One way to find the right business niche is to conduct keyword research. Keywords are terms people enter into search engines to find the information they need, which helps them solve their problems. Search engines like Google track this information and make it public. You can use this data to refine your niche ideas and discover which niches people are actively searching for.
Start with Your Passions and Interests
Start with a bit of brainstorming. What topics are you passionate about? What areas do you have experience in? Once you have some ideas, you can use keyword research to narrow down and refine them.
For example, you could do something in self-improvement. This is a huge niche with a great deal of competition. Through keywords, you can take the broad idea of “self-improvement” and narrow it down to something more feasible while also getting an idea of trends within self-improvement to help you further refine your niche.
How to Find Keywords
Many premium SEO software programs are available, but most people find that Google’s free Keyword Planner tool is enough. The purpose of this tool is to help you assess keywords for Google ads, but we can use it for basic keyword research. There are also free alternatives available, like SEO Book and WordStream.
Enter into the tool some keywords related to what you do. You could use phrases like “online business” or “how to fight clutter.” You’ll get a list of similar keywords that are related. Skim this list and look for other areas that might be interesting. For example, under “how to fight clutter,” you might find keywords like “office clutter” or “organizing clutter.” These are more specific ideas you could use for your niche.
How to Assess Keywords
Look for a high volume of monthly searches. A good guideline is over 1,000 searches. This tells you that people are actively looking for this information.
The next step is to check out the competition. You’re looking for keywords that have high search volume and low competition. To assess competition, go off the tool and perform a simple Google search. Put the keyword in quotation marks so you can get the exact phrases. You’ll then see how many sites are targeting the same keyword.
Since you’re not doing SEO planning, you don’t need a detailed assessment of these keywords. Look at the sites on the first few pages of the search results, and you can see whether other businesses are covering these niches.
Your niche doesn’t need to be completely uncharted territory. But you can at least get an idea of the competition. You may find that the idea is already saturated. Or by looking at competition, you may get ideas on how to set yourself apart.
When choosing the right niche for your business, consider objective data as much as possible to assess whether your ideas are popular and profitable. Keyword research is one effective way to do this.
