This is a really interesting question I had from Alex the other day. He has loads of ideas for sites based around his interests, but is just a bit vague on what to do with those to proceed with his affiliate efforts. His question caught my imagination a bit so I decided to brainstorm his areas of interest and show him the process I use to work things out.
Hi Kirsty,
I have recently stumbled upon your site and it has proved extremely helpful so far. Great Job!!!
I would just like to ask you a few simple questions that may get me a few steps closer towards a successful affiliate site.I have many hobbies that I would like to explore from my love for chillies (plants and fruit) to UK fishing locations and many in between. However, I do realise that there are obvious affiliate limits to the subjects that I’m interested in no matter how niche they may be.
I guess the question that I’m asking is ‘How do I decide on a new affiliate subject to pursue and how would I go about it? I have been working in IT for the last 8 years and am confident in my ability but am a complete beginner in the affiliate world. Any help you would be able to give me would be gratefully received.
Regards, Alex
Hi Alex,
Welcome to the blog! I am glad that you found it useful.
You’re absolutely right to pick a subject that interests you, so in deciding to pursue that avenue you have taken your first steps to success.
Your first job to get your niche picked out should be to have a bit of a brainstorming session to yourself. Grab a bit of paper or a whiteboard and write all of your hobbies and interests down, regardless of whether you think there are products or affiliate programmes related to them or not. You might be surprised what you come up with.
When I’m doing this kind of stuff I play a bit of a “word game” for want of a better descriptive term. I then describe as many connected subject areas or product areas as I can think of for each niche. By doing this, I can identify which areas will be easy to come up with content for and which have a variety of products that could be sold in association with them. Once this is complete for all your areas of interest you should be able to further research merchants and see which one strikes the best balance of good content and monetisation potential!
OK, so to give you a working example I’m going to brainstorm the ideas that you have given me. The format I tend to use is content ideas followed by monetisation ideas!
Chili Plants & Fruit
- How to grow them
- Recipies and household uses
- Chili variety guide
- Where to buy seeds and propigation materials
Monetisation
- Recipie books
- Cooking equipment
- Gifts for the Chili enthusiast
UK Fishing Locations
- As it says on the tin. Where are the best places to fish in the UK? User generated reviews?
- By technique i.e. fly fishing, coarse fishing, sea fishing etc
- By fish type i.e. Trout, Salmon etc
- Equipment guide
- How to create your own flies
- Bait guide
- Fishing techniques
- There’s a good prospect for a forum in this subject matter - monetise with adsense?
Monetisation
- Equipment
- A plethora of fishing books
- Magazine subscriptions
- Hotels & accommodation in fishing areas
- May be some scope for a suppliers directory with paid advertising? If the site was structured by region advertising could be structured and sold same.
The next step is to then match up affiliate programmes with your chosen area. You’ll have to evaluate the sites and programmes that are out there. Do you think they’d convert your traffic well? What are the network stats like on the merchant? It might also be an idea to contact the merchant and ask them what their average baskets and conversion rates are for reasonably relevant traffic. Armed with that info you should be able to make a relatively educated decision.
I don’t think the above ideas are exhaustive as I obviously don’t have the same subject knowledge as you do, but I’m sure you get the idea! The next step is to decide which has the best prospect for monetisation versus the expenditure of your time. There are two ways to think about this. The Chili example would probably be relatively quick and easy to set up to one extent or another and would probably be a good way for you to “cut your affiliate teeth”. There’s always a danger in taking on a huge project straight out of the affiliate traps!
On the other hand, I think a fishing guide has the prospect of being very interesting and perhaps the relationship between your content and a product sale. My feeling is that this kind of traffic would convert better than food related traffic. What I’ve mentioned above is a huge undertaking! However, there would be nothing to stop you from buying a general UK domain and starting it as a guide to perhaps one popular fishing area. As you progressed you could simply widen the scope and target of the site. I’d recommend this step by step approach as it would help you get a site out quicker without your product looking half finished.
Phew! So there you go folks, a handy dandy guide to niche brainstorming. 
