Do me a favor, just for a minute, forget about “keyword this and keyword that” and think differently about your niche research. There are so many other quick ways to screen the “activity level” in a niche. Don’t get me wrong, keyword research is still critical when it gets to time to dive into a niche.
But, there are even faster ways to quickly get a 40,000 foot overview of a niche.
I recommend using “communities” to research ideas and also testing to see how the users of a niche value content.
With the new push of “Niche Marketing 2.0” you really want to focus on reader loyalty – not just “one off” sales. Given that, the resource for the day that I recommend you use…
Why? Because you can instantly see how “active” the content activity is inside a niche. You can also see how many views the top articles are getting.
Go into Ezine Articles and start clicking around in the appropriate categories. Look for the following…
–> How many articles
–> How quickly those articles are getting viewed
–> What are the top authors writing about…
There are even more “stats” I look for, I’ll share more in the future 
I use EzineArticles for a lot of research. But I like your idea of using them for finding a successful niche. Thanks for the tip.
Thank you for giving me permission to forget about keywords for a while ! Going to communities is essential for working out what your niche really needs. The article directories is a great idea… I know several people who write articles do so over several niches. I find that browsing around in forums gives me a little more insight as to what my niche is needing —
Jeanne
http://www.goalsnaspirations.com
That’s an excellent method you’ve given for finding out what’s hot. There is a danger that affiliates can spend much of their time working in isolation.
If we had a store on Main Street, we would take a stroll around every now and then, just to see what everyone else was selling. We should do the same with our websites.
I’ve never thought about using article directories for finding a niche. I think it’s a great idea. I’m about to go do some research right now. I just might find something to write about in my blog.
Thanks for the great idea.
Thanks for your information about EzineArticles, it is really informative. I have just posted 1 article out of my 10 before i can be allowed an unlimited post and i can tell you that i have started seeing results.
Great concept and a place to get right and informative articles on the internet
Gaius