Friday November 16th, 2007: Issue #859
Ain’t life frustrating!
On Wednesday I told you about my special seed word lists and the fact that I’m selling a limited number (150) of them. I came up with the catchy name: Kickstart Your Niche Search lists. Okay, not so catchy, perhaps, but I tried!
I promised a demonstration video that would show how the seed keyword lists can be used in four of the major keyword research tools to uncover niches that you may have never thought of any other way.
Now I’ve used Camtasia a lot, and can knock out a quick demo video in no time, so was confident that you’d get to see the video by Wednesday evening. No problem.
What I hadn’t taken into consideration was that I recently ‘upgraded’ my trusty antique version of Camtasia to the whizzy new all-singing all-dancing Camtasia Studio 5.
Ouch! Mistake!
On my computer, Camtasia 5 seems to hog so much of the system resources that any program I’m trying to record a demo of runs slowly, jerkily and completely unusably.
I spent Wednesday afternoon and much of yesterday trying to make what should end up as no more than a 15 minute video, and it still isn’t working right.
Maybe I’ve set up Camtasia wrong or perhaps it need a more up to date computer than mine, but whatever the reason, you won’t get to see the promised video until I can sort out the problem, Sorry about that.
Meanwhile, a lot of good folk have bought the keyword lists (sorry, the ‘Kickstart your Niche Search’ lists) by sending $67 to me by PayPal (to m.avis@ntlworld.com ).
Early next week I plan to open up the offer to the Warrior’s Forum, so I expect the remaining sets will be snapped up fairly fast.
Without the video to explain it all clearly, I’ll try to write down what the lists are about, what they can do, and how they can benefit you. I’ll add in a few FAQs that have cropped up so far.
1. What are the lists?
The ‘Kickstart Your Niche Search’ lists comprise about 150,000 words in 161 text files that have been collated by me over the last 3 years from public domain dictionaries, thesauri and other sources. They have been cleaned up and de-duplicated and then sorted into alphabetical order.
2. What prompted me to produce the lists?
Early on in my niche website building career I realized that using keyword research programs was a long-winded way to find good niches. First you have to think up words that MAY be the seeds of good niches, THEN you have to run them one by one to see if they have merit.
It works, but it is slow. And you are limited by your imagination. You’ll only find niches that way based on words you (and probably everyone else) already know.
What if, I thought, I can ‘feed’ the keyword research program a long list of words up front?
I discovered that all the programs I use do have that facility, so it was then a short mental jump to realize that if I could feed in an entire dictionary, I’d find pretty much every major niche market out there.
But of course you can’t just feed in a dictionary - you need to have all the words individually listed without all the definitions and duplications. And I couldn’t find any suitable wordlists that fit the bill.
An added complication is that if you were to have a wordlist with 150,000 words in it, all the keyword research tools would choke because Google, for one, wouldn’t allow a run that big. The lists needed to be edited into manageable chunks.
I set about creating what I needed and the result was the Kickstart Your Niche Search lists.
And the lists worked! They give you access to more niche ideas than you could ever use!
3. Are the Kickstart Your Niche Search files for everyone?
Certainly everyone can use them - all you need is a decent keyword research tool to analyze them. I recommend Niche Inspector because it provides all the data you need in one pass (some other tools are a bit more complex to use) and has superb filtering tools to allow you to analyze the results quickly and easily, but that’s just my personal preference.
However - I don’t recommend that complete newbies buy my Kickstart Your Niche Search lists. Not because they are hard to use (they are not), but because until you have a bit of site building experience, you’re
unlikely to know how to use or interpret the results. And I really don’t want to add to the pile of unused stuff on your computer!
Anyone who already creates niche sites will find the lists invaluable though.
4. Won’t everyone find the same niches.
Possibly. But in reality, 161 files are a awful lot. I haven’t analyzed more than a fraction of them myself yet! And each file is likely to produce between 10 and 30 niche suggestions.
That’s a lot of niches - and as the results are broad niche topic suggestions and not narrowed down niche markets, even if several people unearth the same gems, they are likely to cut them completely differently.
5. Can I just set my keyword research tool running and leave it until all 150,000 words are analyzed?
Sadly no. Google impose limits on the number of searches an IP address can perform in a day. I recommend running about 500 words or so each day. That number has never caused me problems. And still produces more results that I can use in a day!
Also, Google and some of the sources of keyword search numbers ask for regular input of captcha codes to prove that a real person is in charge of the enquiry. This is a function of the keyword tools, and is out of my control, but it does mean that you have to respond to keep the analysis running.
6. How do you use the results?
My video will show this clearer when I can create it for you, but in the meantime, I’ll do my best to explain.
Using Niche Inspector as the example, when you’ve finished running a list, for each word you’ll know the number of searches, the number of pages in Google’s index that contain the word and the number of Google AdWords advertisers using that word in their targeting.
You’ll know a lot more besides, but those are the key columns.
If a word has a high search count and a high number of Google ads, that word could be valuable for building made for AdSense sites.
If a word has a high search count it might be a useful term to investigate for creating your own information product.
If a word has a high search count and a low Google advertiser count, it could be worth further investigation for PPC arbitrage, or for buying cheap advertising for promoting affiliate products.
If a word has a high search count and a low competition count you may want to consider it as the basis for a niche content site.
There are lots of ways to be a niche marketer - and whichever route you choose will determine just how you interpret the results.
But however you plan to niche market, finding a stream of niches is can often be your sticking point.
The Kickstart Your Niche Search lists shortcut the process for you.
As I’ve said before, there are only 150 sets available and they are already selling fast. Next week, when I open the offer up to a much wider market, I expect that sales will accelerate. So if you want to get your copy of the Kickstart Your List Search files before it is too late, PayPal $67 to m.avis@ntlworld.com
Any money received after the 150th set has been despatched will be returned.
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Yesterday evening, Delia and I and two friends went up to London to see the last Parkinson Show being made. For non UK readers, Michael Parkinson is a British TV institution. He is the chat show host of chat show hosts. His career includes over 600 editions of his chat show, but sadly he has now decided to retire.
There will be a few special shows after the one we saw, but last night saw the recording of the last of his regular format chats. The guests were Paul Merton, Ewan McGregor and Kenneth Branagh - not the most spectacular lineup for a last ever show, but entertaining nonetheless.
We had an excellent night.
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An ego the size of a planet.
A well known ‘guru’ in Internet marketing sent out a message to his list this morning that made me gasp with wonder at the height of self-importance that he holds himself in.
Apparently there is some kind of conference coming up, run by an organization that he belongs to. Part of that conference is a workshop on information product creation.
Our guru friend is incensed because he hasn’t been asked to be a speaker.
He has published in his newsletter his correspondence with the conference organizers, who seem quite baffled that he should be so arrogant.
His ranting is very amusing to read - having met the man on several occasions, I’m not at all surprised. He is so full of himself that its a wonder he has any room left over to breath in!
Maybe I should start email wars with seminar organizers who leave me off their speakers list, after all, don’t they know who I am?
Nah, if they want me, they’ll find me. In any case, if I was to do that my keyboard would be worn out in a month. 
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It’s funny. Where Internet marketing is concerned I’ve never quite got my head around the idea of outsourcing.
I know all the arguments and accept that paying others to do stuff is a much more efficient way to run a business, but I still hold back. Maybe it is because I actually like (no, love) everything I do to make money online. The whole process is still fascinating to me and I’d find it very hard to let go. Even if that would be a far more profitable route to take.
Not so, however, in my non IM life.
Right at this very minute I have a decorator painting my hall, stairs and landing woodwork.
I wanted to redecorate those areas of my house, but the thought of preparing, undercoating and glossing all 10 doors and architraves, miles of picture rail and skirting board, and various sundry other bits wasn’t at all appealing. Emulsion painting the walls is quick and easy, but undercoat and gloss takes me a long time to do.
I realistically estimated that the job would take me ten days because I’m quite slow and painstaking.
Ten days of boredom.
Ten days when I’d have to put Internet marketing on the back burner.
No, outsourcing is the answer. Tony, my decorator is very good, very fast and, by comparison to what I’d lose by ignoring my online marketing for ten days, very cheap.
He’ll finish by lunchtime today, and the disruption to my life has been minimal.
Now if only I could bring myself to outsource some PHP coding, or a website or two…
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An Inspirational Thought
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I don’t know where I heard this expression, but it serves me well:
‘When you get stuck, use a different pen.’
The idea is that each tool we use, for doing anything in our lives, creates certain pathways in our brains. Occasionally, those pathways become clogged up.
Writers call it writer’s block.
Artists blame lack of inspiration.
Gardeners blame the weather.
We all blame something when the hold-up is simply in the fixed paths burnt into our neurons.
By taking up a different tool, a crayon instead of a pen, a stick of charcoal instead of a paintbrush, a spade instead of a fork, and trying to work with the new medium, we often find that entirely new pathways spring into being.
When that happens you get a blinding flash of inspiration and the thought strikes you, “why didn’t I think of that years ago!”
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Who do you know who would love Kickstart Today?
Don’t keep it to yourself - send them to
http://www.kickstartdaily.com today!
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The Quote of the Day
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John Steinbeck said:
‘All the world’s great have been children who wanted
the moon.’
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Today’s Power Thought
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Do something.
That’s it for today. Just do something.
Anything.
Just pick one action that will move your quest for success forward one step.
I’m always getting emails from Kickstart readers telling me how they have got off their behinds and taken action.
Maybe it is as simple as doing the Kickstart creativity exercise. I love to read ‘I’ve never written anything before, but I loved writing this!’
Perhaps it is about how they have taken control of their life in some way.
Sometimes it is an email telling me that they have finally taken action in starting their own Internet business (I am always happy to offer any help and advice I can).
The longest journey begins with a single step. And, once that step is taken, the journey ceases to be a distant challenge, it becomes a part of your life.
So today, Friday November 16th, make this your journey’s start. Do something. Anything.
Stop thinking and start acting.
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Fascinating Facts
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An ounce of gold can be stretched into a wire 43 miles long - and gold leaf is so thin that it would take 13000 sheets to be as thick as a penny.