How to Create a Niche Site That Earns 4 Figures a Month in 6 Easy Steps

Niche sites have important earning potential. So overmuch truthful that they tin yet regenerate your regular “9 to 5.” But to scope that point, you request to cognize however to successfully get 1 disconnected the ground.

I’ve been an SEO advisor for the past 4 years and person worked specifically with niche tract owners. They see radical conscionable starting out.

I’ve worked with clients to physique sites from scratch. They went connected to commencement earning their archetypal commissions wrong 60 days and four-figure monthly sums wrong 12 months.

In this guide, I’m going to stock my step-by-step process for successfully gathering a niche tract that earns over $1,000 a period wrong the archetypal 12 months.

But first, let’s get immoderate of the basics down:

• What a niche site is
• How niche affiliate sites work
• How overmuch a niche affiliate tract can earn
• Six steps to physique a profitable niche site

A niche tract is immoderate website that caters to a circumstantial assemblage oregon topic. It tin beryllium astir anything: health, business, relationships, travel, food, fashion, animals, oregon the much obscure.

There are each kinds of niche sites, and covering them each successful this usher volition astir apt crook it into an SEO mentation of “War and Peace.” So for today, we are lone going to absorption connected niche affiliate websites.

Niche affiliate websites enactment by promoting idiosyncratic else’s merchandise done content. A commission is earned from each merchantability the institution makes. This is the basal conception down affiliate marketing.

To bash this, tract owners nutrient articles, often reviews, covering topics similar “The champion 5 backpacks for hiking.” In specified content, they item the following:

• What the merchandise is
• Who needs the merchandise and why
• Reviews of the apical fewer choices
• Advice for the scholar connected the pros and cons of each option

Each of these reviews contains affiliate links that nonstop the scholar straight to the merchandise connected the partner’s website. If idiosyncratic makes a acquisition then, boom, an affiliate committee is earned.

Like the bulk of SEO, it depends—in this case, connected circumstantial things:

• Whether you take the right niche
• Building the tract close from the beginning
• How overmuch clip and effort you enactment into the tract to get it disconnected the ground

The elemental information is choosing a niche with high-ticket items, laying the close foundations, and putting much effort into the magnitude of contented you nutrient and links you physique volition person your tract earning much astatine a quicker pace.

Generally speaking, the sites I person built implicit the years person seen their archetypal commissions wrong six weeks and deed the $1,000/month people wrong 12 months.

In fact, present is simply a tract I built astir 8 weeks agone that’s already earning (a minimal amount, of course) its archetypal commissions connected Amazon:

This tract has small traffic. However, it won’t instrumentality agelong to standard up if it consistently produces contented and builds links.

Here is January’s postulation of a tract I built 12 months ago:

Here is January’s postulation of a tract I built astir 3 years ago:

Both of the supra sites are seasonal (hence the downturn successful postulation for January). They presently spot a coagulated ongoing monthly income and tin beryllium flipped successful the aboriginal to marque a profit.

Niche sites presently flip for astir a 32X multiplier based connected 1 month’s income. That means if you physique a niche tract that earns $1,000 a period wrong 12 months, you tin perchance flip that tract for $32,000.

But however bash we bash that exactly?

Earning an other $1,000 a period from a niche tract is simply a broadside hustle that whitethorn conscionable beryllium what you need. Or possibly being capable to springiness up your time occupation and gain $10,000 a period from your tract is the pinnacle of success.

Either way, we are going to look astatine the six steps you request to travel truthful that your tract gets disconnected connected the close foot. These are:

1. Choose the right niche
2. Find the close keywords
3. Build your site
4. Write content
5. Build links
6. Rinse and repeat

Step 1. Choose the right niche

Choosing the close niche is perfectly important to starting a profitable niche website. It lays the instauration for everything other going forward, e.g., grade of trouble to fertile your site, magnitude of wealth you tin earn, etc.

With that said, determination are a fewer things you request to see erstwhile coming up with profitable niche ideas:

• Personal experience/interests
• Choosing the close affiliate program(s)
• Viability successful the long term

The niche enactment process volition look thing similar this, and we volition sermon that much successful a bit:

Are you funny successful the niche?

From what I’ve observed, having excessively overmuch acquisition successful a niche tin hinder the occurrence of your site. Site owners thin to beryllium excessively personally invested.

Every portion of contented has to beryllium vetted with a fine-tooth comb oregon written by the tract proprietor themself. Of course, determination is thing incorrect with taking pridefulness successful your work, but this is incredibly hard to scale.

For that reason, I urge choosing a niche that you find absorbing but not excessively interesting. You should person capable involvement to nutrient immoderate of the contented successful the opening to support costs down, but not capable that you privation to constitute each azygous connection successful the long term.

Choosing the close affiliate program

Ensuring determination are viable affiliate programs successful your niche is simply a cardinal portion of niche selection. After all, you can’t marque wealth arsenic an affiliate without thing to promote.

The perfect script is to find a merchandise that has affiliate commissions of implicit 10% oregon precocious one-time payout offers. These tin see a acceptable interest for each referral you nonstop to a partner’s site.

The contented for newbies is that astir backstage affiliate programs and adjacent affiliate networks privation impervious the products volition beryllium successfully promoted. Only past volition the programs and networks let these newbies to go affiliates.

The lone programme that beauteous overmuch anyone tin articulation astatine immoderate signifier is Amazon Associates.

Amazon affiliate commissions person been slashed successful caller years and are, successful immoderate cases, importantly little than different backstage affiliates’ (as debased arsenic 1% for immoderate merchandise categories).

But for a full noob, they make a large springboard to much advanced, backstage programs.

What I mean by this is that showing grounds of accordant net from Amazon tin assistance you get a ft successful the doorway to enactment with a desired backstage affiliate partner.

But careless of the affiliate program, it is important to take a niche that has high-ticket items.

It costs precisely the aforesaid to nutrient contented careless of whether the products you are promoting person an mean outgo of $350 oregon $3.50. High-ticket items volition let you to scope your goals faster, adjacent with an affiliate programme with little commissions.

Therefore, uncovering a niche that has high-ticket items, a decent Amazon commission, arsenic good arsenic backstage affiliate options with commissions of 10% oregon supra is the safest way for a full beginner.

Recommended reading: How to Build a Successful Amazon Affiliate Site (Step by Step)

Will the tract enactment successful the long term?

There is simply a temptation to leap rapidly onto thing that is the new, blistery thing. But is it going to past forever?

Choosing a niche for your tract that happens to beryllium blistery close present is astir apt not going to springiness you capable scope successful presumption of keywords to standard your site.

Also, retrieve that focusing connected seasonal niches, specified arsenic play oregon tennis, means your tract volition apt gain much astatine definite times of the twelvemonth and perchance thing astatine other times.

That doesn’t mean you should debar seasonal niches altogether. In fact, if you already person seasonal employment, e.g., you enactment arsenic a skis instructor, a seasonal tract you tin absorption connected during quieter months of the twelvemonth could beryllium perfect.

But if you are looking to physique an affiliate tract to enactment arsenic your main root of income successful the future, you person to origin into your concern program that net passim the twelvemonth from a seasonal niche whitethorn not beryllium consistent.

Step 2. Find the close keywords

Keyword probe is the process of uncovering what your perfect assemblage is searching for successful Google. It’s important due to the fact that there’s nary constituent ranking for things that nobody’s searching for, arsenic you won’t get immoderate postulation (and, therefore, nary affiliate commissions).

When doing keyword probe for niche affiliate sites, you’re mostly looking for 3 main types of keywords:

• General comparisons – Best wifi router, champion macromolecule powder
• Branded comparisons – MacBook Air vs. MacBook Pro
• Product reviews – MacBook Pro review

These are each keyword types that radical regularly hunt for wherever you tin plug products to gain affiliate commissions.

Here’s however you tin find them:

• Go to Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer
• Enter wide topics oregon brands related to your niche
• Go to the Matching presumption report
• Filter for keywords containing a applicable modifier

For example, if we are starting a tract successful the java niche and privation to find wide examination keywords, we whitethorn participate “coffee” and “espresso” arsenic our effect keywords. Then adhd “best” to the “Include” filter to find keywords containing that modifier:

If we privation to find branded comparison or product reappraisal keywords, we tin participate known brands similar “hario” oregon “nespresso” and usage either “vs” oregon “reviews” successful the “Include” filter:

Because you’ll apt find it hard to fertile for competitory keywords close retired the gate, I besides urge filtering for low-difficulty keywords by mounting the Keyword Difficulty (KD) filter to a debased fig like 25:

Although I would emotion to spell into much detail, a afloat step-by-step usher is an full nonfiction successful itself. Luckily, our caput of content, Joshua Hardwick, has already enactment that unneurotic for you.

Step 3. Build your site

Now it’s clip to registry a domain and physique your site. It doesn’t substance each that overmuch which domain registrar oregon hosting supplier you use. Just prime one, take a brandable domain, and get things registered.

For the existent tract build, I urge utilizing WordPress due to the fact that it’s ace customizable and wholly free. However, the default installation looks beauteous dire, truthful it is important to see utilizing a bully taxable with a built-in leafage builder.

This volition let you to usage the drag-and-drop functionality to make high-quality aesthetics connected your tract that tin basal enarthrosis to enarthrosis with known brands and retailers. This is important due to the fact that it helps to found spot and authorization with tract visitors.

We volition spell done this successful much item below. But determination are a fewer things to see for the physique process (aside from the aesthetics).

• Choose the right theme
• Consider conversions
• Think astir E‑A-T

Choose the right theme

Your taxable is going to beryllium the halfway instauration of your site. The taxable is going to find however easy you tin marque changes to the plan and however it performs.

As idiosyncratic who has had to “de-thrive” many affiliate sites, I deliberation it’s important to take the close taxable close retired of the gate.

This is arsenic trying to alteration it aboriginal down the enactment to marque improvements is going to beryllium a big job.

Many radical deliberation it is easier to conscionable take immoderate taxable and usage a fashionable leafage builder. After all, leafage builders, specified arsenic Elementor, give you the quality to usage the drag-and-drop functionality to make beauteous aesthetics without being a apical web designer.

The lone contented with leafage builders is they often adhd tons of unnecessary codification to your site, dragging down the performance. Hence, you’ll request to get aggregate performance-enhancing plugins to enactment with the leafage builder to counteract that.

Therefore, it is simply a bully prime to spell with a taxable that has its ain built-in leafage builder functionality, specified arsenic Astra.

There are adjacent themes presently successful improvement similar those recovered connected AffiliateFish—which I was precocious asked to beta test—that are designed specifically for affiliate sites. Some themes let you to person everything needed for an affiliate tract portion maintaining super speed.

Consider conversions

The aesthetic of your tract needs to beryllium precocious quality, arsenic we privation the tract to look trustworthy. This comes down to the plan and the considerations mentioned above.

It is besides incredibly important to guarantee your tract has wide call-to-action (CTA) sections.

A CTA helps to entice visitors to enactment successful a preferred way, specified arsenic clicking a nexus to your recommended retailer, downloading an ebook, oregon signing up for a mailing list.

Ensuring you person wide CTAs connected each your merchandise recommendations and adjacent connected your homepage makes it casual to nonstop visitors to cheque retired the products you urge truthful that you tin gain those all-important affiliate commissions.

Think astir E‑A-T close from the beginning

Expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E‑A-T), although not a nonstop ranking factor, is present much talked astir than ever successful the SEO community.

I genuinely judge astatine immoderate point, for niche sites specifically, we volition spot thing akin to the Medic update of 2018 crossed each niches. Google wants to guarantee that immoderate proposal being fixed is from authoritative websites and authors.

Ensuring that your website has a wide and broad “about” leafage and writer bios from the opening volition assistance you to found your tract arsenic a genuine authority.

Your writer bios are meant to showcase acquisition and expertise.

For example, if you tally an affiliate tract astir dogs and your pb exertion is simply a vet, this truly needs to beryllium prominently displayed due to the fact that it gives the articles connected your tract credibility. This is important for some readers and hunt engines.

Step 4. Write content

Content is the breadstuff and food of a niche affiliate site. This is wherever those all-important affiliate links, which tin gain you commissions, volition beryllium housed.

Although I would emotion to delve successful present with a step-by-step usher connected however to nutrient epic contented from commencement to finish, that’s going to beryllium a taxable for a full different article.

But this guide connected creating evergreen content is a fantastic starting point.

But generally, marque definite that you constitute prime contented that is unsocial and engaging. You don’t privation to beryllium producing generic articles that anyone tin copy-paste and slap onto their site.

Also, it is incredibly important to write contented for humans, not hunt engines.

AI-driven contented optimization tools person risen successful popularity implicit the past fewer years. Although they marque a large summation for a newbie to recognize however good optimized your contented is, your articles should bash much than conscionable cheque SEO boxes.

Content should inactive beryllium written with your assemblage successful caput archetypal and foremost. It should prosecute your scholar and springiness them the answers they are looking for.

This is what volition assistance you physique spot and a loyal readership. This is important due to the fact that you don’t privation to beryllium driving caller visitors done integrated postulation only. You besides privation to promote your visitors to instrumentality clip and clip again due to the fact that they emotion what you are doing.

Step 5. Build links

Links person ever been important for SEO. But present much than ever, links request to beryllium coming from high-quality sources. This has go adjacent much evident since Google’s caller spam update.

This beginner’s usher to nexus building from our CMO, Tim Soulo, volition springiness you the lowdown connected what nexus gathering is and wherefore it’s important.

In presumption of what kinds of nexus gathering you should beryllium doing, these are my apical choices for beginners:

• Earned media
• Broken nexus building
• Guest blogging

Earned media

Using sites similar Help a Reporter Out (HARO), Terkel, and Sourcebottle is my go-to benignant of nexus building. Not lone bash these sites let you to physique high-authority links from top-tier publications similar Forbes and The New York Times, but they besides assistance boost E‑A-T.

Broken nexus building

When it comes to links, broken nexus building can beryllium an casual mode to prime low-hanging fruit.

Guest blogging

This nexus gathering method is an oldie but a goodie! Guest blogging tin not lone assistance you physique high-quality links to your website, but it tin besides assistance you amended E‑A-T and found yourself arsenic a thought person successful your niche.

For example, if you are a idiosyncratic trainer gathering an affiliate tract successful the fittingness niche, having a impermanent blog featured connected a reputable wellness and fittingness tract that displays your writer bio alongside it volition undoubtedly assistance to beforehand you arsenic an authorization connected that topic.

There are a fewer considerations erstwhile utilizing this technique. Luckily, Tim has already enactment unneurotic a complete usher connected impermanent blogging that covers everything: uncovering the close websites to scope retired to, penning the station itself, etc.

Step 6. Rinse and repeat

This portion is simple. It is conscionable a lawsuit of repeating steps #4 and #5 implicit and implicit again until you physique capable postulation to scope what you see to beryllium success.

The important happening is to person patience. Remember, each tract is unique. What works and however rapidly you execute occurrence beryllium connected aggregate factors. But it will happen. Just springiness it time!

Final thoughts

Following these six elemental steps again and again portion scaling arsenic you spell is simply a surefire mode to physique a profitable niche site.

Choose a niche with high-ticket items, make awesome content, and physique links. It’s that simple.

Got questions? Ping maine on Twitter.