Kimberly – For niches, the first thing I think about is what I know and enjoy. If I know absolutely nothing about a topic, I’ll resent the project, and won’t put my best into it. I also look for evergreen sort of topics, rather than the hot niches of the moment (which could change tomorrow – literally). If an evergreen topic can be enhanced because it’s timely, then I go with that. For the 11 domains I just registered for quick flips, I chose things I enjoy, things I know something about (even if not in my writing specialty area), and I chose things that would have an appeal in the New Year (while popular year-round, some niches will be naturally searched for more at certain times of the year – fitness in the new year, maybe travel in the summer, holiday things in the winter, education / school topics in the fall, etc.).

You can run your niche ideas through a tool like the Adwords Sandbox to let you know if people are actually searching for those topics or not (and whether or not there’s decent advertiser competition for related keyword phrases).