When you’re looking for the next hot craze to cash in on, you can’t look for last season’s toy or a SERP trick that’s already been slapped down by the Google gods. Each year, clever marketing geniuses turn consumers into frenzied buyers who won’t rest until they get their hands on the latest fad.

As a marketer, you have to be on alert, with your creative juices flowing, to find an idea that takes the familiar and turns it into something new. Whether it’s traffic strategies and Internet marketing concepts or tangible goods that kids and adult seek out online, there are untapped, multimillion dollar ideas out there just waiting for you to reach out and grab.

How can Internet marketers catch the trend wave ahead of the masses? You have to hear the buzz early. One idea is to monitor eBay – and not just the sales pages. You can see what’s being offered in a specific product area. There’s an even greater wealth of information in the eBay sections such as categories, discussion boards, groups, chats rooms and blogs. When you consider the buying/selling power of this site, you can see trends emerging and then gain an upper hand with affiliate promotions.

Top marketers pay big money for trend predictions. Faith Popcorn, the big kahuna of defining trends, makes money directing marketers toward the next pot of gold. Her trend predictions are usually right on target, as with the cocooning trend that drives business to home improvement stores as people make their homes better to enjoy or to sell. This information may be out of your price range, but it’s not the only game in town.

You won’t get a customized trend report unless you pay for it, but you can get a lot of free information at www.trendhunter.com. Subscribe to information presented in categories such as fashion, technology, business, lifestyle, science, art and popular culture. Trend Hunter gives updates on trends from around the world. As an Internet marketer, this is powerful stuff. You might spot a trend of an item that’s selling wildly in Europe and not yet reached the U.S. or the opposite direction.

Here’s where you jump in to find the product source, make a deal and start marketing in places where the trend is not yet developed. If the demand is not yet present in your prime market, you have to test it with your target audience.

Start with places where you know there’s an interest in related products. If you want to market a new diet trend, drop into the forums on health and fitness, weight loss and personal training. Casually mention that you heard about this great new diet plan and give a short introduction. Write articles about the new product in your blog or for article sites and see how much traffic it generates from raw interest.