Probably the best way to figure out what people want when they’re on the internet is to do market research on what people are searching for. If they’re searching for it, they are looking for it. If they’re looking for it, they may be willing to pay to find it.

Using Wordtracker is still a great way to find out what people are searching for online. You can use their free keyword research tool to find out exactly what people are searching for and it will automatically list related searches, in order of popularity from most popular to least.

For instance, if you type in “dogs”, it’ll return what people type in related to dogs, in the order of most popular. You’ll get dog, dogs, snoop dog, dog breeds, dog pile, etc.

Now, Wordtracker has a feature in which you can eliminate all of the offensive words. If you turn this off, you will see the what people search for… uncensored. That’s when you get some scary stuff. More on that in a second.

If you think you’re the average web surfer, think again. I guarantee you don’t look for 99.99% of the things that people are most looking for. Here’s a perfect example. I’ll warn you, it’s not pretty.

So if you have absolutely no idea what market you want to get into, type in a generic phrase like “find”. You’ll get results like find people, find a classmate, find cheap gas, etc. Each one of these searches represent a different market.

Let’s just say that I’m shocked every single time I look for a market or research one I’m in (to expand). Almost every search I have ever done turns up something dirty in the top ten. And I mean d..i..r..t..y. I was in the Navy. I’ve seen it all… this stuff is bad.

DISCLAIMER: ADULT SEARCHES INCLUDED!! Perfect example: Do a search for “How To”. I expected “how to tie a tie” or “how to play guitar” or things to that effect. Check out those results.

Astonishing, isn’t it? The number on the left is an approximation of how many searches are done on that term, per day, across all the search engines. Wow. You mean 1000 people a day search for “how to kill a fetus at home”? Sick.

It’s sad, isn’t it? Still think you know what the average web surfer is looking for? I learned that a long time ago. Hopefully you learned that today. Don’t enter a market solely because you like it. Don’t create a product you think you’ll like. You’re not the average web surfer, and you don’t know what is in their mind.

The best you can do is to check out what they’re searching for, and give it to them; paid or free.

Stephan Miller just wrote a great post about keeping track of your ideas and making them real. He uses a Moleskine and used to use a notebook. It’s funny how great minds think alike because I use a voice recorder that is built into my mobile phone/PDA and used to use a sticky pad I carried around in my pocket (yes, a sticky pad – stop laughing). I used to take the sticky pad that I wrote the idea on and stick it on my desk where I couldn’t work until I paid attention to it. Now, I have a voice recorder that I sit down and listen to every Friday afternoon when I plan out my next week.

I never, ever, get my best ideas sitting in front of the computer. Like Stephan, when I come across boring times (aka nuclear power school or the 25 years of formal schooling I’ve gone through), my mind wanders. That is when genius strikes, and I am prepared to remember it! I attribute this one habit as one of the ones that has lead me to great success online.

It doesn’t stop there, though. I then go to bubbl.us and brainstorm. I set aside a half hour or so and come up with different types of products, promotions, giveaways, potential partners, related industries, etc… all the things necessary for beginning a successful internet business.

Stephan says this habit was responsible for his first $1,000 month. It is responsible for my first $1, $1,000, and $10,000 month, because once you find something that works, you grow it BIG! (then I sell it)

Do you have any habits that foster this encourage mental greatness? Or do you come up with great ideas then let someone else figure them out?

I personally haven’t been subscribed to either of their blogs before the competition, but now I’m subscribed to both. Not because of the prizes, but because they’re both awesome bloggers who know what they’re talking about.

Some things to note:

1. John Cow’s subscriber stats were at 1,800 as of 2 days ago. Now they’re at 2400 and skyrocketing. I wouldn’t be surprised if he douples it to 3,600 or more because of this contest. Nothing beats a good contest for blog promotion. (hint hint…)
    
2. Watch how they will both promote affiliate products during their "tutorial". This is one strategy that Brian and Tony Clark teach in their Teaching Sells course, but instead they use paid memberships. It’s a stellar business model and one I use in my #1 most profitable business.
    
3. I’m not entirely sure what model they’re going to use to build up their sites, but if they’re shooting for the highest price to sell their site, they should build the biggest readership they possibly can, even if it means taking a loss all the way up to the sale.
    

Either way, it’s a good contest. You should watch and learn.

For instance, let’s say you’re a horse lover, and you just don’t know how to start a business, information product or otherwise, that can be profitable on the internet. Obvsiously the horse market is way too vague and general. You could never start a profitable business in a market that was this broad.

Enter Google Sets. Google sets will come up with some lateral phrases that Wordtracker, Wordze, Keyword Discovery, Quintura, or any of the scraper tools will come up with. With every one of those lateral (or horizontal) phrases that Google Sets will come up with is a possible market in itself.

Let’s take our example of the horse market. I just randomly put three horse related terms that came to the top of my head into Google sets: horse, thoroughbred, and equine. I pressed the "large sets" button and here is what it came up with:

horses
equine
thoroughbred
horse
equestrian
racing
sports
ponies
tack
pony
dressage
jockies
stick
riding
show
saddles
country
art
foal
appaloosa
action
flat
vet
cross
in
horseracing
jockey
gambling
dog
animal
equus
saddlery
race
equines
weatherford
complaint
veterinarian
handpainted

Here are just a few markets (most of them are wide open) it came up with. Remember, I came up with the horse market off the top of my head. You could have just as easily picked anything else. I included the amount of searches for that term and the average click price. 

Horse Tack: According to Wiki, Tack is a term used to describe any of the various equipment and accessories worn by horses in the course of their use as domesticated animals. Saddles, stirrups, bridles, halters, reins, bits, harnesses, martingales, and breastplates are all forms of horse tack. Equipping a horse is often referred to as tacking up.

[horse tack]: 450 searches a day with $1.30 as the average click cost for a #1 bid.

Wordtracker found this keyword when typing in horse

Dressage:  a path and destination of competitive horse training, with competitions held at all levels from amateur to the Olympics. Jeff Walker used someone who was in the dressage market in his case studies for PLF 2.

dressage: over 3,000 searches a day with $0.60 as the average click cost

Wordtracker did NOT find this keyword when typing in horse 

Stick Horses: Exactly that, the horses head is on a stick. You know, like what we had when we were kids before Nintendo came out. 

stick horse: over 120 searches a day with $0.60 as the average click cost

Wordtracker did NOT find this keyword when typing in horse 

Appaloosa: horse breed known for its preferred leopard-spotted coat color and other distinctive physical characteristics. 

appaloosa: over 350 searches a day with $0.25 as the average click cost

Wordtracker did find this keyword when typing in horse 

 Equus: Latin for horse or steed

equus: over 1,500 searches a day with $0.50 average click cost

Wordtracker did find this keyword when typing in horse 

Maybe it is just because I’m not a horse lover, but I just uncovered two markets that I wouldn’t have found by using Wordtracker or any other keyword tool. It may not be the answer to your prayers, but it should serve as another tool to put in your toolbox for doing market research and trying to expand on that keyword list.