As an experienced affiliate marketer, I’m often asked how I determine which niche to start a blog in. Picking the right niche is crucial for earning decent commissions long-term and avoiding wasted effort. In this extensive guide, I’ll share my proven step-by-step process for selecting profitable, competitive blogging niches aligned with your interests.
Ignore Vanity Metrics, Focus on Earning Potential
Many new bloggers get fixated on vanity metrics like traffic and social media followers to choose a niche. But as an affiliate, your sole focus should be topics and products with the highest commission earnings potential.
Forget broad niches just to get vague traffic – laser focus on profitable affiliate opportunities instead. Higher traffic niches seem alluring, but mean nothing if you can’t monetize readers.
If you chase generic interests hoping they convert better later, you’ll likely burn out fast. The key is drilling down into a niche with realistic monetization based on affiliate revenue opportunities from the start.
Deep Dive into Researching Affiliate Programs
I always start niche research by directly analyzing potential affiliate programs across a variety of verticals to gauge profitability.
Here is how I research programs:
- Browse large affiliate networks like Commission Junction, Impact, Rakuten looking for niche opportunities.
- Search for niche-specific affiliate programs like music gear, coffee subscriptions, etc.
- Make a spreadsheet and take notes on factors like commission rates, average order value, cookie length, product selection, quality and appeal for your target demographics.
- Study the affiliate marketing tools, product data feeds, analytics, marketing assets like banners/creatives that each program provides.
- Reach out to companies you buy from as a customer and ask if they have an internal affiliate program you could join.
- See if popular merchants in the niche like SaaS apps offer their own affiliate program.
This in-depth program research reveals niches and verticals with the most lucrative affiliate monetization potential. The earning opportunities take priority over other considerations.
Evaluating the Competition Landscape
Next, I use tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush and Google’s Keyword Planner to gauge domain authority competition and search volume around keywords related to various niches.
The goal here is identifying niches with sufficient search volume that also have relatively low competition. I look specifically for long tail keywords and topics with room for a niche authority site to rank well.
If a niche is completely saturated with established sites already ranking for all the best keywords, it becomes an uphill battle. I try to avoid excessive competition when possible unless the affiliate earnings justify it.
Make sure to research comprehensively so you understand whether your blog can realistically rank for your target keywords and drive organic traffic from search in the niche. Traffic potential remains secondary to profitability however.
Outlining Diverse Monetization Avenues Beyond Affiliates
I create an initial monetization plan beyond just using text links and traditional affiliate banners. Relying solely on basic affiliate promotions is unwise as your only income source.
Instead, I map out other potential monetization channels:
- Display advertising like native ads or header bidding – often via Google Adsense, Ezoic or Mediavine.
- Sponsored reviews and custom content promotion opportunities relevant to the niche.
- Service pages I can market through the content like freelance writing packages.
- Info products like ebooks/courses created from blog content.
- Email list and push notifications for special deals, lead magnets and direct sales.
- Digital products related to the niche I could sell directly like design templates, software tools, etc.
- Memberships or premium community options for niche power users.
By diversifying monetization avenues beyond direct affiliation, your blog becomes much more stable, resilient and profitable. Don’t rely solely on monetizing visitors through links. Plan for money making versatility.
Pick a Niche I’m Genuinely Passionate About
While profitability factors predominantly drive my niche selection process using the above research tactics, I add one final criteria.
I ensure to only select niches revolving around topics I’m genuinely passionate about and see myself creating content around long-term.
Chasing money alone is a recipe for losing motivation quickly. I’ve learned that combining potential profitability with my existing interests and knowledge is key.
If I target a niche purely for the possible income without caring about the subject matter, the lack of passion will eventually surface in my content quality and consistency.
So I take time to self-reflect and consider:
- What topics have I always been intrinsically fascinated by?
- What do I enjoy learning and nerding out about?
- What skills and knowledge base can I leverage for unique insights?
- What fields speak to my natural talents and voice?
By finding the overlap between profitability and passion, I ensure affiliate blogging never feels like a grind. Monetization incentivizes me to produce more content while passion keeps me energized and engaged in the niche.
Using this comprehensive step-by-step research process allows me to consistently select affiliate website niches with strong profit potential while avoiding burnout. Let me know if you have any other questions! I’m happy to help fellow affiliate marketers uncover their ideal monetizable niches too.