Selecting a Market and a Niche

One of the keys to success in affiliate marketing is to select a niche market to participate and advertise in. When I started out, I struggled with this...what is the right niche and how do I find it. Well, unfortunately that questions is not easy to answer but by doing some soul searching you'll find the right niche. Also remember that the right niche for you may not hold true for me. Why? If your knowledge of a product exceeds mine you'll know which benefits to promote, what buttons to push and ultimately your conversions will be higher.

Key factors in choosing a niche:

- What are my interests? Find something that your interested in and you'll be far more successful.
- Based on my interests what is hot or has potential?
- How large is the market? If the market size is small it will be hard to make a marketing campaign profitable no matter how enthusiastic and knowledgeable your are.
- What will my USP (Unique Selling Proposition) be? Do I have a different view of the market then my competition, can I present the information in a different light?
- Can I find products to advertise and promote within the niche?

Some tools to use in finding a niche:

1. Google search - perform searches on the key words you think fit the product or market that you want to promote. Look at the sponsored ads and the natural search results. Are there a lot of people advertising in the market space?
2. Google Keyword tool (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal). Using the keyword tool come up with a list of the key words you think describe your product or market and enter them into the tool. Look at the Advertiser competition, search volume and average search volume levels and determine what the competition is like and if there is enough search volume and interest to support a campaign. Do not write off a keyword or market based just on these numbers when you start marketing you can change the focus of the keywords and get good results. This exercise is simple to gauge the competition and volume.
3. Magazines, websites, newsletters and discussion groups. Review some of the top content sites, join newsletters and discussions in the niche that you think looks good and learn as much as you can. This will also help you determine what is important to the user group.

Good luck! Feel free to email me at affiliateadvisor@gmail.com with any questions or post a comment.

Chris