With billions of people online, there are millions of niches, and they may all seem lucrative at first glance. BUT: you can never be sure unless you do some research. The fact is, not all niches have profit potential.
Plenty of niches are filled with very passionate people who aren’t likely to spend money buying items related to the niche. There are many such niches, and if you invest time and effort trying to sell to those people, your energy will have been wasted.
Here are 3 factors to keep in mind when evaluating a niche for profit potential…
Examine the Niche in Popular Marketplaces
It’s crucial that you spend time looking on sites like Amazon, eBay, Walmart.com, ClickBank, and so on. You want to promote in niches where there’s money being spent, and these sites will give you plenty of evidence (or not).
For example, if you’re evaluating the prepper/survival niche, your research will turn up a great many very popular products on Amazon with sales in the thousands. Bugout kits, tactical flashlights, emergency portable shelters, water purification kits, etc.
That lets you know right away that the niche is profitable and people are already spending money on related products.
But consider another popular niche, such as mixed martial arts. You may find that the products don’t have all that many sales. This is in spite of the fact that the niche has millions of passionate people worldwide. But most probably just enjoy watching matches and are not really interested in purchasing merchandise.
Are There Problems to Solve in the Niche?
If you enter a niche where there is a major problem that people desperately need to be solved, you’ve likely struck gold. Niches such as bed bug control, back pain relief, weight loss, etc. are highly popular, competitive niches.
People want the problem gone, and they’ll pay to make that happen. Someone dealing with a bedgug infestation will gladly buy a $17 book just to figure out how to kill all the bugs and finally sleep in peace.
Research your prospective niche and find out what problems people in the niche are having. If there are several significant problems that need solving, you’ll make money in the niche offering help to those people.
Use Keyword Research Tools
Besides the tips above, sometimes you need to use tools to whether a niche is profitable. Keyword research tools such as Ahrefs or Semrush (on the pricey side) or the Google Keyword Planner will help you to do keyword research and see how many searches the keywords are getting. Generally, more searches = better niche (note—we’re looking at niche viability here, not specific keyword selection for creating content).
Another useful tool is Google Trends. It will help you to see if the niche is seasonal (like Halloween costumes) or evergreen (like vitamin supplements). Some “spikey” niches are only hot trends for a short time, then cool off. Two examples: fidget spinners and Pokemon Go. Once the hype dies down, the niche profitability dies with it.
Choosing an evergreen niche that’s popular all year helps to ensure that your income is stable. Nonetheless, some niches like toys and other Christmas gifts niches can see a ton of sales from October to December, but fall dormant for the rest of the year.
That said, the sales and revenue generated during these three months is so significant that it’s worth getting involved even though the niche only picks up for one quarter a year.
It’s Worth Investigating Before You Dive In
It’s best to do this kind of research before you decide if a niche is worth your time. If there are problems that need solving and/or passionate people in the niche who are already spending money, that niche should be profitable enough for you to get involved.
