Is Niche Affiliate Marketing Right For You?

Some affiliate marketing pros will tell you to steer clear of untapped niches - they're too risky, they say! You won't know if they're profitable going in. Others will tell you to only look for untapped niches - steer clear of competition, they claim.

Who's right in this niche marketplace war?

Neither of them. Forget about which niche is untapped and which one is saturated. Your marketing is your business, and there are many affiliates online making a killing by entering both types of niche markets - those that are swamped with competition and those left virtually unscathed.

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The place where the competition will affect you the most is with Google AdWords, but even there, their algorithm prevents the highest bidder from obtaining the top spot every time thanks to their carefully devised quality score. (Don't worry if you don't know what 'algorithm' means - in this case it just means that Google has it set up so that it's really hard to game the system, and everyone's supposed to have a fair shot at getting a top ranking.

You might have competition in other areas - article directories, for instance. But you can always one-up the competition there by developing articles at a higher volume and quality than the other affiliate marketers in your niche.

With most information online, consumers are seeking a variety of solutions and choices. You might pick the acne niche to market to (a very competitive niche), but if you're promoting all-natural cures while others are touting laser therapies or medicinal solutions, you'll leave the competition behind.

The only market you definitely want to avoid (unless it's for the sheer hobby value) is one that won't provide a clear return on your investment of both time and money. For example, if you pour your heart and soul into sites and lenses for freebie-seekers, it'll be hard to recoup your hourly rate and you'll likely leave the affiliate marketing arena frustrated and penniless, simply because folks who come looking for free stuff aren't like to buy your stuff. Simple logic, but a lot of people don't think it through.

To be successful in your career as an affiliate marketer, there are several must-have tools or concepts that you'll need to know about.

1.) Keyword research - Using a free keyword research tool will give you a way to optimize everything you do online as a niche affiliate marketer. From creating high-ranking articles for directories to setting up traffic-generating social networking pages, keyword tools are vital to your online profitability.

2.) Squeeze pages & free offers - A squeeze page and a free offer have now become a vital component in your affiliate marketing strategy. Many newbie affiliate marketers fail to realize the importance of capturing contact information before sending the user on to the product owner's site, but those who do are succeeding above and beyond industry standards.

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You can devise a squeeze page theme-based template and promise a 5-part email series (or longer) for your subscribers. Or, you can write up a simple, 5-page broad report about your niche's problems, showing you empathize with them, and get opt-ins that way.

3.) An Autoresponder series - After your visitor bites on the bait of your free offer, they'll be added to your autoresponder subscriber list. Using a tool like Aweber, you can begin marketing to these interested prospects again and again, always making sure to offer them something valuable in return for the right to communicate with them.

Complementary backend offers - Backend offers (sometimes known as "upsells") are the backbone of almost every business in the world. You don't just order a burger - you order fries and a Coke, too. You don't just get a car, you order a warranty along with it. With online digital sales, you want your backend to include topics that complement the original product offer perfectly.

For example, with niche affiliate marketing, you want more than one selling opportunity. A definitive guide to marketing that included everything your customer ever wanted to know would defeat the purpose of helping you build repeat profits using the same loyal customer. It wouldn't be worth promoting unless it had an enormous price point.

Instead, let's say you started promoting an affiliate marketing guide - a basic, "How-to" eBook. Inside the eBook, there might be a short section or chapter about web 2.0. A good backend product idea might be a list of specific web 2.0 strategy guides, such as one for Squidoo, another for MySpace, one on Twitter, and so on.

There are many concepts and tools that can further your affiliate marketing profits, and over time, you'll develop a preference for certain ones that suit your personal marketing style.