What Are The Best Products For Affiliates To Promote?
By Anna Johnson on June 14th, 2010So you’re an affiliate marketer and want to know which kinds of products to promote? What are the highest paying affiliate offers? Which kinds of products sell the most? And which industry or niche can you break into without having too much competition from other affiliate marketers and merchants?
These are all good questions with, sadly, no clear answers. Your success as an affiliate marketer comes down to an optimal combination of factors that are likely to differ from affiliate marketer to affiliate marketer: commission rates, popular products, the resources you have available to compete, your own dedication, etc.
Nonetheless, we can get a little more perspective by considering which industries and merchant types affiliates actively promote. In other words, rather than imagine what product categories are best for affiliate marketers to promote, we can look at what products affiliate marketers ACTUALLY promote.
To this end, the 2010 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report – based on the results of AffStat’s survey of over 1,150 affiliate marketers – provides some insight. The report shows the percentage of affiliate marketers that promote various industries or merchant types.
Interestingly, there is no single product category – or even a few categories – with a disproportionate number of affiliates. Affiliate marketers are actively promoting offers right across the spectrum of product and service types.
Yet, you might be surprised at which niches get the least attention among affiliate marketers. When I consider how lucrative some of THESE niches are, it makes it hugely apparent just how MASSIVE the opportunities are in affiliate marketing.
For instance, you might be shocked to discover that only 0.30 percent of affiliates promote career or business opportunity offers and that only 0.71 percent are in the dating niche.
Now, the breakdown of industry or merchant type by percentage of affiliates shows how popular various industries are, not how much money they’re worth. Nonetheless, it’s not unreasonable to assume some relationship between industry popularity and affiliate earnings.
In any case, here is AffStat’s 2010 breakdown of industry or merchant type by percentage of affiliate marketers (in order of popularity):
- Apparel: 6.45 percent
- Computers & Electronics: 8.97 percent
- Health & Beauty: 8.47 percent
- Office & Business: 7.46 percent
- Books, Movies & Music: 6.75 percent
- Travel & Auto: 6.75 percent
- Home & Garden: 6.15 percent
- Sports & Recreation: 5.95 percent
- Food & Entertaining: 5.85 percent
- Insurance / Financial Services: 5.54 percent
- Toys & Hobbies: 5.44 percent
- Jewelry & Accessories: 4.74 percent
- Flowers & Gifts: 4.64 percent
- Department Stores: 4.33 percent
- Outlet & Discount: 3.73 percent
- Gift Certificates: 3.33 percent
- Magazines: 2.52 percent
- Dating: 0.71 percent
- Education: 0.40 percent
- Pets: 0.40 percent
- Career/Business Opportunities: 0.30 percent
- Green/Eco: 0.20 percent
- Spiritual: 0.20 percent
- Event Tickets: 0.10 percent
- Financial: 0.10 percent
- Gaming: 0.10 percent
- Medical: 0.10 percent
- Real Estate: 0.10 percent
- Contests/Giveaways: 0.10 percent
- Wedding: 0.10 percent
Source: Missy Ward and Shawn Collins, “2010 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report,” AffStat
June 14th, 2010 at 7:10 pm
Great list Anna – a really interesting read. The niches are so diverse – just illustrates how big the opportunities are for IMers. I’ve created SEO articles for clients in all but two of these categories and the way they are broken down into laser targeted niches illustrates the depth of research in which the successful ones are investing.
Thanks!
June 15th, 2010 at 7:22 am
Hi Kerry – absolutely! The diversity of the list really underscores the opportunities in affiliate marketing. I’m glad you find the list useful