And more particularly I am going to talk about profitable niches for a newbie or semi-advanced marketer. So if you are not a “guru” marketer that makes millions in the most profitable markets in the world, then this blog post is for you..

Ok. So if you want to make money online you can become an affiliate and make affiliate commissions or sell your own product. If so then you have to find profitable niche markets that you can market to. Targeting in the wrong niche will not make you money!

But WHAT exactly is a profitable niche?!

Is it only a niche with lots of interested people?
Is it only a niche with lots of buyers?
Is it only just an untapped niche that none other marketers are selling at?

Well to my eyes from all the years I’ve been marketing online I discovered that a profitable niche is where..

1. A group of people that has a common PROBLEM.
2. There is a SOLUTION to their problem.
3. People are SPENDING MONEY to get their problems solved.
4. You can REACH all these people.
5. People BUY your solution (the one you recommended or the one you created).

I will explain everything below.

So let me ask you a question. Do you know WHY people buy stuff? To solve a problem. This can be a BIG or a small problem. People are paying for something (product or service) because it’s going to solve a problem. That’s why you are opening your wallet every day to buy food, furniture, software, property, car insurance, stocks and even INFORMATION (eg. internet marketing products). To get your problems solved.

Now the niches that have the biggest and most serious problems (eg. health problems, money problems, family problems) have the most buyers. Why? Simply because in those niches, people are DESPERATE to get their problems solved (in most cases anyway). This is where people are spending money for a solution.

So this is where we as internet marketers/affiliates come in. To offer a solution either by selling our product or by simply selling someone else’s product as an affiliate.

Now the next part (which I believe this is where most marketers/affiliates fail) is to reach all these people (that have a problem and have the money) and convert them into buyers. One reason is competition. This is where most of you (and even me) most of the times fail and we then simply chose an easier niche to target which in reality it’s NOT profitable!

But Andreas isn’t competition bad?! Because I will have to spend money or time? Actually competition is good because it shows you that there is money spending in that niche. You definitely DONT want to lose your time and money in a wrong niche.

Of course that’s a VERY large subject and can’t be covered completely in a single blog post or even in a 100 pages ebook. Hundreds and hundreds of traffic products (information that gives a specific solution) are available in the market today. So I just wanted to mention that there are only two types of traffic. Paid and Free. Which one is the best? Of course it depends from the source of the traffic (Facebook, Google Adwords, Search engines, banners advertising etc). But in order to be a profitable for you (hence a profitable niche for you) it depends on how much “investment” it requires you to have.  How much does it cost (money and time) you marketing in that niche?

If your expenses (I will call it an investment) are lower than your earnings then the niche is profitable for you!

Of course in order to make a profit you have to convert the traffic (the desperate people with problems and spend money to solve them). Give them value! A good solution and even more value (by giving a bonus) and that niche will be profitable for you!

It can be a tiny sub-niche and you earning might be just $50 per month. It doesn’t matter! All that really matters is if you can make a profit from that specific sub-niche.

So basically a profitable niche is all above EVEN if there are not millions of buyers. The secret is finding lots of profitable sub-niches and then leverage on those profitable niches with some smart marketing.

More on this in a later blog post.

If you want me to write a blog post on how to leverage your profits simply let me know!  Remember I am here to help you. If you have a question leave a comment below before you leave my blog!

If you are shy (I was too so I know how you feel) or don’t want others to see your question you can contact me privately.

To Your Profitable Success!

Andreas

Sometimes there are more than 500 or even 1,000 affiliate marketers promoting a product on the same time! This usually happens when there is a product launch. How do you compete with all these marketers?

You give bonuses!

This is another mistake that many affiliate marketers make. Not offering a bonus!

You have to give something that is valuable to the buyers that buy through your affiliate link. That way you will increase the affiliate product or affiliate service value and turn more visitors into a buyer.

So what can you offer? What can you give a bonus to someone that buys through your affiliate link?

A bonus can be something related to the affiliate product. It can be something that will add more value to the current affiliate product. Just think as you were the buyer.

For example if you are selling an ebook about “Dog Health” you can give a “Dog Healthy Recipes” ebook as a bonus. The easiest way to create your own ebook is by purchasing a MRR ebook (Master Resell Rights) or a PLR (Private Resell Rights) ebook. It is not the greatest bonus because other affiliate marketers might give the same ebooks as a bonus but it’s the easiest to create.

Not only ebooks can be given as a bonus. You can create and offer an audio bonus. For example if you are selling a “Dog Training” ebook you can interview the owner of the dog training ebook giving away some extra tips. You can also do an interview with a dog trainer in your town or anywhere in the world through Skype.

Videos are very hot nowadays. So another bonus that you can offer is a video.

For example if you are promoting a “How To Build A Fireplace” ebook you can give a video away. You can create a video that shows how YOU build your own fireplace by using the techniques and steps that are in the affiliate ebook you are promoting. People will love this since they can see EXACTLY how to build their own fireplace. This will not only give an extra value to the product. It will prove to your potential customers that you’ve actually used the product you are promoting. This will definitely increase your conversion ratio.

These are just some examples but there are hundreds of bonuses that you can offer. Of course although I’ve used digital information products in the above examples, you can give a bonus for physical products too. If for example you are promoting a “Laminate Flooring” product, you can give a “How To Clean Laminate Flooring” ebook or a video or something that is related as a bonus.

But remember! The most important thing is to give as more value as you can to the existing affiliate product. Just ask yourself “what else is valuable for my customer and how can I help him the most?” Make sure that the bonus you are offering is related to the affiliate product and will help the buyer.

Well yes a bonus could take some more time and perhaps more money to create it, but it helps a lot. It helps both your buyer and your conversion rate so it definitely worth’s your time and money.

Ok thanks for reading.

As always I would LOVE to read your comments!

Take care,

Andreas

The biggest mistake is..

Not Building A Subscribers List By Capturing Email Address

What most newbie affiliate marketers do is sending traffic directly to the affiliate product. If you are doing this then you might loosing money even when the half of the visitors you send buy through your affiliate link! You will never leverage your affiliate commissions by sending them directly to the merchant.

Let me explain. When you want to drive visitors to an affiliate product you are going to use different traffic and marketing methods. These could be pay per click search engine advertising, banner advertising, search engine optimization, link exchange, article marketing, forum marketing, social marketing or web 2,0 traffic from websites like YouTube, Squidoo, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Delicious etc.

What you will do is struggle to get new visitors every time you want to promote a new affiliate product. If you promote 5 different products you have to do all this work 5 times. If you promote 10 products then you will have to go through these 10 times. Have you ever wondered how much time, energy and money you will have to spend to promote 50 or even 100 different affiliate products or services?

Yes that’s right. 100 more times!

You will never going to leverage your affiliate commissions! Never, unless you hire a large team of people just to promote all these products each using a traffic method.

By driving traffic at your own websites and build your email list, the next time you want to promote something you will not have to go through all these traffic methods from the beginning. You are only going to use one.

Email marketing traffic.

Suppose that you drive traffic of about 1,000 visitors to an affiliate product. Most of all these visitors have never heard of you or about the product. They are not sure if they can trust you, the merchant or the affiliate product.

You are making only one attempt per visitor to achieve a sale. They either buy or not. Well 99% of all those visitors will not buy right away, if they buy at all.

Once you have your own email list of subscribers all you have to do is write and send a simple email message promoting an affiliate product.

People rarely buy from their first visit. They are not sure if that product is going to help them. Most of them want to see multiple solutions so that they can compare the different affiliate products.

So if you don’t collect email addresses, your marketing effort is a one-shot wonder. People like buying from people they know, like and trust. If you’re not giving people a chance to get to know and trust you, don’t be surprised if they don’t buy.

“So what exactly do I need to do Andreas?”

What you need to do is build a list of contacts from people that want to solve a specific problem. You have to use an autoresponder company such as Aweber, GetResponse, Prosender etc. By having them on your subscribers list you will be able to offer them different solutions and when they buy you make a commission.

That is the important thing here. You are providing a valuable service by saving people the time and money of research. You are helping them by giving them the shortcut to the best possible products so they don’t have to waste their hard-earned money on rubbish products.

So how do I start building that lists?
There are hundreds of products that can show you how to build that list and hundreds of different list building methods. If you are a newbie affiliate marketer here is a video course that will show all the steps on how to build an email list properly, step-by-step.

Ok please dont make the same mistake that let me struggle for YEARS online. If you dont have a list get one today!

Thanks for reading. I would love to  read your comments and hearing from you!

Andreas

PS. You can find more affiliate marketing mistakes here:

1. Affiliate Marketing Mistake #1
2. Affiliate Marketing Mistake #2
3. Affiliate Marketing Mistake #3
4. Affiliate Marketing Mistake #4
5. Affiliate Marketing Mistake #5

You Are Promoting The PROGRAM Instead Of The PRODUCT

Many affiliate companies offer a two-tier affiliate programs. In a two-tier affiliate program, affiliates earn commissions on their conversions as well as conversions of webmasters they refer to the program. The first tier of commission is the same as in a regular affiliate program. The only difference is the additional tier(s), whereby marketers also earn a commission on sales generated by people they referred to the program. Sometimes compensation will be written in shorthand as tier1/tier2 (ex. 10%/5%)

Well yea, you can make money by using this technique however I will highly recommend you NOT to use this.

A reason it’s because it is harder since you have to market the “affiliate niche” and find thousands of sub-affiliates to sign up.

However the main reason is because none will actually promote the product and just consecrate signing up more affiliates. If you get some people sign up from your affiliate link most of them will just copy you and try to sign up more affiliates.

Who’s going to actually SELL something and earn commissions?

Exactly!

It’s like the worst aspects of MLM (multi-level) marketing. Almost all affiliate marketers will wait for the other affiliate marketers to make sales so that they can make money.

The affiliate marketing niche (NOT affiliate marketing) is a very tough market. The competition is a very high. After making a quick search on Google you will see that there are millions of pages on affiliate marketing. Just think on how much time and effort you have to give so that you can compete with all these people.

What you should do is learn affiliate marketing and promote products to people that are looking for solutions on specific problems. Find affiliate products that have an incredibly good value and that will help people. Don’t even care if they offer a second tier program.

This is a mistake that many newbies make. I was making this mistake too a couple of years ago. All I was doing was promoting the two-tier affiliate program and dreaming about the BIG and EASY $! Well by now you know that you should avoid this.

So always remember. Promote the PRODUCT! NOT the service.

Thanks for reading. I would love to  read your comments and hearing from you!

Andreas

You Are Selling Instead Of Helping.

Let me ask you a question. Why do you promote different affiliate products?

What is your main reason that you are advertising affiliate products and services?

“To make money of course!”

Well not exactly…

If this is the only reason that you promote affiliate products then you will not succeed with affiliate marketing. You will FAIL!

The main purpose of promoting an affiliate product or service is to help people.

Yes to help people. If you help people solve a specific problem then you will become a successful affiliate marketer. An affiliate marketer that his main purpose is to help people instead of making the most money is the one that will make the most money with affiliate marketing in the end.

There are affiliate marketers that do not care about their visitors or subscribers.

Many newbies all they do is selling, selling and selling without giving any real help. Their only reason of promoting a product is to make money. If you are doing this then you will not become successful (at least in the long term).

You might make a few thousand affiliate sales now but what about next month or next year? Will people trust again your recommendations? Will they listen to you?

Most of them will not. You have to help your visitors and buyers so that you can build trust and credibility. Help people learn how they can solve a specific problem. Give them some tips and other free information.

For example if your niche is “golf swing” you can help the golfers by giving them a free ebook about golf swing. Give them some tips on how to better their golf swing on your blog or website.

Is your website or newsletter just selling, or is it helping people learn something? If so you have to immediately fix it.

Remember to help people before selling an affiliate product or service.

Thanks for reading. As always you can leave your comments.

Andreas

Not Using The Product Or The Service You Are Promoting.

The most important reason of doing affiliate marketing (other than making you money) is helping people to find the correct solution on their problem.

For you to achieve this purpose, you must be able to relay to the customers that certain product and service. It is therefore difficult for you to do this when you yourself have not tried the product or service yourself.

Try the product or service personally first before you sign up as an affiliate to see if it is really delivering what it promises. If you have done so, then you are one of the credible and living testaments aware of its advantages and disadvantages. Your customers will then feel the sincerity and truthfulness in you and this will trigger them to try them out for themselves.

“But this will cost me money, Andreas!”

I am not saying to buy all the products that you recommend. This will cost you hence a lot of money! I understand that this will be very hard if you are a newbie. However it is one of the most important things that every successful affiliate marketer has to do. So what can you do?

Contact the vendor and inform him that you are going to promote their product. Ask him if you can have a look on their product so that you can make a review. Some vendors will not allow you. However if the vendor understands the power of affiliate marketing he will give you a sample of their ebooks or a trial version of their service. Some will even give you 100% access on the product or service!

On the other hand if he refuses but you believe that it is a great product I would advice you to buy the product and use it your self. Remember that people are looking for honest reviews of a product or a service from other persons that have used the affiliate product.

Take care!

Andreas

Joining Too Many Affiliate Programs

If you want to make a lot of money with affiliate marketing then you have to promote multiple affiliate products. However one of the biggest mistakes that newbies do is joining multiple affiliate programs!

Huh? I know that this sounds strange, but let me explain.

Having multiple sources of income is a great way to make a lot of money. All super affiliates that are making thousands of dollars every month are promoting many different products by using different methods and strategies. They are joining and promoting hundreds of different affiliate products and get different affiliate cheques every month.

However if you just started affiliate marketing or made a few affiliate commissions online I would advice you not to join several affiliate programs.

Joining and attempting to promote them all at the same time will prevent you from concentrating on each one of them. What most newbies do is start promoting a product and before making a sale they start promoting a second product, a third, a forth and so on. They spend months and months trying to promote all that great affiliate products they have found. They dream of all the huge commissions they will earn. But after a couple of months they haven’t earn any money.

Does this sound familiar?

The maximum potential of your affiliate program is not realized and the income generated will not exactly be as huge as you were thinking initially it would.

The best way to get excellent result is by joining just one program. Then give it your best effort by promoting your products enthusiastically. As soon as you see that it is making a profit, it is time to join another affiliate program.
The correct method is to do it slowly but surely. There is really no need to rush with affiliate marketing. With the way things are going, the future is looking real bright.

Choosing The Wrong Affiliate Product/Service.

Affiliates promote a product just because it is “hot”. They choose the product that is in demand without actually considering if the product appeals to them. Because some affiliate marketers make money with a certain affiliate product this doesn’t mean that you will also make money with it.

You could promote a product that gives you the best commission. However this will not guarantee you that you will make the most sales.

Instead try to choose a really good product in which you are truly interested in and appeals to you. For example if you don’t know anything about the “weight loss” niche then do not promote a weight loss product! Select products in a niche that you have some knowledge or even better something that you are passionate about.

Also don’t promote a product just because it gives you a high commission! Trying to presell a product for the sake of the earnings only is on of the biggest mistakes. You want to select a really good product that will help your visitors solve a specific problem.

Always try to think what is the best solution (affiliate product) for my visitors? That way you will make more commissions even if you promote a product that doesn’t gives you the highest commission.

Comments are always welcomed…

Andreas