Just as a good synonym can spice up a tshirt message by turning an ordinary phrase into an extraordinary one, sifting through words related to a particular niche can open a rich portal into deeper research that’s packed with diverse creative content ideas and messaging concepts worth exploring.
My absolute favorite resource for fast and efficient subniche exploration by way of word association is https://relatedwords.org.
As you may know, beekeeping is a big niche on Merch By Amazon. Using Related Words, a simple search for “beekeeping” returns a host of subniches pertinent to the insect at the heart of the niche. One of the first to jump out at me is “carpenter bees.”
Leveraging the Amazon search bar to assess competition and Merch Informer’s keyword finder tool to assess keyword viability, “carpenter bees” enjoys both strong search volume and low competition.
Carpenters bees is a subniche just waiting for some design love from Merchers.
What’s more, Related Words can even provide leads that are similar but ultimately unrelated to what you were trying to find. Some time ago, for example, Halloween was approaching and I wanted to focus on the “ghost hunting” niche. Using the Related Words site to research the niche, I was given “ghostwriter” as a related word.
I started making funny/sarcastic tshirts about the relationship or lack thereof between ghostwriters and Halloween. Several of my designs would go to sell across different POD platforms.
On my own, I would have likely not associated ghost writing with ghost hunting, as the former has nothing to with the latter, apart from merely sharing the word “ghost.” The bottom line? There’s no point in expending valuable brain energy trying to think of terms and phrases pertinent to a niche when free resources like Related Words exist and can quickly give you ideas and messaging inspiration that even the most experienced and research savvy POD professionals would never think of — or at least not within a fraction of a second.
