Keyword Research - The Cart before the Cow
Posted on May 8th, 2008 by John Cow under Make Moooney Online, Market Research, successWant to Learn How to Build a Business Not Just a Blog.. for FREE? CLICK HERE Now to Find Out How!
One of the toughest parts of creating a new blog or some other type of website, is knowing what niche to start in and what angle to take in that niche. We can spend countless hours banging our heads against the wall trying to figure out what market to start in. We actually become perfectionists before we even know what we are doing!
The process that we are going to walk you through is targeted at building a blog or website that focuses on promoting affiliate products. The reason is, it is our feeling this is by far the easiest and fastest way to get started and you do not have to worry about customer service, technical support, shipping, credit card processing or any other of these business headaches. You simply promote the product or service and get paid a share of any sales that happen. Its beautiful!
The challenge with this however is it always comes back to the question… Where do we start?
- Do you research potential markets and then search for affiliate programs that fit?
- Do you find the programs already running and figure out what keywords to use to promote them?
- What type of affiliate programs do you start with?
- …and the list can probably go on and on.
The way we look at it is, why reinvent the wheel?
We do not want to spend countless hours looking at different markets and then having to try and find appropriate affiliate programs to match up with them. What we recommend is to actually put the “cart” before the “cow”.
START OF COW RANT —> Please understand that there are many different ways you can do market research. We will probably get some anal retentive person in here arguing about this process but the bottom line is…
Show me the Money!
We have tried many different methods and this process is the one that worked the best for us. This is important to know as well because it all comes down to understanding facts and not theories. If all you do is read and research but never put things into practice, then what are you doing thats tangible?
We strongly believe that you need to make your own plans and strategies, but use what you learn from others and work it into your plans and strategies. Every time you screw up, remember what you did and improve on it… and every time you succeed do the same… remember what you did and improve on it. When you have something that works for you, do not let some theory munger come in and say you shouldn’t do that… YES YOU SHOULD!
If it is working for you, then it works! <– END OF COW RANT
Ok, so why the cart before the cow?
In the 1970’s, the Japenanse car manufacturers were the joke of the world. They were tin cans that no one took seriously… but in the 80s this changed and in a HUGE way.
What happened was instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, the Japanese realized they needed to change the focus of their energy and instead of trying to invent things, why not instead take what is already working and simply make it better. It was this mindset change that skyrocketed Japan into becoming an automative giant in the world.
They figured out how to make a better mousetrap and the results were more reliable vehicles that they could make more effeciently and they were even able to charge a premium for it which exploded their profits.
So now let us ask you this.
Do you want to reinvent the wheel and try to uncover new territory or would you rather take what is already working and use that to your advantage?
Both have there pros and cons but the big difference is time commitments and chance of success.
Here is how we see it…
Option #1 –> If you want to break new ground, then great, good luck with that. You are going to need to spend your time finding potential keywords, then figure out what people are looking for with those keywords, then try to find products that people are buying and see if there are affiliate programs available, then hopefully after a while some of your words will be profitable and after a few months you can have a site making some money.
This option can be incredibly profitable, but it takes a lot more work and there is a lot less chance of success.
OR
Option #2 –> Look at what is already making a few people some money, find out what they are doing to make money (spy on them.. bwa hahahaha), easily uncover the keywords that people are actually using to buy the products and then offer a better reason to buy through you (your unique selling position).
This option takes the view point of look at what the customers already are saying they want and give it to them. After all isn’t it easier to give people what they want instead of convincing them they need something new.
OK, I know, I am not covering the whole big picture with these options, but we feel we are covering the main points and it really comes down to how to best spend your time and effort… always focus on ROI. Is what you are doing now giving you the best return on investment.
In tomorrows post we are going to get into finding profitable affiliate products to start this process with. Once we have the product, the rest of the research is VERY easy!
Whats your opinions on options 1 or 2?
If your interested in learning more, then subscribe to our RSS Feed and follow along as we lay out this step by step process with the exact tools and techniques we use.
Keyword Lesson Series:
- Lesson 1 - Keyword Research: What are you Basing it On?
- Lesson 2 - Keyword Research: the Cart before the Cow
- Lesson 3 - Keyword research: What for may we ask?
- Lesson 4 - Keyword Research: Show me the Money… Words that is…
- Lesson 5 - Keyword Research: Diamonds in the Rough
- Lesson 6 - Keyword Research: Start Up the Diamond Digger
- Lesson 7 - Keyword Research: Shiny Diamonds Everywhere
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Tags: affiliate programs, keywor research, keywords, Market Research












I’ve tried both and I’d recommend option 2. Option 1 is great if you have time and money to burn but a lot of successful businesses are built around copying other successful businesses. Nothing wrong with that!
Facebook Babess last blog post..FHM’s #1 “Digital Darling”
Right now I am following option #2…go with the flow. If they can do it, then so can I. There is that part of me that wants to do my “own” thing and I come with these ideas but so far have not acted on them. You have to jump in with both feet and expect a bigger workload and as busy as I am now, my other programs would suffer.
I’m one of those that will go with the model that works already, and as hard as it is to believe, shutting my mouth for a moment to soak it all in…. looking forward to the next update.
Hey Bob,
Just stopped by to see what was up in the last month ;). And since I was always giving you shit for slacking off with the real content and just setting up for a sale I figured I should also give you props for some decent content again ;).
So good job spending some time adding some good and unique content. Not that you really want me around much anyway but I may just have to start stopping by more often heheh.
DotDrivens last blog post..Why park at WhyPark? Because your domains deserve better homes
I use both options, I never depend on one thing.
Sara Fergusons last blog post..Bootstrapping - Starting Below the Bottom In Business
# 2 would be the easiest and quickest to suceed. You should also try to make improvements on what they are doing wrong and on what they are doing right.
Another good suggestion I love it keep it up
Option 2 to get some income going. Move to Option 1 to have some fun. I’ve been going back and forth between the lessons so far. I spent a big part of the day doing the research you spent time on in lesson 4.
Bank CD Ratess last blog post..Day Three…Inching along.
I’m reading all of your posts re: KW research and am enjoying the content. I had been using the Option 2 approach from the beginning of my affiliate marketing career. However, I’ve realized the “error of my ways” after 3 marketers that I respect taught me to find the market first; get a feel for what their problems are and what they want in a solution; then use this research to generate KW’s, content and to promote affiliate offers that solve the problems of this niche. It may take more time to get started, but I will be better prepared to dominate this niche when I do.
Keep up the great work.