Internet privacy is an increasing concern (ex: the recent Facebook privacy settings fiasco) and Google has just released a beta feature that uses SSL to allow “end-to-end encrypted search solutions”. SSL is an abbreviation for Secure Sockets Layer, and this is the same protocol used to keep sensitive internet and data transfers protected. Google is beta testing this feature under the pretense that if a person searches using the SSL feature, it will help to keep their searches private.

A couple of points need clarification here: first and foremost, if you use the new SSL enabled search, Google will still collect your data just like it does in its current version (and has been for years). The difference is your search information will be encrypted so that third parties (employers, Internet Service Providers, hackers, etc.) can’t get access to your search information; so even though your search becomes protected it certainly is not anonymous. This is an important distinction. Your searches will be just “private” between you and Google. 

Furthermore, even though SSL will prevent third parties from knowing what precise search term you typed in, third parties could still see what websites you visited and could thus come up with a reasonable guess concerning your encrypted search term. For example, I could type in a mysterious encrypted search term and this could be my results page:

Search Results Page Using SSL

If I clicked on any of those websites I would no longer be in encrypted search mode and a third party could gather information about my visit. It wouldn’t be difficult to accurately deduct what my mystery search term was…

Miami Dolphins

Google’s new SSL feature is also only available for its web searches, although Google claims they are working on ways to encompass all of its features (images, maps, etc). Google also says its searches in SSL are slower due to the encryption process (although it’s barely noticeable on my computer) and that it’s working to improve the speed.

Google’s SSL is not a default feature. It is in beta testing, however, and you can try this new feature now. It’s incredibly simple.

Google’s url is:

Normal Google url

 If you want to search using SSL, you need to add an “s” behind the http:

Google Search with SSL Feature Enabled

You can then search in encrypted search mode.

My computer hasn’t experienced any issues using the SSL feature, but apparently some computers may display error messages. If you receive an error message, or if you want to learn more about SSL feature, read Google’s official blog post.

On Micro Niche Finder’s version 4.5.1 release, a new feature called search options can be utilized. If you haven’t already done so, please update your software now in order to use this feature.

The search bar now looks like this:

Search Bar on Micro Niche Finder

As you can see, there is text under the search bar that says, “Click Here to Show Search Options”.

Click on that and our new expandable search bar appears. This contains options that allow you to tailor your searches to your needs.

Expandable Search Bar on Micro Niche Finder

For instance, the Google Server selections are now featured here. Micro Niche Finder uses the default Google (American) settings, but you can change these settings to whatever country you wish by clicking on the drop bar and finding the country of your choice.

You can also choose to use or disable synonyms in your search, include relevant results only, include adult content in results, not to return results of ‘not enough data’, and not to show new ideas for keywords. What features you want to use is completely up to you and you can change them easily anytime you want!

Micro Niche Finder allows you to view Google Trends for phrases. One may argue that it’s a lesser known feature on Micro Niche Finder, but it is certainly important when creating a comprehensive understanding about a particular niche.

When you find a phrase that appeals to you, click on that phrase and a narrow purple box will appear on the side. Click on “Google Trend”. A new internet window will automatically pop up showing you the Google Trend for your particular phrase. Using this graph, you can chart (over the course of years!) the rising and waning search popularity of a product. It will also show news articles that pertain to your phrase – for example, my phrase is “wine cooler” and it displayed six recent news articles about wine coolers.

Google Trends

One of the best uses for Google Trends is to determine if a particular niche market is seasonal in nature.  You can very easily see by looking at the Google Trend Chart if the market peaks or valleys at certain times of the year. 

By using this Google Trends feature in Micro Niche Finder, you have yet another tool to show you if the niche you are considering has great potential or not. Of course, the data provided by OCI, SOC, Ad Cost, Search Count, and Exact Search Count reign supreme; if a niche is on the fringe though, looking at the Google Trends for the term just may help you determine if the niche is worth your time or not!

Micro Niche Finder provides way more services than what initially meets the eye, and the Google Product Search is only one example of such a service. To illustrate how to use the Google Product Search, I will use an example phrase (“umbrella”) and explain how to use the product search in relation to the phrase.

“Umbrella” is a very vague term, with far too much competition, so I settled on another term that came up with this search – “bubble umbrellas” (the strength of competition for this term is still intermediate, but it will do). Bubble umbrellas are a tangible item so in addition to my normal routine (checking exact phrase counts, ad costs, search counts, etc) I will also use the Google Product Search to see the market for this product, and perhaps find a good program to affiliate with!

To find the Google Product Search, click on the phrase of your choosing ( in my case, bubble umbrellas). A narrow purple screen will appear, and this has a list of clickable features. Click on the feature that says “Google Product Search”.

google products search location

Upon clicking this, a new internet window will appear – this is the Google Products page as dictated by your phrase. Since my phrase is Bubble Umbrellas, my Google Products page displays pictures, prices, and sources for this particular type of umbrella.  If I click on any of these pictures or descriptions, I will be redirected to the source (for this example I clicked on the first picture and was redirected to the source, Miles Kimball.com). This is an excellent way to peruse a potential website of an affiliate.

Google Product Search Results

Remember, if you find a niche that is focused on tangible items, check the figures for the phrase across the board (is SOC good? Does Exact Phrase Count and Search Count work? Is the Ad Cost reasonable?) and if so, use this Google Product Search feature to find an affiliate program that’s right for you.

One interesting feature Micro Niche Finder offers is called “Hot Trends”, and it is located in the top section of your screen between the “search” button and the “brainstorm” button.

When clicking the “Hot Trends” button, Micro Niche Finder will show you a long list (100 phrases) of popular search trends. You can use this list to quickly determine profitable niches, or you can use this list as a launch point for further niche research.

hot trends button

Micro Niche Finder scours the vast internet to bring you all the information you need on particular niches. Our software specifically uses Google to pull its information – and this is not an accident. While there are many other search engines out there (Yahoo, Live, AOL and MSN instantly spring to mind), none of these search engines compare to the sphere of influence Google possesses.

Unless your product and website domain name is immensely popular world-wide, it is very likely that most of your traffic will come via search engines. Well, let me rephrase that sentence: there is a HUGE chance most of your traffic will come from Google. When people discuss “search engines” the topic is really about Google, which has become synonymous with “search engines”. Google has indexed more pages than any other search engine and thus provides a greater amount of search results. It also offers an increasing array of free services, which makes it more appealing to internet users. It comes as no surprise then, that Google is the top ranked search engine year after year.

Here’s an astounding figure: more than 60% of all search engine traffic comes from Google. In fact, Google is so popular now that if every other search engine were to disappear tomorrow the flow of web traffic would remain almost virtually unchanged. Many internet users searching habits would remain completely unaffected; it is simply undeniable that Google is the top search engine in the world. For an interesting article with charts and figures explaining the search impact of Google, click here.

Thus, we use Google to extract the information you need on Micro Niche Finder. It is the most comprehensive search engine, it generates the most traffic, and it is used by more people than all other search engines combined. If we were to use another search engine to pull results for Micro Niche Finder, the information produced would not be of the highest caliber.

Humor in the internet marketing world can at times be hard to find, so when we discover a hilarious article or picture that illustrates an important concept it’s a wonderful feeling. When we stumbled upon this pearl of wisdom, we realized this example simply had to be shared.

In order to really explain why the below graph is genius, a little back story must be explained. As is common when a famous actor (in this case Ricardo Montalban) dies, Google searches related to that actor skyrockets. Montalban was unique in that there was a very specific phrase associated with him, and so the search count for the phrase skyrocketed too. The phrase? “KHAN!”

Long story short, the very first Star Trek movie was awful. The second movie, “The Wrath of Khan” fared much better – probably because Montalban was cast as the nefarious Khan. We don’t like spoiler alerts, so without giving away plot details, there is a famous scene where Captain Kirk yells “KHAN!” in a very “dramatic” and prolonged way – hence, “KHAAAAAAAAAAN!” (you can see the clip here). In a way, a young William Shatner yelling “KHAN!” is a cornerstone of American cinema – savor it.

The below graph clearly demonstrates how although many people were searching for the same term “KHAN!” in lieu of Montalban’s death, there were many different ways in which people went about looking for it! Most people only typed the word “KHAN” using one A, but many people typed the word “KHAN” using 40 As, and some used even 97 As in their version of “KHAN”. The reason for the popularity of 81 As, and yet the complete lack of enthusiasm for 66 As eludes us (Click Here for the Link to the Actual Article).

The Many A's in Khan

What this graph explains brilliantly is that although a large group of people may have the exact same topic in mind, when it comes to searching this topic there can be many variants. People will interpret a topic in many different ways, which then in turn create many different search results.

In order to use this knowledge to your gain, it is important that you understand how crucial it is to get your keyword right. Having the proper keyword and niche preparation is one way to set yourself apart from other internet marketers. In this particular example, woe to the person thinking that “KHAN” with 96 As was a good keyword; if “Khan” was a commodity, the person using the keyword “KHAN” with 6 As would be receiving a lot more traffic (and thus more sales).

To make sure you are using a good niche and keyword, make sure your Exact Phrase Count on your Micro Niche Finder is low (to understand why a low exact search count is preferable, see : The Exact Match Paradox. The other data across the board should be sufficient too (high OCI, low SOC, etc.) but if you want the edge, make sure the Exact Phrase Count is satisfactory.

Micro Niche Finder pulls much of its information from Google – a company that puts a lot of its pride in their creed “Do No Evil”. Google recognizes it possesses an extraordinary amount of power and in the spirit of fairness it actively chooses NOT to engage in censorship related activities and such (or so they say).

Besides abstaining from the forces of evil, Google is a big supporter of net neutrality…most of the time. Net neutrality is a hot button issue, and not to oversimplify the matter, the crux of the argument for net neutrality is that the servers should not have the power to decide what content, websites, platform, etc., are “better” (and since it all comes down to money, “better” actually means “more profitable for broadband providers”) than others. In theory, broadband providers and telecommunication corporations could put a price tag on different websites, therefore economically controlling your decisions as to what websites to visit. An example of this would be if the price to visit facebook.com was two cents a visit and the price to visit myspace.com was .025 cents ( a quarter of a cent) per visit, which social networking site do you think would be more popular? That’s right, myspace would be – which is conveniently enough partnered with Google!

Or what if a standard internet package (for the sake of argument, pretend its $59.99 a month) included myspace.com, but to access facebook.com you had to upgrade your package from $59.99 a month to $69.99 a month? Myspace would win again, although really, it would be telecommunication companies (and the websites in cahoots with them) that would really win.

Google recognizes that net neutrality is critical to the success of the internet and actively tries to use its power to keep the information it finds open, fair, and free. Supporting net neutrality, besides disagreeing with a tiered website pricing system, is allowing users to find what they are looking for – if someone searches “sculptures made of ear wax” Google (in theory) will supply the answers. Even though it may be gross to most sensibilities, who are they to judge? After all, the very nature of judging is not neutral!

Sometimes Micro Niche Finder users are interested in finding niches that highlight human vices; namely gambling, adultery, drug use, etc. For instance, it’s easy to see why it might be profitable to find a niche for gambling. It’s a booming business (multi billion dollars a year) and by using some marketing skills and specific keywords found on Micro Niche Finder, the potential for profits is tantalizing.

Yet on keyword searches in the aforementioned topics, sometimes it comes to light that information simply won’t show up. For example, a Micro Niche user looking for “online gambling” for a potential niche might not have their SOC work. If Google is net neutral, does no evil, and keeps information accessible, why would this be so?

The reality is that gambling and the like are markets where Google has decided to block certain requests, including the info that comprises the SOC. Over the years, it’s become apparent that it’s mainly human vices and ethically questionable human tendencies/behaviors that raise the red flags on Google’s end and thus prevents information from being fed into Micro Niche Finder.

Not quite as net neutral as you would expect, huh?

Since we value honesty and transparency, we feel it is important to tell how it is – you can definitely pursue niches in those categories but be forewarned Big Brother Google may put the kibosh on information you want.

One of Micro Niche’s most convenient features is the “Manage Projects” – a necessity when compiling information for a new project. This feature is simple to use and makes organizing your many projects much easier.

For example, let’s pretend that you want to start a new endeavor focusing on the needs of first-time parents. In your mind, first time parents are going to need a whole slew of new things – a car seat, baby clothes, stroller, furniture for a nursery, etc. There are many commodities related to babies and therefore there are many facets you must develop to have a comprehensive business venture.

To begin, click the “Manage Projects” button near the top of your screen (it will be by the other tabs such as “Manage Searches”, “Support”, etc.) and create a new project name. For this type of project, perhaps you name it “New Parents”. Whenever you find a niche you like, you will move it into your “New Parents” project.

A definite commodity new parent’s needs are cribs, so perhaps that is where you start your search. When you search “cribs” and find an appropriate niche, click the small box to the right of the phrase. Once it is clicked, look for the “Add Checked to Project” tab – it’s right next to the “Print Results” icon.

You will then be prompted to enter your project “bucket” name – this is the project where you want to move it to (“new parents”). In the given blank space, hit the arrow and scroll down until you find the appropriate project. Once found, hit save!

You can repeat this as many times as necessary – in this instance, perhaps find a niche for baby bottle, organic baby clothes, baby picture frames, jackets for newborns, baby shampoos, etc. After each good niche discovery, save it into your “New Parents” project via the method described above!

Now when you click on the “Manage Projects” icon at the top of your screen, scroll down until you find your proper project (which, by the way, is always listed alphabetically). When you click on that project, you will see the niches you saved listed!

Sometimes when you run the “Get Checked Exact Phrase Counts” or “SOC” query you may see some of the following alerts:

-”Google has blocked search result. This may be phrase specific. Please try again later.”

-”Google has blocked this search quest,and did not provide a CAPTCHA image. This may be phrase-specific. Please try a different phrase.”

-”We’re sorry, but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus of spyware application. To protect our users we cannot process you request right now.”

Why would Google block specific search queries, you say? Well, the third response offers some insight.

When you try too many exact count or SOC searches at one time, warning flags arise on Google’s end. Google does not like viruses, spam, spyware, malware, etc. (but then, who does?). If you search too many exact count or SOC searches, Google will think that YOU are one of those malicious entities and will temporarily halt your search capabilites. It usually does not last more than a couple hours.

There is no way to go around this as it is an intrinsic part of Google’s security in an effort to keep things “fair”. Setting your search engine courtesy to maximum when you run an SOC or exact match search may help; however, the best way to prevent this is to just be very selective as to which keywords you run an exact match search or SOC. Don’t run wild with the exact match/SOC clicks – use them when everything else across the board looks promising.