Is Affiliate Marketing Oversaturated in 2024?

Is affiliate marketing oversaturated?

Many new marketers are intimidated to jump into oversaturated niches or worse, attempt to make it in an overly saturated niche without doing any research.

Affiliate marketing is not oversaturated in niches that don't have a lot of competition. This gives you a lot of wiggle room to create content that has a chance of ranking on page one, bringing you a good amount of traffic.

In this article, I will show you how affiliate marketing whether it is saturated or not, is still a great business opportunity even for newbies.

Let's dive right in...

Is Affiliate Marketing Oversaturated?

The Affiliate marketing industry as a whole is not oversaturated. There are a few reasons for this.

One reason why affiliate marketing is not oversaturated is the continuous growth of the online business industry. As more businesses shift their operations online, the demand for affiliate marketing has increased.

Not only that but new products and niches emerge on a frequent basis. This presents a lot of opportunities for affiliates to tap into various niche markets and find untapped audiences that can be targeted.

Mistakes New Affiliate Marketers Make in Saturated Niches

I have many people email me and ask me if "x" niche is ok to target when it comes to affiliate marketing. Most of the time it's in the health or finance niche.

These are probably two of the most competitive niches out there! They are also part of the YMYL niche which stands for "Your Money Your Life". To succeed in niches like these, you need to be an authority on the subject with a lot of E.E.A.T, which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness.

EEAT is something that Google came up with to judge websites which ultimately dictates where you'll end up in search. If you're a new site, you've got no EEAT. This means you won't rank anywhere in these tough niches.

So right off the bat, if you are new, don't go into the health or finance niche unless you are prepared to invest a lot of money and wait at least 5 years to rank - if you ever do.

How to Succeed With Affiliate Marketing in Oversaturated Niches

Ok, so you now know to avoid these YMYL niches like the plague. Don't even touch 'em. But what about other overly-saturated niches that aren't YMYL? Can you succeed in them?

Yes, yes you can.

So how is this done? For starters, keyword selection is going to be the main thing that you will start with.

Let's just say you want to get into the travel niche. Travel is a very competitive niche but what you need to do here is "niche down". If you are targeting a city, for example, Paris, instead of targeting (like everyone else is) "Things to do in Paris", you should target something like "2 days in Paris itinerary".

Let me give you a visual example. Using Keysearch, I checked out the competition for the term "Things to do in Paris".

If you look at the "DA" or domain authority for all the pages ranking on the first page of Google, (the higher the DA, the more authoritative a website is) it would be impossible to rank on the first page for this term. 

Even if your site has some authority, you'd probably have to have a DA of at least 48 to rank and that takes a LOT of backlinks.

So, why not go for something easier...  Like in this example...

For the search term "2 days in Paris Itinerary", there are 3 sites ranking on the first page of Google with relatively low domain authority. 

This is very doable. If your content is good, you might even steal the snippet. A snippet in the context of Google refers to a brief preview or summary of a webpage's content that appears in the search engine results page (SERP) when a user performs a search. 

What's also great about this article is that you can monetize it with affiliate links easily. Since people are looking to cram Paris in a two day trip, you could link to hotels, tours, car rentals, etc. all of which have lucrative affiliate programs.

So there you go. THAT's how you WIN in oversaturated niches. I've just proved to you that it's possible. And Paris France is in the top 10 of the most famous and top-visited cities in the world!

Another strategy is to create high-quality content that both the reader and Google will love. 

In a saturated market, providing valuable and unique content is essential to capture the attention of your target audience. By offering in-depth insights, expert advice, or practical tips related to the products or services you promote, you can position yourself as an authority figure in your niche.

Building a strong audience engagement is also vital. Utilize various marketing channels such as social media, email marketing, and blogging to connect with your audience. Engage with your followers, respond to their queries, and provide them with valuable information regularly. Building trust is HUGE and it goes a long way.

How to Succeed With Affiliate Marketing in Non-Saturated Niches

A niche market that is either emerging or unsaturated is the holy grail for affiliate marketers.

There won't be much content written about it so even if you have a brand new site there's a chance you could rank on the first page of Google quite easily.

So the question I know you're asking - "how do I find these unsaturated niches" - don't worry, I'll get into that!

First I will say that finding these is not going to be easy. If it was, everyone would be jumping in on it. Sometimes you get lucky and just stumble on it.

One strategy is to use Google Trends.

You'll be able to find what people are searching for right now. You can even narrow your search by country or just enter a keyword to get started. You can even subscribe to the Google Trends newsletter where you'll get trending topics sent to your inbox.

If something is new and trending and you jump on this topic and write about it right away, you'll have a head start on everyone else.

Google Trends is just one way, there are others.

For example, start with your passion and expertise. Explore this niche to see if it's competitive or not. If it's not, you're way ahead of the game because you could easily write about this topic.

Check out social media hashtags. Monitor social media platforms for emerging hashtags and discussions related to your interests. This can help you identify niche areas that are gaining traction.

Online Communities and Forums: Participate in forums, Reddit communities, Facebook groups, and other online platforms related to your interests. Observe discussions and identify gaps where people are seeking information that's not adequately covered.

Check Your Competitors: Look at other bloggers and websites in your broader niche. Is there a particular angle or sub-topic they're not covering extensively? This could be an opportunity for you.

These are just a few ways on how to find unsaturated niches, but let's now (finally) get into HOW to be successful in an unsaturated niche.

Since you won't need a lot of backlinks to rank in this niche, your focus (it should always be anyway) will be on writing quality content.

You want to be sure that you include all the relevant info in your article that people might want to know. If your page answers all their questions and leaves them with the information they need without having to search for more info, then Google will reward you with higher rankings.

The easy way to do this is by using tools like SurferSEO or Frase. I personally use these tools myself to help me write content. Think of it as a guide to the ultimate blog post that tells you what keywords you need to include, what questions you should answer, approximately how long it should be, etc.

You can also use AI tools like ChatGPT or Jasper to help you do content research. I do not suggest using it to write your content exclusively, but you can use it to guide your article. I personally like using both to help me discover topics within the topic I am writing about.

So there you go. Being successful in an unsaturated niche only requires you to ensure that your content is helpful, well written and answers all your readers' questions. Your focus will mostly be on page SEO (search engine optimization).

Check out my SEO for bloggers article for more on this.

Conclusion - Is Affiliate Marketing Oversaturated?

You should now know that affiliate marketing is not oversaturated - as long as you know what niche to get into and what keywords to target.

So blow off the claims by others that it's too late to start affiliate marketing because it's oversaturated or something like that. 

There's still plenty of opportunity even if you have never done affiliate marketing before. You just need to know where to look and this guide pointed you in the right direction.

Want more? Choose one of these affiliate marketing courses if you want some formal instruction on how to get started. I buy all the courses I review and only recommend the best ones, so you're in good hands.

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