Google Adwords does not give you any clue as to how many backlinks your competition has, if you are building web pages without this information you are wasting your time. Even if you use Google to find backlinks for your competitors ex. links:url you will get just a very small amount of total links.
Micro Niche Finder and Market Samurai are fantastic if you got the money to spend other wise there is always good old google keyword tool
Market Samurai is hands-down the best, and their keyword analysis tool is free even after the trial period is over.
Google key word tool has been erratic lately. Yahoo key words have been a more reliable source lately.
Oh yeah. you should try Rank Tracker by Link Assistant too. I have used it for a couple weeks now and its very good. you could download the free license although it doesn't support all feature like paid one.
I am writing about whitehat techniques. Google keyword tool is actually the best. But you have to know how to get the best of it. Make a comprehensive keyword research, which uses google keyword tool, is the best way for keyword researching which all top whitehat SEO experts are using. A comprehensive keyword research should take care of the information 1) competition - general 2) competition - exact ("keyword phrase") 3) competition with keyword in title (intitle:"keyword phrase") 4) average cost per click (how much profit a keyword is) 5) backlink analysis of top 3 competitors for a keyword When you have these information, you should have a reasonable strategy to promote your website for your selected keywords.
Keywords Research Pro is good enough with that price.... because they give like other but Market samurai can give you source or monetization on their.. but you have to buy pro version
I am a newbie, but I've started from a Google Keyword Tool External. Pretty enough for the start and free of cource.
I am using Google Keyword Tool, I guess this is the best without a doubt if you really want to compete in Google rankings.