This post is part 2 of The Ultimate Guide To Finding Your Profitable Niche.
What Makes a Good Profitable Niche?
So what makes a good niche? Well, let’s get right down to it… The following 7 factors should be present:
- Money being spent online, as not all niches are big online money makers.
- Passions or problems present with the audience the niche.
- Products you can promote as an affiliate.
- A clear online business model you can emulate.
- Web sites you can get traffic from.
- An interest in the topic or at least some knowledge on it.
- Competition, as this is actually a GOOD sign as you’ll see below.
So let’s cover all these quickly in more detail below…
1. Is Money Being Spent Online?
This might sound obvious but hear me out…
There are plenty of niches around that are profitable.
But that is not necessarily all that profitable online as the bulk of sales are still done in person offline.
Or there are niches that people don’t spend much money in despite there being an interest in the topic.
Let me give you some examples of niches that are popular but not necessarily profitable/profitable online…
So spend some time thinking about whether your niche idea is one where people spend money, easily, online.
Most luxury watches on Amazon have very few reviews
Mostly it’s just using common sense and thinking about whether would you personally buy these items online.
But you can always check sites like Amazon to see if these items are being sold and popular, and I will show you how to do that later in the guide.
And think about whether it’s something people will spend money on, which is why rock collecting and freebie/discount hunters is out.
And you might not realize how important passions and problems are…
(RELATED: With over 200 Profitable Niche Reports available instantly and 6 new niche reports being added every month you’ll find your ideal niche in NicheHacks Academy)
To discover 200+ profitable niche markets click the image below now…
2. Are There Passions Or Problems?
There are 2 different types of niches that are best for marketing purposes…
1. Niches where people have a serious issue or problem they want a solution to urgently (i.e. a health issue, something that makes them unhappy, money problems)
2. Niches where people are very passionate and get great pleasure from doing it (i.e. a sport or hobby, travel)
Where people have a serious problem or issue they are usually desperate for a solution and if you can provide that solution to them they will literally bite your hand off to buy it.
That’s why markets such as weight loss and health, embarrassing problems dating, and making money online are so lucrative.
Weight loss products sell in huge demand as you can see by the number of reviews
If someone is passionate about something or gets great pleasure from partaking they are likely to spend lots of money on it because it makes them feel good.
Hence why markets such as golf, cooking, travel, hunting, and other sports, hobbies, and activity niches are lucrative.
In many niches, the two will overlap.
Even in passion niches like hobbies such as say golf the reason people will spend money is that a problem has occurred.
An example…
You don’t spend hundreds of dollars on a new set of clubs if you’re playing the best you’ve ever played and winning all the time with your current ones, right?
You buy those new clubs because you keep getting beat by your buddies as your drive is too short or your putting isn’t working out.
Buying a new set of clubs might not actually solve that problem.
But getting beat every week by your buddies isn’t fun.
So you’ll do something to try and beat them.
And most people, instead of doing what they should be doing, i.e. practicing more and stop blaming your tools….
…will throw money at the problem.
And this next point is a super important one…
3. Are There Products You Can Promote As An Affiliate?
The quickest way to make money in a new niche is through affiliate marketing.
So knowing there are affiliate products to promote from day 1 is a sign of a good niche.
You can be making money straight off the bat and not worry about creating your own products.
Clickbank can be used to find products in your niche
We cover, in much more detail, how to find affiliate products in chapter 6.
But to give you a brief overview you can check affiliate networks like…
…and if you see lots of products on sale it’s a good sign.
But aside from just profitable products you also need factor 4 to be present…
4. Is There A Clear Online Business Model?
When you’re first starting out in business the last thing you want to be doing is re-inventing the wheel.
Chances are this is all new to you.
So you don’t want to create a new business model from scratch that is untested.
Very few of us are innovators that can pull that off anyway.
That’s NOT what online business is about in 99% of cases anyway.
There’s no need to come up with some revolutionary idea that no one has ever seen or heard of before.
Leave that to the likes of Steve Jobs.
You and I just hear to look at business models that already work.
In niches where there’s already money being spent.
And then grab a piece of it.
As there’s plenty of money going around for everyone.
Here’s the deal:
All you need is proof that others are making money from your niche already.
And that’s there is a clear business model.
So here’s what to do…
You look at other websites in your niche and see if you can clearly see how they are making money.
SurvivalLife has a store and a membership site for example
If you don’t know the websites simply Google your niche idea and look at the top results.
Look for adverts on the blog, they are making money from ad clicks.
Look for products on sale, they are selling their own products.
Look for a membership site, they are making recurring monthly income.
Look for links to places like Amazon or Clickbank, they are making money from affiliate marketing.
Opt into their email list and see which products they recommend, they are doing affiliate marketing.
Health Ambition is Using Google Adsense Ads
Check the footer section of their website and see if you find an “affiliate page”, this means they are selling their own products via affiliates.
Affiliate Page
You’re just looking for signs that others are making money.
And if they are you can too.
Let’s look at point #5 to see where you can get traffic from…
5. Where Can You Get Traffic From?
A website without traffic is useless.
Without traffic (or people looking to spend) you can’t make any money.
So one of the key factors you need to look at is where can you get traffic from.
And to be sure you can actually drive traffic from that source to your website.
So you’re looking for blogs that allow blog comments with links and guest posts.
Comments with links is a good sign
And forums that allow clickable signatures and sharing your own content.
And social media groups on Facebook, boards on Pinterest or sub-groups on Reddit for example that will allow you to share your content, without being spammy.
On top of that, you might want to consider paid traffic using Facebook Ads, Google Adwords, or banner ads on other websites.
So you’ll have to check, for free, Facebook Ad’s targeting feature to see if there are Facebook Interests that you can target.
Or simply Google your niche idea and see if there are already other advertising on Google, as that shows there are opportunities.
Google Advertising is a healthy sign
And finally, look through the results in Google and check out all the websites in your niche to see if any allow banner adverts.
Again, all you are looking for is some signs that you can drive traffic from where it already is to your website.
But before that ask yourself this…
6. What Do You Actually Know About This Niche?
You’ll be amazed at how many people try to get into niches that they have no interest in or know nothing about.
I’ve lost track of the amount of NicheHacks subscribers who have emailed me to ask why their, for example, Forex website isn’t making any money.
I’ve looked at their website and what did I find?
An unprofessional looking website, with a free theme and a $5 logo, that would have looked outdated in the 1990s.
Badly written content that was filled with gibberish and is clear the author knows nothing about Forex.
And big, scammy-looking, flashing neon ads promoting iffy affiliate offers.
Does it look professional to you?
Now, if you were a serious Forex trader.
Who was actually qualified to give advice and making money from your advice?
Don’t you think you’d have a better website and content?
Yep, of course, you would.
So why would anyone visiting your website believe in your content and website and trust you enough to take your advice?
You got it, they wouldn’t.
So they are never going to buy anything from you.
But imagine this:
Instead, you created a website on a niche you are interested in or at least know a lot about.
And when people read your content they’ll clearly see you know what you are talking about.
And if they see you as someone who knows what you are talking about, they’ll trust you.
And if they trust you, they’ll buy from you.
And yeah, sure…
You can get into niches you don’t know a great deal about by outsourcing the content.
But honestly, outsourcing is not nearly as easy as you think it’s going to be, especially when you know nothing about the niche.
We outlined how to outsource content in this article
Or nothing about what is required in the niche.
How can you explain to someone what to do or what content to create if you don’t know anything about it yourself?
It’s hard, take it from me.
You’ll have the most chance of success if you pick niches you know at least something about.
There’s no need to be the worlds leading expert, as you will find out in chapter 4, but you will do better if you know something.
And please don’t make this mistake that I did when I first started…
(RELATED: I’ve discovered and shared 200+ of the most lucrative niches on the net with my NicheHacks Academy
7. Why Competition Is A Good Thing
When I first started to explore online marketing I thought I had to find a hidden niche that no one else knew about.
Sound familiar to you?
I spent the best part of a year trying to uncover some little-known niche or keywords.
But here’s the thing…
Someone else always knows before you.
You just haven’t heard about it yet.
Like for example…
We have a niche report in the member’s area for an online game called League of Legends.
Until someone requested a niche report on it I had never heard of this game.
We found out the game is one of the biggest in the world and had 67 million, monthly, players.
It’s worth millions of dollars too as people spend real-life money on items that only exist within the game.
Yet, I had never heard of it.
Had you?
Look maybe you had but the point is:
Plenty of others hadn’t.
To someone, like me, it was a brand new niche.
And this happened with countless other niches we revealed too:
I hadn’t heard of any of them and was convinced at first they wouldn’t be that popular.
They all turned out to be niches worth millions or even billions.
Some of the many reports we’ve covered in our member’s area
So my point is…
Whatever niche you find, no matter if it’s a new idea to you, someone else always knows already.
And 99% of the time there will be someone already making money from it.
And that is a GOOD thing.
Here’s why:
Competition shows high demand.
It means there are customers online looking for information and spending money.
It means there are other websites out there you can network with, get content ideas, and drive traffic from.
It means there are already products you can promote as an affiliate and make money from.
Or look at it this way:
If you really had just found a brand new niche…
…how would you make money from it?
There will be very few if any, products to promote as an affiliate.
You won’t be able to find your target audience online to drive traffic.
Demand will below for information and products.
You won’t have other websites to get content ideas, network with, or get traffic from.
So, really how good would that niche be?
Instead, do this…
Look for niches that already have competition.
That’s a sure-fire sign that the niche is already profitable and in demand.
And online in almost every niche, there is always room for a new competition like you.
The internet is just too big a place.
With too many people and more joining every day for any niche to be over-saturated.
And there’s almost always a group of people within that niche that aren’t being catered to properly.
Or a unique angle or twist that no one else is doing.
Or even it can be as simple as everyone else in the niche is doing short written content but no one is doing longer, more in-depth content, or video content.
So that’s where you step in.
Don’t get too caught up too much in this stuff just now as we will cover this in a further chapter.
To re-iterate:
Competition is a good thing as it shows the signs of a healthy, in demand, niche with money to be made.
Don’t look for niches no one else knows about but instead ones where there’s already money being made.
You’ll have a much easier time making money from it yourself.
Let’s quickly wrap this chapter up before moving onto the next one…
To discover 200+ profitable niche markets click the image below now…
(RELATED: Stop wasting your time doing stupid niche research just pick a profitable niche from the 200+ niche reports inside NicheHacks Academy instead)
Wrapping Up The 7 Factors Of A Good Niche
Hopefully in this chapter, I’ve done a good job of explaining what makes a good niche.
To summarize:
The 7 factors will be present:
Look for all these factors before entering into any niche and you’ll pick a winner.
Now let’s go to chapter 3 where I’ll show you why you need to balance passion (or interest/knowledge) with money if you want to make a profit in niches…
Does that answer your question of what makes a good niche?
