Niche Rivalry 002: Finding Seed Keywords the Easy Way

This is the first update since Quin and I announced our Niche Rivalry.  A lot has transpired in the past week.  It was nearly a month ago when we first discussed the idea of a live case study.  At that point I had already spent several hours narrowing down a list of seed keywords and then spent a good amount of time choosing one that we both agreed on.  Unfortunately as I was researching some long tails and additional information about the niche we chose I discovered a bit of a problem.  So, instead of working on my other sites I spent the last week taking everything back to the drawing board with Quin.  The process of uncovering seed keywords is what I want to share with you today.

Watch Me Find Seed Keywords

So, I just recorded my first video.  It’s just a video of me finding seed keywords using the “Country Living” magazine.  It’s not an overly exciting video and it ended up being close to 10 minutes long, as opposed to the 5 minutes I was aiming for.  However, I have people ask me where I get ideas for my keywords all the time.  The 2 most popular questions I get are:

• Where do you find seed keywords or niches?
• How do you know a niche will be profitable?

Well today I’m going to show you the answer to the first question.  Below you’ll find a video of me using just one of my methods for finding seed keywords.

When watching this video please keep in mind 1 very important thing: these are just ideas.  When I look for niches I typically spend about 3-4 hours researching, and then another 3-4 hours refining.  You’re going to hear me say the word “ideas” a lot in the video.  It’s not likely I would ever go after a niche like “keyword ideas”.  Instead I’d spend some time delving into those ideas using the Google Adwords Keywords Tool or just maybe browsing Amazon or other sites.

One last thought.  There is no rhyme or reason as to why I chose “Country Living” to find a large group of keywords.  There are literally hundreds of magazines I could have chosen from.  This is just what I happened to go with.

The Niche Rivalry Keyword Bank

Hopefully that video wasn’t too painful; I know it was a little rough since it was made on my wife’s digital camera.  Here is the list of keywords that I found in the video from the “Country Living” magazine.  I’ll be using these to choose from for our authority site.

Choosing a Theme

As I mentioned above, finding seed keywords is only the beginning.  After we had a solid list of keywords Quin and I spent quite a bit of time discussing which niches might be worth pursuing.  In the past I’ve typically built more traditional niche sites where I would create a site based around 1 seed keyword and expand, with the idea of ranking for that primary keyword.  Since I’m trying to build out an authority site I’m really looking for more of a theme than a primary keyword.

Here are my Top 3, in no specific order:

• Tailgating
• Kitchen Organization (I kind of morphed this from “kitchen ideas” and “kitchen storage”)
• Outdoor Storage

Note: keep in mind Quin is also doing is own keyword research and will be adding to this bank. 

Extending the Rivalry

Over the past week we’ve had a few people ask to be a part of Niche Rivalry.  The truth is we’d love to have you join.  However, since we’ve already started the challenge we are asking that you follow the same rules as us, with the exception of one: you can not enter the same niche as us. As a reminder, here are the rules for Niche Rivalry:

• You must have a personal blog to post updates on
• You must write the content on your own site (outsourcing everything else is allowed)
• You must divulge your site URL for others to follow along
• You must attempt to create an authority style site
• No paid traffic sources

So, if you’d like to join, fill out the contact form and make sure to put “NICHE RIVALRY” as the subject.  Also please include your name and a link to your personal blog where you’ll be posting your journey.  I’ll be tracking everyone’s progress at: http://www.chasingpace.com/niche-rivalry/

Up Next: Refining the Niche

On January 1 we’re going to reveal which niche we ended up choosing along with the processes we used to get there.

Don’t forget to sign up below and a copy of Niche Chaser; this is where all my site building begins!

Other Posts in the Niche Rivalry Series

• Niche Rivalry: The Rivalry Begins (12/21/11)
• Niche Rivalry 002: Finding Seed Keywords the Easy Way (12/29/11)
• Niche Rivalry 003: Revealing the Niche (1/2/11)
• Niche Rivalry 004: Site Setup (1/9/12)