The promise of this article is that if you avoid making the 3 common mistakes listed below then you will dramatically reduce your learning curve in affiliate marketing, and are much more likely to see results — sales — sooner rather than later.  You will also save your time, energy and money by not flogging a horse that was never alive in the first place.  Most importantly you will reduce the likelihood that you will be like so many other beginners and give up before you even get started.

1. Don’t choose the “make-money” niche…

This a very common mistake made by complete beginners. They see all the get-rich-quick ebooks and courses, see how much they are selling and claiming to make in profits, and so assume this must be where the money is. If you choose this niche you are almost guaranteed to fail because you are literally relying on fraud to make money, and unless you have a proven career as a fraudster you won’t be able to compete at this late stage.

There are perhaps some ethical considerations here too?! Beginners who try this route often rationalize their behaviour with the belief “I’ll learn how to make money online by teaching others how to do it”, which is of course nothing but a subtle pyramid scheme, reliant on a constant supply of new suckers to keep money flowing to the scammers at the top. In any case, even if you have the best of intentions and genuinely want to help people you simply cannot learn how to make money online by teaching others – you have to learn how to make money online for yourself FIRST! Otherwise you are a fraud just like the rest of them.

When I see these make-money scams I am always reminded of those adverts you used to see in the classified sections of newspapers, the ones that say things like “learn how to make £2k in 1 week, just send £5 and a stamp addressed envelope to the following address…” And then the person would receive a letter In reply telling them to “run an advert in the newspaper saying ‘learn how to make £2k in 1 week, just send £5 to the following address” and on and on it goes, waiting for the next batch of suckers to keep the system moving. And guess what those guys are doing these days? Selling get rich quick schemes online, of course.

One possible exception to avoiding this niche is if you already have proven success at making money online and you think you would enjoy teaching others how you did it. However, in this case what you are actually doing is creating knowledge and systems that others can use to build a REAL online business, not simply showing them how to “make money online” using the latest sneaky trick, with a cash-grab mentality.

DO NOT TRY TO SELL “MAKE MONEY ONLINE” PRODUCTS IF YOU ARE NOT MAKING MONEY ONLINE!

2. Don’t jump on the bandwagon of what is popular right now; avoid “me-too” sites…

Many beginners are tempted to choose their first niche based on what is popular and doing well right now. Examples of these are voucher code sites, cheap flight tickets, huge comparison sites and weight loss. You see the massive amounts of traffic they get, you hear rumours about how much profit they are making and think “gee, that looks like where the money is, I think I’ll start one of those websites.” Then the typical newbie goes on to replicate the exact style of website used by the top few sites in that niche, then copies their marketing and copy, and sits back expecting traffic and sales to come rolling in. And when they inevitably don’t then they give up affiliate marketing and go buy the latest “magic bullet” info-product and probably go on to make the exact same mistakes all over again.

Jumping on the bandwagon and copying one of these successful large affiliate sites is a flawed strategy for a number of reasons. First, they have a massive lead on you as the top sites in every niche will be several years old. By the time you could get to their level of content and links guess what? They’ve spent the last few years growing and expanding and you are still miles behind them in the rankings!

Second, related to this is the fact that what is fashionable today might not be fashionable and popular in a few years time. Something similar happens in the Hollywood film industry. When a certain genre of film becomes popular and does well at the box office, then the studios are inundated with copycat screenplays trying to jump on the bandwagon. However, the time from script to release is usually several years so by the time the movie is in the cinemas the fashion will have changed completely. Writers who go for “me too” ideas invariable are of less quality because they are not following their passion and true interests. The exact same thing is true in affiliate marketing – how passionate are you really about flight tickets or voucher codes?! Dream about them every night do you? Always wanted to be a voucher salesperson when you grew up?

Third, there is simply too much competition! No one has a hope of becoming the authority site in any of these mega-niches unless they have a HUGE amount of money to spend and are happy to wait for several years, or have the capital to buy an existing website and improve it. Most of these big affiliate websites will have a team of people working on creating content and making deals with merchants, and another team of people building links and doing search engine optimization, not to mention huge budgets to spend on things like Google Adwords.

Fourth, the customers in these niches are pretty well served by these websites, many of them are excellent at what they do, so there is very little space for someone new to add value to the industry. In order to make money online with affiliate marketing you need to create value for other people. This means a useful website with useful information, a site that solves their problem. Now unless there is a major problem unresolved in these industries why would internet users not just use one of these long established and proven websites that appear in the top search engine results? And why would other website want to link to you if you are just a “me-too” site with no added value for THEIR visitors.

DO NOT CHOOSE A NICHE JUST BECAUSE IT IS FASHIONABLE AND LOOKS LIKE A MONEY SPINNER!

3. Don’t choose a topic you have no interest in or knowledge of…

The only exception to this is if you are prepared to pay other people to create content and build backlinks for you right from the start.  I will assume that this doesn’t apply to 99% of beginners who are looking to make some money before spending a fortune on outsourcing and hiring staff. If you choose a niche that you have no passion for, no interest in, or no knowledge of then you are likely to give up quite early, long before you start seeing some decent results.

With most affiliate sites, especially content based sites, you are going to have to write massive amounts of unique content on a regular basis (often daily), and you will also need to roam the internet finding similar websites to get links from. In other words you will have to immerse yourself in this topic for months and years. If you pick something you are bored by just because you think it is where the money is, then you will of course bore yourself on a daily basis!

There are VERY few people with the consistent self-discipline to make themselves work on something they have no interest in over the long term. Usually you will hit a plateua, sooner than you think by the way, and if you have no passion for the topic then you will simply give up and do something else. It is a much better idea to choose something you have a genuine interest in, if possible, and try to find the sweet spot between following your PASSION and a niche that could actually MAKE MONEY. Choosing a niche that has these 2 features is an art not a science and with many people it might take a couple of attempts to get it right.

Now, I am not saying that it is impossible to make money in a niche you have no interest in – I do this successfully in the finance niche – but it makes it a hell of a lot more difficult than it needs to be. My website in the finance niche was given up on and left for dead for over a year because I got bored of the topic. It has only been profitable since we started spending money on paying others to build links and write content for us. And even then we only risked spending money on it because we knew from an (expensive) Adwords campaign that it had potential to be profitable in the organic search results.

Some of the most successful affiliate sites are run by people who are passionate about their topic. Many bloggers make money online by promoting affiliate products in their posts and articles. For example, if you have a passion for mixed martial arts then how much easier to write about it every day and make some money on the side by linking to online shops in your adverts, or to specific gear in your product reviews.  You don’t need self-discipline in this case, you will WANT to write about it anyway!

DO NOT CHOOSE A NICHE YOU DON’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT!

Conclusion

For your first affiliate niche it is vital that you can get some results early on – i.e. get some sales and make some money! – so that you are motivated to continue and don’t give up at the first few problems. There is no bigger incentive than some money in the bank no matter how small and no matter the niche – most beginners have a nagging doubt somewhere in the back of their mind that it might actually all be a load of bollocks and it’s impossible to make money online.  Immediate results are the key to motivation, not complicated systems of time management or ebooks promising the “hidden secrets the gurus don‘t want you to know.”

QUESTION: what is your biggest problem or frustration when choosing a niche?  Please leave a comment below and we’ll see if we can help…

What is a niche market?

A niche is simply a segment of a larger market. There are certain advantages that come from targeting a niche market rather than a wider audience when considering possible affiliate marketing projects. Concentrating on a niche market enables you to offer those with only an interest in that particular subject, product, or service a more in depth analysis of the subject than a larger firm would be able to provide, which in turn creates a great opportunity for you to compete with the larger companies.

Just because you target niche markets does not mean you are small fry, larger organisations can sometimes also target niches of a larger market; The concept of niche marketing can be well understood by the following example: A number of television channels cater to the need of a particular niche; for example, sports channels like Sky Sports, ESPN, STAR Cricket, target a niche of sports lovers.

The best niche to enter is always one that you have an interest in, and this is especially true if you plan to build a popular content based website. If you are creating an affiliate store or comparison website you can afford to take little steps into the unknown, but an active interest will ensure you remain attentive for the long term.

Affiliate Niche Research

Niche research is a bit of an ambiguous term that I believe sometimes confuses those new to affiliate marketing; and can mean anything from the initial finding of a niche to the determination of whether a specific market will be profitable. In reality what is termed as niche research is nothing short of due diligence.

As an affiliate marketer your most precious commodity is your time, and you will want to ensure that for this time you will be compensated accordingly. It is therefore important to select the correct market; by ensuring that there is an interest in the product or service, by understanding what competition you will be up against, and by ensuring there are adequate merchants to promote. When you have concluded that the above market conditions are right you are ready to consider entering the market.

Finding An Affiliate Marketing Niche

If like me you start your niche research from a totally blank canvas, and have no specific market in mind then there are a number of ways to engage with the population and sometimes even pre-empt the next big craze, fashion accessory, or computer gadget. There are also many untapped mature markets available if you look hard enough.

Newspapers & Magazines

Newspapers and magazines offer a good way to engage with both the general population and those with specific interests, they can also help signal the beginning of major trends. Advertisements within these magazines and newspapers can also provide good insight into profitable markets by companies that have already done the ground work.

Trend Blogs

There are a number of blogs dedicated to monitoring exactly what you are looking for, it is a good idea to sign up to their RSS feeds and ensure that you are the first to read (and act upon) their trending information. Much of the information offered is not specific to the internet but can help you keep that vital step ahead of your competition. Many of these blogs offer both basic information and a premium area. Check out these blogs for some great trending information:

Trend Hunter – This is a trend blog based in Toronto Canada, they boast over 31million page views per month and claim to be the world most popular trend community. Trend Hunter Pro offers over 91,000 micro trends.

Springwise – These trend seekers claim to scan the globe for business venture ideas that are ready for regional or international adaptation. Springwise have a network of over 8,000 trend spotters in over 70 countries worldwide.

Trend Watching – This is the website of an independent trend researching firm with hundreds of spotters in over 120 countries. The company offers a great free monthly trend briefing.

Squidoo

Squidoo is a content site that many underrate in terms of aiding your market research, however it provides a very useful insight into what is currently popular, and what people are searching for online. The Squidoo homepage acts as a directory of their most read (and most searched for) lenses, which can provide some very surprising results. I certainly didn’t know that that that many people were interested in finding out how to marry a millionaire!

Shopping.com Consumer Demand Index

Now this is a neat trick that will help you take advantage of real hard data taken from true consumers. This is best used to promote either an individual product type or a genre of product. With the Shopping.com Consumer Demand Index we can view the most searched for products in any specific category; from this list you can not only determine a suitable type of product or product genre, but you can also run the keywords (as listed) through Gtrends and establish if the market is worth going after.

MySimon.com

MySimon, a comparative shopping website, offers a great page for finding affiliate marketing niches on its Top Searches page. Click on any category and start browsing down the list of keyword niche ideas. This tool is very similar to Shopping.com’s top searches page and is equally useful for finding niche marketing ideas.

Ezinearticles (or similar)

Ezinearticles.com and other online article directories can provide some great ideas, but you really need a method for interpreting the data; many of the articles on these sites are never read so it can be difficult to determine which articles (if any) receive a good amount of traffic and are of genuine interest to their chosen target audience. I have a great trick that can help you sort the great ideas for a niche from the poor.

Copy and paste the following into Googles search bar.

site:ezinearticles.com “This article has been viewed 1000..100000″”Article Submitted on:” “.2010

This will show you all the top articles so you know what is hot. Obviously you can change the numbers.

While niche research may sound like an exact science it is certainly not, even the most successful affiliate marketers crash and burn on occasion. I spend days if not weeks deciding on a the right topic that is going to take up so much of my life from then on. Many of my best ideas have come from throw away comments made by strangers, drunken conversations with friends, and even dreams (unfortunately this is a side effect of affiliate marketing).

Is There An Interest In Your Niche?

When you have found a niche idea that you believe has potential it is time to ensure that there is an active interest for the topic, and that the active interest extends to the web. At this point you must try to keep an open mind as your niche may still fall flat; this will happen if during further research we find that there is not an interest, there is an interest but the competition is too strong, or the merchants available are not relevant, below standard, or provide a commission rate that will be difficult to profit from.

There are a number of free ways to ensure that there is an active interest in your topic, product or service that will ensure you will have an audience that will buy your products.

Blogs & Forums

It is a very good idea to use Google to find out if there are any ‘very’ active blogs and Forums discussing your niche. This will not only prove that people are interested in your proposed topic but also show that people are passionate about it. If you intend to be marketing a product or service this will ensure that your niche caters to a need and give hints as to whether they are active buyers.

Google keyword tool

While all to often people criticise this keyword tool, it makes sense that it is the best most accurate tool available – after all if Google doesn’t have the data, nobody does! Using this tool will give you an idea as to the volume of traffic your proposed keywords will potentially attract.

You can find the tool here.

I find it best to change the mode from broad to exact match to ensure you are only considering potential readers or buyers that are absolutely certain about what they are looking for- this is in my mind even more important if you are planning using a strong keyword rich domain (although your domain may not have yet been considered).

When considering interest in terms of traffic (which is basically what you are doing with the Google keyword tool) it is worth remembering that even in first position you will not receive the full amount of visitors that the tool gives you. There has been much research done on the topic and as a rule of thumb I would consider the values listed to the right illustrating the percentage of searchers that visit your site dependent on your first page position (although these will vary from market to market).

If your main search term can be profitable in its own right, the market will certainly be big enough when considering other keywords and longtail variations.

EzineArticles

To expand on the trick mentioned above, you can add a keyword to the beginning of your search string to find out if there are popular articles for your niche.

DIET site:ezinearticles.com “This article has been viewed 1000..100000″”Article Submitted on:” “.2010

Conclusion

No method of choosing a niche market or estimating potential traffic will be infallible, therefore you can only assure yourself that the signs are good and that you have done everything within your power to ensure you have researched properly. Although I have provided methods, these are merely suggestions for you to build on. It is important that for your successes you can take all the credit, but also important that for your failures you understand what went wrong, so you can improve on it next time.

I hope this article has been informative and has provided you with some insight into ways you can use the web to both find niche markets and determine interest in these niches. Please join me next Wednesday when I will be covering how to accurately research your competition, and determine whether your niche has the potential to be profitable.