When picking a niche for an affiliate program, make sure to narrow it down as much as possible and target a specific market. A good example is this week's niche: Paleo diet affiliate programs.
The Paleo diet falls under the ever-popular, evergreen weight loss niche. We've covered diet affiliate programs before, but the Paleo diet is different. It is a specific diet targeting people committed to a very particular lifestyle.
What is Paleo Diet?
Definition
I would like to regale you with what I have learned in the course of my research but I want to make this post short and sweet, so I will let Nom Nom Paleo, a wonderful site, tell you what Paleo is all about:
“In a nutshell, the Paleo diet (or, as I like to think of it, the Paleo template—the word “diet” tends to mislead folks into thinking this is nothing more than a temporary weight-loss program) is based on the notion that for optimal health, modern humans should go back to eating real, whole unprocessed foods that are more healthful than harmful to our bodies.”
Paleo is not really another diet program for weight loss. More than that, it is a lifestyle change of eating only whole, unprocessed food.
If you are going to pursue this niche, it is always a good idea to check out similar websites on Paleo like this authority site, The Paleo Diet, which is already a go-to site for everything Paleo.
Popularity
Analyzing the market
I quickly ran "Paleo diet" in Google Trends to see how popular this niche is now. Surprisingly, there has been a noticeable decline in searches for this term over the past two years (2015–2016). Nevertheless, the spikes on the graph below for the years 2015 to 2016 are still reasonably desirable and constant values.
Additionally, the top 5 countries from which most searches originate are highly developed countries that host a huge percentage of the “buying market.” I am therefore confident the Paleo niche is still worth targeting.
Keyword research
Selecting keywords with intent
With a very popular niche like the Paleo diet, you need to be careful with your keyword selection. The right keyword list will not only attract the right market, but also have a higher rate of conversion and help you generate more leads over time.
For this niche, the focus is on finding keywords with intent or keywords with buyer intent. These keywords usually lead the searcher to take action—whether that means buying something, seeking out information, inquiring about a product or service, or taking any other step that will likely lead to a sale.
There are different levels of buyer intent. The keywords that we want to target this time are high-intent keywords, which are keywords that signal a buyer is ready to conduct a purchase. The keywords that fall under this category are usually the "buy now" keywords and the "product" keywords. You may check out the examples below for reference on these types of keywords:
Once you are familiar with the keywords you are targeting, it is a lot easier to pick these keywords using AffiloTools.
To do keyword research in AffiloTools, simply log in to your Affilorama account and click this link here to start.
If you are new to AffiloTools, you can refer to this how-to page here first for instructions on setting up and unlocking AffiloTools.
Once you are on the AffiloTools dashboard section, head straight to the keyword research tool by simply clicking the "keywords" option under Research> Keywords on the left-side menu panel, as shown:
On the keyword research page, enter your seed keyword and click "search" to get more keyword suggestions. For our niche, we simply use the seed keyword "Paleo diet" to get similar and related keywords. Below is a partial screenshot of the result:
AffiloTools returned 200 keywords under keyword match and 50 keywords under related keywords (I have discussed the difference between keyword match and related keywords here).
The screenshot above is a partial result for keywords under keyword match only. You can also pick your keywords under the related keywords section but in this post, I will only be picking the keywords under the keyword match section, since the process for keyword research with intent is the same for both keyword match and related keywords.
So back to our keyword research. When searching for the target keywords, the most important data (and perhaps, most of the time, the only data) I use as a basis for my keyword selection is the keyword competition data.
In AffiloTools, however, the competition given is based on PPC (paid ads). For those interested only in free traffic (SEO), you may think that the competition data from paid ads is irrelevant. Well, think again.
The competition data from ads is very useful for SEO because looking at the competition result for paid ads will easily help us pick our high-intent keywords. Here’s how.
Let us take another look at the results under the keyword match section:
I have arranged the results based on competition. The levels of competition are identified by 3 colors: red means high competition; orange means medium competition; and green means low competition. Aside from the colors shown, you can also tell the percentage of competition for each keyword, since AffiloTools provides this data as well.
We can easily pick and group the keywords related to our niche by simply looking at the keyword competition. The higher the competition for a keyword, the more advertisers are bidding on it. You do not have to think hard when picking high-intent keywords. Start looking at the keywords with the highest competition and simply pick those that are related and useful to your website.
Once you are done picking high-intent keywords using AffiloTools, the last step is to re-run the keywords using the Traffic Travis SEO Competition tool. We need to re-run the keywords to check the competition for them in organic results. This will help us get a better understanding of how easy or difficult it will be to rank for these keywords on search engines. For complete instructions, refer to "How to Do Keyword Research Correctly" on the Traffic Travis website.
Paleo Diet Affiliate Programs
A picky list of Paleo products
What is great about this niche is you can promote both digital and physical products, because there are A LOT of choices for this sub-niche.
Take, for example, the two affiliate network giants: ClickBank and Amazon. The ClickBank Marketplace (for digital products) currently provides you with 76 affiliate products for the search term "Paleo diet." Amazon, on the other hand, has 18,312 product results for the term "Paleo diet."
On top of that, there are a lot of other networks and direct product vendors offering more Paleo products.
There are a lot of ways to choose affiliate products to promote (you can check out our tips here). The list that I have for you on Paleo diet affiliate products is based on Google Trends data, Google top search results, Amazon top-selling products, and ClickBank’s gravity score.
1. Pete Evans’s Paleo Books
About
Google Trends showed a "breakout" of searches for Pete Evans, so I have included him in the list. Pete Evans is a celebrity chef who is also known to promote the Paleo diet. He authored several books on Paleo, namely his most-read book, The Paleo Chef: Quick, Flavorful Paleo Meals for Eating Well. He also owns a website dedicated to Paleo and healthy living. Although he doesn’t provide affiliate partnership, you can promote his books through the Amazon affiliate program.
How much can I make?
You can earn around 10% for every sale. For a complete guide on Amazon earnings, you may refer to this page here.
How do I apply?
You can sign up here.
2. The Whole30: The 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom
About
Another rising term that I have found in Google Trends. This is a book by Melissa and Dallas Hartwig, who are best known for their Whole30 program for weight loss. You can promote and earn on the best-selling book through the Amazon affiliate program.
How much can I make?
You can earn around 10% for every sale. For a complete guide on Amazon earnings, you may refer to this page here.
How do I apply?
You can sign up here.
3. Eat Drink Paleo
About
I found this site in the top search results of Google for a related term in Paleo. This is a very good blog website (lots of content!) and is owned by Irena, who has a passion for a bunch of different things like cooking, photography, blogging, and of course promoting the Paleo lifestyle. She started her blog called Eat Drink Paleo back in 2012 with an aim to promote Paleo for everyone.
How much can I make?
You can earn as much as 35% per sale.
How do I apply?
You can sign up here.
4. PaleoHacks Cookbook by Paleo Recipe Team
About
This vendor has the highest gravity score on ClickBank (currently with 160.13% gravity). They offer four high-converting products that you can promote: the PaleoHacks Cookbook, Paleo Eats, Primal Sleep, and a breakfast cookbook.
How much can I make?
You can earn as much as 90% per sale with backend commissions.
How do I apply?
You can sign up as a ClickBank affiliate here.
5. 21-Day Body/Mind Detox
About
I discovered this product by searching for "21-day fix" on Google. The "21-day fix" is another rising term under the related queries section in Google Trends. This product does not really spell out Paleo, but it’s a term that people associate with the Paleo diet.
21-Day Body/Mind Detox is owned by Jen DeVilliers, a personal trainer and a nutrition and lifestyle coach. The program consists of 5 modules or steps that help people achieve a healthy mind and body. The program also contains downloadable guidebooks, meal plans, and checklists.
How much can I make?
Not disclosed. You need to apply as an affiliate to get the details.
How do I apply?
You can sign up here.
Marketing Methods
Get the "Gatherers" to "Hunt" on Your Paleo Site
Plan your content in advance.
Before you even promote your website, it is important that you already have a well-planned content site. Spend time researching and writing content that matters, that is so different that no one on the world-wide Web has published something like it, that is likely to become viral, and that answers all important questions and concerns of your market.
Buzzsumo is an online tool that will help you identify all the popular, well-read, and most-shared articles across the social media sites. You can use this tool for your content research and planning.
Mix your marketing platform with SEO, SMM, and PPC.
Do not rely on one marketing platform. It is always better to experiment with different marketing methods to see which campaigns convert well. When you’re running different marketing platforms, you also need to track your results. This is very important. Tracking your results using tools like Google Analytics, AffiloTools, and Traffic Travis can give you a lot of important data that you can use to improve your marketing campaigns.
Build your list. Do not let your traffic go down the drain.
As early as possible and before you even begin to market your site, I recommend that you set up and run an autoresponder. By building your own list, you get to market your products through email, which makes it even more personalized and builds trust with your customers over time. An email list will save you from marketing costs in the long run.
Paleo or No Paleo?
10%
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10%
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35%
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90%
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undisclosed
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Signup | Signup | Signup | Signup | Signup |
Given the popularity of the Paleo diet, there is no doubt as to the heavy competition you'll face in this niche. Depending on the Paleo diet affiliate program(s) you join, the commission can range from quite low to acceptably high.
Any marketer interested in this niche can join, as long as they're up for the challenge. If you're already on this special diet, then great, because you'll have a working knowledge of it, and you'll be able to share your personal experience with others.
With that I conclude this week's Niche of the Week. I hope you enjoyed it. Please make sure to share this using the Share buttons below, and don't hesitate to leave me any comments! What are your experiences with the Paleo diet?
Edmund • 10 years ago
Eric Barrett • 10 years ago
I've just joined Affilorama - I've studied several sites but your blog is amazing - so much high-value content, relevant and up to date - thank you very much - have bookmarked your page and looking forward to your other posts
Eric Barrett