I am fortunate in my job to have the opportunity to research dozens of businesses and learn what phrases people search to find those businesses online. Today I was doing some foundational search engine optimization for a client of one of LevelTen’s sister companies and discovered something fascinating.

Good Stinks™ sells battery operated, flameless candles and candle warmers. They do not sell any regular candles that burn with wicks.

I was blown away by the popularity of Good Stink’s niche. It was not only popular, but had relatively low competition, which is what got my attention.
In the book The Long Tail, Chris Anderson encourages business owners and entrepreneurs to “scratch your niche” online, instead of trying to be everything to everyone. I am sure the online market for regular candles became saturated long ago, but these specialty candles are unique. Affiliate marketing professionals love these types of opportunities, and are always on the lookout for them.

These wickless candles seem to be all the rage, and I am definitely noticing them more often in bars and restaurants (to cut down on liability due to accidental fire no doubt). I love how they even flicker to simulate real candles. Below are some of the related keywords and their daily search volume for this niche.

Candle warmer (5535)*
Flameless candles (3360)*
Pillar candles (5550)*
Battery operated candles (5190)*
Wickless Candles (252)*

*Montlhly Searches on Yahoo. 22% of the search engine market.

With the holiday season coming up, I can foresee Good Stinks™ doing quite well. It seems like the opportunities for niche marketing are endless online. So if you have a niche in mind, do your research, then by all means…scratch it.