Ken,

Can I ask a complicated question?

I know that your (affiliate) website is used to push traffic to your main (affiliate) website.  So I thought I would try to estimate search volumes. Not because I'm interested in (the affiliate products you promote), but because I'm interested in creating my own websites that might make a few dollars a day.

Using WordStream's Keyword Finder [6], I see that the "relative volumes" for all keywords [7] related to (your affiliate site’s target keyword) have what WordStream calls high relative volumes.

But if I use Aaron Wall's tool [8], I find that his tool's estimate for (your affiliate site’s target keyword) in Google, Yahoo, and MSN per day is a whopping 18 searches per day.

If I were you and had used Aaron Wall's keyword suggestion tool, I would never have built an (affiliate product) website as you did.

So if Aaron Wall's keyword suggestion tool says (your affiliate site’s target keyword) has hardly any searches per day while WordStream's Keyword Niche tool says the phrase has high relative volume, which tool is accurate and why?

Basically, before I invest time in building mini websites with Wordpress, I want to find a way to better estimate keyword search demand [9] for Google, Yahoo, and MSN.

Do you have any other SEO tools [10] I can check or advice for me? 

Thanks Ken.

Hi, Richard.

I think you may be focusing too much on theoretical search volume estimates rather than tangible keyword value signals.

I've built my (affiliate product) sites for three reasons:

• Big PPC advertiser presence: The verticals I target are heavy with PPC ads, which leads me to the conclusion there's money to be made. In other words, all the heavy lifting has already been done for me. Other affiliates and PPC marketers have researched and tested this search vertical and have determined it's worth buying the traffic. So when I'm gauging the profitability of a particular keyword or vertical, I pay more attention to where the PPC marketers go, rather than what keyword guesstimate search volume tools tell me.
• Availability of keyword domain: I did extensive domain research and saw that every exact match keyword domain for my basket of target and even related keywords [11] was taken (.com, .net, .biz and .org tlds). Again, I presume this is because marketers realize how profitable these niches are and they also understand that exact match keyword domains are much easier to rank organically [12] than branded domains. However, during my research, I did discover that the exact match domain for (myaffiliateproduct.org) was up for renewal. So I tracked it for a few weeks and once the registration expired, I bought it.
• Greater profitability: The other reason I chose (affiliate product) is because these products are some of the most expensive items on the market in the (affiliate niche I’m targeting). I'd rather have someone buy one $250 (my affiliate product) through my site than 10 less expensive items because my commission is based on percentage of sale. So part of my motivation to target this particular niche was higher price point in a specialized product market that people are passionate about.

So for advice, I say go where you can make the most money. Like I said, I chose my niche because the products are more expensive than traditional products in this particular market. These are premium products with premium price tags. Now, that doesn't mean you can't make money marketing lower priced goods at a higher volume, but I'm sharing what's been working for me.

In addition, you should monitor hot and trending products with Google Trends [13]. The products I built my affiliate sites around are trendy, hip and gaining in popularity every year.

Finally, pay careful attention to paid SERP activity, to validate proof of market. If there's heavy PPC ad placement and competition, it likely means this is a profitable vertical. Now, this also means that it will be super competitive and could take greater effort, but IMO it’s worth the effort. Plus, I’m confident in my ability to outrank competitors in most organic niches (Note: I start with PPC , but I'm targeting SEO in the long run). And by doing so and putting in the hard work, I’ll be rewarded. On the flipside, if there are zero PPC ads on a page, this may be the sign of an unprofitable niche, so it's probably not worth the effort. Either that, or it’s an up and coming vertical, which you monitor for trend activity. If you get the feeling that it’s just an undiscovered niche you can test the traffic with PPC to get a gauge before you commit to SEO. Then, be sure to purchase the exact match keyword domain to leverage Google's soft spot in the algos.

Hope this helps,
Ken