Headlines Part 3
Step 5: Track your statistics.
The last step is to analyze your results. By looking over your statistics, you should get a general idea of whether or not the topic is saleable. You should repeat the process and test the remaining headlines in other newsgroups and forums to confirm your findings.
An additional way to determine the popularity of your topic is if you analyze the words that people key into their computers. To do this, use the free programs available that calculates the relevancy of key words or phrases.
The program that I use is called Good Keywords by Softnik Technologies. It's very useful in finding out what type of words and phrases that people use to search out topics.
Another free program that will help you test key words is http://inventory.overture.com/searchinventory/suggestion
You can also do a search on the Internet to see if there are similar programs that you can use.
The purpose of using a keyword program is so you can determine what people are typing into their computers in order to find products similar to the ones that you provide. You can pin down the keywords, and even take advantage of commonly misspelled words that people make.
I would say that searches that generate around the 200-300 hits are good indicators of serious researchers. These keywords are specific and will allow you to rank on the first page of google.com.
In fact having any ranking on the first page of google.com (or any other search engine for that matter) is ideal. Why? Well, the web sites listed on the first page of a search engine doesn't necessarily mean that they are the most relevant to your search. It just so happens that those pages meet the search engine's criteria.
One way to ensure that you have top ranking on search engines is to wisely choose the key words for your web site. When you choose keywords that are too general, your web site will be lost in the Internet abyss.
Specifically, if you choose "writing" as a keyword, you will discover that there were 50,101 searches in June. What does this mean? Because the term is so popular, Internet entrepreneurs all over the world will use it on their web site. Because you're a new web site owner, and because of a number of other factors hard to fathom, your site will be pushed into the dark recess of cyberspace. Only you and a handful of your friends will know that your site exists.
Another technique to determine the popularity of your topic is to scan your junk mail and watch for trends. The best position to be in is if you can spot and profit from a trend before it gets big.
Yet another place to determine the popularity of a subject is to check out www.clickbank.com/marketplace. This page, run by Clickbank, lists a number of digital books according to their sales record. Maybe some of the titles will spark off ideas for your next e-book.
The market has to be large, passionate and willing to part happily with their money. Does such a market exist? That is what you try to determine in your research. And if you find a market that fits the above description, all your research efforts will be worthwhile.
And when your interests are aligned with your audience, you will find that you will have no difficulty in writing your book.
By Chantal Lima
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