Making Money Online, Alternative Niches

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While this may seem odd to you, I got an email from a friend of mine asking me if I knew about an affiliate program that is related to the online gaming industry. Among other things, he wanted to know what were my views about the “niche” in itself and what sort of things should he be concerned of when promoting any program related to this industry. Instead of replying to him, I decided to just post about it here so you too can have an idea about the industry.

Online home games or online gaming is probably one of the most visited sites in the sphere. Like the adult industry, many do not like to speak much about them, but truth is, these are highly lucrative industries and can be an alternative niche that you might be interested in promoting. One of the reasons it is interesting is because it is a path less followed, and since not everyone is talking about it, not everyone is doing it. If you are a little bit interested in promoting home games or related niches, then read on.

Before I go further though, I want you to know that I am not endorsing any online gaming activity, as this is entirely up to you to decide, if you want to be a part of this industry or not. The idea here is to introduce you to another niche that you can promote and not to encourage you to play the game in itself.

Now that we got that straight, I would like to introduce you to this alternative niche that many do not talk about. Making money online can be done in a lot of ways, and promoting online games, such as Poker, can equally be interesting and rewarding. You can (and should) set up a specific website that is related to this niche and should limit yourself to promoting only reliable sites and never attempt to promote any other programs that are not related to online gaming. When in doubt, read their TOS and ensure that the programs you are in do not conflict with promoting the online gaming industry. If you do decide to set up a website to promote this niche, there are several things that you should consider before setting it up.

1) Set up the website just like you would any other. Clean structure, good navigation and avoiding all those annoying bells and whistles also applies.

2) Try to find a good domain name that is relevant to this niche. You will want this to be specific and topic related.

3) Include disclaimers, privacy policies, guidelines, rules and do not encourage people and say that they will get rich by playing. That’s a big no, no.

4) Do not use false, misleading or deceptive advertising.

5) Clearly state that the site is for “adults” only. No minors allowed.

6) Remind users that they are encouraged to install “protection” software to avoid their children or kids to have access to the gaming portal.

7) Write articles that are related to “safe”, “responsible” gaming and optimize those articles for SEO. Search engines do not ban responsible websites, just because they are promoting the industry. They might be filtered for “safety” purposes but they are ranked nonetheless and will show on results if the filter is turned to off.

8) Choose the websites you will be promoting wisely. Verify the websites reputation (WOT) and search for reviews to know what other people think about it. The more positive reviews you get, the better.

There you have it. What are your views about the online gaming industry? Do you know of alternative niches that are also not so highly spoken about? Let us know.

DiTesco

DiTesco is a Business and Inbound Marketing Consultant, and founder of iBlogzone.com. iBlogzone's main objective is to help startups and small business owners achieve success in their online ventures. | More About Me and my Digital Marketing Services in SP Brazil.

15 thoughts on “Making Money Online, Alternative Niches”

  • I believe any niche for that matter relies on recommending products which have good reviews and provide value to the user.

    Gaming niche has a lot of potential and no matter what – people will never stop playing games – so, it is an evergreen niche

    • Hi Gautam. I agree with you. Provided the products being recommended are good, any niche for that matter is always interesting, as there are always someone who will like it. Thanks for dropping by

  • I know back when I was into the MMORPG scene, there were definitely some websites that got a pretty good amount of traffic for things related to the game. The successful websites had guides, built community, and provided a way to facilitate trades. I never spent any real money on the sites, so I’m thinking they might not have even had anything affiliate related, but the potential was probably there.

    • Hi TJ. You are right, the potential is there and sometimes right in front of our eyes. A website that draws a lot of traffic in many cases relies heavily n CPA and more. Tks for taking the time to comment. Appreciate it

  • I believe nothing is wrong with promoting Gaming as on alternative Niche but as you rightly said there are do’s and don’ts to consider it is heavily promoted on television so nothing is wrong promoting it online.

    • Hi Gary. Exactly. Gaming niche is all over the place but if you notice, not many do speak about it on the internet. For affiliate marketing purposes, it is there and ready for the grabs. I have started one last week and watching closely how it develops. We’ll see.

  • I know you are talking mainly about poker but I think the online games such as mmorpgs market is great and a lot of people are ready to pay a lot of money for their hobby. Many are so addicted that they won’t even look at 100$ if you promise them that their character will have the best item in game.

    I don’t really know a lot about poker website and how the business work, but I presume that if you find the right “audience” then it’s okay, but from the spam I see with poker website and such, I highly doubt that a normal mortal will be able to catch a decent spot in this niche.

    • Hi Alex. Sharp eye 🙂 And you are right about catching a decent spot on this niche. It is not easy and although there are ways to get an audience without using “black” techniques, it is nonetheless difficult. Maybe now that Mr G is running through all those spam sites, things can be easier for legitimate websites that actually provide honest opinion, guides, responsible suggestions, etc. Thanks for stopping by

  • Thank you DiTesco for an educational post. As you know money making via an alternative/special niche is never my industry so this is a good read just to get an idea how to start and what to look out for. Indeed, most of the youngsters (their parents too, although mostly grumbling) I met these days couldn’t stop talking about facebook and online games! Part of it, facebook even contributes in bringing more people to the ‘gaming’ world, which I believe a huge advantage for the gaming industry. (Let’s not forget how addictive both can get)

    Maybe that’s why currently I’m staying away from any ‘gaming’ as I still need to concentrate on other major social activities. But no doubt, it’s something to look into.

    @wchingya
    Social/Blogging Tracker

    • Hi Ching. You are absolutely right, online gaming is very addictive and one should be responsible enough to know the limits. Special niches are just but a few, and jumping in it could be very profitable. However, priorities are priorities and one should be doing something only when they feel comfortable about it. Thanks for stopping by Ching, always appreciated.

  • Online gaming is definitely a lucrative niche, but just with any other niche it should be something you like and already have an enthusiastic knowledge about..

    ..going into this for the sole purpose of making money may be daunting if you aren’t into it 😉

    • HI Caleb. Agreed, anything you do that does not really spark any interest is very daunting. As a matter of fact it does not even make sense to do so, because ultimately you will loose your motivation and let a project go down. No point of putting in any effort that you will not continue, right?

  • Altenate niches are great as long as there is a market for the product, if people are actually searching for the ‘niche’ product and in a buying way not just info searches then it is def a safe bet if positioning can be attained 🙂

  • Nice anchored link to a poker site you’ve got there 😉 – not something most people are prepared to link to.

    • Sharp eye James, but as I said many people do not like to talk about them, furthermore linking to it 😉 Anyway, it is an endorsed linked, maybe one of the few that I know that is worthwhile checking out. However, care should always be taken and I highly recommend not to mix this with other niches except for relevant ones. Thanks for stopping by

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