Develop High-Profitability Topics Part 1

Let’s say that you love fashion. You eat, live and sleep it. You read all the fashion magazines. You head straight to that part of any bookstore. Your friends beg you to talk about something else “for a change!”

It’s time to brainstorm and prune. Initially, you’ll brainstorm as many related “Keyword-Focused” topics as possible that are related to fashion. Then you’ll prune out the low-profit-potential ones.

First thing you do? Power up what I will call your “keyword tool center.” There are three WINDOWS of information that you will be researching...

1) DEMAND

2) SUPPLY

3) BREAKOUT

Open your browser and start with...

http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/

Write "fashion" into the "line" and hit Search. You will get thousands of keywords related to fashion with the number of searches initiated to them regularly.

OK, what do we have so far? We’ve got a good idea of what your potential visitors want. In other words, we know what’s in demand, and by how much, for a variety of keywords (some of which will become your high-profitability, Keyword-Focused topics) that contain the word “fashion.”

Now to gain some information about others using fashion related keys:

http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal - Google Keyword Tool

The second column (competition) will show up a bar that relies to 1 to 10 such as pagerank. The "longer" the bar the more site use that keyword.

Before you do those searches, create a Master Keyword List. I recommend that you do this either in a simple text file or via a database or spreadsheet program. A database or a spreadsheet will speed things up and provide you with extra functionality.

If the idea of a database or spreadsheet scares you, simply stick with a text list. It’s a bit inefficient so it will take you a little longer, but it will do the job just fine.

Do use a Master Keyword List. It will evolve into the master blueprint for your entire site. If you follow these instructions, the site will almost build itself!

OK, here’s what to do with your Master Keyword List. Create three columns and label them KEYWORD, DEMAND, SUPPLY. For each “fashion”-containing keyword in your DEMAND WINDOW:

1) Enter the keyword itself into the column labeled KEYWORD -- copy-and-paste to avoid typos.

2) Enter how many times it is searched (info that you found in the DEMAND WINDOW) into the DEMAND column.

3) Enter the "number" of competition (The bar I mentioned above at google keyword tool)

NOTE: “Fashion” is too general. Don't bother researching this word for products/services. The real opportunities lie in the niches, in topic keywords that have more specificity.

Now you should review some of the sites that contain your desired keyword. Simply search the keys in google/yahoo etc. and visit the first 10-20 sites.

Finally, make two more columns, one labeled POSSIBLE PARTNERS and the other called IDEAS FOR CONTENT. Time for some in-depth, professional,

SUPPLY WINDOW research...

As you get into this in-depth research, you’ll notice three types of sites...

• irrelevant -- for whatever reason (off-topic, geographic, lousy site, etc.), they just don't fit. Skip these.

• merchant -- in POSSIBLE PARTNERS, enter what kind of merchandise they sell. If they have an affiliate program that fits your concept, enter the URL of the “join page” for the affiliate program of that merchant. These are indeed potential merchant-partners for you. Even better, you’re automatically organizing the POSSIBLE PARTNERS according to each keyword. This means that you are already pre-planning each Keyword-Focused Content Page’s “in-context” text links and setting the groundwork for the “M” (Monetization) stage.

• content -- these sites are your direct competitors. They make money through affiliate programs, too. And good news! They’ll speed up your learning curve by giving you a lot of information. Why? Because they've already done a ton of work for you!

Here’s what to do...

1) As you review these content sites, you may get some great ideas for content on your own site. Enter these ideas into the IDEAS FOR CONTENT column.

2) Browse the site, drilling down into the content. Click on the banner ads and text links, following these links out to their destinations to see what kind of merchants they have chosen as affiliate-partners. Or perhaps it’s a straight advertising deal -- make a note of these merchants as potential advertisers, too.

If a given merchant fits your concept and has an affiliate program, enter the kind of merchandise it sells, and the “join page” URL, as you did just above. Once again, you are preparing for the “M” stage.

Plow through your Master Keyword List until you have completed all columns for all of your high-profitability “fashion”-containing keywords.

Expected results?...

• lots of good content ideas for the site

• some good monetizing leads to merchants who could need pay-per-click advertising from you a bit later

• a few merchants who have affiliate programs

Now it’s time to pick the keywords with the best profitability. These will be the keywords with high DEMAND (i.e., tons of searches) and low SUPPLY (i.e., not too many sites found (low competition)). Eliminate any words that appear too competitive (i.e., SUPPLY (competition) is high)…