So by now you should have quite a few ideas for different niches that you want to promote products in. Before you start looking for a specific product in your chosen niche it is wise to make sure that you have chosen a niche that has commercial opportunities.

Product Test No. 1

Does it solve a problem?

If your product/niche solves a problem for your potential client then you are much more likely to find people willing to spend money on your product. Examples of products that solve a problem:

Learn how to lose weight fast
How to give up smoking effortlessly
How to stop your baby crying and get a good nights sleep

Look out for words or phrases that signal a person would like to buy a product or service. Things like: how to, stop, get, buy, learn, order. If you include these kinds of words on your webpage then you are more likely to attract people who intend to spend money rather than those looking for freebies.

Product Test No. 2

Is it already selling?

To find out if there already is a market for the product that you wish to sell then you need to see if other people are already selling it.

Type your product into the Google search engine and see if there are any paid ads. The paid ads are usually the first couple of listings on the left hand column and all of the listings down the right hand side of the Google search results page.

If other people are willing to spend money on PPC in that market they must be making money! If there are pages and pages of PPC ads then you may have found a very competitive market and it might be a good idea to start with something less competitive. Either choose a new niche or become more specific within the niche that you have chosen.

Probably 2 or 3 pages of PPC ads is a good place to start. You have some competition so you there is money to be made but as an internet marketing newbie, you won’t be overwhelmed!

Product Test No. 3

Does it pay?

The next thing that you want to know is are there any existing affiliate programs for your niche. Type “your product” affiliate into the Google search engine box and see what results you get. As discussed in a previous post, the best kind of affiliate program to find is something that has a recurring component, like when you are selling monthly memberships.

You can type into Google “your product” affiliate recurring and see if there are any results.

Product Test No. 4

Are enough people looking for your product?

Before you spend a lot of time, energy and even money on promoting your product, you need to make sure that the market is big enough to provide you with results. So you really want to know how many people per day or month are actually looking for your product. Google has a great tool for this the Google adwords tool.

This tool was designed to help people with their PPC marketing campaigns but there is a huge amount of information that can be found here.

You can make your search country specific if your product is specific for a country or local region. You can see how many searches per month and can choose whether to look at exact match searches, phrase match searches or broad searches.

I’m going to take the time to explain the difference between those 3 categories as it is a critical point to know for now and for later when you are doing your keyword research.

Broad match: your keyword
This is when you type your keyword into the Google search box without any modifiers. Your results will include websites with similar phrases or variations on your keyword.

Phrase Match: “your keyword”
Your keyword is typed into the Google search box in quotation marks. You will bring up results that match your phrase exactly. But there may be words at the beginning or end of your keyword phrase.

Exact Match: [your keyword]
Your keyword is typed into Google in brackets. Your search will bring up results that match your keyword exclusively.

Different people have differing opinions as to whether you should do your research based on broad, phrase or exact match. I personally think that you should start on exact match so that you ensure you have enough people in your market before you start promoting your product!

Related posts:

1. Affiliate Marketing for Newbies – Niche Product Ideas
2. Affiliate Marketing for Newbies – Finding a Product
3. How to Find an Affiliate Product to Promote