A guru is someone who has obtained notable status for their expertise in a particular niche. For example, Donald Trump would be a guru in the real estate investment niche, right? The benefits of finding a guru in your niche are huge. Theyre a person from whom you can learn presumably theyve made all the mistakes already which will save you time, money, and heartache. A guru likely already has a following too, which can add credibility and even profits to your business. Finally, many niche gurus offer spectacular products which you can use and or market yourself.
This may sound too simple but one of the best ways to find a guru in your niche industry is to head to the bookstore or library. Why? Because we consider people who are published to be experts and chances are anyone who has tremendous experience and knowledge in your niche is going to have a book, or ten, on the subject.
Head to the bookstore or library, grab a handful of recent publications, and take notes of who wrote them and how you can get a hold of them. Do they have a website? Do they have a mailing address?
Another way to find a niche guru is to read industry periodicals. Many experts are also prolific writers their knowledge is in demand and writing about it is the best way to communicate the message. They may also give speeches and workshops however the written word is more accessible to the public at large message to the masses. Again you can visit your library for this one and investigate industry publications. Most libraries keep the last 10 or so issues of any particular magazine out for the public and the rest are archived. A years worth of magazines is probably enough to tell you who the experts are.
Browse the issues; take note of the authors who write on subjects near and dear to your niche, and jot down their information. Get at least a name and you can then Google them to see what comes up.
Speaking of Google, searching online is a great way to find experts. Visit industry blogs, participate in forums and see who is posting the most relevant, informative, and notable comments and posts on these blogs. Research these people a bit further to see if theyre guru worthy.
Finally, if after all of this work youre still coming up short on finding a guru in your niche, just ask. Go back to those blogs and forums and ask who the biggest and best experts are. You may get 20 different answers however you now have a great place to start your research.
Finding a guru in your niche is a great way to expand both personally and professionally. Once youve found your guru, dont be shy. Get in touch and see what you can learn.

When you say the words keyword search to most internet marketers youll get one of two responses. Youll see them groan and shudder or youll simply see them shrug their shoulders. The fact of the matter is that many dont know how to or have never taken the time to do a little keyword research. Its not difficult and the information can be invaluable. Once you know what keywords your audience is using to find relevant information, you can position your company so they the find you instead of your competition.
The first step in any keyword research project is to come up with a few words to start with. You can pull them out of the air, do a bit of brainstorming what do you think your clients might be using to find your business? You can check your Google analytics to see what theyre using or you can check the meta data on your competitions websites to see what keywords theyre using. Pretty sneaky, right?
Once you have a handful of words to start with the next step is to choose your keyword research tool. Theyre in abundance so youre not stuck with the first one you land on. Google and Yahoo both offer keyword research tools and there are tools you can subscribe to. Make sure if youre choosing one which you have to pay for, that they offer a free trial so you can make sure youre getting your moneys worth.
Once youre in the tool of your choice the next step is to plug in one of your beginning keywords to create some results. For example, lets say youre creating a surf instruction school and hunting for keywords to optimize your website. You may use surf instruction for your beginning keywords.
You hit enter and now you have anywhere from 10 to 10,000 more keywords. Some have potential and some do not.
Look for keywords which have good popularity. Meaning theyre used often. Yes some people may use the words riding the waves but if only a handful are using those keywords theyre not going to generate much in the way of traffic or profits.
Youll also want to look for keywords which dont have a lot of competition. That doesnt mean you dont use the words surf instruction to optimize your website if that is the single most popular keyword phrase people use to find surf schools however if everyone is using that keyword to optimize their website it might be difficult for you to rise to the top of the rankings which is ultimately the goal.
If youre searching for keywords to use for search engine advertising then it will also be important to pay attention to the cost of the keyword or keyword phrase. Its easy to blow an ad budget in a day with the wrong keyword! Not all keyword tools provide this information. If youre going to be using search engine advertising, use that search engines keyword tool to generate results.
Keywords change over time so it pays to make keyword research a regular process. Some business owners are fastidious and are often looking for the next best keyword phrase, while others prefer to analyze their SEO on a quarterly or annual schedule. Take the time to make sure youre optimizing your site and do a little keyword research its really not so bad.