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Affiliate marketing can be a great way to make money online, but a large part of your success depends on the niche you choose. You want to find a niche that’s popular enough to be profitable but not so popular that the market is oversaturated.
Some niches for affiliate marketing are obvious, but probably many that you’ve never thought of. This guide will give you more insight into choosing the right niche and then delve into a comprehensive list of some of the best niches for affiliate marketing.
Contents
What Is a Niche?
A niche is a topic or specialized area. The word “niche” is often used as an opposite to generalized. A niche is usually specific to a group of people and has a range of products that those people are looking to buy.
By choosing a niche for your affiliate marketing ventures, you’ll be more likely to attract visitors and make sales. While some websites, like The Wirecutter and Tom’s Guide, are very general and review a broad range of products, it’s very difficult to start with a generalized site topic.
Tips for Choosing an Affiliate Marketing Niche
There’s no perfect formula for choosing the right affiliate marketing niche. Even when following best practices recommended by expert marketers, there’s always an element of intuition and luck involved. Still, following these best practices can set you on the path to success.
First, you need to choose a niche with many products involved, particularly ones that buyers tend to research before buying. For example, buyers will likely read reviews of different headphones before making a purchase, but they probably won’t read reviews for something like paper towels.
It’s important to note that some marketers have a lot of success with niches that only have one or two products. These niches tend to focus on big-ticket items, like a software program used by businesses.
It’s almost always a good idea to niche down. When you’re just starting, it can be very difficult to break into a broad niche, such as outdoors. Instead, start with something more focused, such as cooking while camping. As your site grows, you can expand your niche to take on more topics. You may broaden to all sorts of camping products and then move even broader to all types of outdoor gear.
You also want to find a niche that’s in the sweet spot of a topic that generates interest but doesn’t already have pages of sites devoted to it. You want a niche where you can rank on the first page of Google for at least some of your keywords.
A Quick Note on Interest
You’ll see contradictory advice on whether you should choose a niche that interests you. One school of thought says that you should choose a niche that you find interesting because you’ll be doing a lot of writing on that topic and don’t want to get sick of it.
However, this advice only applies if you’re interested in a profitable niche. For many, simply making money and seeing successful progress is enough to keep them motivated. As your site generates more profit, you can use some of that money to pay for content so you won’t even have to write.
Best Niches for Affiliate Marketing
Below is our list of best niches for affiliate marketing. They’re listed in alphabetical order and aren’t ranked.
Adult
While not for everyone, the adult industry is a highly profitable niche. You can review a wide variety of products and websites. This niche can be especially appealing because there are so many spam sites in this industry. People who are looking for genuine information will be grateful for a site that gives them valuable knowledge instead of spammy ads.
Automotive
There are many segments to the automotive niche. On one side, you have auto enthusiasts who own a certain type of car, such as an antique, sports car, or Jeep. These people are serious about their cars and are willing to spend a lot to maintain their cars and make improvements. Their identity is tied into their car, and if you can tap into that, you can be very successful.
On the other side of the niche are people who’re on a budget and need functional, quality parts to fix their car. These people need advice on the best products and where to buy them. They’ll also appreciate how-to articles to help them fix their cars themselves.
Beauty
The beauty niche is one of the most popular niches, so it can be profitable, but it’s also difficult to break into. You’ll be competing with thousands of beauty blogs and social media accounts. Your best chances with this niche would be to start narrow. Aim your site at a particular lifestyle or beauty style. Go for very longtail keywords until your site can build up some authority.
CBD
CBD is a hot niche because more and more people are hearing about the benefits of CBD and want to find out more before making a purchase. You may want to start with CBD for one particular use, like pain management or stress relief, before going broader.
A note: For topics regarding health and medicine, Google has made a point of favoring sites with authoritative content. They prefer people who are licensed in a particular field to give health and medical advice. You’ll need to tread carefully when giving advice on using CBD.
Children and Family
This children and family niche is a huge one with a plethora of products and services to choose from. As you can imagine, it’s a saturated niche and it’ll be difficult to break into one of the larger segments.
Fortunately, there are many ways to niche down in this industry. You may eventually want to cover a broader sub-niche, like baby products, but begin with a very narrow focus. Here are some areas where you can start:
- Car seats
- Feeding gear
- Educational toys for preschoolers
- Outdoor activities for families
You could also niche down by marketing to different types of families, such as foster families or LBGTQ families.
Coffee
The coffee niche is a great option because there are so many products you can market here. Coffee aficionados are always on the lookout for new items to make their home coffee experience even better. You can review larger items, like luxury coffee pots down to smaller products like milk frothers and coffee mugs.
This niche is also a good option because there are so many different informational topics you can include. You can discuss the history of specific types of coffee and give detailed recipes for the many coffee drinks that keep popping up.
Cooking
The cooking niche is huge, because, unlike many other niches that center around an interest or a hobby, everyone has to eat, and most people are looking for a way to improve their cooking experience in one way or another. While the niche is saturated, you can still do well if you approach it the right way.
When entering the cooking niche, you may want to start with the type of person you want to market to. Maybe you’re targeting working parents who are looking for quick and healthy meals to make for their families. Maybe you want to create a site for amateur chefs who love making fancy meals. Or maybe your site is for college students who have no idea how to cook.
There are so many products in this niche that you’ll want to base your reviews and recommendations on the needs and budget of your readers. You can also get creative and recommend meal plan subscriptions or online cooking classes for your readers.
Cryptocurrency
It seems like everyone is talking about cryptocurrency lately, and everyone seems to know someone who’s made a lot of money by mining cryptocurrency. Since it’s such a complicated topic, many people are searching for information on this topic.
There are many cryptocurrency affiliates and many of them offer large commissions. It’s important to note that some of these affiliates pay their commissions in cryptocurrency, which may or may not be something you’re looking for.
As cryptocurrency is a finance topic, Google tends to reward sites with higher authority. Cryptocurrency and finance experts can do well here.
Dieting
Dieting is one of the oldest and most popular niches. Many people are always looking for ways to change their eating habits to improve their health and get the bodies they want. This niche is huge and covers a variety of topics. It can be difficult to break into, but you can do it with the right angle.
Your best bet here is to niche way down. You may want to begin with a specific weight loss plan or target a specific group, like busy working moms. You should also keep an eye on the trends. There are always new weight loss products coming out and if you can catch a trend when it’s just getting started, you may be able to get ahead of the game.
DIY
The DIY market is large and contains a variety of people with different sorts of needs. Many people are looking for help fixing issues, such as a leaky pipe, while others want to take on larger projects, such as painting cabinets or constructing a piece of furniture.
This niche has lots of products you can review, such as tools, materials, and supplies. You also have a lot of ready-made how-to articles for people who need quick answers to their problems. Since there are so many websites in this niche, you’ll want to differentiate yourself. Consider targeting one group of people, such as those who have no idea how to complete a DIY project. You may also want to focus on one type of DIY, such as deck building or plumbing issues.
Energy Efficiency
With global warming and energy costs on the rise, many people are looking for ways to use less electricity. They may be looking into alternative forms of power and appliances that save on energy.
You can recommend all sorts of products people can use to make their homes more energy-efficient, such as solar panels or appliances. You can also write informational articles with practical advice on how to save energy.
Fashion
The fashion niche is large and ever-changing. It can be competitive, as there are many influencers and companies that dominate this niche. As with most niches, if you can target longtail keywords and market to specific groups, you can find some success.
For example, you may want to create a site with comfortable and cute fashion ideas for teachers or a date night outfit ideas site. If you’re going into the fashion niche, it’s also important to develop a presence on social media along with your website.
Fitness
As with the dieting niche, many people want to get physically fit to improve health, quality of life, and body image. There are many facets in this niche and a lot of workout equipment and gear that you can recommend. You may also find different fitness programs to recommend.
You can niche down by appealing to certain groups, such as families or college students. If you can review products and programs that fit their unique needs, you may find quite a bit of success.
Gaming
The gaming niche is profitable because gamers already spend a lot of time online. They’re always looking for the latest games and technologies. Gamers also often spend time looking for advice about specific games, which can give you lots of great informational content.
As with most niches, you’ll need to niche down. Maybe choose one platform, like PC gaming, mobile gaming, or a console. For games like Fortnite or Minecraft that have achieved massive popularity, you could even build a site around a single franchise.
Gardening
The gardening niche presents a wide variety of products, so you’ll have plenty of reviews. You can write about tools, plants, fertilizers, and more. Both novice and experienced gardeners do a lot of research to learn about the best products to use.
There are also many sub-niches in the gardening industry. You can focus on fruit, vegetable, or flower gardening. You can dedicate a niche to growing your own herbs and spices. Many people are getting into hydroponics and aeroponics, both of which are rich niches with lots of products. You could even do a site dedicated to urban gardening, as many city dwellers would love to grow some of their own produce.
Home Brewing
Home brewing is another great niche with lots of products, many of them high-end. Home brewers are particular about the equipment they use, as they’re trying to achieve a certain taste. You can review and compare many products. There are also many great informational topics here since you can go into the science and discuss different tips, techniques, and processes.
The home brewing niche can be a great one if you have an interest in craft beer. You can make your own beer and document the process, which will give your site a lot of authenticity and build up trust with your readers.
Home Security
Many people are interested in home security and want to do it themselves instead of paying a monthly fee for a security system. As this topic is complicated, these people are usually looking for advice on the best products to buy for their budget and how to set them up.
You can create product round-ups and single reviews of these products to help your readers choose what’s best for them. This niche fits well into the large smart home niche, and you may want to expand into that as your home security site grows.
Homesteading
As life gets increasingly reliant on technology and much of the population lives in urban areas, many people are turning to homesteading as a way to get back to nature. While homesteading has an element of minimalism, it’s difficult for a family to be self-sufficient without a lot of tools and products.
Homesteading encompasses a whole range of niches like gardening, farming, composting, crafts, textiles, and more. You can start with one small facet of homesteading and expand over time. This niche is popular and growing, so it’s a great one to get into.
Home Theater
The home theater niche may seem simple at first, but there are quite a few affiliate products you can review. Beyond the obvious like projectors and screens, you can also go into seating, popcorn makings, and room-darkening curtains. Sound and soundproofing are almost a niche on their own.
You can branch out into other home theater ideas, such as outdoor movie nights. As products in this niche become more affordable, this industry is getting more and more popular.
Insurance
Insurance can be quite a lucrative niche if you know the industry. There are many types of insurance you can specialize in – homeowners, health, life, auto, even pet insurance. Everyone needs insurance and people are always looking for the best policies to give them the coverage they need and save money. You can often get commission fees for referring people to different companies and policies.
You also have a lot of opportunities in this niche for informational articles. Insurance is a complicated subject, so you should be able to create plenty of articles to explain the many facets involved.
Luxury Products
Since luxury products are so expensive, you can expect to earn some high commissions on each sale. You may do quite well, even if you only make a few sales each month. For the luxury niche, you can start with a smaller sub-niche, such as luxury bedding or bath products, and keep expanding until you have a full-blown site for those who want to live a life of luxury.
It’s important to note that you’ll need a special type of website style and tone for this niche. Your site should feel like a luxury brand itself. The luxury niche is all about selling a lifestyle, not a product.
Making Money Online / Side Hustles
Making money online and side hustles are niches in and of themselves. If you’ve done a lot of research on how to make extra money, replace your income, or create passive income to achieve financial independence, you may want to go into this niche. There’s a huge demand for information, courses, and products to help people learn how to make money.
Since this topic is saturated, you’ll want to start small. Choose one type of side hustle, such as blogging or being a virtual assistant, and create a detailed site focused on that topic. You can find affiliates by networking with people who are already in this niche. They often have products and are willing to pay you a referral commission.
As your experience and expertise grow, you’ll want to create your own course or product or set up a members-only section behind a paywall.
Marijuana
Since marijuana is being legalized in more and more states, people are developing an interest in pot, but many of them know very little about the substance. They’re looking for helpful, straightforward, and well-researched information.
A legal marijuana use site could do quite well, especially considering this topic is trending and on the rise. You could include many informational and how-to articles. There are many sites online that sell cannabis and accessories. If you can tap into this market while it’s still fresh, you may be able to make an impressive profit.
Music
Music is a part of almost everyone’s lives in one way or another, so there’s a lot to do in the music niche. One of the most obvious directions is musical instruments and accessories. Musicians are passionate about their instruments and are often looking to upgrade. You can create instrument reviews based on skill level, budget, and quality to help musicians find their next instrument.
Your informational articles can include tips on playing and information about different genres. You can also recommend accessories, like mic stands and guitar picks.
If you want to create a music site for non-musicians, think about the products that improve their listening experience. You can review and rank headphones, speakers, record players, and more. You can even recommend songs and playlists you think your readers may enjoy.
Online Dating
While there was a stigma against online dating in the past, it’s now as commonplace as conventional dating. There are always people looking for love and willing to pay someone else to help them find “the one.” The problem many people face when it comes to online dating is choosing the platform to meet their needs.
You can provide reviews of various online dating platforms to help your readers decide which one works for them. When they sign up, you’ll get a commission. You can hit a lot of longtail keywords here, such as “best online dating site for single dads” or “best dating sites for women over 50.” You can also create lots of informational content centered around dating advice.
Online Gambling
Online gambling has grown in popularity in the past few years. Many people prefer to gamble from the comfort of their homes instead of going to casinos. But before they spend their money, they want to make sure that they’re using a reputable online casino with fair odds.
Many games are complicated and users want to learn not only the rules of the games but also the best strategies to help them win. If you’re knowledgeable about gambling, even if it’s just one type of game, you can find some great profits in this niche.
Personal Finance
Personal finance is a popular niche because people are always looking for ways to save money, pay off debt, and manage their budgets. Personal finance blogs offer invaluable advice to help people manage their money. As you can imagine, this is a heavily-niche. It can be difficult to break into, especially since Google favors expert advice when it comes to financial advice.
Still, if you love talking about all things money, you can be successful in this niche with some determination. Try niching down with a targeted blog such as “financial advice for single mothers” or “how to pay off college debt.” You can make money in this niche by recommending products and courses to help people manage their money. You can also review credit cards that offer rewards and earn commissions when readers sign up.
Pets
Pet lovers are almost always willing to spend money on their pets, so the pet niche can be highly profitable. There are so many products you can cover – food, toys, grooming, treats, cages, carriers, beds, and more. Many people spend a lot of time looking for the best for their pet and often turn to reviews to find the right products.
While the dog and cat owners niche is difficult to break into, you may want to start with a less common pet, such as hamsters, birds, fish, or even exotic pets. There are plenty of opportunities for informational articles in this niche as you can explain different methods for taking care of pets. Obviously, you can market pet food and care products, but you may also expand into other affiliate networks, like training courses.
Photography
With DSLR cameras getting considerably more affordable, many people who aren’t professional photographers are buying cameras and accessories. These people want to learn how to take professional-quality photos and also need recommendations for the best cameras to buy and which accessories they’ll need to get the quality and effects they want.
If you have an interest in photography, you can do well with product reviews and how-to posts for budding photographers. You may want to niche down to break into the market, so consider topics like “baby and child photography” or “smartphone photography” where you can establish your authority.
Real Estate
Real estate is always a hot topic and is one you can approach from several angles. People who want to sell their homes are interested in ways to get their houses ready for sale. Readers who want to buy a home need information on what to look for in a new house. Both groups likely need advice on moving.
You can also approach the niche from an investment standpoint. Give your readers valuable advice on how to invest in real estate and use it as a source of passive income.
There are several ways you can get affiliate commissions. For people buying and selling, you can market home improvement and decor products along with moving necessities. You can also become an affiliate for mortgage companies. You can even promote courses to help people learn more about real estate investing.
Religion
At first glance, religion may seem like an odd choice for affiliate marketing, but there’s a lot of money to be made in this space. You’ll want to focus on one religion, such as Christianity or Hinduism. Then, you can think about the products members of that religion may want to purchase.
For example, if you create a site for Christian users, you can recommend products and companies that offer Christian-themed products and adhere to Christian values. You can also recommend different services, such as censored video streaming services, that allow Christians to watch the movies they want while still adhering to their beliefs and values.
Running
Running is one of those sports where enthusiasts will spend a lot of money on the best gear. You can make the obvious recommendations of the best running shoes for different types of runners, but there’s lots more beyond that. Runners need specific clothes as well. You could write several articles on socks alone.
You could also recommend tech like speakers and fitness trackers along with programs and apps to help people train. There are plenty of informational articles you can write as well. Since there are so many sites already in this niche, you’ll need to differentiate or niche down. You may focus on training for a certain type of race like a marathon or 5K or certain groups of runners, like middle age runners.
Self-Help
Self-help encompasses a wide range of topics so there are lots of opportunities in this niche. You’ll need to choose an angle in this niche, as a broad topic probably won’t be successful. Personal development and self-help can be a great niche because you’re selling a lifestyle. People are willing to spend a lot of money if they think it will improve their life.
When it comes to this niche, you need to think about your own set of skills and how you can help others. What knowledge have you gained along the way that may be beneficial to others? To become an affiliate in this niche, you may form connections with others in the niche who have products or courses that can help your readers.
You can then create articles around these products and recommend them to your readers. You can make these articles even more powerful by using the products and taking the courses yourself. This experience will help you go a long way with establishing trust with your readers.
Smart Home
It seems that every appliance is now available with a smart feature that allows it to connect to the internet. Everything from refrigerators to washers to doorbells has gone “smart.” Many people are interested in automating their homes but aren’t sure where to start or which products are worth the money.
Since the smart home product market is still developing and evolving, there are a lot of opportunities here for you to get in while the market is still fresh. Since this niche is all about products, you’ll never run out of stuff to review and recommend. You can also create lots of how-to articles to help people learn to use these new technologies.
Software
Software is another broad topic, but if you have some technical skills and understand how different types of software work, you can do extremely well in this niche. One of the biggest sub-niches in this niche is SaaS (Software as a Service). These are usually software programs that are created for use in a business and can often cost in the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.
As you can see, there’s a lot of money to be made in this niche. If you learn one program that sells for a lot and understand it really well, you can make a great income off of just a few sales each month.
Sports
For the sports niche, you’ll be writing to people who play sports more so than those who are just spectators. Athletes require all sorts of gear and clothing, and they understand the quality of these products can affect their performance. They want to find the best and are willing to pay for it.
If you’re in the sports niche, you’ll want to start by focusing on one sport. You may want to niche down even further, like focusing on a certain demographic, like kids or people in their 30s who play the sport.
Focus on writing “best x for x” articles, such as “best cleats for muddy turf,” and include lots of informational articles geared toward helping players improve their game. If you can find an underrepresented sport you could be sitting on a goldmine.
Travel
The travel niche is one of the hottest niches for affiliate marketing. Now that people can use the internet to plan their vacations, most people spend a lot of time researching their trips. As an affiliate, you can do well recommending all sorts of things, like airline tickets, luggage, credit cards with airline miles, and even clothes for traveling.
The secret to breaking into the travel niche is to go very narrow. Fortunately, it’s such a huge niche that you shouldn’t have a problem finding a sub-niche to get your start. One strategy is to create a site centered around one destination. This can work particularly well if you live in a popular vacation destination.
You can also focus on one aspect of traveling, such as traveling solo, with kids, or on a budget. You can even zero in on even smaller things, like the best luggage or even the best travel clothes. The possibilities are endless in this niche.
Web Development
If you have a bit of know-how in the web development space, you can do quite well with an affiliate site just for web developers. You can create a large number of articles with explanations and how-to guides. As an affiliate, you can compare and recommend the best platforms for building websites and more.
You can also look into the best web hosts and review them. Many of these companies offer great commissions that often pay you for each month that a user continues their subscription. It can be a great source of passive income.
Finally, you can recommend plugins, paid themes, and other types of software that people will often pay for to improve their sites. You could also target beginners and recommend courses to help them learn more about web development.
Wine
Wine enthusiasts are always on the lookout for the next great wine. The wine niche has a whole host of other products to recommend as well. You can review glasses, wine refrigerators, corkscrews, and more. For informational articles, you can go into the winemaking process, wine storage, and pairings.
The wine niche can also fit well into several other niches, such as the luxury niche and cooking. You have plenty of areas you can expand into if you want to grow your site.
Final Thoughts
You can be successful in affiliate marketing with any of these niches and even some not listed here. Choosing a good niche is important – you need something that people are going to search for and a niche with products for you to recommend, but it’s not the only measure of your success.
If you want to succeed in affiliate marketing, you need the determination and hard work it takes to build a true authority site, and then you need the patience to wait until it starts to make money.
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