You can find everything you need with free tools. You can find keyword search volume with the Google keyword tool. You can find the competition for your keyword using the SEO for Firefox plugin. You can get ideas for keywords and products by going through all the categories of Amazon.
However… If you want to do this all quicker, easier and all in one place you need Micro Niche Finder. I bought MNF a few years ago. I didn’t really “get” it. I used it once or twice and then “put it away”. I saw a video somewhere talking about the things MNF could do and it dawned on me that it would be PERFECT for finding products for lenses. So I tried it out and I was right!
Here’s some reasons I love MNF for Squidoo:
1. You can put in a broad topic and it will bring up keywords that don’t have all the words you searched for in it. This gives you tons of ideas that you might never have thought of.
2. It tells me all the things I need to know on one screen. No more searching and jumping from window to window looking for the info I need.
3. It tells me the commercial intent of a keyword. In other words, how likely is someone to buy when they search on that keyword.
4. You can save keywords you find in a folder. You can have a bunch of folders for different topics. You NEVER run out of ideas.
5. It’s regularly updated every time they get a cooler idea or Google makes a change.
Let’s take a look at how Micro Niche Finder works and how it can work for you.
First of all, once you purchase MNF you will download it to your computer. It stays on your hard drive.
When you want to use it you just click the icon on your desk top and it will open.
At the top of the page you’ll see a search box. Let’s say we’ve gone to Amazon and we want to find some keywords for cycling computers. You’ve seen that the VDO brand is pretty expensive, and if you’ve had any experience with serious cyclists you know they will SPEND on their equipment.
So let’s see what MNF finds for us.
The results will come in alphabetical order so you will see some great things that might catch your eye before you even get to what you’re searching for.
This is the left hand side of the screen. It shows you the keyword, local, global search volume and the trend for the keyword.
This is the right side of the screen where you’ll see you can get the exact phrase count for the keyword (putting it in google with quotes around it) You can see the adsense cost for the keyword. You can see the OCI which is the commercial intent ~ how likely people are to buy when searching with that keyword. The MOB which is measure of backlinks ~ in other words how much backlinking you’re going to need to do to rank. The last is the SOC strength of competition ~ which tells you how hard it’s going to be to rank in Google for that keyword.
To find out each of those things you simply click in that column for your keyword.
When working with Squidoo lenses I generally use the exact phrase count the soc number, and the OCI ~ as well as the search volume number. This is everything I need to know if a keyword has a good chance of doing well.
As I’m looking down the list I come across the keyword Cateye Astrale 8 ~ Cateye is a really popular brand of bike computer.
1900 search volume a month ~ that’s good. So I checked the SOC (that’s the second piece of info I like to check)
Zero! That’s excellent. That tells me it will be quite easy to rank for that keyword. Now I’m going to check and see how much this Cateye costs. I’m going to go back to the left side of the screen and click on the keyword. That will give me a BUNCH of options.
As you can see there’s a LOT of information you can find related to this keyword. You can find out if there are articles at Ezinearticles.com about this phrase, you can do a whole new search starting with this phrase. You can see if there are clickbank products related to this product. You can check the Google trends. It might seem a bit overwhelming. All those options are there… so as your business grows they are there to use.
However… today we’re going to check amazon and see what the price is for this product and if there are any reviews. (Because those are the things we look for when creating Christmas cash lenses)
I clicked the Amazon search button only to find the product is 30 bucks. Nope that’s no good. Let’s keep looking down the list of keywords.
So I came across another kw that looked good Mavick Wintech ~ with 2400 searches a month. Here’s what it said for SOC though:
Big red X means no go.Keep looking.
As I scroll down toward my original search term I see this keyword:
Checked Amazon and it’s over 100 dollars. There’s 12 reviews and they are good.
Let’s check the rest of the info:
woo hoo! It has an SOC of 0 ~ which means easy to get ranked. The exact phrase count is 0 which means it will be SUPER easy to rank. The commercial intent is 99%, which means people are really just looking for a place to BUY this computer.
So yes, this is a keyword I’d definitely build a lens around.
As you can see it’s really easy and fast to find great keywords, check all the measures to identify if it’s a “good” keyword all in one place. Very easy.
Of all the things I’ve bought online Micro Niche Finder has definitely been my best purchase. I use it at least a few times a week if not every day ~ depending on what I’m working on. I definitely recommend it if you want to speed up the process of finding keywords.
To think I left it sitting on my computer doing nothing for such a long time. 
If you have any other questions about Micro Niche Finder please feel free to ask in the comment section.
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Your posts is always very informative to me.Your instructions are clear and simple.It a free tutorials everyday.
I do appreciate all of this.
I have been using the MNF for a while now and it does shorten the process of my kw research. It is all in one.
Thanks a lots for your help.Being one who have not seen any sales yet,my outlook to my internet endeavor is more positive.
You are really awesome jackie
fel´s last blog ..Leap Frog Globe updated Mon Jan 24 2011 5-13 am CST
Hi Lisa,
I don’t worry about it at all. I do look at it because it can give a general idea as to how competitive the keyword is going to be, but for my purposes it doesn’t play a part in my decision. I look at the level of competition from other websites, not from advertisers.
Lisa
I have a question regarding when searching for keywords on google keyword tools. The advertiser competition box how much attention should you pay to this section. I hear conflicting thoughts on this. Some say not to worry about this others say you should be worried.
I use MNF each and every day. I cant stop playing around with it. For a slow internet connection like mine, it takes a little longer, but that’s how things are in my country.
I have uncovered so many niches in MNF that I wish I had four or ten of me.
It’s very good for staying off the wrong keywords (red ones).
Sometimes I have gone ahead with red ones, if the PR of the sites < 20 . And it worked still.
I think your squidoo christmas guide is better than mnf. Anyways, I am on the first page of google for a highly searched product, the lens hasnt gotten any views yet. But, I am thrilled!!
Jackie, if you want a testimonial for your squidoo christmas cash, I am ready.
Will update you when I get a sale!!
Yeah MNF really simplifies things and makes it so much easier instead of going from screen to screen. It gives you great ideas too.
Jackie,
I love MNF as well. Everything on 1 screen and easy to decipher. I also love to just use the Brainstorm option if I’m having trouble even thinking of something to start researching… then use the feature to find if Amazon has a product and I’m off to the races.
Jane ~ MoneyMom
MNF is almost always open on my computer – I use it to find the kw for my CCB lenses, as you’ve described – and then I also use it to find related keywords for writing articles to submit on my lenses.
I also use it to get kw for my blog entries and the articles I put on my niche blogs.
It’s awesome.