Best Niches (Per http://experienceadvertising.com/)

From Experience Advertising, Feb 24, 2011

So when you are looking at affiliate programs to promote there are several very common affiliate niches that have been good performers over the years. These include:

•   Gift
•   Dating offers
•   Surveys offers
•   Consumer electronics
•   Jewelry
•   Insurance lead offers
•   Financial lead offers
•   Parenting/babies offers
•   Sports-related
•   Health-related
•   Car/auto affiliate
•   Flower affiliate
•   Costume

These are but a few niches that have historically done well for affiliates, but all types of
ecommerce sites have affiliate programs matching virtually any niche of website. More recently there has been an absolute explosion in affiliate programs and affiliate networks coming online. Affiliates have so many choices it’s really hard to figure out where to start.   I usually suggest to brand-new affiliates that they join Commission Junction, Linkshare, Shareasale, Buy.at, and Google Network, then start applying to programs in your niche.  Apply to hundreds of them and see who approves you.  Some merchants maybe pickier than others about letting you into the program, but you can usually contact the affiliate manager to get them to let you into the program. But don’t let a few declined applications slow you down.

Once you have found an affiliate program you think you can do well with, you should contact the affiliate manager to obtain whatever intelligence you can from them about angles you should be trying and what has worked for affiliates historically. Be prepared to not get too far with some programs, as they might not have very advanced affiliate management and therefore can’t tell you the most effective ways to promote the program. Some can give you keyword files, unique content,  and coupon codes to increase conversions and help you build pages faster. You will find out fairly quickly after joining some affiliate programs, who has the support and who doesn’t. Don’t reply on the support of affiliate managers, just make it happen yourself, all you really need are their banners and links to get them integrated into your website. Join the website newsletters of the companies you are promoting and that will give you news and information to promote on your website. Also, setting up Google Alerts is a great way to stay on top of a niche or industry so you always have posting ideas.

Another strategy is building out niche websites focused on different products or services. Some affiliates will build large coupon or discount portals to capitalize on all the searching going on for coupon codes for various merchants. Building a niche site should focus around content and plenty of it. You can use WordPress to power your content management system and add functional plug-ins to the site. Tying social networking into your websites and your promotional strategy is a must.

Other related articles from http://experienceadvertising.com

• Top Affiliate Programs – What are the Top Associate Programs?
• What Are Some of The Top Performing Affiliate Programs?
• Pinatas.com Launches with Experience Advertising for Affiliate Management in CJ
• Best Affiliate Programs To Join – Revenue Sharing Programs
• 5 Affiliate Niches to Focus on in March and April