In recent years, more and more people have tried to start making money on the Internet. And there’s many reasons as to why. First, a flexible work schedule. Everyone can independently make plans and implement them based on personal capabilities and preferences. And second is the possibility of business scaling, so there basically isn’t an upper cap when it comes to revenue.
Now there are many options for making money on the Internet. But for most people, the most relevant option is creating their own website and generating income from it through affiliate programs. The advantages of such a business are described in detail below, as well as the peculiarities of choosing the theme of your website.
Benefits of having your own website for making money
After creating a website, there are many ways to monetize it. Many people prefer to create content sites on a specific topic, promote them in search engines, and then receive passive income from contextual and other types of advertising. Income depends on the theme of the site, the region and the number of visitors. On average, you can earn about $1 per 1000 ad impressions.
Some webmasters prefer to create thematic resources and use them to sell products from Amazon or Aliexpress for an extra charge. In this case, the income will be higher. It depends on the type of goods. But in this area the competition is pretty stiff, so you’ll need some serious experience to ensure success.
You can create a blog and earn direct advertising from well-known brands. But to do this, you need to spend a lot of time promoting a personal brand in order to gain the trust of the target audience and become an expert in their niche in their eyes.
On the other hand, advertising new, unique offers from affiliate networks is considered the most preferred way to make money. Even young sites can make money on this without major investments. The main thing is to gain your audience’s trust. If people trust you, they will believe that the new online game is indeed very cool, they will register using your link, and you will receive royalties.
Affiliate marketing means launching your own website or landing page and then redirecting visitors to partner websites that sell certain goods or services (offers). For each sale, the site owner who attracted the visitor receives a reward. Accordingly, having created a thematic site, you can make very good money on the commissions that are paid through affiliate programs.
Affiliate programs that work according to the CPA model allow webmasters to receive an average of $80-150 for each attracted client. And in some niches, for example, cryptocurrencies, this figure can reach $800. This means that you don’t necessarily need tonnes of traffic on your website to make decent money. Even if out of 100 visitors only one will perform the necessary action (makes a purchase, subscribes, fills out a form), then you can earn well even if your website is small.
The advantage of working with affiliate programs is the fact that there are offers of various topics. On your website you can advertise health products, gambling offers, loans, books, and more.
Basic rules for choosing a site topic for affiliate marketing
If you decide to start making money off of affiliate marketing, then you need to decide on the topic of the site. Below are the main criteria for choosing a topic.
- Personal interest. Experts recommend creating your sites on topics that you are well versed in. That way you will always have a genuine interest in its activities, as well as the proper level of motivation. If you create a website on a topic that you are not interested in, or you don’t like at all, then it will be incredibly difficult to promote such a project and have it be successful. To form a core of regular visitors, it is very important to gain their trust, for which you need to be an expert in the chosen niche (you will need to create author’s expert content, as well as answer the users’ questions and reply to their comments).
- How popular a particular topic is. You need to understand that the more people are interested in a particular topic, the more opportunities you have for earning cash. For example, if you created a blog dedicated to pregnancis, then you can count on a large number of people visiting it, given proper promotion of the resource, of course. If you, however, create a site that focuses on the maintenance of blast furnaces, then you probably should not count on getting high traffic volumes.
- Other selection criteria:
– relevance of the topic currently and in the future;
– the level of competition;
– scalability (adding related topics or launching an online store).
It is important to consider the commercial component. For example, a website with poems and a car website bring fundamentally different levels of income. This is due to the fact that car dealerships and dealers are willing to pay much more than advertisers in the field of poetry.
How to determine if there is interest in a particular topic
To assess the level of interest of the audience in a specific topic, you are better off using specialized services. They allow you to collect a lot of useful information about any niche, including statistics on the number of user requests.
How to assess the level of competition
To assess the level of competition, we recommend using the services SimilarWeb, SEMrush and Ahrefs. These are professional tools that allow you to get detailed information about any competitor. With their help, you can audit sites, track positions and dynamics of keywords, analyze links.
Signs of a high level of competition in a niche:
- when looking up the topic in search engines “heavy hitters” occupy the top positions;
- almost all of the top 10 websites are not new;
- sites from the first page of search results have a lot of backlinks from authoritative resources;
- many pages in the SERP are optimized for the entered query.
In this case, your site will be a difficult and expensive task. Therefore, it is better to turn your attention to other niches, or choose a narrower focus.
What types of websites are commonly used for affiliate marketing
To earn money from affiliate marketing, webmasters use various types of sites. Below are the best traffic sources for the affiliate marketing.
Websites for comparing services
Users are very attracted to resources where they can see comparisons of offers from different companies all on one page. This allows people to choose the best option for themselves based on their financial capabilities and preferences.
For example, on your financial site, you can publish a page that contains the offers and loan conditions of different banks. Visitors will choose a suitable option, and then follow the links you posted on that page, subsequently leaving loan applications. After the loan is confirmed, you get a reward.
Blogs dedicated to a specific topic
This area has remained relevant for many years. For example, you can create a weight loss blog. Interesting and regular content will help form a core of regular blog readers. Then you can advertise products for weight loss and make money off it.
Showcase – an affiliate online store
A good option is to create a showcase of products that are sold by your partners. All you need to do is get traffic and motivate users to click on the links with the products. You will receive a fixed reward for each sale.
Catalog of discounts or coupons of a specific topic
A lot of people who shop online are interested in discounts and coupons. This is a great chance to earn money through affiliate programs.
Feedback service
Before buying a product, people like to first read reviews about it. Which means you can also make money off of this.
Information and news resources
This is another example of websites that have remained relevant for many years. Information and news constantly attract a large audience. But this type of site is not suitable for everyone, as it has many specific features. For example, specific news content is only relevant for a very short period of time.
Forums
Thematic forums are a nice option because they allow you to gather a large target audience, which will regularly visit the site to chat. At the same time, the costs of maintaining the forum will be minimal. But at the initial stage, it will take a lot of effort and money to promote the project. As a result, it is one of the best free traffic sources for affiliate marketing.
What are the most popular niches for affiliate marketing
There are many different niches in affiliate marketing. Each of them is different in terms of earning potential and level of competition. Below are the most popular niches that you should check out first:
- Nutra. All people sooner or later start caring about their health. That’s why sites on such topics will never lose their relevance. Affiliate networks have a huge number of offers on the topic of beauty and health, so there are good prospects for making money. But first you need to study the specifics of this niche, since search engines put forward increased requirements for medical websites.
- Gadgets. An enormous variety of gadgets are created and produced every year. Technology news, guides, gadget reviews and comparisons attract a large number of visitors. This opens up good prospects for making money. It is very useful to additionally run a YouTube channel, where you can get good traffic from reviews, which you can then redirect to your website or affiliate links.
- Finances. Every single person is interested in some type of financial matters. That’s why websites dedicated to this topic usually have high traffic volumes going through them. We should also mention lucrative offers from advertisers and ample opportunities for earning (organising mailing lists, launching contextual ads, partner programs). The topics of lending, saving and planning a personal budget are especially relevant.
- Hobbies. Any hobby (photography, knitting, modelling, etc.) has a large following. And they need sites where they can find relevant information. In this niche, you can find many topics where the competition level is pretty low. In addition to a website, you should also start an Instagram and Pinterest account. If you get foreign traffic, you can subsequently organise an additional business selling goods on the Etsy website.
- Construction and renovation. Home construction and apartment renovation is one of the most popular and lucrative topics out there. You can make a site with a general theme or focus on narrow topics, for example, plumbing. You can make money by advertising offers for tools, household goods, building materials and accessories.
- Cars. Everything related to cars attracts a lot of traffic. And manufacturers of accessories, service stations and various services are ready to pay a lot for this traffic. The downside is the large number of competitors. But on the other hand, there is a lot of demand for such content which you can satisfy, as well as excellent prospects for scaling.
- Sport and fitness. Nowadays it is very fashionable to do fitness, yoga and eat healthy. That’s why it is such a profitable niche for webmasters who promote weight loss programs and various products. It is very important to become an expert in the eyes of users, and even better to get a diploma or certificate that will confirm your qualification. A social media or Youtube account will be a great addition to your website.
- Gambling. There are a lot of gambling people in our country who want to spend their free time in an online casino or place a bet on their favourite soccer team. And the owners of online gambling establishments are ready to pay high charges to those who will bring new customers. You can publish analytics of sports events, forecasts of upcoming matches, tips and betting strategies, reviews of bookmakers.
Top 10 website ideas for affiliate marketing
Here are some ideas for how to best organize your affiliate marketing business.
Online casino bonus catalog
The gambling industry and enormous loads of money are inseparable. For each attracted client you can get a big reward. The best way to do that would be to publish a page with bonuses offered by online casinos. Bonuses will be an incentive for users to register at the casino and make a deposit. It is better to make a list of bonuses for a specific GEO. To increase the interest and confidence of visitors, you should also create pages filled with casino reviews, tips from experienced players, gambling entertainment news.
Websites about a specific method of losing weight
Nowadays there are many generic weight loss websites. But resources dedicated to a specific weight loss method will be more profitable. Choosing a KETO diet topic isn’t the best option, since the competition here is insanely high. But you can choose from many other popular diets (paleo diet, MIND, low-carb) or create a resource describing specific weight loss programs, workouts, gadgets. It is very important to encourage users to communicate so that they can share their personal experience in the comments. This will contribute to the growth of the website’s traffic volume.
Looking for and comparing of mobile apps of a certain subtype
Currently, the mobile app market is growing rapidly. And people are looking for resources to help them navigate these applications and find the best option. That’s why making a website to compare apps of similar nature or purpose, for example, graphic editors, planners, programs for learning foreign languages, is a great idea. In addition to comparing raw numbers and statistics you need to provide detailed information about each app, including screenshots of the interface, features, advantages and disadvantages.
Very “narrow” showcases
Due to the high level of competition, experts recommend creating sites with a narrow focus. Such projects are easier to promote. Also, their development will require less investment. A blog about coffee would be a good example. On it you can organize a showcase with goods specifically for coffee lovers. The articles that will be published on your blog should all include links to this showcase. But they should appear as recommendations, not ads.
Cryptocurrency catalog
With each year cryptocurrencies are becoming more and more integral to society’s lifestyle. There already are many cryptocurrency exchanges, services and exchange offices. It would be a great idea to create an orderly catalog of cryptocurrencies and all related services. This topic will only become even more relevant in the future. For example, the affiliate program of the EXMO cryptocurrency exchange offers a reward of 25% of the commission for all trading operations performed by referrals. You can also find a lot of great deals on partner networks.
Sports betting predictions for a specific sport/championship
There are many sports betting pages on the internet and social media. In other words, it is rather difficult to try and compete with them. If your goal is to attract an audience and promote your own project, it’s better to focus on a specific sport or championship (for example, badminton or the 2nd league of the French Football Championship). It’s a lot easier to attract users to your website, if the topic is narrow. And you can earn money using specialized offers or referral programs of bookmaker offices. When the site will start getting decent traffic, you can introduce a paid section with forecasts.
Country-specific dating site directory
All people dream of finding their soulmate. This makes dating websites very popular. And the affiliate programs of such sites are a great way to make money. You can create a catalog of dating websites for a particular country, which can bring good revenue. Affiliate programs usually pay per user registration. But some prefer the RevShare option, in which case the webmaster receives a percentage of the profit the offer makes off of the attracted client’s purchases.
Blogs about a specific new online game
There are a lot of computer game lovers in any country of the world. And they are ready to spend money on their hobby. A great way to earn money is to keep track of new online games and create websites or YouTube videos dedicated specifically to them. This will allow, given a competent approach, to get ahead of your competitors at the initial stage and attract a large amount of traffic. Gaming affiliate programs pay from 3 to 20 rubles per referral.And in some offers, the reward for a lead goes as high as 1,000 rubles. Add this to the fact that the online gaming niche has impressive conversion rates, that can sometimes reach 20%.
Fishing for a specific fish or in a specific region
Fishing is another popular topic among Internet users. But the stiff competition will make it difficult to launch a new project here. That’s why, it is better to make a website dedicated to catching a specific fish (for example, carp) or fishing in a specific region. This will provide an opportunity to gather a loyal audience, which you can then use to make money off of with the help of affiliate programs. You can advertise inflatable boats, tents, various equipment and accessories.
Car gadgets
Car enthusiasts are constantly looking for new gadgets and technologies that make driving a more comfortable experience. A website dedicated to car gadgets is very promising in terms of profit. And low competition will allow you to promote your new resource with minimal investments. If you track the appearance of new gadgets in a timely manner, you can create quality content faster than your competitors. And this will provide higher traffic volumes, especially if you collect traffic from different sources, including social networks and Yandex Zen.
