Niche marketing is what allows small marketers to earn a living without having to compete against large, well-funded corporations and marketers. Basically, with niche marketing, you’re taking a small slice of a big pie instead of trying to aim for the whole pie.
For example, you might not be able to build a successful site in the giant car insurance industry, but you might be able to carve out a little niche teaching 16-year-old teens how to get the cheapest insurance. You won’t make millions, but you might make a few thousand dollars.
Here are a few tips on how to succeed with niche marketing.
Low Competition, Moderate Profit
The best niches have low competition and the chance to make a moderate profit. Avoid niches that have too high a competition, or niches that have low competition without much profit potential.
If you don’t believe you can make at least $500 a month from a niche site within 6 months, it’s probably too small. On the other hand, if you don’t think you can get ranked at all within 6 months, then it’s probably too big.

 Identify Three Traffic Sources before You Start
If you can’t come up with at least three different ways to get traffic, then you’ll probably have a hard time getting your site launched.
There are a lot of small niche websites that may make sense on paper, but when you really look at how you’re going to get traffic to those sites, it just doesn’t work.
Ideally, you should have one or two traffic sources that work well in the beginning, when you’re getting very little revenue. You should also ideally have one or two traffic sources that scale well for when your site is making a bit more money.
A few places to look for traffic include Google AdWords, Facebook PPC, SEO, banner advertising and possibly offline advertising.
Know What to Sell
Before you start, it also helps to have a product or two in mind to sell.
If you’re creating your own niche product, then it’s pretty simple.
On the other hand, if you’re coming at the niche as an affiliate, it can sometimes be a bit tricky to find products to promote.
Coming back to our 16-year-old car insurance example; let’s assume that most 16-year-olds won’t want to pay $20 to $40 for an eBook. You want to do a pay-per-lead program with a car insurance company.
Unfortunately, most companies only pay for leads of people who are 18+. In that case, you need to be able to identify at least two different affiliate programs that’ll work for your site before you actually launch.
If you do these three things – find a small but profitable market, know your traffic sources before you start and have a profitable strategy for monetizing that traffic – then you’ll have a very good chance of creating a successful niche website.