How to Find Your Niche for Affiliate Marketing and Blogging That Will Actually Be Profitable

I know what you’re thinking:

Finding a niche is hard, and you’re getting frustrated searching through guides that simply don’t help.

But don’t give up just yet!

Get through one more article and I know you’ll be well on your way to finding a truly profitable niche for your next business.

In this post I’m going to give you a list of 287 niche ideas to help spark some ideas, and I’m going to breakdown the process of actually finding a profitable niche.

So stick with me here and I promise you won’t be disappointed!

Watch or read on:

Exclusive Bonus: Download the list of 287 profitable niches to spark some ideas for your next business. This list contains some great topics for your next affiliate marketing venture. Grab your copy here.

Warning: If You Think You're a "Blogger" Please Read This Section

After building several successful affiliate marketing businesses, and several that failed miserably, I can honestly say that niche selection is one of the most important steps in building a successful online business.

Take your time with choosing a niche.

So I would recommend you not rush this step, and really go the extra mile when it comes to applying the information that I’m going to share with you.

For those who are looking for a niche topic for blogging, this guide applies to you as well.

But here's the deal:

If you’re interested in making money from your blog, then you will want to download my 5 Step Blueprint which reveals how to get started with affiliate marketing.

The reason is that the majority of “bloggers” make most of their money from affiliate marketing.

If you're looking for profits, then you should move away from the blogging mindset, and focus more on content marketing.

My 5 Step Blueprint explains this concept and will help transition you from a blogger into a business person.

Grab a copy of my 5 Step Blueprint here.

Step 1: Finding a Niche

I always say that there isn’t a special formula you can run to get a profitable niche.

You need to do some searching, and then do some evaluating, and this takes time.

This process of finding a niche also isn’t exact. You will find a bunch of different advice when it comes to choosing a niche for your business. So what I want to do is share what I feel is the most useful information with you, and then it will be your job to use the information in whatever way works best for you.

There is one concept which I think applies to many of the strategies to choosing a niche, and that is niching down.

Here’s a general formula for niching down, along with a simple example. Remember your niche is essentially the topic of your business.

Here are some examples:

Niche Down: Be More Specific

The more you niche down, the less competitive your topic becomes.

As you niche down and become more specific, you can start to talk to a specific person, and really hone in on their pain points.

This helps people relate to you and improves conversion. So it’s easier to attract the right type of visitor when you niche down, and it’s easier to make sales.

Keep in mind you don't want to take this too far. At the end of the day, you still need a big enough group to market to.

The 5 Main Niches

1. Health
2. Wealth
3. Relationships
4. Hobbies and Interests
5. Personal Development

I was recently listening to a Tony Robbins audio book.

It was talking about the reason why people make decisions:

People make decisions primarily to avoid pain, or experience pleasure. 

And guess what?

This is why people buy things as well.

A lot of the most profitable niches offer this to people. They help people avoid pain, or gain pleasure.

Sometimes when you niche down and get very specific, you will eventually find a particular person you’re targeting who has a specific problem.

With the strategy that I outline in my 5 Step Blueprint, our goal is to create a resource that solves a person’s problem(s). Again, some niches do this more specifically than others.

When you dial down and get specific, you can attract a very specific audience that will relate to you, and who you can be successful promoting products to them (solutions to their problems).

Getting specific usually helps you gain an audience quicker, and increases your conversion rate because you’re talking to a specific group of people who have a specific problem.

Staying broad with a topic usually means it’s more competitive. It may have a bigger potential for profits, however for beginners, going too broad is usually the most common mistake.

Start Here: Passion and Experience

Researching a niche which you are passionate or interested in, or a niche which you have experience in is a good place to start because you know the pain points in the market, and you can present the information in a knowledgeable way. You can also get obsessed with the niche which helps a lot.

I would enjoy building these types of businesses, especially as a beginner where I need to learn as I build my first profitable online business.

And if I’m not a pure expert yet, I would enjoy learning and becoming an expert in niches that I actually have an interest in.

My gut instinct is to advise you to hone your skills on a project that you’re passionate and interested in, then work on more potentially profitable niches once you know how affiliate marketing works.

Here are a few ideas floating around. They are both good arguments:

• Passion is important for beginners because you need to be interested in your business to put in the work.
• Monetization matters most, because money fuels passion.

My thought is that you want to learn how affiliate marketing works, master the strategy I share in my 5 Step Blueprint, then you can really focus on finding profitable niches.

I'm not saying learn affiliate marketing while building a business that is not profitable. What I'm saying is that you can work with a topic that you're interested in, learn how to find keywords, how to set up pages, how to monetize, how to rank on Google and so on.

Then after learning this you can start your next site in a more profitable niche perhaps, even if you find it really boring. But at that stage it won’t matter as much because you know how to build an affiliate marketing business.

However, other successful marketers have stated the complete opposite:

Go for profitability first, then build a site on something you’re passionate about.

There’s no right or wrong answer.

I personally would rather learn while working on a website that’s about a topic that I’m interested in, but it’s not a requirement. You need to figure out what would be best for you.

The fact that several successful marketers give different advice regarding this means you need to take these recommendations and figure out what might work for you. Your experience might factor into this as well.

For example, more experienced affiliate marketers can start by considering and researching commissions and the value of a customer, because we have experience and we know how to build a site. So competition might be less of a concern.

But if you're a beginner, you might not want to tackle a competitive niche, even if it pays well, because you might not have the tools, (budget, experience), to actually succeed in a particular niche.

So your niche selection approach can vary, "it depends", on your experience.

But remember, no matter what niche you choose, it MUST be profitable. So you can FIND niches based on your passion (interests and knowledge), but you need to evaluate them.

Find Niches Based on Your Passion, Interests or Experience

So what are you passionate about or interested in?

Do you have experience with a market already?

Most people search for a niche, find one, start researching, THEN discover what pain points that market has and which products they can offer them. Try it the other way.

So start with yourself.

What products do you buy?

What pain points do you currently have?

Here are some brainstorming ideas to help you find niches based on your passion, interest and experience:

• What do you talk to people about?
• What kind of books do you read?
• What hobbies do you have?
• What problems do you currently have?
• What do you have experience in?
• What products do you buy?

A quick point:

These brainstorming sessions are things that people don’t want to do. This makes it a bigger reason for you to actually do it.

Do the work others aren't willing to do, and you'll get the things others will never have.

Find Niches by Searching in Affiliate Marketing Networks

Another strategy to finding a niche is to search within affiliate networks.

The idea is that you can find various products you can promote, and work your way backwards to a niche topic.

For this strategy, I would recommend you read and watch my overview of the 5 best affiliate marketing networks and programs.

I highlight some popular networks and programs which you can sign up for and start searching for products on.

One of the most popular website you can search for products to promote is Amazon. Almost everything sold on Amazon's website you can promote as an Amazon affiliate.

Another popular network you can search on is ShareASale. You can search within their categories for specific markets, and find various products you can promote as an affiliate.

Learn more about affiliate networks and programs here.

Find Niches By Searching Through a List

One final strategy for finding niches is to look through a list of niches which some marketers put together.

I've actually put together a list of 287 profitable niches which you can download here:

https://www.affiliatemarketingthatworks.com/niches/

Download this list of 287 profitable niches here.

Step 2: Evaluating a Niche

There are 3 main things to consider when evaluating a niche:

• Are people spending money?
• Are there solutions to their problems?
• Are a lot of people searching for information online?

Do People Buy Stuff Online in this Niche?

• Do you know how much people spend on products in this niche?
• Do people actually buy products online within this niche?
• Does your target market actually have money?

Some niches and topics are popular, but if people just do research online then buy the products in person, you will have a hard time making money from this niche.

This could be things like furniture, certain pieces of clothing, certain high end products that get a lot of searches but few people actually buy them.

Also, if your niche attracts a younger crowd, they might not be able to use mom or dad’s credit card to purchase from you, and this can reduce the profitability of the niche.

Is Your Niche Solving a Problem?

Are you aware of the main pain points in this niche?

Remember, the best people to target usually have a problem they’re looking to solve.

They head over to Google and they search for a solution to their problem. If you evaluate our list of the most profitable niches, the big 3 all solve problems: Health, Wealth, Relationships.

People have health problems, financial problems, and relationship problems.

“Problems” can vary in severity.

I say “problems”, and this can mean “how to lose belly fat” to perhaps even more embarrassing health problems, but it can mean problems such as “how to invest $1000”, or “how to ask a girl out”, or "is product X better than product Y?".

If your niche doesn’t solve a specific problem, are people still spending money?

If it’s a hobby or activity that people are passionate about, do they buy products online in this niche?

Can You Promote Products as an Affiliate and are Other People Already Doing it?

Check out my video on the best affiliate programs for more details.

3 easy steps I outline at the end of that video is an easy way to see if there are affiliate programs in the niche you’re evaluating:

• Search within the listed affiliate networks I recommend
• Do a Google search of “niche + affiliate program”
• Analyze competitor websites: See what products they’re promoting

Is There High Demand and Low Competition?

The best niche is one within a market who has money, they have a specific problem they want to fix right away, and it’s a new trend that has little to no competition and is going to be an evergreen topic and not just a fad.

Here’s the deal:

You CAN’T wait for that opportunity.

Niches like that come around every once and awhile, but you just need to be lucky to be the first one to discover them. You need to be in the right place at the right time, with a crystal ball.

But the truth is, you can’t wait for these niches, and guess what, you DON'T need to.

There are tons of good niches out there and there’s always room for another marketer like yourself.

You have to believe that there is abundance, and the truth is, there is a ton of money floating around the internet. You just need to put in the work, and get in its path.

So you probably won’t find a brand new niche. But remember, competition is not a bad thing, because it shows that there’s money to be made in a niche.

But too much competition should be avoided.

By niching down you can generally avoid a lot of competition you just can’t compete with, however you will also want to evaluate your niche through keyword research.

Keyword Research: What do the Numbers Say?

Numbers don't lie… However the tools aren't perfect.

Part of the strategy I outline in the 5 Step Blueprint, which is the strategy I use to build affiliate marketing businesses, involves ranking a website on Google.

This is one of the best strategies for building an affiliate marketing business, because so many people search for solutions to their problems on Google. When they find your information which solves their problems, you will be rewarded.

So keyword research is a huge factor in choosing a niche, because it allows you to evaluate whether a niche is valuable and competitive.

Now it's not exact, but it can definitely help you find a great niche, or steer clear of niches you should avoid.

What to Look for When Doing Keyword Research

Keyword research is a really big topic and warrants its own entire guide.

So check out my keyword research tutorial for more specific information on this.

Keyword research is very helpful in analyzing a niche because it can reveal whether a topic is too competitive or if it's worth going after.

Here's a super brief introduction to some of the things you will want to consider:

Keyword Search Volume

Google will track how many times searchers use specific words and phrases in their search engine every month. These numbers can tell you whether a particular topic is popular or not.

Keyword Competition

Keyword research can also tell you how competitive a specific keyword is, and it can start to paint a picture regarding how competitive your entire niche might be. If many websites have information regarding a specific keyword, that might be an indication that the niche is too competitive.

Keyword Value

You can also look at the value of a keyword. Research can tell you how profitable it would be to have a website that ranked well on Google for various terms. These figures are not exact, however they can help you decide whether a topic is worth building a business around.

Once you have narrowed down a niche, you will want to start researching the keywords associated with it.

Quick Recap on Choosing a Niche

Here's Your Next Step:

I hope that this information was helpful.

If you follow the advice in this guide, you should be able to start finding some potential niches for your next business. Once you've done that, you will want to start researching the keywords associated with the niche, and start mapping out your business plan.

So here’s what you need to do to make sure you’re going to pick a profitable niche for your business.

Download my list of over 200 profitable niches, plus get access to my 5 Step Blueprint which reveals the strategy I use to make a full time income online with affiliate marketing. Choosing a niche is only the beginning in creating a successful online business.