Don't Overthink Your Niche
Don't Overthink Your Niche
I see a lot of starter members totally stressed about choosing the "right" niche.
Don't!
Just think of something you like or are interested in.
Do you like coffee, golf or fashion?
Do friends compliment you on your home decor skills?
These are all potential niches, along with hundreds more.
When you think "yes, I could write about that", you've got the first part nailed.
The other question you have to ask is "are there affiliate vendors with products I'd be happy to promote?"
This is really simple to answer.
Do a search on "[niche] affiliates" (for example, "fashion affiliates") and you'll most likely be spoilt for choice.
Investigate a few and if you find products you like with a halfway decent affiliate commission, you've found your niche!
Don't worry about competition. Competition is good. It means the niche is profitable. It might just take a bit longer to claim your share.
All you have to do now is:
- Find and register a good domain name. This might require some outside-the-box thinking, but follow the guidelines of a) getting a dot com, b) using recognizable words without hyphens and b) as short as possible. For example, coffee is a very competitive niche, but I recently registered goldilockscoffee dot com ("coffee that's just right").
- Build your website and write 10 or so informative blog posts. Using topic clusters is a great idea. You might have a broad niche like coffee and create 5 blog posts around the topic "Espresso Machines and Pod Machines". Easy to write pros and cons about each. Anyway, you get the idea.
- Now that you have an attractive website with some solid content, start applying to affiliate vendors. Understand that some of them use software to automatically reject unsolicited application. If this happens, just contact them by email or contact form and make your case.
- Once you've been accepted by a vendor, find their products that resonate with you and create a landing page on your website for each one. Then write blog posts that highlight a relevant topic or pain point (How Can I Make Barista-Level Coffee at Home?) and link to the relevant landing page for the solution.
That's it! You're an affiliate marketer.
But the first step is to stop stressing about your niche and just get started.
Recent Comments
76
Good advice!
I was told when I started that my niche was too broad, but with over 500 posts to my credit, I'm not buying it. Though it is very general, it's allowed me to hone in on the parts that interest me most, and I like where it's taken me.
I think the bottom line is, as you say, just do it! If the idea resonates with you, chances are you will find ways to make it fulfilling.
Unlike many in WA, I always recommend broad niches.
They don't limit you and you focus on more narrow aspects of them with topic clusters.
Good -- that's how I look at it, too. Have never had trouble finding a topic, and I find I zero in on ones that seem to carry the juciest topics.
Hi, Fran.
You should do what I am gong to do.
Fram Kelso. com
Paul Mindra .com
You are nice.
Let's see.
I, too, prefer a broader niche. I write about raising suburban chickens. If I narrowed it down more, I think it would hamper rather than help me.
I have gone into detail on this subject as well in several of my posts. First never choose from a list.
I wrote about 1001 Perfectly Profitable Passive Income Niches and why picking from a list is killing your blog. I have also provided an outstanding post on the Amazing Niche Master that explains the Niche Selection Process and how to find a profitable niche.
It is all up to you and what you can, and want to master.
Feel free to Google either, or simply look up mMaster.
I will watch your success unfold as you follow along.
A lot of starters act as if they think selecting a niche is in fact picking from a list, rather than simply being what their business is all about.
The Amazing Niche Master emphasizes building on your specific expertise.
Thanks Phil. Your mention is worth a thousand upvotes and an encouragement beyond imagination. Setting Points is a labor of love.
Thanks for the push, just get started!
I have spent time for the last 3 days refining a niche idea that is important to me.
With the help we now have already in Wealthy Affiliate, sites go together quickly.
The plan that I tend to follow is so time-consuming, is no longer needed!
Sami
Nothing wrong with devoting a couple of days to refining a niche. It's when paralysis by analysis sets in that you don't move forward.
Hi Phil, thanks for this great information. I have a few questions, probably really basic but what are topic clusters? And what is a landing page? Thanks!
A topic cluster is simply a series of posts targeting a specific topic within you niche. I prefer a broader niche like Coffee, narrowed down with topic clusters like Espresso Coffee Machines.
See also Don't Overcomplicate Landing Pages and Landing Pages and Create Landing Pages for Your Affiliate Products Search "phil1944 landing" for all my landing page stuff.
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How about my name .com
And then go from there.
Thank you
Number 4 makes good sense.
I will start first with number 1.
When I google my name...I get the "Forensic Affiliate."
It is a lever across the world.
I mean not to brag.
All is good.
Google me and wait for Paul Mindra.
Using your name and building a brand around it is certainly one way to go. I've done it for one of my websites, but I basically just use it as a directory for my other sites and published books.
Nice.