What Are The Most Profitable Niches For Affiliate Marketing?
Here’s our shortlist of niches that you stand the best chance of making a lot of money in:
- Hobby Niches – Photography, Travel, Sports betting, Event Tickets, Casino
- Money Niches – Debt Settlement, Bitcoin, Investing, Credit card, Mortgage
- Health and Fitness Niches – Weight Loss, Fitness, Yoga, Organic, Nutrition, Vegan
- Lifestyle Niches – Luxury, Cruises, Travel, Online dating, Airlines, Fashion, Jewelry
- Home & Family Niches – Home security, Coffee, Baby products, Dogs, Gardening
- Tech Niches– Web hosting, WordPress, VPN, SaaS, Gaming, Software
- Alternative Niches – CBD, Marijuana, Essential oils, Herbal, Personal development
Now that we’ve given you the TLDR version, let’s take a look at the complete list of the best – in our humble opinions – niches for affiliate marketing.
Figuring out which niche to build a site around is a lot of work.
In fact, it’s the point where most new affiliates quit – yes before they even publish their first post.
At times it feels like you’d have more luck searching for a unicorn.
But what if I told you that these unicorn niches for affiliate marketing do exist?
And that we’re going to share them with you, plus at least 6 profitable affiliate programs for each niche.
Programs that are statistically proven to be moneymakers.
Get ready to take lots of notes because I’m about to give you a lot of tips, guides.
List Of 15 Best Niches For Affiliate Marketing
1. Golf
This probably doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s been in the affiliate marketing game for more than a few months, but golf is one of these very lucrative markets (you will find that most markets that have to do with luxury tend to be profitable affiliate niches).
In fact, the global golf industry is worth an estimated $12.55 billion per year.
Every year.
The average golfer spends approximately £214 (US$275) per month or £2,568 (US$3,305) per year on their hobby.
While it might seem like an elitist pastime, it’s played by people from all walks of life.
And they all share one very common trait – they’re happy to spend whatever they can afford to improve their game.
Yes, golf can be a competitive niche but I was still able to find 149,000 phrases in Ahrefs with a KD score of no more than 20 which makes it one of the best niches for affiliate marketing in 2021.
It’s also fairly easy to gain traction by creating free tips & training content.
The demand for technical knowledge is here and most sites don’t do a great job at it.
2. Home Security
I never took home security all that seriously until quite recently.
But that changed when my house was broken into a little over two years ago.
Having your home broken into is a really icky experience, by the way.
Home security became an instant priority for me because my girlfriend was afraid to go asleep at night.
I invested in new internal and external locks, window security latches, Wi-Fi cameras, exterior motion sensor lights, and a monitored home alarm system with multiple internal sensors.
In short, I dropped the best part of a grand to make sure she felt secure again.
And that’s one of the things that makes great niches for affiliate marketing: the feeling of urgency.
1.24 million homes are broken into each year in the United States, so that’s a laser-focused audience that needs your help.
3. Online Dating
It’s kind of funny looking at how far the online dating industry has come in the last two decades.
It’s one niche for affiliate marketing that’s there since the beginning.
Once upon a time, anyone who used it to find a partner was seen as being a bit…well…weird.
Times have changed though, and online dating isn’t just acceptable – it’s cool!
So how much is the dating industry actually worth?
The most recent estimate says US$2 billion per year and growth of 6% per year predicted for the foreseeable future.
The same data also shows that at least 24% of people use online dating sites, or have used them in the past.
The reason why this industry has become so profitable is that, no matter what people might believe, humans are social animals.
We yearn to be part of a tribe, and then in time to start a tribe of our own.
Helping single men and women to achieve that primal life goal can one of the most lucrative affiliate niches.
Once you know the best programs to promote.
4. Travel
It’s a big old world out there, and the overabundance of cheap flights means you can visit even the most distant shores without winning the lottery.
Okay, you might have to travel economy class and give up the luxury of business class, but that’s a small price to pay.
People are traveling now more than they ever have before in human history.
This is bad news for governments living in fear of pandemics.
But it’s very good news for the travel industry, which is estimated to have US$7 trillion (yes, with a “t”) pass through its hands each year.
That means it’s one of the largest affiliate niches in existence, and there are plenty of lucrative programs out there to help you do that.
Travel covers a wide range of potential niches and sub-niches, from the usual hotels and flights to city tours, luggage, insurance, and even clothing.
So you don’t need to take the same bull-headed approach as most affiliates i.e. trying to sling cheap flights and hotels.
5. Gaming
Trivia fact: I built my first PC just so I could play X-Wing on it…in MS-DOS. No, you’re old!
Gaming has always been part of my life, so it’s been cool to see it evolve with each passing decade.
The gaming audience has expanded now to include not only consoles but mobile devices too.
And mobile is big in the affiliate business.
Roughly 200 million people in North America alone play video games, but that’s a drop in the ocean compared to the estimated 2.5 billion gamers worldwide.
Gaming is a similar niche to golf in that the average gamer is happy to drop several hundred dollars on a new GPU or gaming chair.
And to repeat that process every year.
There’s almost a luxury segment with infinite demand in that market.
The gaming niche – generally speaking – is one of the more competitive affiliate marketing niches.
But I was still able to find 25,919 keywords with a KD score of no more than 20.
Plus there are multiple gaming niches to work with and an ever-growing demand in this category.
6. Home Decor
Home décor is one of those evergreen niches worth a serious look.
Why?
Well, because people are either decorating their home to sell it or are renovating a house or apartment they’ve just bought.
People spend an average of between $500 and $5,000 on decorating or renovating each room in their home.
What about recessions?
It’s the same deal, but to a lesser extent – walls need to be painted, sofas need to be replaced, etc.
But homeowners will want to do it as cheaply as possible during a recession, which is a sub-niche in and of itself (but I do like the luxury segment too).
This affiliate niche also has offers that pay between $100 and $200 per sale depending on the product category.
Yes, really.
7. Financial
Yes, we’re actually listing the finance niche as being profitable, because it inherently is.
We’ve also included it here because most new affiliate marketers steer clear of it because they assume it’s a saturated niche.
It is competitive, but it’s also far easier than trying to make money from adult content, for example.
You can see several examples of affiliates making serious money in this niche in our article on successful affiliate marketing websites.
They’re proof that you really only need a unique angle and to be prepared to work hard.
Long story short, people are taking on as much debt as they ever have, so there’s a huge market for the products and services we’ve identified for you.
So if you can make it work, it’s one of the best niches for affiliate marketing, but you should be a veteran if you are considering this category.
8. Cruises
Growing up, I used to think that only really rich people went on cruises.
And maybe that was true once upon a time, but it’s not anymore.
Here’s a statistic to chew on – somewhere in the region of 26 million people go on a cruise each year. Those same people will spend in the region of $3,600 per head on their vacation on the high seas.
Which all adds up to an industry worth around US$125 billion per year.
People from all walks of life take cruises, and there are cruises that cater to everything from singles to rock music fans.
One tip is to find a sub-niche within this one and/or to focus on the thousands of informational keywords that have very low KD scores.
This can be a very lucrative niche with the right approach.
9. Fitness
This is another of those evergreen niches that you can be 99% sure will be around 50 years from now.
That’s because the fitness industry has been active for about 4,000 years, give or take.
Most ancient empires insisted that young men undergo physical training, usually for combat, but you also have to factor in the first ancient Olympic Games from around 2,700 years ago.
Anyways, the point we’re making here is that getting and staying fit has always been part of living a healthy life.
It’s also why the fitness industry as a whole is worth in the region of US$3.7 trillion per year.
The really good news is that you can make a lot of money with an online business by traveling the road less followed in this affiliate niche.
You’ll see what we mean when you check out the programs we found for you.
10. Music
Millions of potential new musicians are born each year, and by the time they’re 6 years old 28% of them will be studying a musical instrument.
That rises to over 40% among 14-year olds.
And that’s without taking into account the growing number of people who take up a musical instrument much later in life.
What we’re driving at here is that lots and lots of people either play musical instruments or want to.
All you need to do is position offers in front of them that they’d be happy to pay for.
But that’s the problem with the music niche – actually profitable programs can be hard to find.
So that’s what we did, and some of these programs offer up to $35 per sale.
I also like this niche because it’s one of those affiliate marketing niches that’s evergreen and you can create small sites that will make money for years, giving you that true passive income feel you might be looking for in internet marketing.
There is a lot of small niche sites ideas to brainstorm in this broad niche.
11. Weight Loss
Helping people with their weight loss can be one of the best ways to make money online.
Especially considering that a frightening percentage of children and adults are now classified as morbidly obese.
In short, people know deep down that being overweight isn’t healthy.
And that’s also why so many people are looking for ways to shed those pounds with an easy to follow diet.
But bear in mind that most people in these niches are now skeptical of diets and drinks that promise magical weight loss figures.
Instead, they’re looking for a program to lose weight and keep it off.
This means you could combine the research from this niche with the data from the fitness niche above.
Either way, consumers spend US$60 billion each year in this category in an effort to lose weight.
12. Real Estate
There’s a finite amount of habitable land on this planet of ours.
A limited resource has a higher market value, or in other words, real estate will never devalue to zero.
Yes, recessions and depressions can come along and devalue it.
But – almost without exception – real estate prices recover to at least their pre-recession values.
Somewhere in the region of 5 million homes change hands each year in a market that has an overall value of almost US$30 trillion.
So there is always demand.
The money to be made here is within sub-niches, like the FSBO craze of a decade ago or the luxury segment or any other niche markets for that matter.
Basically, there’s little point in you trying to compete with Zillow or Trulia in their own category.
But you can focus on the thousands of informational queries (how to, what is, etc) with surprisingly low KD scores for such competitive markets.
We’ve compiled a list of offers so you can find the best affiliate program for your needs in this market:
13. Debt Settlement
A large number of people are carrying a lot of debt they couldn’t discharge or write down.
For example, there is US$829 billion of credit card debt in the United States right now.
Most people hate the idea of being in debt, so they are constantly looking for solutions to that problem.
And where you find problem/solution scenarios, I can guarantee you’ll find the opportunity to make money online in several sub-niche markets of the debt settlement.
In this case, it’s via debt consolidation, credit score, and social finance offers.
And there are affiliate programs with payouts of $50, $100 and $150 per lead in this niche.
14. Sports
Ah, sports fans – people who are willing to part with unhealthy amounts of money to enjoy their hobby.
Sometimes that’s just as a spectator and not a participant.
There’s nothing wrong with that either, especially not from an affiliate’s perspective.
But we know that you know it’s going to be difficult to make serious cash selling jockstraps and shoelaces.
That’s why we dug up some really cool sports affiliate programs for you including all the usual stuff like clothing and training equipment for different sports niche markets.
And some very cool sports memorabilia, services, and hydration affiliate programs too.
All of which can lead to some healthy profits for your business as an affiliate marketer.
15. Yoga
It wasn’t too long ago that anyone who wanted to study real yoga would have to pack their bags and travel to an ashram in India.
These days, the demand is so high that you can find multiple yoga schools in any given city or large town.
Yoga is now more popular than ever because people are desperately looking for a way to decompress and find a little shred of inner peace or do some exercise to complement your diet.
Your job is to connect them with products and services that enhance their yoga experience.
The programs we found are a pretty cool mixture, including subscription box service, yoga mats, and training programs.
