On the first day of my Entrepreneurship and Creativity class, the professor had each one of us come up with our own business to start. That business would be what we work with throughout the class, creating a business plan and so on. Some, since the class is Entrepreneurship and Creativity, already had a business in mind, however some did not, so our professor had the ones who didn’t come up the white board and brainstorm using a simple exercise.

I found this simple exercise very helpful to find niches I could get into. For many new to Affiliate Marketing, they simply do not know where to start. Many find themselves approaching the most competitive niches out there like “make money online” or “weight loss”. If you’re new to Affiliate Marketing, you’re going to want to stay far away from these niches because they are high competitive and you’re going to have to work much harder and longer to make a profit from them.

So this very plain and simple exercise is great for those who are looking to find a niche get into. Many find niches based on what’s selling, which this is of course important to look at, you certainly do not want to get into a niche where you won’t make money. However, this exercise is great for starting from scratch. For this exercise, ignore finding niches that are selling and which are not because it the end, it always comes down to you.

The Simplest Exercise to Coming Up with Ideas for Your First or Next Niche

The first thing you need to do is grab a pen and paper. Do not erase anything you think of, even if it sounds stupid because you never know what may come of it. Once you have a pen and paper in front you, draw an line down the middle of the paper. You’re going to be answer two questions, one of each side of the paper.

Ask yourself, What do I like to do?, make a list of things you like to do on the left side of the paper. Keep each one, short and to the point, you do not need to write sentences. For example, fishing, snowboarding, football, baseball, going to the gym, etc. Keep it simple, it’s only brainstorming

Next, ask yourself, What am I good at?, and make a list of things you’re good at on the left side of the paper. Just like the first question, keep it simple.

Keep writing ideas down for about 10 minutes, once you can’t think of anything else, stop and take a look at your list. From there, you have just wrote down several niches you can get into.

I like to perform this exercise first before getting into the market research because I find it’s best to know as much as you can about the people you’re targeting in your niche. Why not be on of them?

Pick a niche you already know about and know what the customers are looking for. Then, you can find a product to promote and you’re on your way!

You’ll get to a point where you get into a niche you know nothing about, do not fear it. It’s very simple, all it takes is research. There are plenty of books, websites, articles, etc loaded with information to help you learn and better understand your niche.

I found this simple exercise very helpful coming up with niches and I hope it does the same for you.