What have we learned about the Thirty Day Challenge which kicked off last August, 2007? The basic model of Ed Dale is: Keyword Research - Traffic - Conversion - Product/Service Creation. The first few lessons focus on first figuring out what are people searching for online, and here are tips to find out what people want.

In the Day 2 30DC Training Module, Ed uses videos to let you know about:

Google Hot Trends (http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends)

You might find yourself wondering what those search terms are. Then you'll quickly realize that your own world is tinier than a grain of sand when it comes to the interests of the rest of the entire world.

Please try the search box at the top of the Google Hot Trends page to see the volume of news reports related to your favorite topic, in the form of a line graph covering the past 3 or so years.

Google Groups (http://groups.google.com/groups/dir)

Check out the section towards the right called "Activity" -- it lets you know which Google groups have a high level of message activity, and may perhaps clue you in on the popularity of a certain topic.

Technorati Popular (http://www.technorati.com/pop)

Ever wonder what's popular among bloggers? Search through the treasure trove of information known as Technorati.

eBay Pulse (http://pulse.ebay.com)

The categories in eBay will show you what people like to buy and sell.

The above pages will show you the popular topics that people are searching for at a given moment in time. If you decide to go through the data for the earlier dates, you'll eventually find some kind of pattern. That is, if you are patient enough.

The purpose of the exercise, however, is not to spot trends. It is to generate ideas about what topics to target online. Afterall, you'll get a sneak peek about what people seem to want.

From there, you'll probably fill your head with tens of ideas or topics that people need info on. Among those topics, you might even actually like some of them. From those 20 to 50 topics, simply choose your favorite seven topics.

In a future lesson, you'll learn at 30DC what to do with those seven topics.

In the meantime, here are other places where you can catch a glimpse of what people are searching for online:

AOL Hotsearches (http://hotsearches.aol.com)

Which are the popular gadgets? Who are the popular celebrities? What vacation destinations are people interested in? Find it all in AOL Hotsearches.

Yahoo! Buzz (http://buzz.yahoo.com)

Here are the words that people type in Yahoo search boxes.

Yahoo! Answers (http://answers.yahoo.com)

People ask questions, and others provide answers. The questions reveal which problems people want solved, while the answers either give you more info, or validate what you might already know.

Google Press: Zeitgeist (http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html)

You'll find the popular terms searched for in the past week.

There are a lot of other tools, but don't let that overwhelm you. Simply browse and skim and quickly fill your mind. Some of the topics will leap off the page and will somehow resonate with you. Those are the topics you can place in your short list of ideas.

Just remember to further shorten that list to seven. Try not to get overly excited and suddenly run off and buy domain names, or spend time deeply researching those topics further.

Just please come up with a list of seven topics.

Then relax, enjoy a computer-less weekend, and patiently wait for the "Day 3" lesson of Ed Dale where you will learn how to quantify and more or less scientifically choose which of the seven topics (if any) are worth pursuing.

But if you're bored or you simply can't keep away from the computer, then try those other resources I added above.

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"Niche Topic Research"
First Posted: August 4, 2007 | Filed in: General

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