On second thought, the title of this post could have been how to find a profitable niche in affiliate marketing — because essentially this is what I am going to address here in due course.
More immediately, however, I feel I need to address the concept of the affiliate marketer as researcher. In fact, the affiliate marketing job is hard to conceptualise without this basic function. The affiliate marketer’s identity is split between these two functions: investigating and sharing vital information with their audience.
What does this shared function mean? . . . Only good things, let me assure you. And . . .
What’s The Affiliate Marketing Secret?
Every morning even before you get out of bed (even before that first obligatory cup of dark roasted espresso), your mind will be full of anticipation that only comes with the prospect of true discovery — what opportunities are out there? what other niches haven’t I discovered yet? where are they?
You launch your day — everyday — with these basic questions in mind — which in due course become your ever growing “To Do” list hanging by a thread, as it were, at an angle on the screen of your laptop.
And then, as you your quest gets underway . . . there will be that aha moment characterised by that familiar feeling of sudden discovery, that rush of endorphins engulfing your system.
WARNING: This is highly addictive.
Being filled with hope and anticipation is one of the best aspects of being human.
Affiliate Marketing Pitfalls
Of course it won’t be sunshine all the way. There will be roadblocks. There will be hiccups. There will be the inevitable frustrations. But this is also precisely the point at which strength of character kicks in — you’ll punch through.
When I think of the affiliate marketing mentality, the image that comes to my mind is that of a boxer dancing on their feet who knows when to duck and when to take the punch — and if felled to the floor also knows when to get up.
Interestingly, these are also the attributes of a tenacious researcher: some days will suck — and they accept it. They make take a break but they don’t call it quits. It ain’t over until it’s over — I remember the day when my professor had said that to me when I really went down because my research was in shambles. I am still here — I remind myself everyday.
Mostly, people talk about affiliate marketers primarily as entrepreneurs and hardly ever, if at all, as researchers, and, yet, when you look at the work they to do, a vast part of it is research — quantitative as well as qualitative.
Their libraries are the vast troves of information accumulated (thanks to the knowledge economy) from both publicly available information and proprietary information that now characterises the present era.
We can hope to discover something new everyday. And while this knowledge economy pertains to science and technology mainly, no less does it benefit all the other branches of knowledge that grow from it — and continue to grow without any sign of exhaustion.
Good news for affiliate marketers — never before in history has there been so much opportunity.
Let me now bring the conversation around to some identified niches that fit the description of endless opportunity — and which will, I hope, whet your appetite for discovery . . . If you’re in the affiliate marketing business, you’re in the discovery business.
Consider . . .
Three Top Niches
Here they are :
- personal wellness — meditation apps
- tech and gadgets — fitness monitors
- self-improvement — educational resources; online learning platforms
To approach this array of opportunities methodically, we have to consider a number of issues.
First, what makes a product a product? How do we define it?
It requires two things at a minimum — a producer (brand) and a consumer (beneficiary). (Not to mention, materials and labour that enter into the production of commodities — which for the sake of economy we shall ignore for now).
Where does the affiliate marketer fit into this schema?
The affiliate marketer is a mediator — who brings the brand and the consumer together — in other words, the affiliate marketer is the third element, in a complex three-way relation.
Now let’s dig into these categories.
Personal Wellness
As we progress from a highly industrialised to a post industrialised societies, people are becoming more keenly aware of their position in this world — or, rather their lack of position. The philosophical question of the age must be: Where do we (humans) fit in?
Notice “human” in parenthesis — it’s a typographical enactment of the increasing lack of relevance humans are experiencing at the moment.
On the one hand, there’s endless opportunity; and, on the other hand, there is rising stress that inevitably comes with such developments. Just as there’s room for optimism, there’s, ironically, room for pessimism. People aren’t coping with the fast pace of life. Is this how it was meant to be? — they’re asking, rightly.
Simply put, people want their selfhood restored — returned, even — to them. We inhabit a complex world and we can never underestimate people’s drive for this kind of return-to-the-self — return not only to nature but also to human nature, however defined.
Living increasingly in large metropolitan centres dominated by concrete jungles, away from nature mostly — many on their own — humanity’s focus has turned back on itself as the object of contemplation.
People want ever more to control over their own destiny. From that position, it’s not hard to imagine, how we segued into personal wellness — which seemed like a natural choice.
Wellness, however, isn’t a form of therapy or treatment in its formal sense but predominantly a form of self-agency.
Personal wellness is about feeling good about the self. Nothing could be more natural.
A whole industry has grown up around this basic concept. From the affiliate marketing point of view, this is a valid niche and a very lucrative one at that. It encompasses many elements . . . yoga, mindfulness, wholesome eating, Tibetan singing bowls, traditional medicine . . . the list goes on and on.
You gotta check this out on Wealthy Affiliate if you’re serious about — to use that notorious cliche — turning your passion into a revenue stream.
We can’t put a limit on happiness — and that underscores the limitlessness of this niche.
One word of advice: Never make extraordinary claims about the products you promote in this niche. The gold standard is FDA approval if it has to do with therapy, medication and so forth. Otherwise, you have nothing to stand on.
Tech and Gadgets
Personal wellness is a like a master concept — an umbrella term, if you like — which brings together a number of other sub-niches fostered in large measure by technology.
To understand this development and what implications it has for affiliate marketing we have to go a bit deeper into personal wellness as a concept Personal wellness presumes the existence of the self in both its physical and metaphysical sense. That means — and put somewhat crudely — a self can’t be imagined without a physical body in which it’s presumed to reside — a statement likely to be met with howls of protest by those inclined to believe in the sovereignty of the soul but arguably it will suffice for our purposes.
Now let’s focus on one particular bodily function, breathing, which is both voluntary and involuntary. Whether we pay attention to it or not, we’re always breathing. That’s involuntary breathing. Now, if we decide to take a deep breath in, hold it for a few seconds and then exhale — as they teach in yoga classes — that’s voluntary breathing.
Ancient Sanskrit has a word for it: prana, meaning life, which is also the word for breathing or the breath.
Unsurprisingly, the tech industry exploited this phenomenon skilfully . . . with a Fitbit on your wrist you can get readouts of your pulse, breathing, oxygen saturation level, skin temperature, exhalation volume and myriad of bodily functions.
Reading our health metrics — a big part of the wellness market — has, surely, got to be the biggest spectator sports in town. This is life-as-performance technologically mediated. It’s like having your own show, on your own private network, on your own private terms — you can put it on Facebook and livestream it, too.
Okay enough daydreaming, if this is your passion check out, next, how you can monetise it with Wealthy Affiliate.
Self-Improvement
People don’t want to be hemmed in by limits — such is our optimism fuelled by the “Brave New World.” People want not only to feel better but also nurture their aspirations. That’s a noble ambition to have.
Although there’s an element of competition in this, it isn’t entirely that which drives this ambition. The ultimate driver is self-fulfilment.
Think of the stockbroker who nurtures artistic aspirations. They would like to learn how to express themselves in smears of black on a white background. Their heart still flutters at the thought of texture, shade, lines.
After a heavy day on the floor, selling millions to millions and making millions for their employer, they feel, well, cheated . . . “I’ve been lying to myself. What I really want is to capture visual reality in all its rich variety in a few deft lines and carefully placed smudges.”
Everyone to their tastes — no arguments there.
And oh, do spare a thought for the overworked the tax accountant who has stories swirling in their head — those eddies of words and language which threaten to drown them at times. It’ so overpowering.
Writing — that’s the only cure for such a malady. Could someone — or something, some app, perhaps — help them take that impulse and turn it into pieces of poetic writing.
Anything from improving your golf swing to bonsai to . . . sorry, I have run out of examples I can think of . . .
That sudden loss for words should indicate the inexhaustibility of human aspirations and the need for their fulfilment.
Please understand one thing: these niches aren’t completely separable — in fact, they are overlapping. And, that actually makes them even more attractive.
It means with little effort you can move your audience from one niche to another imperceptibly, naturally.
Anyone interested in bonsai as a form of relaxation or getting in touch with their inner naturalist — or both — could be taken easily to, say, a watering app.
Final point: you can expect many if not most profitable niches for affiliate marketing residing in the close vicinity of trends.
Go find your next big opportunity here on Wealthy Affiliate.