Time to get into the juicy stuff 🙂
In this video and the rest of the videos of this affiliate marketing course,we’re going to be doing some more hands on stuff that will help you get your website online.
This part of the course is going to be very lengthy but hopefully you can stick with the program without getting distracted!
Everything starts with a niche.
With the wrong niche you can fail miserably and end up wasting time with little to absolutely no results.
BUT..if you choose the right niche, you can make a LOT of money, especially if you do things right which I’m going to try and help you with in this course.
This is also the part of the course where some people will struggle, so I will try and explain everything as simple and and make it as easy to understand as possible.
If you’re just starting out you maybe wondering what a ‘niche’ actually is?
Basically you’re taking a very broad market and narrowing it down to a more specific segment of that market.
‘Weight loss’ is a broad market: This could include all forms of weight loss for anybody of all ages. ‘Weight loss pills for women over 40’ is a niche market: This is narrowed down to target women who are over 40 looking for pills to lose weight. With a niche market you can target a specific audience and they are usually easier to break into compared to broad markets. I find it’s so much easier targeting a specific audience, because a lot of the time they are easier to convert into buyers.
In saying that, you want to make sure people are spending money in the niche you’re going to make a website for because if nobody is spending money then you’re not going to make any.
Everyone is different but when ever I do niche research, I follow some simple rules to help me determine if the niche I’m looking at is a profitable niche or not.
Lets begin with the first rule I follow, which is…
1. Are there any products for sale in this niche?
What I like to do is search for products within this niche that have some kind of sales proof that people are actually buying them.
If there are physical products I will jump on sites like amazon.com or ebay.com to see if there are product reviews. If there are a good amount then this shows me that there is a sign that people are spending money.
If there are info products like eBooks, digital downloads, video courses, memberships ect – that’s a good sign..
Most of the time, if there are info products for sale in that niche – there’s a good chance that people are spending money and if there are multiple info products for sale then that’s a really good indicator that there is money to be made.
Nobody goes to the trouble of writing an eBook or creating a paid course on a non-profitable niche right?
2. Are there any advertisers?
If no body is buying advertisements then there is a good chance it’s not very profitable.
A good indicator that people are paying for ads is by going to google or bing and looking in the search results to see if there are any paid ads.
Are there any sponsored ads on social media like Facebook and instagram?
If you see people promoting products related to your niche then there’s a good chance there’s money to be made.
You can also look for infomercials on TV – they pay top dollar for the air time they have on TV, so that’s another good sign.
People pay for these advertisements because they are either selling something or promotes something related to that niche and if they’re willing to pay money for that – then there’s a good chance they have done their research before spending their money.
3. Are there any affiliate programs?
If you can find affiliate programs within your niche then that’s a very good sign that there’s money to be made.
And…the more affiliate programs the better.
Simply search in Google, ‘your niche + affiliate program’ and you should see some pop up.
You can also search popular affiliate networks to see if they have offers related to your niche, but a simple Google search should show you if there are affiliate programs available.
Try and keep note of these affiliate programs as well – you might want to sign up to them especially if you want to promote their products as an affiliate $$..
4. The amount of searches and competition.
A niche is no good to us if no body is searching for it right?
To find if people are searching for keywords related to our niche we can use free or paid tool to check how many people are searching in the search engines and most of the tools will tell you how competitive those keywords are as well.
There’s a really hand extension you can download for Chrome or Firefox called keywordseverywhere.com
This handy tool tells you how many searches per month people are searching for the keywords you type into Google.
Websites like kwfinder.io are also very handy because it will list all related keywords and even give you a score to say how competitive the keyword is to rank in google(will talk about this more throughout the course).
IMPORTANT….
The data that keyword tools provide is an estimate and should only be taken as a rough guide as to what kind of search volume that keyword is receiving..
You will need to use your brain a little bit as well but with the help of keyword tools we can get a rough idea of how many people are searching or how in-demand the niche is..
If there’s a lot of competition, meaning there are lots of affiliate websites in the niche, then there is a very good chance that there’s money to be made.
Never be afraid of competition because it can be a good thing, you just need to think outside the box 😉
I’ll be covering a lot about keyword and product research plus I will show you sneaky tricks to break into competitive niches throughout the course, so if none of this is making any sense don’t worry.
5. Is the niche about solving a problem?
When I create affiliate sites I always create them around some kind of problem or pain that people have or suffer from.
The bigger the problem or the more pain and suffering – the better!
The reason is, problem-based niches are easier to convert people into to sales and that’s because people do not hesitate spending money on the solution of their problems.
They will do just about anything to stop suffering, cure something or achieve something that they’re having trouble with.
Think about the following for a moment.
- I just scored the ultimate job in Japan, but I can not speak Japanese, how will I communicate to people when I am off work?
- No matter what I tried I can not get my ex boyfriend back. I really love him with all my heart and would do anything to get him back.
- Everyone teases me about my acne, it looks disgusting. I would do anything to get rid of it.
- WTF, I accidentally deleted all my most important files??? I would pay a fortune to bring them back.
- I can’t seem to lose that extra 10 pounds of belly fat no matter what I do..There has to be a diet plan that works!
Can you see a pattern?
Maybe you’ve heard someone ask or say something very similar?
These are the type of problems everyday people experience and they go on the internet to find the solution to their problems.
Your job as an affiliate marketer is to give these people the answer by promoting products that solve the problem ( for a commission of course 😉 )
6. Are there forums or online communities about this specific niche?
If there are forums or online communities established around that niche, chances are there are people asking questions about products and services.
The good thing about forums is, you can find questions, problems and see what people are talking about to get a better understanding of your audience.
Do a search in Google for ‘your niche + forum’ and you should see some forum boards show up.
You can also go to Google+ and search for communities as well.
The more forums and communities in your niche the better.
Bookmark or save the urls to these forums because when it comes time to promote your website, these will come in handy for finding potential buyers of the products you’re promoting.
7. Looking At Data From Auction Sites
Another way to find out if a niche is profitable is by searching through sites like Flippa.com
Flippa is a marketplace full of websites for sale.
The reason why this is a good place to see if the niche you’re interested in is profitable is because you can look at other websites in the niche that are for sale and look at their stats, earnings and how they made money with their website.
You can also get a lot of good ideas from sites that are for sale and model from their success.
You can also look at the pages they have to find keywords to write about. If you can get similar traffic, with similar pages to rank for the same keywords then you can also make money the same way the site owner did.
Head on over to flippa.com and look through the websites for sale listings. Hover over the Websites tab and then go to Just Sold.
^ These are sites that have been sold via their marketplace.
I like to play around with the filters and filter sites that have monthly profit over $1000 per mont and then hit search.
I often do this to find niches, keywords and looking for content ideas for niches I already have websites for.
Then, I go through the listings and look at all the data that’s available. Most people provide proof of earnings and google analytics data.
You can take this a step further and throw the site into services like ahrefs.com or semrush.com to dig deeper and find all the keywords and pages that are ranking..
But don’t worry too much about that just yet – you want to keep this simple and take baby steps. Look at sites that are in the niche you’re interested in and think of ways you can create something better or just as good as.
And, if you don’t have an idea for your niche yet – you can find niche ideas looking at these sites that are for sale.
Choose Something Fun And Profitable..
One thing I take into consideration is – will I enjoy writing about the niche or will I be interested in learning about it?
If you’re just starting out and have never created an affiliate website before I highly recommend creating your site around a topic that you will be interested in.
The reason why is because you will easily get bored and distracted if you’re not interested in the niche and won’t be able to be as productive as you should be.
You also want to build something you’ll be proud of..If you follow this course, you will create sites that actually help people and when you start receiving comments on your blog or social media accounts from people thanking you for helping them find solutions to their problems it can be as rewarding as making a sale 🙂
Once you master that website you can always dive into other niches, but I highly recommend creating something that you have some kind of interest or passion in.
The whole time I’m doing my research I’m writing stuff down with pen and paper or creating documents and spreadsheets on my computer.
This all comes in handy to keep track of what you’re learning about the niche and for later reference.
Product Research – Finding Those Products That Solve a Problem.
Once you’ve found a niche it’s time to look for products that you can recommend and promote as an affiliate.
For this course I’m going to be creating a niche site, that way you can watch how I build my websites from start to finish.
As mentioned in video #5 of the crash course, I will be finding and promoting products from amazon, clickbank and maxbounty.
There are plenty of other affiliate programs but for this course these are the ones I will be covering – they’re all very similar and most have the same joining process so watching me promote products in these programs will give you a good idea and understanding of how other affiliate programs work.
When I start searching for products, services or offers to promote I always do some research.
The best products I’ve found are ones that solve a problem or ease a persons pain.
Let’s take a look at the 3 affiliate networks and some of the products you can promote..
Finding Products To Promote In The Clickbank Marketplace.
Clickbank is a marketplace for digital products, it has thousands of products in all kinds of niches. The good thing about Clickbank is, they pay very good commissions up to 75% (sometimes more).
Head on over to clickbank.com and check out some of the products they have on offer.
You can filter your search by choosing a category in the sidebar.
The other good thing about Clickbank is, they give you some stats of how many affiliates are making sales promoting the products in the marketplace.
Clickbank calls this Gravity.
I’m not going to go into this too much but, the higher the gravity the more affiliates are making sales. No gravity means no body is making sales – this could be because the product is new or the sales page or product is just not good enough to convert.
Again, I always find products that solve some kinds of problem or pain that people are suffering from.
For this example I’m going to do some product research, choose a product for the demo affiliate site and show you exactly how I go about finding products to promote.
Watch The Video Here…(coming soon)
Now I have a product I want to promote, it’s now time to find some keywords that people will be searching in the search engines.
We will be writing articles around these keywords but we wan’t to make sure we’re finding the right keywords.
I always include product reviews and keywords that have buyers intent.
The reason being is, these people are hot and ready to buy.
Keywords with buyers intent include:
- Product name
- Product author name
- product name review
- where to buy product name
- product name testimonial
- product name scam
- product name results
- does product name work?
- Product name discount
- Product name coupon
These are often competitive but we should definitely write them down so we can write articles around them.
If we can get these ranking in the top 3 of Google or Bing, and if we write our content right, we can get a lot of pre-qualified traffic – meaning they’re already ready to buy – they’re just looking for answers.
When we write our content, we answer all the questions a person may have about the product and tell them if it’s good or bad (preferably good).
That way, if they click our affiliate link and land on the vendors sales page – they are more likely to buy because they have all the answers they need to help them make a decision.
Watch The Video Here…(Coming Soon)
So, I have my list of keywords related to this product. I will keep this for when it’s time to write our articles.
Amazon Product Research
Amazon is a massive online retail store that sells mostly physical products but does sell digital products as well.
For the affiliate site that I will be creating for the example for this course, I’m going to show you how I do product research and keyword research for these types of products.
This is similar to what I done with clickbank but I will run you through the whole process again as they are a little different.
The good thing about promoting amazon products is they’re often very easy to convert because amazon is a very trustworthy brand.
The bad thing about amazon is the commission rate is very low, but don’t dwell on that because you can still make a lot of money.
The good thing is, when someone clicks your affiliate link they get a cookie placed in their browser which stays active for 24 hours.
So, if someone buys something from amazon in that 24 hours you will receive a commission for each one of those purchases.
I’ve had many cases where people buy multiple items because they’ve splurged out and done some online shopping.
You can still get good commissions too – especially if you promote high ticket items.
I recommend finding products that are over $100
Watch the video here (Coming soon)
You can literally find all kinds of products to promote in any niche, so finding products for your niche can be pretty easy if you decide to promote amazon products as an affiliate.
I highly recommend promoting Amazon products if you’re new to affiliate marketing.
Finding Offers To Promote From Maxbounty
Maxbounty is one of many CPA networks that you can join as an affiliate.
These types of offers can be easy to convert because all you have to do is get people to perform an action.
This could be when someone downloads something, when they sign up to someones email list, buy something, fill out a survey or what ever action for the offer.
You can make a lot of money if you drive the right traffic to the right offers.
The reason I recommend signing up to Maxbounty is because I’ve had success with them and they pay on time every time.
(Video Coming Soon).
Promoting CPA offers is a little different than your normal product recommendation.
You need to make it very clear to the reader what they need to do and why.
For example: If you’re promoting pay per install offer, write a tutorial on how to install the software or program that you’re promoting.
Add lots of easy to follow steps with good screenshots and images showing the reader exactly what to do.
Then tell them all the benefits of that offer and why they need it.
Same goes for email submit offers. Tell the reader how to submit their email and let them know what they will get once they submit it.
I’ve always found explaining things in the most simplest form to work best.
Always make sure you read the rules or terms and conditions for each of the offers because they are all different.
Some Niche Ideas You Can Make Money With
You might be thinking, everything has so much competition and it’s too saturated.
One thing you should never be afraid of is competition.
You just need to outsmart them or think outside the box a little and throughout the course I will teach you some different ways you can get traffic even if the niche is super competitive.
Niche Ideas For Clickbank:
- Diabetes
- Yeast Infection
- Cellulite
- Sciatica/back pain
- Singing Lessons
- Dog Training
- Make Money Online
- Fitness
- Guitar Lessons, Piano Lessons + other instruments.
- How to speak another language
- Sports betting
- Self help
- Potty training toddlers
- Marriage advice or how to get your ex back.
Ideas For Amazon:
- Welding equipment
- Cooking utensils
- Drones or RC cars,boats, helicopters, planes.
- Clothing and shoes – costumes or cosplay.
- Computers and computer accessories – latest gadgets.
- Office equipment
- Plush toys
- Scooters
- Pet enclosures
- Surfboards or standup surfboards
- DIY equipment
- Furniture – exotic
This is an unfinished post so I will be adding more. I just wanted to share this with you so you can get a head start.
Ready For The Next Step?
Hey YOU!
Ready to get started?
I’ll be the first to admit, this affiliate marketing stuff can be very overwhelming and HARD to understand
That’s why I created this free training…
But there is one important step you need to succeed and that my friend is taking massive action!
So, what ever you learn in this affiliate marketing course please do take action because that’s the only way you will succeed.
If you need a domain name and hosting, I strongly recommend using the same hosting company I do which is SiteGround – Get their latest deal at www.siteground.com/go/halfprice.


Still having trouble?
I’m more than happy to help and if you’re not yet a member of the Affiliate Marketing Ninjas Facebook group then now is the time to join and start asking those questions..
Remember..The only silly question is the one you don’t ask 😉