In this issue of NMRC newsletter, you'll find:

  1. Editor's note - did you like the demo?
  2. Free market reports update
  3. Keyword research tip of the month
  4. Answers to readers' questions

HTML version of this issue is available online at
http://NicheMarketResearch.com/newsletter/2004-10.html

Editor's note

Thanks to everyone who emailed us with kind comments on the previous issue. It seems that we found the right format for most of our readers.

Many people tried our demo. Thanks to those of you who ordered a copy after that. However, we would also like to hear the opinion of those who didn't buy. Please email me at center@nichemarketresearch.com and tell me what you think about NicheFinder. Do you find it useful? Worth the price? What else does it need to make you order? ;-)

In case you missed the free demo for some reason, it is still available. Please download it here:
http://NicheMarketResearch.com/nichefinder/free-demo.html

Free market reports

As promised, here are the updates of our free reports. You can learn the ideas behind these reports here:
http://NicheMarketResearch.com/reports/

We only list top 10 out of 100 keywords from each report here. Links to full versions are included.

1. Internet Marketing report

No.Key PhraseDemandSupplyKEI
1website promotion162287323600001115981.684
2advertising461202126600000799651.793
3ad386550434500000433104.962
4search engines12564473960000398651.279
5promotion183213410900000307955.504
6web marketing460115371000057063.562
7marketing online460115442000047897.243
8internet marketing460115468000045236.285
9home based opportunities347196331000036418.448
10web site hosting services326791336000031783.440

View full Internet Marketing report (100 keywords) online:
http://NicheMarketResearch.com/reports/internet-marketing/2004-10.html

2. Marketing Gurus report

No.Key PhraseDemandSupplyKEI
1Zig Ziglar6059265001385.339
2Don Lapre212712900350.708
3Roy Williams11460794000165.405
4Corey Rudl11851720081.641
5Rick Beneteau593461076.280
6Alex Mandossian264206033.833
7Jay Abraham202214300028.591
8Yanik Silver482883026.311
9Andrew Reynolds313138600025.397
10Robert Allen9297373000023.173

View full Marketing Gurus report (100 keywords) online:
http://NicheMarketResearch.com/reports/marketing-gurus/2004-10.html

Keyword research tip of the month

Many people already heard that they need to do some keyword research in order to succeed online. But did you know that there are 3 completely different ways to find the best keywords for you, depending on your plans and business model?

The most popular way is based on search engine queries statistics, and the number of results. You know how many times people search for the phrase, you know how many pages compete for it - enough to make the choice, right? There are even tools for reporting the overall keyword effectiveness index (KEI), based on demand and supply figures, so you basically only need to choose keywords with high KEI.

All of the above is great, but this method is mostly useful to choose keywords for search engine optimization campaigns, when you build pages and links with the goal to score high in "natural" / "free" search engine results.

If you plan to use PPC (pay-per-click) search engines as your traffic source, KEI becomes less useful for you. It still reflects the market situation to some degree, but you can use more relevant statistics for your specific purposes. When you use PPCs, you should look at the number of ads / paid listings for your target keywords, not the number of natural results. So, first of all, you need to choose keywords with little or no paid listings, for which you can get the top positions cheap. It's good if they have a high demand, too, but with PPCs, you can easily use a few hundred less-popular keywords, too.

Another interesting case is when you plan to use advertising as your primary source of income. In that case, you'll most likely limit yourself to free search engine optimization. But you also need to keep an eye on PPC statistics, because they define your advertising fees, either directly (if you use Google AdSense or a similar advertiser program), or indirectly, if your advertisers compare your ad prices to their regular PPC spending. In this business model, you need keywords that have high KEI (so you can rank well and get some traffic), and have many bids in PPCs, and thus, high bid values.

Think about those 3 ways to choose your keywords. Whether you choose one, or combine several of them for your business, knowing about all three should help you to pick your target keywords with more confidence.

Answers to readers' questions

Feel free to send us questions regarding niche marketing, keyword research, PPCs, NicheFinder and similar topics. We'll answer your questions, at least privately, and will post the most interesting ones in our newsletter.

Question: "What is the best submissions tool? I use bcentral.com (it is time consuming and limited by the amount of places to submit to). At times I bought WebPosition Gold but I never really got success with it." -- Gal

Answer: It's only my personal opinion, but I think that there's no real need for submission tools today. The spiders crawl through the net quite thoroughly, and what you really need to get listed is a lot of quality links from relevant sites. Without those links, even if you use submission tools, you are unlikely to achieve good rankings.

Of course, once you get spidered and listed, you still have to go a long way to reach the top 10 results. Maybe that's what you meant as a part of the submission process. That's where you can use SEO experts services or advice. Software like WebPosition Gold can give you some useful suggestions, but it can't replace the real expert.

The only places where you really need to submit are top directory sites, like Yahoo and dmoz.org - but you don't need software for that. Submitting there requires a lot of personal attention and care. Read their guidelines, and follow them attentively.

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