Making money in niches besides "Make Money Online"

[chris23w]

Hey guys, I'm new here and I've been studying affiliate marketing for a few months now. Although I have learned a lot, I have not made any money yet, mainly because I cannot find a good product/program to promote.

When I read I am always told to go for obscure niches (not just "Make Money Online") but I am not sure how I would build a site and monetize it around such niches. So, how can one build and monetize a site around an obscure niche (like hamster grooming for example)?

Also, I did some keyword research and I have about 10 different keywords (all different niches) that are reasonably high traffic and little to no competition. Should I build and optimize a site for only the one keyword that I found for each different niche, or find additional keywords for each niche that have less than ideal competition?

I'm sorry if the questions are worded awkwardly, but that's the best way I could word them as I am still feeling my way around in affiliate marketing.

Thanks in advance,

Christian A. Watson

[charleskirkland]

Go into the high traffic niches.

When you are the lone player in a niche you can't get any JV's and
it will typically not be a great money maker.

But in the high traffic niches you can always get traffic via ppc and jv's and
still do fine.

Charles

[citrus]

Try to go for niches which you know are popular and getting a lot of searches. Then, using keyword tools, find long tail keywords so that you will still be in the same niche, but will have far less competition. That way, you will realistically be able to rank in the top 10 of Google for those search terms.

You don't necessarily have to build a site to take advantage of high traffic low competition keywords. You can also use free web 2.0 properties like Squidoo or write and submit articles to major article directories and get them to the top of Google with some link building.

If you have the knowledge to do PPC, that will work very well too.

Curtis

[Scott Hoehnke]

Hey Christian,

As Mr. Kirkland says.. "it's all about traffic"

It is a pleasure to be able to interact with you on JV Notify!. Charles is like one of the JV Idols! He is very successful and has terrific ideas.

Have a great day!

Scott

[dacahe]

High traffic obviously means there is money to be made, just like when you are a tourist and you get to the mall food court, follow the crowd and it will lead you to the best food. However with more competition there is a need for more creative ways to do things. Like the squidoos, or a review page, (which are becoming less and less creative since everybody is using them).
Take movies for example, there are only 37 original stories everything else is a variation of the same stories.
There are 250 movies being produced every year in hollywood and only 37 original stories.
Good book offline is purple cow by Set Godin.

Hope all is well,

To your success,

David C. :)

[guptara]

I guess you 1st need to decide how are you going to generate traffic. If it is through PPC for example, then definitely consider the high traffic niches.

But if it is through SEO, you may either be ready to wait for your site to get god SE rankings in high competition niches or if you want quick traffic, then low competitive nices could be your choice.

So, you need to 1st decide how are you going to generate traffic.

[chris23w]

Thanks for all the responses guys, I will try to enter into a larger market so that I can get a piece of the money that's being made in these high traffic niches.

Christian A. Watson

[Richard Adams]

Hi Christian,

Also don't forget that some markets are more likely to spend money than others. Just because there is lots of traffic in a niche doesn't necessarily mean those people are going to be spending money. Niche research needs to involve a lot more than just traffic and competition numbers.

All the best,
Richard

[riviera]

Hello Richard
There are certainly many profitable niches besides 'make money online'. People are always ready to spend money on health products, programs related to pet care, and I find sport and fitness a good niche.

[Patrick Wooley]

Christian,

Agree with Richard. You need to find the niches that spend money. Dig deeper than a broad search because a lot of those smaller niches are not being monetized properly by others. Less competition but still good traffic.

Another thing I don't see being mentioned much is using long tail keywords as your domain name. Look for high traffic, long tail keywords, then do a domain name search on them. Sometimes you can find a good domain name that has natural organic searches in the tens of thousands. Free traffic for the cost of the domain.

Make money online niche is extremely competitive and where the majority try to start making money. But there's really good money outside of this field.

Google is your friend and you just have to see how websites are being ranked by them. Video is all the rage at the moment so maybe consider making a few videos. The great part is that there are literally millions of niches to enter. Plus, you should decide on something that has products people are also looking for. Your product that you're promoting, as well as your niche, should both have traffic. Google will tell you everything you need to know. Check Google Trends for some ideas on what people are looking for right now. Good luck whatever you decide. Take care.

Patrick Wooley