Build a Niche Marketing Business – Step 5: Spy On The Competition
Let’s do one last bit of spying here to find out what’s REALLY going on in your niche.
What you want to accomplish in the next few minutes is to find out what other people are doing…what they’re selling, how they’re selling it, what questions the audience in that market are asking, how much products are selling for…you know, just getting the “lay of the land” before we go hunting.
Here’s how you do that: type your keyword phrase…in this case, “candle holders”… into Google.
Click on the first result you get. Don’t do the sponsored ads yet, you know they’re probably making money since they’re paying for each click.
Http://www.100candles.com/candle_holders.htm is the first result. 100candles.com shows up as an e-commerce site with a shopping cart and everything. Nice pictures, nice layout, easy to navigate. The prices on the first page range from around $3.00 to around $60.00.
Look a little closer at the bottom of the page and you’ll see that the site owner has done something pretty smart AND something you’re gonna want to do. He/She has a “tell-a-friend” form on the bottom of the page. That’s a POWERFUL, yet often overlooked way to make your site very viral. Make sure you note that. However, you do need to be somewhat careful of this as certain forms of this could be considered spam. The one here is OK as it is only allows you to send one email to one person. Watch out for the ones that want to email everyone in your address book. Those could be considered spam.
Also down at the bottom of the page, you’ll see a tiny little link that says “affiliate program”. If you click on that, you’ll see that they pay you 25% of all sales you refer to them…and they pay it monthly.
If you click on the “Affiliates Program Policies” link, you’ll find out that they have a minimum of $25.00 earned before they pay you.
Browsing through the products, you’ll find that the most expensive candle holder they sell is priced at $60.00…so you’ll make $15.00 if someone you refer to them buys that item. The least expensive product is $3.00, so you’ll make 75 cents on that sale.
The site doesn’t have a forum or even a top sellers category, so it will be hard to see what people are actually buying here, but the testimonials sound good…most testimonials always do!
Now, a final step before we leave this site. Click on “VIEW” on the toolbar at the top of your browser and then on “View Source” or “Page Source”. You’ll be able to see what descriptions and keywords they’re using!
Make some notes on this spy mission and move on to the next site.
THAT’S how you do it! THAT’S A GOOD SPY MISSION!
Do about 4-5 of the top sites. Especially look for any forums or any type of customer interaction as that can be a literal goldmine of questions and problems that customer are having.
Problems = Products! Products = $$$
One thing you probably noticed in this particular niche: none of the top 10 sites offered any articles on how to best showcase these candle holders or how to make your own candle holders or how to clean your candle holders…YOU GET THE IDEA! As much as Google and the other search engines LOVE original content, don’t you think it will be relatively easy to get YOUR site right up there in the top ten?
SO…by this time, you’ve learned how to find a niche…and how to narrow down that niche into a small pond where you can be a big frog…and how to spy on the other frogs to see what they’re doing so you can beat them!
Now…let’s get moving on to something that will have fish SWARMING to your little pond…whole herds of fish and they’re looking for YOU!
Disclaimer: Some of the links mentioned within this post, or posts it may lead to, are my affiliate links and in such case I will get compensated for recommending those products. However, I will never recommend something that I don’t personally believe in and welcome your questions and feedback.







February 1st, 2009 at 10:16 am
Where did you get your blog layout from? I’d like to get one like it for my blog.
February 1st, 2009 at 11:14 am
Dan,
The blog template is from soggy.dave and you can find the link to his site at the bottom of any of the pages on this blog. Look for WordPress Themes by DBT and just follow the link. He has some great looking templates.
Thanks
February 1st, 2009 at 11:50 am
Another powerful step in your Niche series, Brett – an this one highlights the most overlooked step in the process – learning from the competition who’ve already done enough research & testing to make top 10 at the big G. Thanks!
Doug Champignys last blog post..Professional Royalty-Free Audio Tracks and Sound Effects
February 1st, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Great series Brett. The power of Viewing page source is so simple and so easy and so often overlooked.
Earl Netwals last blog post..Four Giveaway Topics: Giveaway Revenue Booster, Gambit & more
February 1st, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Another great tip for people doing research. If people actually dig deep they will find that the time spent here can be invaluable and I agree with Doug the majority will skip this then complain when they pick wrong.
Mike Paetzolds last blog post..Proven Niche Markets – Save time and effort
February 1st, 2009 at 12:15 pm
With all of the newbie’s coming online in the near future what better time for a series like this to come out. You have found a very good piece to be writing about right now.
Andre Arnetts last blog post..Are You Ready For Some Football/ Halftime Sales II
February 1st, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Brett,
A great post. Amust for any niche you are considering to promote. Check the competition and learn form them. You outlined a great SPY MISSION!
Fred
Fred Lotgerings last blog post..The Niche Giveaway 3
February 1st, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Great advice!
I think to many times marketers find a product to promote, then find the niche… but they need to do the proper research/spying first. They need to find a good niche and what the people want, then find a product.
Joel Osbornes last blog post..Dont Make This Mistake! – Giveaway Riches?