Okay, you've taken your list of interests, you've picked one item on that list and you've narrowed it down to a very specific keyword phrase. In this example, I decided to go with the more narrowed keyword phrase "Alternative Treatments For Acne."
Let's see what our demand and competition is.
How do we do this?
Well, the competition is easy. Just go to Google and type in, with the quotes YOUR keyword phrase. I'll type in mine.
I get 37,000 sites coming up with that keyword phrase. Okay, not too bad. Now, let's see how many monthly searches we get. To do this, go to a keyword suggestion tool and type in the same phrase.
I use many. Here's one of them – http://www.wordtracker.com (you can use the trial version)
It's not the easiest tool to use but with Overture now gone, outside of paid tools, there's not a lot out there that even works anymore. Now, the tool will also give you alternate keyword phrases, because not everyone is going type in YOUR phrase. Wordtracker will give you a decent list.
Okay, type in your keyword phrase, again with the quotes, and see how many monthly searches you get.
In my case, not too good. My original phrase only got 2 monthly searches. And even the best word in my list, "Acne" only got 1688 monthly searches and it's not very targeted. What I mean by targeted is this.
Does everyone who types in acne into a search engine want an alternative treatment? Some may simply be looking up what causes it. That's why you want your target phrase to be as specific as possible.
So let's see what we have 1688 searches for a non targeted phrase and over 37,000 sites to go up against. I do not know about you but I do not like those odds. Now, I'm not saying you should not pursue this, but if you do, I just want you to understand what you're going to be up against. It will be an uphill battle.
Ideally, you want to find a keyword phrase where you have about 1000 – 2000 competitive sites and about 5,000 to 10,000 searches a month. Believe it or not, these ratios exist. They're not easy to find but they do exist. And when you latch onto a niche with very little competition and a good number of monthly searches, you've basically found yourself a goldmine. The key is cashing in on it.
Just keep repeating the above process until you find a niche that you are happy with. It may take some time, but it's time well spent.