but it DOES NOT spy on your browsing habits. It does not track webpages you visit or keywords you use in the search box. Please see our Privacy policy.

1. Keywords Suggestions & Research
   Grabs the Overture search counts for different geographic markets. Offers suggested monthly regional search volumes by market for Google, Yahoo! and MSN. Provides links to price estimate tools from Overture and Google AdWords.
2. Niche Generator
   Randomly suggests niche topics. Provides links to keyword research and domain lookup.
3. 43 Things
   Lists other people’s goals related to a keyword. Helps discover people’s interests, that can give you great ideas to create websites around.
4. Adwords Traffic Estimator
   Gives you keyword traffic and cost estimates at a glance. For any keywords you select, you’ll see the following information: minimum bid, maximum cost-per-click (CPC), search volume, estimated avg. CPC, estimated ad positions, traffic estimates based on an unlimited budget.
5. ColorImpact
   This software allows to create beautiful color schemes for your website with a single click.
6. DomainsBot Ideas, Suggestions
   Helps find great domain names.
7. DigitalPoint (Wordtracker)
   Shows the results of your query from both Wordtracker and Overture for determining which phrases are searched most often. Gives suggestions for alternate (but similar) keywords.
8. Rapid Niche Websites
   Quickly create cash-pulling web sites by following this easy step-by-step system.
9. Google Sets
   Automatically create sets of items from a few examples. For example, when you enter ‘armani, versace’ subset, it returns Gucci, Chanel, Prada, Calvin Klein, Fendi, Dolce Gabbana etc. Fun and very addictive!
10. The Reese Report
    A highly regarded monthly publication (a printed newsletter & companion CD-ROM) that demonstrates and teaches tons of little-known online moneymaking strategies, provides techniques and methods you can use today to start building an online empire made up of tons of tiny content sites.

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