First and foremost you must know that you are the boss of this business and no one can tell you what to do or order you around anymore.
This sounds great and is what we truly desire.
If you have decided to start a business you have made a decision and no one can stop you.
Well actually one person can stop you and that person is you.
You have to put in the time and effort to start this business and build it based around solid fundamentals.
You have a great opportunity to run a successful business and once you have put in the initial work you will actually have the option to put your business on autopilot and just collect the checks at the end of the month.
Don't start shopping for million dollar mansions just yet you have to put in the work first.
It all starts with market research and this may be the most tedious part of the entire process but hopefully I can make this task a bit easier with some basic tools and strategies that will speed up the process 10 fold.
Now that you have a niche in mind you are going to have to perform some market research to find out if there is a legitimate market and cash being spent.
You may have already started the first step if you have some experience and even though it is very basic it has to be done.
The task I am referring to is keyword research.
The first free tool that I always start with is called overture and it is completely free, you can find it just by going to Google and searching for overture keyword tool.
This is a free tool that has been used for many years and is still effective but in my opinion it is a bit outdated and at times is bit slow.
I am not saying don't use it just don't take its results as gospel.
Also note that the search volume per month on Google is probably double what overture data shows.
Another tool that I find to be very accurate is at freekeywords.
wordtracker.
com/ Wordtracker is a great service that is updated frequently and they also offer a paid version that provides many great features.
So type your main keywords into these tools and analyze the search volume per month on overture and search volume per day on Wordtracker.
It is up to you whether you think there is a viable market based on the search engine volume for your top keywords.
Your next step is to switch over to your favorite search engine whether it is Msn, Yahoo or Google.
You will notice that every time that you do a search a listing of sponsored ads will show up on the right hand side of the results.
I would recommend using Google as your data because it is hands down the leader in paid advertising.
Once again type in your main key terms related to your niche and take notice of how many listings appear on the right side of the page.
If you notice that there are an abundance of ads that is a good sign.
You want a market with a healthy amount of advertising.
Some may think this is bad but really it just proves that people are spending and making money.
Your third step is very easy because you don't even have to leave Google.
All you have to do is start clicking on the sponsored advertising.
The reason for this is because you will be taken to the merchant's site and it will help you to paint a bigger picture of the market.
By going to the merchant's sites you can get an idea of what is being sold online because after all your business is based online.
Also take note of the marketing process for each product.
You may want to become an affiliate or create your own product down the road.
With these three tips alone you can weed out the profitable markets and save a few dollars on fancy software that brag of doing all the work for you.
This research will only take you about half an hour tops and you will know if you have a firecracker or a dud in no time.