As you probably know by now, around here we operate under a few simple beliefs:
- Search traffic is by far the easiest traffic to turn into dollars.
- Search traffic is somewhat easy to get if you choose the right keywords and target properly.
When you’re going through the process of learning to get search traffic, it can be somewhat difficult to think of different ideas for keywords. Back when I started, I had a really hard time coming up with new ideas. What ended up happening to me is that I started a lot of sites that were similar to each other. Since all of my keywords were similar in nature, they all performed about the same. That would have been awesome if they were performing well, but they weren’t. My sites were all built around electronic related keywords – the CTR for Adsense was around 2-3% and that was because tech-knowledgeable people don’t click on ads. Clicks also weren’t worth that much so it took a ton of traffic to make any money.
Now that I’ve been around the block a few times, I can tell you that there are quite a few niches where you can get 10% of the visitors to click on an Adsense ad. One of mine gets $1.50 clicks and that means I can make $1.50 for every 10 search hits I get. 100 search hits is $15. There’s no way I would tell anyone what that niche is, but I can tell you that if you start testing more you will be a lot more likely to find solid niches. In the process, you’ll hit some losers (that will still make you some money).
If you aren’t willing to lose a few battles, you don’t deserve to win the war. I’m going to give you a lot of places you can look for keywords today, but it’s up to you to do the testing and those of you that are willing will do well. Those of you who are too scared to act will just keep reading for a few more years.
Before we get started I should probably make something very clear – I have had tons of sites that didn’t work out very well. I have always been willing to fall on my face. The honest truth guys is that you have to be willing to fail a few dozen times. You’ll find some winners, gain some experience, and you’ll also find some losers. The losers still have value because they can make some money and they can still be used to build some links. In that light, there is no such thing as a ‘loser’.
That said, here are some great places you can look for new keyword ideas:
1. The Sitepoint Marketplace – At Sitepoint, people are constantly buying and selling sites to each other. This is a great place to look for ideas because you can see what niches people are making money in. They don’t list what keywords they are ranking for usually, but they do tell you how much they make with their sites. Finding out what keywords they’re using is pretty easy if you take a look at their sites. Obviously, the keywords they are using will be in the page titles of their pages.
2. Amazon.com – Since Amazon sells just about anything under the sun, it’s a great place to go to get new ideas for keywords. Choose a category and browse through the products. Choose a different category and browse through more products. Each product name can be typed into a keyword tool like the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. The tool will help you to expand on what you have. The idea here is to see as many different potential keywords as possible. You will save ideas and do further research on the keywords later. I don’t judge keywords while I’m brainstorming – I simply save ideas.
3. eBay – This one is just like Amazon. You’re simply going to take a look at products that are out there.
4. Billboards – When I’m driving down the interstate, I’m always looking at the billboards. Think about it; people are paying to advertise there. They’re paying for a reason. What I’ve found is that things you find on billboards often pay very well online. Why? Billboards usually advertise products and services with high profit margins. Sure you will have to do more research later but the idea here is to get ideas for keywords.
5. TV commercials – Again, when people pay to advertise commercially, there has to be some profit there. If you can get the traffic for free, it makes sense that you’ll be able to turn a profit.
I will sometimes sit in front of the TV with my laptop so that I can check search volumes for different things that are being advertised.
Overall guys, if you will alter your state of mind so that you’re constantly searching for new ideas for keywords and niches, they will honestly jump out of nowhere. I see new things almost everyday – if I only had time to go after them all. 
