Use Spam Comments For Niche Ideas
I have talked a little about ways to brainstorm for new niche ideas. After conducting some preliminary research, I have stumbled onto the idea of using the comments that hit the akismet spam filter for finding new niches.
What made me think of this is that I have been away since late last Thursday and when I logged in here today, there were over 1000 comments in the Akismet area. I was skimming through the pages looking for legitimate comments when every once in while I would see a word or a phrase that would interest me.
If you are familiar with comment spam, you know the kind I am talking about. They use a fake name, fake email address and their comment is nothing but anywhere from 5-10 anchored links. Surprisingly, they are not all porn or celebrity related. I had received comments with links to literally everything under the sun. Household items, beauty items, vehicle items, lawn and garden items, etc.
Normally, I don't even pay attention to these comments. I usually overlook and delete them, however with that amount it was hard not to see a word or phrase or two every once in a while.
These people literally have sites and pages on everything under the sun. There were a few that caught my eye so I decided to do a little research. I ran the phrases through a couple of keyword tools and was pleasantly surprised with the results. Many searches and very little competition. Then I took a look at different ways to monetize them and found that most of the niche(s) paid very well.
This is a niche marketer's dream. Finding niches with very little competition, that are searched for quite often and has products available which pay high commissions.
Not to mention that if you seize the opportunity to capitalize on them, you are doing your part to get back at the black hat marketers that are attacking your blog.
Think about it. If these people went to the trouble to build these sites and pages and are trying that hard to get them ranked using these techniques, then you can be sure they have already done the research and found that the is niche profitable or they wouldn't bother with it.
So in essence, you are being handed profitable niches on a silver platter. Take advantage of it. The one thing you can be assured of is that if you build your site the right way, you will outrank them and have a lasting site. You can also be assured that eventually their site/page is going to get deindexed. I can't think of a better way to get them back at them than to use their own work against them.
Give it a try. I have a few I'm going to test out and I'll let you all know how that goes. Likewise, if you end up using any of the spam comments you receive for ideas, come back and tell me how it worked out for you. I'd love to hear it.
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kermit from minnesota homes (1 comments.) | Dec 6, 2008 | Reply
All I ever get is spam for auto dealers and car insurance. Your spam must be more interesting than mine.
kermits last blog post..Rochester MN Real Estate – Starter Homes
Melissa | Dec 6, 2008 | Reply
Well, it was a lot more interesting. You want to hear something funny?
Before I made this post, I was getting nearly 300 spam comments daily.
Since I published it, the spam has dwindled down to anywhere from 7-15 daily.
I honestly was beginning to think something was wrong on my blog. Usually spam escalates, not dwindle down to practically nothing. lol
However, if it starts up again, I’ll do the readers here a great service and make a page to post those niches.
I’m going to be honest, after doing some research, some of them were awesome.
Kevin from Great Wall of China Facts (8 comments.) | Dec 16, 2008 | Reply
WOW. That is actually pretty cool idea. Most people think blog spam is completely useless but I am glad you found a use for it.
Melissa | Dec 16, 2008 | Reply
I always thought of it as useless too, until I came up with that idea.
Honestly, there are some really good niches in there if you research a few of them. I’ve found more than a few gems.
Joe from Spokane South Hill Properties (1 comments.) | Jan 5, 2009 | Reply
Thanks a lot for the cool ideas Melissa! I will research and check it out.
Portrait Artist (2 comments.) | Jan 23, 2009 | Reply
thank you for this post. I agree we can get gold in garbage.
Melissa | Jan 24, 2009 | Reply
That is so true. You can also get some great laughs. I had a few just this morning.
Joe from Walnut Properties (1 comments.) | Jan 27, 2009 | Reply
I remember my Friend who is very rich because of garbage.
Mike (2 comments.) | Feb 1, 2009 | Reply
I really like the way you think. Now I’m smacking myself on the forehead for just deleting all of that raw material!
Mikes last blog post..Spotting Niches
Melissa | Feb 1, 2009 | Reply
It’s definitely possible. You get some great ideas from “garbage.”
Melissa | Feb 1, 2009 | Reply
LOL – I know how you feel. It took me a long time to realize I was deleting “valuable” info. This material is great for coming up with new niches and like I said, if you take a few minutes to perform some research, you can find quite a few gems!
ajay from Christian Counseling Dallas (3 comments.) | Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
You really make the use from the garbage…
great idea. i found this blog very interesting.. Thank you….
James from reverse phone number search (3 comments.) | Feb 3, 2009 | Reply
@Kermit
There are a lot of CPA offers for auto dealers and insurance that will pay you $8-$10 dollars per lead for just to be able to get a persons email address or name and zip code. If your getting a lot of those there is a good bet they are making money somewhere and there is very little promotion involved. CPA’s are becoming quite the thing these days.
Melissa | Feb 3, 2009 | Reply
Yes, CPA offers can definitely very lucrative. Especially when they tie in with your niche.
Sania from Wide Format Printing (1 comments.) | Feb 11, 2009 | Reply
Really it is very nice post and thanks for sharing it.
Tony Lee (1 comments.) | Feb 23, 2009 | Reply
Thanks for sharing that Melissa.
Like Mike, I’m smacking my forehead having over looked this.(But hey, that’s why I read your blog!)
Perhaps this might be an opportunity to create a plugin that does the work for you; Runs the spam comments past a few keyword tools and gives you a complete report, then automatically deletes the comment.
“Take that Spammers!”
Let us know how your test goes Melissa!
Tony Lees last blog post..1911 INDIAN HEAD GOLD EAGLE COINS
Erik G from Hunting and Fishing (2 comments.) | Mar 5, 2009 | Reply
That is a pretty good idea, you can also check out what kind of templates or CMS the spammers are using. Because I think a good template equals a decent amount of money. I really like your blog design for instance, the blue and black goes well with the blog. And having the ads on the side doesn’t look to bad, doesn’t take away from the blog at all.
Jeff from Tampa Movers (3 comments.) | Mar 12, 2009 | Reply
This is a great idea! You’re very clever to have realized this and now we’re all kicking ourselves for not having thought of it. This makes me wish I got more spam, I only get a couple per week and they’re usually just nonesense.
Melissa | Mar 22, 2009 | Reply
Erik, Thank you for the nice comment.
Jens from Gesundheitsfragebogen (3 comments.) | Mar 24, 2009 | Reply
What a good idea. I never read the spam comments at all. But it could be worth it. Because of “only” 15 spam comments a week, I don’t think there will be something useful I guess.
Jenss last blog post..Was hilft gegen Muskelkater?
Tom from Herbal Fiberblend Australia (2 comments.) | Jun 1, 2009 | Reply
What an awesome idea! and I just saw the spam on my sites as an annoying timewaster, I never thought they could be the start of a profitable sideline! nice work, i’ll let you know what I find in there (I wouldnt want to visit some of the sites in my spam filter!)
Toms last blog post..Easy & effective natural colon and parasite cleanse
Dazzle White Free Trial (1 comments.) | Jul 20, 2009 | Reply
your blog came to my attention by word-of-mouth, and I was skeptical at first. So I visit your blog… And i think that this is really a nice blog!
I really liked your blog!
Jesse Jane Friendly (1 comments.) | Oct 10, 2009 | Reply
I really liked your blog! This is a nice way to put it. Post more on this topic!!
Johnny from Bowtrol (3 comments.) | Jan 21, 2010 | Reply
This is actually a really good idea. On my sites, I get at least 200-300 spam comments a day. Most of them are about random porn or viagra related, but every once in awhile I’ll get something a little more mainstream and marketable.
Time to dust off the Keyword Researcher and wade through all of the spam comments caught in Akismet.
Thanks for the idea! my brain is working right now.