There are many reasons why you would want to find yourself in a niche with Affiliate Marketing:
- Less competition
- Unique products
- Defined audiences
These are all great benefits but there are times when you may be tempted to take your niching too far. Doing so has you backing yourself into a corner. You’re now susceptible to the niche blogging dangers.
It’s natural that you would want to carve a slice of your own in the marketplace.
But… there are issues.
The Problems of Sub-Niches and the Niche Blogging Dangers Bound to Happen
Sometimes you find a valuable keyword with little to no competition.
You’re excited at the prospect.
You rush to your preferred domain registrar and grab up a name (usually keyword-rich). You start browsing website themes and jot down content ideas. There’s so much to do!
You go headfirst into the website development and spend hours and hours crafting this niche website. Months pass and you see some action but you’re beginning to run out of steam. You’ve hit the niche blogging dangers point where it’s either abandon the project or figure out some way you can rehash topics you’ve already covered.
Usually… the site dies.
Here’s why…
Niche Blogging Dangers #1: Limited Selection
Trying to tackle a major market is going to be quite difficult for the average affiliate marketer. There are billion dollar companies controlling the majority share. You aren’t going to compete with Wal-Mart. But, you can a category of product to promote.
When you go deeper into that category, by niching down, you begin to find fewer options.
The items may become very unique but they may also be unknown to the average consumer. This uncertainty will make it difficult to sell. Likewise, the limited selection means you may not have complementary products to promote alongside to increase conversions.
Niche Blogging Dangers #2: Volatile Marketplace
The big markets will continue to be there because there is massive demand for the products and services.
When you niche too far you will find swing markets that are dictated by trends.
What may end up happening is that you work to the bone carving out your section of the niche based on a relatively unknown or flash-in-the-pan focus and lose it all because the market makes a shift.
The hyper-niche marketplaces are very volatile.
It means you either need to get in and out fast or completely avoid them if you’re not ready to keep up with the market demand and change.
Niche Blogging Dangers #3: Cut Throat Competition
When you are competing in an industry at a middle level you are bound to find others that are willing to help and network with you to aid both businesses.
Networking is one of the most important elements of staying viable in a marketplace. You can pass referrals, provide feedback to improve the project, and associate/build a brand with the influencers.
Going too far into a niche may put you in a position where there are only a few competitors.
This lack of competition is a good thing but you can bet they will be ruthless — you may not find that networking advantage because they are protecting their interests. Combine this with the other two and you’ll have certainly not only cornered yourself but now you’re there alone.
Niche Blogging Dangers #4: Dead-Ends
Affiliate Marketing is about bringing a product to an interested party — you do this through many different marketing and advertising initiatives.
In a healthy niche, you won’t have trouble coming up with ideas for content, finding creative/copy for advertising, reaching out on social, and running out of strategies for the marketing channels.
A tiny niche could lead to a dead-end due to: lack of information, demand, and personal interest.
You could find yourself stumped as to what you need to grow. There is only so much you can do with a limited selection of products and services. By keeping in the middle you will always have something new to explore.
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All of this is not to say you shouldn’t attempt to create a well-refined attempt at creating a niche.
But… do consider the issues.
A healthy middle ground is often your best bet with Affiliate Marketing because it keeps the options open.
Don’t find yourself backed into a corner.
