30 Day Competitive Niche Research Plan
Before you spend weeks or months trying to turn a profit from a niche, it’s a good idea spend some time investigating it to see if it’s viable. Viable would mean it has ample topics for content, tons of money-making opportunities, and a healthy presence of a target audience online.
You need to make an effort to size up the niche before you just quickly commit to it. Imagine spending six months trying to earn from a bad decision. It will leave you frustrated and pessimistic about your abilities as an online entrepreneur.
While you may be in a rush to make money, it’s important that you know you’re choosing the right niche topic. Not only do you want one that’s ripe with profit potential, but you also want to make sure you have a hungry audience ready to absorb your content – and a personal passion to lead them.
Day 1: Brainstorm a List of Your Interests, Knowledge and Passions
The place you want to start when picking a niche is in your own mind. On the very first day of your niche research journey, you want to sit down with a pen and paper and brainstorm a list of all of the things you have knowledge or expertise in, topics that you feel emotionally passionate about, and things you have a general interest in, even if that means learning more along the way.
For example, you might know a lot about raising children because you are a parent of five. You might have a passion for the pet niche because you like to help people pair up with a rescue animal in need.
When it comes to interests, you might want to list things you have been involved with before, such as cooking. Or, you might name things that you’ve always wanted to learn more about, such as a particular arts and crafts topic.
Day 2: Make a List of the Niche Pain Points and Problems
The next day, you want to take those niches that you listed previously and right a summary of the main pain points and problems the audience of those niches have to deal with or need help with.
For example, if cooking was one of the niches that you listed, then you might list problems such as cooking for one or cooking low sodium or low calorie meals. Cooking on a budget could also be a pain point or problem for this target audience.
Day 3: Conduct Some In-Depth Keyword Research
The third day, you want to log in to a keyword research tool, either free or paid, and start drilling down from broad to more narrow keywords and phrases. You want to export these and save them in a file for use later.
The reason you want to conduct initial keyword research is because sometimes it can spark more ideas for a topic that you may not have considered before. For example, if you went to a keyword tool and typed in the words cooking for – you might get results such as cooking for diabetics, cooking for beginners, cooking for college students, or cooking for babies or elderly.
Day 4: Create a List of Sub-Topics for Each Niche You’re Considering
On day four, you want to create a list of topics that you have drilled down from the main one. For example, if anti-aging is one of the niches that you are considering, then you might have subcategories such as memory, mobility, socialization, finances, skin care, and more.
Day 5: Map Out Niche Topics That Complement the Originals
For each of the niches that you are considering, you should use a mind mapping system to link any niche that could possibly be connected with the original one. This will serve you well at a later date when you want to create additional content or promote more products that are just outside of your niche.
For example, if your niche topic is weight loss, there are many other niches that may affect someone’s ability to lose weight. That may include things like stress, sleep, and more.
Having these written down ahead of time will allow you to easily pick a niche to pair your content with and offer additional solutions that may not be inherently associated with your original niche.
For example, if you wrote an article for your blog about how a lack of good sleep can impair your ability to lose weight, you would be able to make recommendations for better bedding, sleep supplements, white noise machines, and other products that help someone sleep better, and indirectly help them lose weight.
Day 6: See What’s Being Said About It in the News
On this day, you want to take some time to analyze the various news stories for your niche. You may be able to find some stories using the search tool on sites like CNN or Fox News.
But you can also go to Google or another search engine, type in your niche topic, and click on the News tab to see what has been discussed about it recently. You may be able to find specific studies that have been conducted and have some cutting edge information that is timely to share with your audience.
Day 7: Check for Rising or Falling Trends
Another thing you want to keep your eye on over the course of these 30 days are the trends that have emerged, risen or fallen sharply over time. The last thing you want to do is hang your hat on a trend within a niche, only to see it get scrapped.
Ideally, you want to immerse yourself in an evergreen niche that will be around and have a solid performance for years to come. It’s okay to capitalize on certain trends that occur within your niche, but you want to have a strong anchor for your business.
Day 8: Stop By Forums to See What the Needs Are
One thing that will help you be able to tap into the needs of your audience is to visit forums within your niche and see what people are posting about and commenting on. For example, if you are in the survival niche and you visit a prepper forum, you may see increased concerns about the economy.
Or, you may be able to jot down a specific topic such as supply chain issues so that you have a note to address that in an upcoming blog post about stocking up on supplies early on.
Day 9: Find Out If There’s an Audience for the Niche on Facebook
Another part of your niche research is to see if there’s an audience for this topic on Facebook. While many in the younger generation do not have a presence here, it is still one of the most popular social media sites online.
You want to be looking for groups, pages, and profiles that are discussing your niche topic. Join the groups and follow the pages so that you can begin observing the target audience and also networking with others who can help you earn money in the niche.
Day 10: Look to See If the Niche Is ‘Gram-Worthy
Today, you want to visit Instagram to see if there is a presence for your target audience here. Be sure to use hashtags to conduct searches and see what kind of content is being highlighted and supported by the followers.
For example, if you type in the word gardening and look at the results, you may find that a post on hydroponics has far fewer followers than one on how to grow tomatoes. It doesn’t mean you should ignore hydroponics, but you will be able to rank the level of interest by looking at the engagement.
Day 11: Peek on Pinterest to See If It Has a Following
Stopping by Pinterest on this day of your niche research will help you see how many people are actively saving and sharing content for a specific subtopic within your niche. For example, if you entered the word dieting, you would get all kinds of results.
You would be able to see the level of interest for topics such as the keto diet, inflammation diet, intermittent fasting, vegetarian diets, and more. This is a great keyword tool because you can follow the link to someone’s profile who has shared or liked the content and see what else they have saved on their Pinterest board.
Day 12: See If You Can Discover Any Tik Toks on Your Topic
Even if you may not be an active sharer there yet, make sure you visit Tik Tok to see how many people are discussing your niche topic there. You may be surprised at what all you can find on this social media app – from videos about memory loss to container gardening tips – they have it all.
Day 13: Conduct a YouTube Search for the Niche
It’s the second largest search engine on the Internet, which is why you need to make sure you visit YouTube and conduct a search in your niche. For example, if you are in the diabetes niche, you can enter that word as a search term and see the results that have the most views, such as healthy eating for diabetics.
The great thing about this site is that the comments will have insight into what is most important to your audience on each subtopic. The audience here will share their own tips and also ask for additional advice, which you can write down for future content ideas.
Day 14: Take a Look at What’s Being Covered By Trade and Consumer Magazines
Depending on the niche, you may be able to look up trade magazines or consumer magazines and get an idea of what topics are important to the audience based on what’s on the cover.
You may also want to look up trade shows in your niche or conventions and expos that you could dig into online or in person to get to know your target audience and the market in general better.
Day 15: View the Podcast List for Your Topic
One good resource to see if your niche is going to be popular enough and profitable enough is to go to Google and type in your niche topic and the word podcast. You will be able to see how many followers the podcast has, and be able to look back on their episodes to see which topics have been covered.
Depending on the platform, you may be able to see comments that have been left for the host that can give you more insight into what needs to be covered about this particular topic or what had a positive impact on the listening audience.
Day 16: Spy on the Competition to See Where They’re Failing and Succeeding
The competition for your niche will be everywhere – as authors on Amazon, as individuals leading groups on social media, as bloggers creating consistent content for the target audience, and more.
You want to begin scouring the web to see who the strong competitors are so that you can pinpoint any weaknesses they have that you may be able to do better with. You also want to see where they are succeeding so that you can emulate that success with ideas of your own.
Day 17: Make Note of Tangible Products You Can Promote as an Affiliate
On this day, your goal is to begin the process of looking into the profitability of the niche. One thing you want to do is make a list of the tangible products you could promote, if there are any.
Even topics that are mostly digital, such as online marketing, have tangible items that can be promoted such as green screens, microphones, computers and more. If you are in a niche that has a ton of tangible products, then try to categorize them the best you can.
As you jot down the products, make a note as to where you can promote the items. For example, you may find that you can promote through Amazon or Share a Sale, but if you do some digging, you may also find that the vendor or manufacturer allows you to promote directly through them.
Day 18: List All of the Digital Products You Can Earn Commissions From
On this day, you want to do the same thing you did for the tangible items, only with digital products. You will be looking on sites like ClickBank, Warrior Plus, JVZoo, Udemy and other locations to see if there are eBooks, memberships, and video courses you can promote for a commission as an affiliate,
Day 19: See If There Are Any Subscription Offers for the Niche
Many people forget that there are opportunities for ongoing revenue as an affiliate. Subscription offers (such as boxes that get mailed to the buyer’s home) are one way to achieve this. For example, they have them for niches such as beauty, arts and crafts, pets, survival, fitness, and more.
Day 20: Spot Holes in the Marketplace That Would Make Good Info Products
Another good research tactic for your niche is to look for ways you can fill a gap in the marketplace. For example, it may be based on a topic that has not been covered or a media format that has not been presented.
You may find that someone has not covered the topic of how to write an eBook very well, so that may be something you can provide to the target audience. Or, you may find that there are several courses about how to build a blog in PDF format, but the marketplace is lacking a video course, which you could easily provide.
Day 21: Map Out the Common Denominators for Product Funnels in the Niche
On this day, you want to look for the common denominators in the product funnels that you see in the marketplace for your niche. To do this, you will often need to go to the JV (joint venture) page to see how the funnel unfolds for the customer.
You want to look for patterns or ideas that many people are using. A good example of this is if you look at some of the top courses being sold on 3rd party platforms, you will often see a second upgrade that offers to do the work for the customer.
For example, the front end product may teach people how to open an Etsy store. The first upgrade may be a set of readymade printables. But the second upgrade could be an offer to complete the set up for them.
Day 22: Chart the Price Points That Are Being Used and How They Perform
Looking back on the products that you have seen in the marketplace, you want to make note of the price points that are being used throughout the funnel. Start with the front end and go through the price points of each upgrade and downsell that is listed.
You will want to be competitive for your customers, and also meet the price point that is expected from your affiliates whenever you create info products of your own. You can’t just look at the price, though – you have to see what is included in the product to make sure it is comparable to what you have planned.
Day 23: Jot Down a List of Top-Performing Affiliates in the Niche
When you start looking at products that have launched before yours, check to see if they had a contest associated with the launch. If they do, you can look at the leaderboard to see who was a top performing affiliate.
Sometimes, they will not have an official contest, but the vendor will share a post on social media about the affiliates who brought the most traffic and sales. You will want this information so that you can approach the same heavy hitters later.
Day 24: Cross Reference Your Affiliate List with Launch Perks
When you are doing your investigation of previous launches and affiliates, look to see what perks were being given with the launch. For example, on the JV page, you may find that the vendor was promising a reciprocal promotion, 100% commission on the front end, or something else.
Make a specific note about who performed well for these vendors because the affiliates who promoted hard for them may expect these additional perks when you approach them for a future promotion.
Day 25: See If the Niche Has Merch Money Potential
Another thing you want to check is whether or not the niche has merch money potential. Merch is the slang term for products that are sold online such as T shirts from influencers, tumblers with the brand name, and so on.
You might have merch being sold through a company like Teespring, Redbubble, and other online shops. your merch might include hoodies, coffee cups, stickers, phone cases, and more.
Day 26: Look for Printable Profit Opportunities
Another additional profit stream you want to check for your niche consideration are printables. You can find things like planners, goal sheets, checklists, and other items for a wide variety of niches.
These are great because they are items that you create one time as a digital download, upload them to your store on a site like Etsy, and allow your audience too buy them repeatedly.
Day 27: Find Out If Anyone Offers Coaching as an Income Stream in Your Niche
Coaching may be an additional income stream for your niche. First, you want to see if anyone else is offering coaching so that you can compare their expertise and offers to your own.
It may turn out that there are no coaches online for your niche topic yet, but that doesn’t mean your audience wouldn’t be willing to pay for one on one or group coaching if the opportunity arose.
Day 28: Make Sure You Have Access to Easy and Affordable Niche Content
Running a niche website, whether you are operating as an affiliate marketer or a digital info product vendor, requires a lot of content day in, day out. You will have to create content for your blog, your email autoresponders, lead magnets, social media posts, and info products.
Along with all of the other tasks that you are responsible for, it can become overwhelming. Therefore, it makes sense for you to outsource some of the niche content whenever possible.
You may have the budget and ability to hire a freelance ghostwriter who can create content that is only owned by you. But if you don’t have the funds, you may want to look and see if there is any readymade niche content in the form of private label rights (PLR) that will allow you to download it, put your name on it, edit it as you see fit, and publish it.
Day 29: Make a List of Courses You Can Take to Level Up with Your Expertise
A good niche leader is always growing their own knowledge and understanding of the topic they are guiding others on. Therefore, you always want to be engaged in the learning process.
Make sure that there are new forms of information coming out that you may not understand yet. These could be in the form of a book, a video series, and could be free or paid. You could even take a course at a local community college or online college if it would help you level up with your insight.
Day 30: Check to See What Domains Are Available
After you have conducted all of the initial research for your niche, and you know how big the audience is and what their needs are, as well as the profit potential available to you, you will want to use your keyword list that you have gathered to try to find a good, available dot com domain.
Building an online business is a task that needs to be carried out precisely and carefully. Many people throw themselves into it without much thought, only to be forced to backtrack months later, with all their hard work down the drain.
