THINK YOU’VE FOUND A POTENTIAL MARKET? Do your online homework!
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When you find markets that look promising, it’s supremely important you do a thorough evaluation before jumping in, so if you think you do, do your online homework! 
I highly suggest methodically working through the following questions to evaluate your market…
10 QUESTIONS TO THOROUGHLY EVALUATE YOUR MARKETS.
1. How much of a market is there for the type of product? How many searches are the main keywords receiving?
Use wordtracker or google’s keyword tool
2) How much competition is there in the search engines? Can I make my mark?
Type in your market’s main keywords or phrases into Google’s search with “quotes” surrounding it – like “anti-aging”. This will tell you how many web pages are competing for that exact term, hmmm i bet alot with this topic.
3) Can I be different than the rest of the websites out there? This can be by my site’s image, how professional it is, my sales process, selection I’m able to offer, bonuses or FREE to purchasers, etc.
Surf competing sites in organic (free) not paid ads, search and PPC. Can you differentiate yourself?
4) How ‘entrenched’ are the top sites in the search engines? Are good rankings doable?
Evaluate your SEO potential. How old and big are the sites on the first page of Google? If it’s dominated by Wikipedia, About.com, .gov and .edu listings, you may rethink your chances of getting ranked well.
5) How saturated are article directories with other marketers to this audience?
Do a search for your market’s main keywords at www.ezinearticles.com, www.goarticles.com and others. Are there hundreds of thousands of articles devoted to the topic? Or under 100?
6) How saturate are video sites with videos that are specific to my market?
Perform the same search as above, but with YOUTUBE
7) How tough is the competition and how high are bids in PPC?
Use Adwords to find out how much (relatively) it will take to bid to get your ads on the first page.
Is the market made of buyers or freebie seekers?
Some markets just don’t spend much money, even if the market of searchers is large. Anti-aging no doubt is a great market, the people searching for anti-aging solutions are likely to spend money on products and programs. Some may argue this point, but I’ve found the DIY (do it yourself) market brutal. There ARE a couple products out there that are doing well (some magic pills), but by and large, this market is made of people that DON’T want to spend money. Which is why they’re called Do It Yourselfers.
9) Is it a ‘trend market’? Meaning, is it here today and gone tomorrow? And if so, is it coming or going?
http://www.google.com/trends
This is a killer tool for seeing what the history of a particular market is, along with any recent upswings in popularity.
10) Do I know anything about the market?
Do you possess any particular knowledge about the market you’re considering?
You’ll notice that I listed if I know anything about the market last. Like I said earlier, intricate knowledge of the market is not needed. Just know WHY the market exists.

