A lot of affiliates, when they first start out, are really keen to promote big brands or hit the big money industries. New affiliates hear how much money is spent every year in online travel, or that adult topics are more highly searched than any other, or than education, insurance, gaming (last year anyway), forex trading, etc are big affiliate money-makers and they go off half-cocked.

Most soon realize that the competition in these sectors is highly skilled, well organized and entrenched up to their teeth - in short, they’re already dominant in the market. PPC bids are high on every keyword variation and organic SEO is just as tough. Making any headway at all is not for the feint of heart.

Taking a step down from the cat and dog fight of the big money, big competition sectors are the countless middle ground programs. Books, games, consumer electronics, clothes, mainstream consumer stuff. Competition is still stiff enough, but it’s a big drop from auto insurance to sporting goods.

In this article I’d like to go even further, down into the obscure, never heard of that, Ripley’s Believe it or Not, “…affiliates are making money on what!?!?” niches.

In my last article on Nov 1st I talked about seasonal affiliate marketing. In the article I mentioned SteakBrands, a program I had just signed up with. One of the reasons I listed for choosing them was that they were new, with a product line I’d not seen covered by other affiliate programs. Would you believe I made over $1000 off the program in December alone?

That’s what this article about. I didn’t promote home & garden, I didn’t promote pool & patio and I didn’t promote cookware - I promoted branding irons for meat, faced little to no competition and did well with it. I didn’t get rich, but that’s only one program. How many odd little niches with no competition are out there?

Okay, here’s a shameless plug, but another good example. I recently set up an affiliate program for a retail site I own. The site sells gold prospecting supplies. This is a market that is so far off the radar to most affiliates and marketers in general, that in just a couple short months I’m seeing top 10, even #1 organic search spots for relevant keywords - and making sales.

Before I launched the retail side I played with a content site. I couldn’t find any programs that fit the site, so ended up with an odd assortment of Adsense, auction listings on eBay, specific products that fit from totally unrelated programs, etc. Anyway, I only finished about 10 pages of the site and never promoted it, but I started seeing Adsense clicks (one was over $5) and actually made some money on the eBay links. How much competition could there be if I could make money without actually marketing?

A fellow over at ABW, an affiliate forum, has been talking about promoting suspenders for years and I bet you he still has no competition in that market. That’s the beauty of these odd little niches. Even if you tell other affiliates there’s money in it, you’ll still likely be left alone in the market to earn your commissions unchallenged for years on end.

There are 1000s upon 1000s of odd little niches like this!

Don’t buy it? Look at some of the programs at Shareasale. There are programs for everything from baby shower games to garden fountains to the steak brands and mining programs mentioned above.

Unless your name is Ace SEO Guru #1 (even if it is), I guarantee you’ll have an easier time ranking for “baby shower games” or “gold Panning kits” than you will for “online poker” or “New York hotels.”

This is essentially an old concept; picking the low hanging fruit, high grading, path of least resistance, etc, but I think way too many newer affiliates never even consider these hidden gems, bite off more than they can chew and subsequently quit trying. The phrase “don’t quit your day job” comes to mind.