Last Updated on April 20, 2024 by Eric Cantu
What does it mean to find your niche? In business, it’s all about understanding and finding your target audience. Sounds easy enough, but choosing a profitable niche is usually the first obstacle that keeps many bloggers up at night.
What Does it Mean to Find Your Niche?
To find your niche means to identify a target audience. What are they searching for? What questions are they needing to be answered? When you know what they want, you create content that is the answer to those searches.
Key Takeaways
- What’s Your Passion?: Choose a niche based on your personal passions and interests. This keeps your content engaging and relevant, helping to build traffic and connect with the audience.
- Specificity to Stand Out: Don’t get lost in a saturated market! Narrow down a general niche to something more specific.
- Set Your Marketing Strategy: Once you’ve dialed in your niche, use affiliate marketing to drive targeted traffic to your content and monetize it.
- Laser Focus and Scaling: Once you start to build traction and get traffic, then you can start scaling out. Even Amazon started with just books!
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Don’t overthink it! Choosing your niche is the very first step in making money online. But it’s way simpler than you may think. It’s not about trying to find an untapped gold mine. It’s much more about going with what you know and love.
What is a Niche?
- Niche Definition: A niche is defined as a specialized segment of the market for a particular kind of product or service. Essentially, it’s any area with a specific target audience.
- But Is It Profitable?: Trust me when I say that ANY niche where a product or service exists and has a target audience potentially represents a very, very profitable niche. As long as there’s a group of people interested in purchasing, you’re onto something. Even obscure niches can be mega-profitable thanks to the global marketplace that is the internet.
- Choosing Your Niche: The challenge for bloggers and entrepreneurs is in deciding which niche to focus on, given that virtually anything with a target audience can be profitable. The key is not to overthink it! Start where your interest and the market’s needs intersect!
Why You Should Choose Your Niche Based on Your Passions and Interests
When you choose a niche you have a genuine interest in, this places you smack dab in the middle of your own target audience. Who better to know your audience’s pain points, their struggles, the answers they’re searching for than someone who is shoulder to shoulder with them?
- Relevance Drives Traffic: One of the keys to successful blogging is relevance. Building traffic, and hopefully revenue, depends on creating high-quality content that resonates with your audience. A disconnect between the blogger’s content and the audience’s interests will implode your traffic.
- What If It’s Too Saturated?: Don’t overthink saturation. Seriously. Through solid keyword research you’ll be attacking aspects of your niche that are less competitive. Your success will come from identifying and catering to specific searches your audience is making, rather than competing on a global scale.
- Target Audience Focus: When your content directly addresses your audience’s interests and questions, it naturally attracts them to your platform. This is what will build your traffic from a trickle to a stream.
- Not Just For Websites: I’m a huge proponent of YouTube. Understanding this same concept of choosing your niche applies to YouTube as well and can be VERY lucrative for you.
Related Article at WorkFromYourLaptop.com!
Check out “How to Use Jaaxy” and learn all about the incredibly powerful tool that allows you to know EXACTLY what your target audience is making searches for, word for word. This is the key to driving massive, targeted, FREE traffic to your content!
How Niched Down Is Too Much?
The way to get through any “saturation” is through specificity. For example, if you have a passion for basketball, you would quickly get lost in the abyss of the internet building a website centered around all things basketball.
I say it all the time. You can’t be everything to everyone right from the start. Even Amazon started with just books, right?
So, in this example, basketball as a niche is just WAY too general. Let’s niche down. How about basketball clothing? How about basketball shoes? How about… basketball shoes and apparel.
This is a clean, tight niche, still with the potential for tons of quality content. Your potential target audience arrives at your website looking for men’s basketball shoes and instantly sees that your entire site is dedicated to the one and only thing they’re looking for. Because of this, laser focus in your niche translates to a much higher conversion percentage.
The affiliate marketing training platform I owe all my success to has a spectacular Niche Finder tool powered by AI that has a spectacular knack for helping you find that “goldilocks” range of “just right” when choosing your niche.
You’ve Chosen Your Niche, Now What?
Now it’s time to create spectacular content, reach the masses, monetize your traffic, and earn commissions from conversions. Affiliate marketing is the most direct way to do this. Other online business avenues like dropshipping have the headache of shipping, returns, etc. Affiliate marketing has none of that.
So you may ask, “Ok, but why would anybody buy from me?” And the truth is that through affiliate marketing, they’re NOT buying from you. They’re buying from the trusted merchants they know and love. So how do you get paid?
In a nutshell, affiliate marketing is all about connecting your audience with the products and services they’re already looking for online. Lead your audience to the trusted merchants they know and love and every time a purchase is made you will earn a sweet, sweet commission.
There are thousands of affiliate programs out there, ripe for the taking. Doing a quick Google search of “your niche + affiliate programs” will pull up page after page of great affiliate programs that are free to join.
I highly recommend this quick read: “Succeeding with Golf Balls, Scaling with Shoes!” for an understanding of how your specific niche can be scaled dramatically once it finds that target audience.
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Final Thoughts
It’s vitally important to choose your niche based on actual passion and interest. Choosing a tight, specific niche brings relatability, amplifies relevance and conversions, and allows you to scale out once you’re dialed in on that traffic.
What do you think? Are you racking your brain trying to come up with a niche you can be successful with? Need some help finding your niche? Share your story in the comments section below and send any and all questions my way! I always respond and I look forward to hearing from you!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Niche in Affiliate Marketing?
A niche in affiliate marketing refers to a specialized segment of the market that caters to a particular kind of product or service. Identifying a profitable niche involves understanding what products or services are in demand and what particular group of consumers is interested in these offerings.
How Do I Choose the Right Niche for My Blog?
Start with identifying your passions and interests. Look for areas where you can offer unique insights or solutions. Consider not only what you are passionate about but also whether there is a target audience for that topic. Research market trends, potential competition, and audience queries to ensure there’s a demand for the content you wish to create.
Can Any Niche Be Profitable?
Yes, virtually any niche can be profitable if approached correctly. The profitability of a niche depends on how well you understand and cater to your target audience’s needs and preferences. It’s important to create relevant and engaging content that resonates with your audience. Remember, it’s not just about the niche itself, but how you present and market your content within that niche.
How Important is Specificity in Selecting a Niche?
A broad topic can lead to competition saturation, making it harder to stand out. Narrowing down your focus to a more specific aspect of a broader category can help you target a more defined audience.
What Role Does Affiliate Marketing Play in a Niche?
Affiliate marketing plays a significant role in monetizing your niche. It involves promoting products or services relevant to your niche and earning commissions from sales made through your referral. The key is to align your content with products that your audience finds valuable. This not only helps in earning revenue but also in building trust with your audience.
How Do I Overcome Competition in a Saturated Niche?
To overcome competition in a saturated niche, focus on creating unique, high-quality content that provides value to your audience. Utilize SEO strategies and LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords to improve your search engine rankings. Engage with your audience through social media and other platforms to build a community. Also, consider finding sub-niches or unique angles within the broader niche to differentiate yourself.
Is Passion Really Important in Choosing a Niche?
Yes, passion is incredibly important in choosing a niche. When you are passionate about a topic, it reflects in the quality and authenticity of your content. This authenticity resonates with your audience, helping to build a loyal following. Passion also keeps you motivated to consistently produce content and grow your blog or business over time.
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Chase says
My question would be about the scaling portions of the niche. At what point do you begin to try and broaden the scope of your reach and start branching out into other products and a wider range of content? I imagine it happens naturally as you gain more of a following.
Eric Cantu says
I think it should be organic. As you start to grow your site and push out quality content, getting engagement and growth, then you can start to venture out and scale. But remember, you only need to scale if it works for you and makes sense. Sometimes keeping it simple is the best solution. Thanks for the comment!
Feochadan says
You are BANG ON with your article! I’ve seen so many people having problems with “niching down”. The best advice is yours: find something that you are interested in. If you have no or very little knowledge of the niche you choose, you will definitely have difficulties writing about it or being motivated to research and write about it. Be true to yourself and write about what you know!
Eric Cantu says
Agreed! Thanks for the comment!
Alejandra says
A few years ago I was new to blogging, I started my own blog and after a couple of years I was at the same place, nothing, It was only after I joined Wealthy Affiliate that I learned more about tightening the direction of my website and nicheand since then I’ve seen my website working better everyday! I’m sure your article will help many to start their online business with the right foot, but for me and other people who already know something, it’s always great to come to read your website to learn more as you are one of the top members at Wealthy Affiliate and you’re always ready to help others!
Eric Cantu says
Thanks so much for the kind words! Keep up the good work! Thanks for the comment!
Bernard Breytenbach says
Well done on for this post! Finding the niche for yourself is a hard task as you do not want to jump around between different types niches. You want to take a specific niche that you understand and can talk about almost non stop. This will lead to expansion to your niche. That is how I found mine and still writing posts on my site currently today. What also helps if you can plan out ahead posts or articles you ahead like on a mind map for 3 months ahead. If you cannot do that, then you niche will not grow. Thank you for all the information!
Eric Cantu says
Well said! Thanks for the comment!
Kelly says
When I first started out I was not specific with my niche. My niche needed to be a lot tighter. This led to all sorts of problems. Not being specific meant my target audience was too big, my site was getting out of control with topics that felt off-topic and it just turned into one big mess. I could have done with reading this before I got started to be honest.
Now, I have learned my lesson. I also learnt that I needed to target a niche with deeper pockets than what I used to be able to afford. The few affiliate sales I did made never went over £1 apiece. You can’t expect it too when you decide to target people who will pay a maximum of £10 for what they need. 2 lessons learned. This is a great article for someone getting started, they won’t make the same mistakes I did.
Eric Cantu says
Start specific with your niche and scale outward. That’s the best way to approach it. I don’t approach niches based on the kinds of sales I would make, but it would obviously be nice to have a wide range of products and services possibilities to reach the widest audience. Thanks for the comment!
Ann says
I have changed niche about 2 or 3 times. And in none of the previous occasions I have had enough “success” to be encouraged to keep on or sell my site at Flippa (or any platform like it). That means I haven’t found mine yet. In my book a niche must be profitable and I also have to have passion for it. And thanks for reminding me in your post that I need to be specific with my niche.
Eric Cantu says
How many posts have you built on each site? How often are you posting? What kind of keywords are you targeting? If you’ve built out a niche site with 20 posts and then are discouraged that it’s not profitable, it’s not so much the niche as it is the lack of content. Now, websites with only a handful of posts can definitely be profitable, but to build a successful website I think you have to be prepared to fill it out and scale it. Thanks for the comment!
Gabriel J says
Hey Eric, awesome article about finding your niche! Love your hat by the way 🙂 I remember when I started my very first blog on blogger, my niche was all over the place. I went from food reviews, to personal affairs, and then to video games until I got frustrated and gave up. So I strongly agree that there needs to be a focused and narrowed down niche when starting an online business. May I ask what niches you have done in the past?
Eric Cantu says
My first direction I thought I would go in was the travel niche. I’m someone who’s addicted to travel and that’s why I was looking to find an online business in the first place, so I could have a business that could potentially travel with me. But once I found this training, I had such an interest in it and knew there were so many people out there looking for this that it became my focus. I never looked back. Thanks for the comment!
Nina M. Melillo says
Great article. I love gardening so I decided to start a website on gardening for beginners. It entails things like how to create a garden to how to decorate a garden. I am having a lot of fun with it but have not been too successful with conversions. I will definitely watch some of the videos you recommended to help me in that area. If you get a chance, take a look at my website and tell me how you think I could improve upon it. Thanks again for such a thorough and comprehensive article.
Nina
Eric Cantu says
I’m very happy this article helped you. Thank you so much for sharing and best of luck to you as you continue to grow your site!
Aparna says
Hi Eric,
This is one of the best articles I have read on finding a niche. In fact, it’s better explained than most training programs. It really helped me to narrow down my options and focus on a key area of my expertise that is also likely to draw visitors.
Thank u for this wonderfully written article. God bless you.
Eric Cantu says
Thanks so much for the kind words. I appreciate it and thanks for the comment!
Christine says
Interesting post and very helpful! What if I found my niche but it belongs to a saturated market? I know you mentioned this in your post, but let’s take for example vegan food and recipes, that market is extremely saturated. How can a blogger get noticed when a certain niche has a lot of competition? What do you suggest to go the extra mile?
How can I narrow down a niche and still write a lot of content about it?
Eric Cantu says
The thing to understand here is that you’re not competing with all the other vegan food and recipe websites at all. Each article you write is written around a focus keyword that you will have chosen because of its low competition numbers. That’s why keyword research is so important and that’s how you find your traffic. You’re literally hand picking keywords that you can rank for. 🙂
Sasha says
Great info! What if I find myself a niche that is profitable and then later find out that I am running out of thins to write about it?
Eric Cantu says
It’s probably a good idea to map out a general structure of topics you can write about when trying to choose a niche. I’d suggest coming up with 3 main categories and then seeing if you can think of 8-10 article ideas per category. If you can come up with ideas relatively quickly, then you’ll be able to continue to find them the more you write. Some of the articles you write will inspire new ones as well. But if you’re struggling to even come up with 3 categories, then it’s a sign that you’re probably going to hit a wall if you continue. The good thing is, when you have a real passion for the subject, ideas on what to write about come relatively easy. 🙂 Thanks for the comment!
julius says
Great post about how to find your niche. What would you say has to be first, NICHE or AUDIENCE?
Eric Cantu says
The only way you can have a niche is with an audience. Without the audience, there is no niche. 🙂
Tom says
Hey,
Another inspirational article. When I found my niche and I knew what it was I wanted to do, that is when I discovered my why and vision too.
Thank you for sharing and keep up the great work.
All the best,
Tom
Eric Cantu says
Thank you! I appreciate it!
LineCowley says
Hi Eric, this is a great post on finding your niche. I totally agree that you need to be passionate about your niche, to convey the message in an enthusiastic way. And that relevance is very important. I do have a passion, and although I have found some affiliate programs for it, most of them only pay 5% or 6% commission. Which does make me wonder if it is worth the effort. Any thoughts or suggestions on it? Thanks, Liné
Eric Cantu says
5% and 6% commissions are actually the norm. Every now and again you can find commission percentages that are in the 25% range and even in the 50% to 75% range. These are not common though. Thanks for the comment!