Coming Up With An Easy Niche That WILL Make Money
**WARNING - THIS IS LONG!**
From what I know now, I classify an 'easy' niche as being one that you do not need to be an 'authority' or an 'expert' in.
Back in 2019 Google developed 2 criteria that had been around for a while. These 2 criteria were: YMYL content and E-A-T.
YMYL content stands for Your Money Your Life and these were published content that covered the following niches: the readers'/visitors' health, well-being, financial status or security
Google actually came out with examples of YMYL site subjects in its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines and these are the topics we need to be aware of:
- News and current events - especially business, science, politics, technology and international events
- Law, Government and Civics such as - legal issues (adoption, divorce, marriage, will creation and child custody), Government departments and buildings, voting and social services
- Financial Advice or Information - such as: credit cards, bank accounts, mortgages, savings, loans and sites where you can make purchases and/or money transfers (yes, even shopping!)
- Groups - whether by age, nationality, gender, sexuality, veteran status or gender identity
- Health and Safety, such as - hospitals, drugs, medical aids, how dangerous an activity is, emergency preparedness
- There are other possible YMYL situations and we have to make a decision on whether our topic/niche would affect a person's money or life negatively.
Now, you CAN write on those subjects above IF you have E-A-T!
E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness
So, let's take one of those subjects above - let's take credit cards, because we, as affiliate marketers, can get some pretty serious commissions from promoting certain credit cards.
There's lil' ol' me wittering away on my blog about how you should get this particular card. Now, I do a pretty good job at filling out the blog post - giving all the detail that the card's affiliate program gives me BUT I don't have a LinkedIn profile and my About page makes no note of any experience I may have in the financial world.
And then there's Mike over here, an ex-bank manager with 32 years of experience in the personal finance world. His LinkedIn profile is packed with details of his financial expertise, his awards, his connections. His About page is boring but packed with info.
Who are YOU going to trust? Who is the search engines going to believe in?
Me, with nothing but writing skills or Mike with his Expertise, his Authority and his Trustworthiness; his E-A-T?
Mike, hands-down - heck even I'd trust Mike - my direct competitor!
Therefore, I need to find a market where YMYL doesn't figure, thus requiring less E-A-T from the beginning. Our expertise will, over time, grow which makes our authority grow which makes us more trustworthy.
So, me with no skills/training - what is open to me? Let's list them out:
- If I had a hobby, I could do a site based around my hobby - provided my hobby wasn't inherently dangerous - such as sky-diving or free cliff climbing
- If I had a pet, I could do a site based around it - but not the medical side; so I wouldn't be able to write about the health of a pug - unless I got that content written by a traceable expert - such as a vet
- I live in an apartment - I could do home decor, indoor gardening, cooking, organizing, home office, books, magazines, knick-knacks, collectibles, cleaning, life hacks etc. I couldn't do utilities-swapping or machine-based DIY (possibly). Could I do simple electrical or water repairs? I'm not sure enough about that.
- I drive - Simple car maintenance is doable but I don't think there's much there to build a blog/business around. A business about types of cars/vehicles might be a possibility.
- If I did a sport - I could create a business around a sport - collectibles, schedules, fan site etc. - but not sports injuries unless I knew a sports-based physio
I'm sure there are plenty of other parts of my life I could list out but I won't. Out of the list above the stuff I could do inside my apartment is yelling at me; let's grab a closer look at what kinds of niches there are inside my home.
Home decor - Nope, just no - my world is not one of soft furnishings, believe me. As long as the curtains close, I'm happy - they don't need to match the furniture colors! STRIKE
Indoor Gardening - This has possibilities - herbs, vertical gardening, container gardening, bonsai-ing, IN
Cooking - Quite frankly, trying to get my recipe to rank anywhere near the top of the SERPS is a no-no. I could do something on cookery failures, I guess, but that would only be a 'fun' thing to watch and it wouldn't be easy to monetize (in my mind) STRIKE
Organizing - I'm stunned this is a 'thing' but it's big. I've not looked into this from a marketer's point of view; something to explore, perhaps. IN
Home Office - This has possibilities. Before and after kind of thing, Lots of affiliatization available. From computers and peripherals to desks, chairs, pens and even personalized stationery plus mantoys. IN
Books/Magazines - I prefer to read them rather than write about them - STRIKE
Knick-knacks, collectibles, antiques - Knick-knacks no, antiques, can't afford them, collectibles - possibly; could be willing to start a collection of something worthy IN
Cleaning - this is a chore not a business that I can write about! Plenty of businesses offering cleaning or some sort however.. hmm.. worth further exploration IN
Life Hacks - basically small ways of making one's life easier in some way. Lots of sites with list posts in this niche - 10 Ways to..., 73 best Life Hacks for... etc. I am actually following a guy on YT who is building a site from scratch in this area so I'm out, for now STRIKE
So, my pared -down list is now: Indoor gardening, Organizing, Home Office, Collectibles and Cleaning.
This post is a smidge over 1000 words so we'll come back to our pared down list tomorrow and see if we can find a profitable niche within them.
Recent Comments
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I'm like Jeff. I found it difficult and I know mine is pretty broad. I like the way you're thinking it through though and paring it down. Remember it doesn't have to be your one and only niche.
~Debbi
Thanks Debbi - yes, I agree, it is deeply unlikely to be my one n only and, like you, my interests run wide.
I'll find it
I always found this area difficult because I could never zero it down to a specific niche as my interests and expertise are many and varied, Dom! Jeff
I enjoy doing this part of website creation - the research. It's the rest of it I have problems with lol
Hope you find the perfect one. It's always a difficult task because you are making a decision that affects the next several months (years?) or your life. I'm sure you'll pick the right one.
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What are you most passionate about?
Passion doesn't always work Yvonne
It depends, I'm passionate about my niche, so it makes it easier to write about my topic.
That's very true Yvonne, it does make it a lot easier to write about but is writing about it all we're here to do?
Kyle says somewhere early in the training that we are setting up our website to help people - but we're also setting up a business; so we need to combine that desire by making products that WILL help available to our viewers/readers and not all passions can be linked to a/many products; at least in my experience
I agree with what you are saying, but you need to love your product to help make it easier to write about in a review, its so you can then get action, such as a sale and make money.
Also, in your review, you are helping others to make an informed decision, by writing a topic of interest that will help your readers.
For example, let's say you love plants; you choose herbs as your niche because you love to grow them. But writing about herbs can mean so much more. You can help others on how to incorporate herbs in cooking or something like that.
In my opinion, it depends on how passionate you are about your hobby, products, or helping others.
Sorry for rambling on.
No need to apologize Yvonne, rambling is good :)
I think we're along the same lines but for 1 word - I would swap out the word 'love' in your comment and replace it with the word 'understand'.
If you fully understand the product you are promoting then you'll be able to do all that you've proposed in your comment.
You'll be able to give a stellar review of the product, you be able to help others make an informed decision and you'll be able to write around the product because you'll know what it can and cannot do.
That is why, I think, passion doesn't need to come into it but a comprehensive understanding of the product, regardless of what it is, would mean you could 'sell' anything.