Income School Blog

50 Niche Site Ideas Ripe for the Taking!

Whenever a friend or family member decides to create an online business, they first ask me what to do if they don’t have any ideas for a site.  For them, for you, I have created this list.  These are the niche sites I would build today if I weren’t already busy with other online businesses.

IMPORTANT NOTE!!!  BE CAREFUL in choosing your site idea!  While I think there are millions of ideas that can work, I’ve also had the sad experience dozens and dozens of times of seeing someone who poured 6 months of effort into a site that really stood very little chance of succeeding.  The idea just wasn’t sound.

If none of the ideas on this list quite does it for you, you’ll probably be interested in our list of over 1,000 site ideas that we have with ideas and our comments.  Just click here to get access to that list.

If you’d like some help with your niche site idea before you start, check out Project 24 where I teach you exactly how to build your site and use it to earn a living.  I’ve covered “picking a niche and domain name” in great detail in our Project 24 program.

We certainly can’t promise that your idea will succeed.  Your success will depend on your effort and skill.  But having built MANY successful niche sites, and earning a full time income online for the last 5 years, I have enough experience to tell you things at the start of your journey that can save you thousands of hours and missed opportunities later on.

I apologize.  If you came to this post expecting 50 niche site ideas… I don’t have exactly that many right now.  I’m always adding new ideas and taking off old ones.  But I’m going to keep this post up-to-date (I have 37 right now—May 7, 2018).  Whenever I think of niche site ideas that I don’t have time to pursue myself and I’ll keep updating this post so we eventually get to 50.

1. Archery Site

I really enjoy archery and it’s a fantastic hobby enjoyed by millions of people around the world.  However, I’ve been extremely surprised how little information is available online about archery.  I’ve searched for SO many topics that I just simply don’t find any good answers for.

An archery hobby website would be AWESOME!

How to monetize this site: Some things people will likely buy from a local store which can set up the bow for them.  These may include the bow itself and arrows.  However, there are tons of accessories you could sell as an affiliate on your website.  You could link them to Amazon and get a cut of the sale for targets (and 3d targets), releases, bow cases, tree stands, etc.  All of these items are over $100 and would give you a substantial affiliate commission.

Suggested domain name: Archerytrainer.com is available right now

Type of site: Passive niche site

2. Boat Buyer’s Guide

If you haven’t noticed by this point in the post, I’m getting most of these ideas because I’m looking for information on Google and not finding what I’m looking for.  That’s an underserved niche.  Yesterday I bought a SWEET 22′ Pontoon Boat for fishing/skiing/towing the kids around the lake on tubes.

Obviously with such a hugely valuable niche where people will be spending on average around $30,000 to $60,000 on a boat, there will be tons of information and reviews available, right?  Wrong!  In fact, MOST of the boats that I was interested in had zero reviews to be found anywhere on the internet.  Zero.  And all the manufacturers showed was a few pictures, sometimes a sales video, and an abbreviated spec sheet.  That’s it.  I scoured the internet for unbiased reviews of boats and did not find anything helpful at all.

I couldn’t sleep last night and woke up at 3AM, so I ran upstairs and registered a domain name.  I was shocked that it was available, but turns out that this is such a poorly served niche that there are lots of awesome domain names that I had to choose from.

My goal with this site is really only to write about 25-30 pages with information as I learn about boats and do customizations to my boat.  I’m also adding a forum.  Forums seem to be very popular with boat owners so I’m anxious to have others generate content for me.  I don’t have huge plans for this site, but I’m sure it will bring in a few thousand a month if I don’t fizzle out.  This is going to be my fun project for the next little while.

How to monetize this site: Sponsorships could make the site huge, advertising could make the site decent, and affiliate sales on products could do well too.  I don’t see digital products being huge on this one except for the boat restoration niche, which could be cool.  Find some boat repair/restoration experts on the internet and offer them $1,000 to spend two days with you showing you their boat restoration techniques.  Hire a videographer for $500 to video the pro teaching you, and sell the video for $199.

Update: Got tired of not seeing anyone make this site.  I made a blog about boating in August 2014.  The site sold in September 2016 for $74,000.  I only wrote 32 articles on that blog and it earned me $74,000.  Unbelievably awesome niche!  Anything in the boating niche is seasonal, but I found it easy to make money and get traffic.  Go after it!

3. Lens Finder

If you are a budding photographer, you know that good lenses are insanely expensive–often costing $2,000 or more.  Photographers research lenses to no end before buying.  There are lots of good reviews of lenses already available on the Internet, but nobody really helps walk you through the process of selecting a lens.

If you create a website and have the top navigation bar be all the different types of lenses (wildlife lenses, sports lenses, portrait photography lenses, etc) and then make drop down menus for the different brands of cameras, you could create a site where people come, choose what brand of camera they have and what they want their lens to do and viola!  You have a page on your site that shows them the good, better, and best lens options at different price points.  This kind of site could be really popular and insanely useful.  That’s a recipe for success.

How to monetize this site: Did I mention that the Amazon.com commission on one of those lenses is about $80?  That’s a pretty healthy commission if you get hundreds of thousands of people coming to your site who want to buy a lens.

Suggested domain name: Findalens.com is available right now.

Type of site: Semi-passive niche site with need to update regularly

Update: Sorry folks!  This idea was too awesome and nobody took it for over a year.  So, I made it myself at http://improvephotography.com/lensfinder  It’s earnings are mixed into my other affiliate tags for that site so I can’t say for sure exactly how much it earns, but it seems to be doing well.

This is a screenshot of the lens finder section of my site that I added. Nobody built this after I had the idea on here for over a year, so I decided to take this one on myself. I'm glad I did.
This is a screenshot of the lens finder section of my site that I added. Nobody built this after I had the idea on here for over a year, so I decided to take this one on myself. I’m glad I did.

4.  Traveling Cats

If you start a website about pets in general, it may be difficult to get traffic.  There are MILLIONS of pet websites, and many of them have teams of writers.

However, what if you make a website about traveling with a cat?  You could recommend cat carriers, devices to keep them cool in a car, etc.  Search on Amazon to see what type of product you could recommend to people, but then make the website helpful to pet owners who want to travel.  Answer questions and give good tips.  Then mention products in articles that could help them too.

How to monetize this site: I would monetize with Amazon Affiliate and then add ads from Adthrive once you’re up to 90,000 pageviews a month.

Type of site: Passive niche site.

Suggested domain name: I’m surprised that travelwithcats.com is available.  Someone needs to buy it ASAP.   GREAT niche!

5. Video Editing Hardware

A few months ago I was in the market for a new desktop computer that could handle editing 1080p video.  I didn’t want a computer that could handle 1080p video.  I wanted a computer that could eat, chew, and spit out 1080p video.  I was tired of waiting for things to render.  So, I set out to find good computers for video editing.  What a mess!  Thousands of articles, thousands of opinions from computer nerds, and nobody simply told me the answer.  I just wanted a page that has good, better, best and then to SHOW ME in a practical sense what it is like editing video on that machine.   I spent days researching whether I should build my own computer (which would be a good topic in and of itself) or if I could find one for a decent price that did what I wanted it to do.

There are lots of resources about finding computers for video editing, but nobody answered my questions in a simple way.  That means there is an unfulfilled niche.

How to monetize this site: Obviously, this screams affiliate marketing to get a commission from expensive computer equipment.  But this site could also benefit from a video course as well.  You could get all the parts the people need and show them exactly what to buy, then create a video course showing them step-by-step how to put the computer together with exactly those pieces.  Show them on video how the computer performs at that price and how it will perform if you spend a little more money on hardware.

Type of site: Semi-passive niche site with need to update yearly

Suggested domain name: You could pick something like HardwareForVideo.com which is currently available.

6. Concealed Carry

This one only really applies to people in the United States.  International readers, just skip on to the next one.

I was recently looking at information about carrying a concealed weapon.  With so many mass shootings, I thought it might be a good idea to consider.

First of all I looked for information about carrying concealed in my state.  There was practically no information available.  I wanted to know how to get a concealed carry permit, where people are allowed to/not allowed to carry if you have a permit, how to legally carry while in a car, etc.  You could create an incredibly useful page of your site using Pat Flynn’s Createaclickablemap.com for this and create an amazing resource.

Also, I looked for information on the best handguns for concealed carry.  There were tons of product reviews, but nobody made this simple for me and just wrote the 10 most popular options.

Then, I wanted more information on safety, finding a good home safe, etc.  I had to hunt around Google for days to find all the info I wanted.  Would have been awesome (and valuable!) if someone would have done the research for me and presented it in an easy-to-digest manner.  That person could be you…

Suggested domain name: ConcealedCarryWorld.com

Type of site: Passive niche site

7. Tiny Homes (Or backyard offices)

I’ve recently been spending hours and hours researching building tiny homes.  Tiny homes are homes generally under 250 square feet.  Some people actually live in these things and build them on trailers so they are portable or else put them on concrete blocks.  They are inexpensive to build and some people like the simple life.

I have been looking at these as a possible backyard office.  The problem is all of the plans and information about building a backyard office includes a kitchen and bathroom–two things I don’t need.  I just want an inexpensive office that I can build in my backyard to cut out the commute and unnecessary expense of office space for a blogger.

The tiny home space is definitely big enough for another good site, but the backyard office niche is TOTALLY uncharted territory on the web.  Fill that void!

The other thing that I wanted to learn (and another opportunity to use the CreateAClickableMap site that I mentioned previously, would be to have info on local laws about building and living in tiny homes.

How to monetize the site: Monetization on a site like this is somewhat tougher.  The problem is that the VAST majority of people who go to a tiny homes website are just lurkers.  They are just fascinated by the idea but will never ACTUALLY build a tiny home.  Thus, they’ll never buy an online course showing them how to build their tiny home, or use your Amazon affiliate links to buy products for their tiny home.  Realistically, the best monetization strategy for this website is ads.  Ad revenue is very small for sites with under 30k pageviews/month so your first year will likely be pretty dry.  HOWEVER, ad revenue builds up quickly when you can get to a private media seller like Adthrive (requires 80k pageviews/month) or MediaVine (requires 30k pageviews/month).  Ad revenue is very consistent and passive, so it could be a very nice site.

Suggested domain name: OfficeInTheBack.com

Type of site: Passive niche site

 8.  Dog Sports Gear

It was really random how I came across this keyword, but it’s severely less competitive than I would think it would be.  In the last few years the phrase “dog sports” has popped up.  When you start typing the keyword in Google, you’ll see that it brings up the suggested search “dog sports gear.”  Bingo!

When someone does a search for something like “dog sports GEAR” it means “I’m bored on the internet and want to buy something for my dog.”  Those are the best kind of customer 🙂

Suggested domain name: SportyDogGear.com

How I’d monetize the site: Personally, I’d build up the site for 8 months or a year with just Amazon Associates commissions.  Once the site hits about $2,000 per month, I’d probably start private labeling Amazon products with the brand name or move into something like drop shipping.

Type of site: Passive niche site

9. Airsoft World

Little known fact about me is that I love a good game of airsoft on the weekends.  Like in most cities, there is a group of about 200 people (mostly guys but there are some women who play) who get together every weekend  to play.  The airsoft guns are not anything like the tiny pump guns that kids buy at Walmart.  These guys spend hundreds on their guns, more on camo, and even have radio comm and military style helmets.  It’s serious to these guys.

There is SO little information available on the web about airsoft that it’s actually a bit shocking.  I built a very very small website in airsoft about 6 months ago and found I just didn’t have the time to pursue it.  With only a handful of articles, it is already getting 1,000 views per month.  It took me about 2 hours to put that site together.

Someone who really attacked this niche could absolutely CRUSH IT!

Suggested domain name: Airsoftworld.com is available for registration right now.

Type of site: Passive niche site

UPDATE: A reader of the site started working on this idea and is building it at AirsoftForest.com.

Screenshot of the site that one reader started working on after getting the idea from this page.
Screenshot of the site that one reader started working on after getting the idea from this page.

10.  Pottery

This could be a really cool niche site if you have any interest in getting into pottery–it’s fine if you’re not into it right now.  Pottery is a specialized art form that requires several pieces of equipment (hence amazon purchases) and is complicated enough that anyone learning it would need a good tutorial.

How to monetize this site: I think this one is obvious.  Amazon affiliate.

Suggested domain name: Spinningpots.com is available right now

Type of site: Passive niche site

11. Wall Decorating

Take the exact same business model from tip #10 above and apply it to wall decorating.

My wife is an excellent home decorator.  I don’t remember the last time someone came into my home without hearing  a comment on the way my wife decorates.  One comment I frequently hear is “Oh!  That looks so nice!  I wish I could figure out how to put things together like that.”

Many people (especially, but not only women) would love to decorate their homes nicely.  But when they go through stores they, like me, see lots of nice items but do not have a vision for how they could go together.

Create a blog showing your own great wall designs (meaning how you put things together on a wall) and your audience would be nearly as big as everyone who has a wall in their home.

This business would be ridiculously simple to market.  Just take pictures of the wall decorating ideas you make and pin them on Pinterest!  I wouldn’t even bother creating much of a blog.  Just spend time on Pinterest and you could absolutely KILL it!

How to monetize this site: I would probably focus for about 3 months on getting lots of content and developing a Pinterest following.  Then, have a “buy this wall” each month.  Source items that all go together beautifully that you could drop ship and let someone buy the whole wall for $500.  You don’t need to touch inventory because the items are all drop shipped.

The nice thing is you don’t even need to worry about how to put together a drop shipped item for a while.  Just spend some time getting some Pinterest traffic and you’ll soon find yourself with an audience ready to spend on home goods who trusts that you know what looks good.

Suggested domain name: OneWholeWall.com

12. Makeup To Go

Do you notice a trend in the last few ideas?  People on the web no longer want information spread across 20 websites.  They want to find one targeted website that has precisely what they need all in one place.

Do you think someone has thought of making a website about makeup before?  Yep, tens of thousands of them.  But what about a site that shows you precisely the makeup styles that women want, including precisely how to apply it and precisely the brands of makeup you use?

This is another site my wife would love to visit.  She has bought a couple books teaching makeup styles.  It would be awesome if there were a site where each blog post was a full A-to-Z makeup style.  Take a face with no makeup, show exactly which makeups you’re using and a video of how you apply the makeup.  Show the finished result.

Before-and-Afters have a big impact and it’s really shareable content, so I think a site like this could dominate on Pinterest.

I think you DEFINITELY need to do a Youtube channel if you’re doing a site about makeup.  Makeup tutorials are often the top trending content on Youtube.

How to monetize this site: I think Amazon affiliate and ads could be a good way to monetize this site.

Suggested domain name: NewLookTonight.com

13. Home Automation

I love finding ways for my home to do work FOR me.  I install self-closing hinges instead of constantly asking the kids to shut the door to the toy room, I have Amazon Alexa set up to turn on my tv and change all my inputs when I verbally ask it to, I have digital door locks and wifi lightbulbs, etc.

Home automation is a hot category and would make for an interesting niche site.

I am not big on social media for niche sites.  It wastes a ton of time and over the last 3 years has proven to provide less and less traffic as Facebook, Instagram, and other social media sites have made changes to hurt small businesses.  However, for a site like this you’d be FAR better off with a Youtube channel to push traffic to the site.

How to monetize this site: Advertising revenue would be nice after 80,000 pageviews (where many ad networks will take your site and revenue increases dramatically from Google Ads), and also affiliate programs.

Suggested domain name: AutomateYourDigs.com

14. Helping Families Divorce Without Hurting the Kids

On the opposite end of #13, some marriages are destined for failure when one or both partners fail to live up to their promises or become extremely abusive.

The parents aren’t the only interested parties.  Loving parents want to take care of and protect their kids during trying times such as a divorce.  Create a website about what worked to help your kids through your divorce, advice from experts you interview, and ask your readers what has worked for them.

How to monetize this site: To me, this site screams “Divorce Kit!”  A $249 downloadable product with an audio course that people can listen to while commuting, a book with a step-by-step plan, and activities to do with the kids to help them understand and cope.

Suggested domain name: MyKidsDivorce.com is currently available.

15. Presentation Coach

Everyone must present at some point.  Whether it is a school presentation, business meeting, pitching a business to an investor, teaching a lesson in church, or presenting oneself at a job interview… we all do it.

Most presentations are boring!  A website about public speaking, creating a good powerpoint, visual aids and object lessons, etc would be really valuable.

Content like this would be a fantastic podcast.  I’d subscribe.  Become the expert and you could find yourself coaching some big names faster than you might imagine.

How to monetize the site: Coaching, online courses, Powerpoint presentation templates, etc.

Suggested domain name: KillTheSlideshow.com

16. DIY Deposition

One of these days when I have the time for it, I’d love to create a small niche site (just 35 pages and then leave the site to gain income passively over the long haul) about how to video a deposition.  I’m a lawyer (non-practicing since I’m a full-time blogger), which makes this niche site particularly interesting to me.

A deposition is a formal meeting between a party to a lawsuit and another party such as the opposing party to the lawsuit, a witness, an expert witness, etc.  Basically two lawyers sit down with their clients while one lawyer grills someone for 8 hours–but it’s in an office and not in the courthouse.  When a deposition is taken, the lawyers need to video record it to have as evidence.

There are many companies who specialize in videoing depositions, and as you might imagine, they can be quite expensive.  Some lawfirms have seemingly endless money, but MOST do not.  I have done some keyword research and it looks to me like this would be a really nice niche site.

You could teach how to make a simple professional video recording of the deposition, learn and share information on how to do the audio, etc.  Best of all, you can recommend camera and pro audio gear that could cost several thousand dollars.  This would earn you a nice commission.

How to monetize the site:You could teach how to make a simple professional video recording of the deposition, learn and share information on how to do the audio, etc.  Best of all, you can recommend camera and pro audio gear that could cost several thousand dollars.  This would earn you a nice commission.

Suggested domain name: DIYDepositionVideo.com is currently available.

17.  Mountain Climbing

Mountain climbing requires a very large amount of expensive gear, and much of it has an expiration date and must be replaced every 2-5 years.  So mountain climbing makes a lot of sense as an affiliate product.  Also, if you focus your niche on mountain climbing, you also could pick up people interested in indoor rock climbing, rappelling, canyoneering, etc.

How to monetize the site:  Amazon affiliate.  Also, Cabelas and REI have affiliate programs.

Suggested domain name: climbbigrocks.com

18. Crowd Funding

Kickstarter has taken the world of venture funding and turned it upside down.  Kickstarter is a website where inventors and artists take an idea for something they could make, and create a page showing what they want to invent.  Then, those who would buy the product if it were available, buy the product and as soon as the inventor has the item finished, mails it to the person who bought it.  Many inventors, artists, and entrepreneurs have sold millions of dollars of products before even making the first production run of a prototype.

Create a website showing people how to get good results on kickstarter, how to manufacture a prototype, writing about what ideas do well and what don’t, etc.  I guarantee there is a passionate audience for this type of information.

How to monetize the site:  The sky is the limit.  You could create a kickstarter marketing video course, an eBook on manufacturing a prototype, an eBook on patent law, etc.

Suggested domain name: CrowdFundKing.com is available, as well as CrowdFundQueen.com.  Be careful not to use the word Kickstarter in your domain name or you can be guaranteed to hear from the lawyers at Kickstarter.

19.  Inventing

I would love  to find a great online resource for manufacturing basics.  I have had some ideas for products I’d like to invent for my audience, but I have no idea where to start.

On a blog like this, you could write about how to draw up the engineering plans for a product, where to go to get manufacturing for cheap, outsourcing to China, etc.  This would be a great topic for an engineer to write about, or someone who is passionate about inventing and wants to share information as he or she learns it.

How to monetize the site: Are you kidding?  There are a million possibilities, but this screams “Membership site” to me right now.  Anyone prepared to manufacture a product is ready to spend tens of thousands of dollars.  Who wouldn’t pay a subscription fee to get you to show them step by step through the process?

Suggested domain name: InventAndManufacture.com

20.  3d Printing

First of all, who cares if this business is going to be successful!?!?  I have just given you an idea for how you can justify buying a 3d printer, and even better, it’ll be tax deductible!  🙂

3d printing is a booming industry right now.  3d printers are machines that start with a chunk of plastic and essentially cut out whatever you design on the computer.  You can make clothing, jewelry, technology accessories, all kinds of things.  Writing a blog about what can be made with 3d printers, reviewing the best 3d printers, and having info on making the best designs would be AWESOME!  I might even follow this kind of blog even though I don’t have a 3d printer, just because I want to get one so bad!

How to monetize the site: I think an online class in 3d printing software would be a big hit!

Suggested domain name: 3dprintingtoday.com

21. Storm Chasing

Storm chasing could be a very interesting site.  Tens of thousands of people each year leave their homes and roadtrip across the plains states of the US to chase tornadoes and special weather events.  This is becoming increasingly popular among photographers.

Teaching people how to chase storms, AND how to do so safely could be a great topic for a niche site.

How to monetize this site: This site would definitely do well with an info product.  Also, ads could be a good option.

Suggested domain name:  ChaseCrazyStorms.com

22. Finishing a Basement

There are millions of homes with unfinished basements.  A website explaining the real costs of finishing a basement, tutorials on how to do the work that is specific to finishing a basement, and sharing inspiration for what a basement could be, would be a great niche website.

How to monetize this site: I would make ONE info product (either an eBook or a video course) sharing the financial part of doing a basement or specific tutorials on finishing a basement could be great.  There are already some online courses out there on finishing a basement that you could be an affiliate for.  Also, ads could bring in lots of passive income.

Suggested domain name: FinishThatBasement.com is available right now.

23.  Sound Mixing

My wife is a fantastic singer/piano player.  As in, seriously amazing.  She wouldn’t like it much, but I would LOVE to have a CD of her singing some of my favorite songs.

I have looked all over the web for good tutorials on mixing a professional music track, but came up empty handed.  Without some audio sweetening and knowing how to set up the mics right, it would sound horrible if I did it myself.  I would DEFINITELY buy an online class on sound mixing from someone who really knows their stuff.

You could also interview audio technicians from Hollywood and famous studios, do reviews of popular music tracks, etc.

How to monetize this site: I would make a downloadable video course for this site.  Price the main video course at $69.99 and then have tons of upsells for $29.99 for “Vocal Recording Masterclass,” “Piano Recording Masterclass,” “Mixing in Adobe Audition,” etc.

Suggested domain name: TuneRepair.com is available at the time of writing.  It’s rare to find a short 10-character domain name still available.

24. Garage organization

Organizing a garage could be a cool site.  The reason this one would work well as a niche site is that the products for organizing a garage (garage shelving, tool boxes, work benches, flooring, etc) are the type of item that people buy online and which are expensive.

How to monetize this site: Amazon associates

Suggested name: OCDgarageorganization.com

25. Hacks That Work

I saw a Facebook page pop up in my newsfeed this week that is a pretty cool idea.  It’s someone who simply goes through Pinterest and finds really clever tips for life and shares them on a blog.  It’s cool, because something like this could get you traffic rolling into the website in an afternoon, not months like it takes with Google traffic.

KEEP IN MIND that this site would likely get much more traffic from Pinterest than Google and thus may not be a stable source of traffic.  Sites relying on social sharing of articles are not a slam dunk like informational articles getting Google traffic.  This one is a bit more risky.

Pinterest traffic is so excellent because whether your site is 2 minutes or 2 years old, your good content still gets shared around immediately.

But there are tons of sites that share “cool ideas.”  The twist that would really help this site build an audience of raving fans is that you actually TEST all of the ideas and share them each day, as either a “success” or “fail.”

So let’s say someone shares on Pinterest that you can easily remove soap scum from a faucet by pouring vinegar on it.  Do the actual test and take pictures of the experiment.  Share one experiment per day on your blog.

How to monetize this site: This website is one of few sites that I’d probably say advertising is a good option for.  Usually I find that advertising doesn’t pay nearly as well as information products, but a site like this could bring in millions of pageviews in short order.  Also, you could sell books of the top 100 hacks for different topics.

Suggested domain name: www.hacksthatwork.com is available right now.  UPDATE: My brother-in-law is taking this idea and working on it.  Hopefully he’ll put in the work and make it awesome.  It’s a site I’d like to read.

26. How to Run a Marathon

Frankly, I do not care whether there is a site on the same topic as one I’m building.  My most profitable website is a photography website.  Not any specific niche of photography.  Just photography in general.  Guess what?  I wasn’t the first photography site.  There are hundreds of thousands of sites about photography!  It really doesn’t matter.  Even if someone else has a “better” site than mine, some people will identify with me, like the way I write better than other sites, will find my site first, etc.  You don’t have to be the only one in a niche to make a site work.  Not at all!  In fact, I have had more success building sites in busy niches than in empty ones.  The fact that people are there means there are potential customers and visitors there.

I ran a marathon in September 2013 with my wife Emily.  We trained for months, looked for podcasts on running a marathon, read tons of blogs about running your first marathon, bought products and books and running clothes, etc.  A marathon is a big deal for people, so if you can help them succeed–you have a fan!

I know what you’re saying.  What if this idea sounds good to you, but you aren’t an expert?  What if you haven’t ever even run a marathon before?  Who cares!  Share with others as you learn and just be honest with people that you are learning too, but you want to share what you learn.  The Internet is full of self-proclaimed “gurus” so it’s refreshing to read a blog that is down-to-earth.

When you create this site, be sure to add a podcast to it.  I looked long and hard for a good running podcast and couldn’t find one I loved.

How to monetize this site: I would definitely go the route of the online course.  Make a four month marathon bootcamp.  When people buy your online video training, they get the videos of you showing them how it’s done.  As an email course, you can set this up so they get email reminders when they are on day 20 what their running schedule should be, etc.  You could earn money in a lot of different ways with this site.  It would be excellent for sponsorships, but also Amazon affiliate sales and video courses.  Heck, even an eBook could be really good for this niche.  The door is wide open.

Type of site: Active authority site

Suggested domain name: MarathonNewb.com is available right now.  If you use this name, you would probably want to buy MarathonNewbie.com and have it redirect to your main site so that people don’t misspell it.  MarathonNewbie.com is currently available, as well as several other possible misspellings.

27.  Smart Watch

If you follow the tech industry, you know that wearable activity tracking devices are all the rage right now.  Apple, Samsung, Windows, Fitbit, Pebble, and other companies are pouring in hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars into this industry.  Yet, I haven’t really seen any good blogs about smart watches.

Register a domain and get on it!  You can review all of the current offerings by simply buying them on Amazon, testing them out for a month, and then returning them before your return window ends.  I personally don’t have any problem doing this because it means that I’m going to send TONS of traffic to Amazon, so I think it’s in their best interest.

Review the new gear, write about rumors of new devices, test battery life, curate youtube videos of good reviews from others, compare prices, etc.

How to monetize this site: Affiliate marketing and ads

Suggested domain name: wearabledeviceblog.com  It’s not an amazing URL, but I’m sure you’ll be able to find something.

28.  International Phone

I travel out of the country somewhat frequently to do photography.  When I do, I HATE not being able to use my phone normally.

It’s very complicated to figure out what you need to get voice, data, and texting back on your phone in another country without racking up huge bills.  Each country is different.  Some countries you need to get a local SIM, some countries you just need to call your cell provider and turn on international data, some countries just don’t have good enough service to make it reasonable to use a phone, etc.

Make a website that solves the stupid problem!  Make a post for each country and each cell provider with a clear, definitive answer.

How to monetize the site: Link to international sim cards on Amazon, get LOADS of advertising from companies like iroam.com, etc.

29. Snow Cone Shack

This kind of site would be seasonal to some extent because it would obviously be more visited during the summer; however, some places in the world have summer most of the year.  Also, a seasonally-active site could actually be a good thing for someone wanting to do more business during that time.  For example, a school teacher who is not working during the summer.

In this kind of website you could show how to find a location for a Snow Cone Shack, how to build the kiosk, what company to work with for sourcing flavors and cups, taxes, and pricing.  There would be lots of questions someone would have in building a snow cone shack, and you can answer them!

How to monetize this site: The visitors to your site would all be ready to invest some money–most likely at least $10,000.  So obviously, you can charge a healthy price for your offerings.  I think a video course would probably be your best option here.  You could also earn a lot of money from selling leads to companies that franchise snow cone shacks or sell the flavors and machines.

Suggested domain name: I was extremely surprised to find SnowConeShack.com available for registration.  I was so surprised that I almost bought the domain just to re-sell it, but I decided to leave that opportunity open for one of you.

30. Live Video Editing

For many years I’ve wanted to be able to record Youtube videos with multiple camera angles and just have a little switcher on my desk that I can just switch which camera is being used.  Then when I’m done, I have an already-edited video file on my hard drive ready to upload to Youtube.

Churches are an example of another customer that needs this.  Smaller churches don’t have a film crew but do have a few volunteers who could run a basic video switcher to make their sermons available online.

This is an extremely complicated thing to learn and most of the info assumes you’re a video pro.  I’ve been testing products like the Black Magic Atem 1/ME (hated it) and the Cerevo Livewedge (love it), and I’m always shocked with how little step-by-step info is available online for learning about this.

A how-to site with lots of product reviews would be FABULOUS!  I’m your first reader as long as you do a good job!

How to monetize this site: I’d keep it simple with two monetization strategies: (1) Amazon associates for people who buy the gear, and (2) a $300 1-hour consult over Skype for groups that want your expertise in getting everything set up flawlessly.  I’d be shocked if this site didn’t succeed with the right blogger.

Suggested domain name: LiveVideoEditing.com

Type of site: Just make this a niche site for the first several years.  Don’t waste a ton of time making a podcast and an in-depth youtube channel.  Make a few videos to show some setups but mostly just write blog posts.  If you create a podcast episode today, nobody will listen to it again after a few months.  Write blog posts that will last.  There is no competition here, so don’t get bogged down with social media and crap.  Just write!

31.  Soundproof Your Home

With floor plans getting more open, homes are getting louder!  Many people buy an open floor plan and install hardwood floors instead of carpet and then can’t hear themselves think when the kids are playing in the other room.  Also, more and more people are working from home, which means they need a quiet home office.

Soundproofing a room in your home is a popular search term on Google, and there are TONS AND TONS of products you can recommend and link to Amazon for people to buy.  And you’ll earn 8% of the products they buy after clicking your affiliate link to Amazon.  The best part of it is that the products are often in the $200 range, which I find to be a sweet spot for Amazon Associates.  It’s enough money that you get a good commission, but not so absurdly expensive that people won’t buy.

You could link to soundproof blankets to put on a glass door of an office, rubber padding to put in door jams, how to quiet a noisy computer fan, how to silence squeaks in a floor, etc.  All of those articles would also mention products on Amazon.  This could be a very passive site.

How to monetize this site: I’d keep it simple.  Just use Amazon Associates.  It’s free to sign up and you get a 4-8% commission on most items you refer.

Suggested domain name: quietmyhouse.com

Type of site: Very passive niche site

UPDATE: I created SoundProofExpert.com and wrote just seven articles on it.  I got distracted and never finished the site.  I usually like 50 articles on a niche site.  Anyway, 1.5 years later, the site started earning $400/month in passive income from just SEVEN ARTICLES!  We gave the site away as a contest on the Income School Youtube channel.  Watch this video on our Youtube channel to see all of the details of this site–how much traffic we got, how long it took to get traffic, and all the earnings.  We reveal everything about that project in the video.  Oh, and be sure to subscribe to Income School!

32.  Style Your Truck

I recently bought a Ford F-150.  It’s a beautiful truck already, but I felt like it was a little too “vanilla” for my taste.  I wanted it to look a little more custom and stylized.

Then I started looking around town and noticed that just about every truck out there has been stylized and personalized with a vast array of products: roll bars, bumper bars, lift kit, steps, bed liners, those plastic deflection things above the windows, vinyl, etc.

So I thought a really cool website would be a site that shows tons of ideas for personalizing and stylizing your truck with off-the-shelf parts made by third party companies.

I think this is a KILLER niche because site visitors will have just spend tens of thousands of dollars on a truck, so a couple hundred on accessories won’t feel like a big deal.  Also, MOST of the products in this niche would likely be in the $100 to $300 range, which I find is the sweet spot for niche sites.  More expensive and people research it for weeks before buying (and consequently your affiliate link expires before purchase), or too inexpensive and the commission is simply too small without massive volume.

How to Monetize this Site: I would go for straight affiliate commissions on this site.  Do not even CONSIDER wasting your time with creating your own info products.  Just link to the parts.

Suggested Domain Name: StyleYourTruck.com is available as of the time of writing this post.

Type of Site: Extremely passive niche site.

33. Drones

I’ve been flying quadcopters and RC helicopters for 5 years.  I bought the original DJI phantom when it was announced and have owned several since then.

Drones are a RED HOT industry.  I had an article rank about drones on my photography site and I received messages from the two largest drone manufacturers’ marketing departments about it.  I also saw many affiliate commissions come through from that article when people were buying drones.

On the ABC show Shark Tank, I’ve never seen the sharks so excited as they were when a small drone company came on the show.  They recognized what a hot industry this was and fought over it.

Create a site about drones and make this one an active website.  Review drones as they come out, write about the rumors of upcoming drone leaks, tips for flying drones, embed youtube videos of things people are doing with drones, etc.  Dominate this niche!

There are lots of websites out there about drones right now, but there really isn’t anyone out in the lead on this one.  The sites I’ve seen could be easily overtaken by a skilled blogger.

How to Monetize the Site: This site is ripe for products.  Video courses on how to pass the Part 107 exam in the United States, courses on cinematography with drones, how to start an aerial photography business, etc.  When you have these courses created, PLEASE email me because I’ll gladly be an affiliate for your products.  I could send you TONS of business from my photography site.

Suggested Domain Name: DroneUserSchool.com

Type of Site: Actively managed authority site.

34. Baby Photography Props

Baby photography involves tons of props, and it can be hard to find good props on Amazon or other sources.  A website with tons of ideas for baby props could be an excellent website that could probably rank quickly.

How to Monetize the Site: For the entire first year at least, I’d just make this an Amazon Associates website.  Link to products on amazon and earn a percentage.  Eventually, you could be an affiliate for photography training courses once you have at least 100,000 pageviews per month.

Suggested Domain Name: Babyphotographyproplover.com

Type of Site: Passive income.

35.  DIY Kitchen Upgrades

The average cost of a major kitchen renovation is over $15,000.  Ouch!  Yet, there are SO many ways to make a kitchen look beautiful for just a few hundred dollars.  It’s actually something I’m doing right now in my own kitchen.  I bought decorative posts for the island, I’m putting brick facade on front of the island, changing the backsplash, putting wooden decorative feet under the cabinets, putting in decorative corbels under the cabinets, adding under-cabinet lighting, and painting the cabinets.  All of these things can be done for under $150 per project.  A website just about inspiration for kitchen upgrades could be fantastic!

How to Monetize the Site: The affiliate program for Lowes and Home Depot stinks.  It’s only around 2%, which simply isn’t enough.  I would sign up for Amazon Associates to recommend items like a kitchen island post and hardware.  But also I think a site like this could get a HUGE amount of traffic from Pinterest if you have nice pictures, so I would definitely consider putting ads on a site like this.  I usually find that a site can earn about $1,000 per month for every 100,000 visitors to the site.  Frankly, with a site like this you could get that much traffic pretty quickly.  I use Adthrive right now to run the ads on my sites.

Suggested Domain Name: BetterDIYKitchen.com is available at the time of writing.

Type of Site: Passive income from ads and affiliate.  If you had a following on Pinterest it certainly wouldn’t hurt.

36. Dirt Bike Newbie

I just started getting into dirt bikes.  They are SOO much fun!  Unfortunately, I’ve found it difficult to find good answers to the things I’m searching for  on newbie dirt bike topics.  For example, “How many CCs should I get for a kids bike?”  Or “What protective gear do most kids wear for dirt biking” or “What is the best beginner adult dirt bike?”  If you can answer those questions and create a helpful site answering them, it could be quite profitable.

How to Monetize the Site: This site is an obvious affiliate play because the GEAR is super expensive for dirt bikes and not readily available in all sizes in stores, so buying online is popular.  You could also put ads on the site.

Suggested Domain Name: dirtbikenewbie.com is available right now.

Type of Site: Extremely passive affiliate site.

UPDATE: I got into this niche myself.  I purchased DirtBikePlanet.com and am working to grow the site.  It’s already bringing in income!

37. Fly Tying

If you’re into fly fishing, or you think you might want to learn about fly fishing to start getting into it, fly tying could be a great sub-niche.  You might think fishing is a very small niche, but did you know that more people will go fishing this year than play tennis or baseball combined?  It’s a huge topic and fly tying doesn’t look to be too competitive.  As fly tying requires a lot of different items that people could purchase online.

How to Monetize the Site: I would start with amazon affiliate and then once you get traffic, I’d make a subscription site on how to tie each of the most popular flies.  You could have really well done tutorials on how to tie hundreds of flies and people could pay for a subscription to get all of them.

Suggested Domain Name: tieflies.com

Type of Site: Small authority site

UPDATE: FlyTyingEnthusiast.com is available at the time of writing.

WARNING!!!  BE CAREFUL in choosing your site idea!  While I think there are millions of ideas that can work, I’ve also had the sad experience dozens and dozens of times of seeing someone who poured 6 months of effort into a site that really stood very little chance of succeeding.  The idea just wasn’t sound.  If you’d like some help with your niche site idea before you start, check out Project 24 where I teach you exactly how to build your site and use it to earn a living.  I’ve covered “picking a niche and domain name” in great detail.

We certainly can’t promise that your idea will succeed.  Your success will depend on your effort and skill.  But having built MANY successful niche sites, and earning a full-time income online for the last 5 years, I have enough experience to tell you things at the start of your journey that can save you thousands of hours and missed opportunities later on.

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