Teardowns of affiliate sites that actually make money, analysis of what the last three years of Google updates did to review content, and the distribution playbooks we use to build an audience that does not depend on search alone. Every article ends where our research does — on a scored niche page.
Flagship · Ranked Guide
Ranked by commission economics, achievable competition for a new site, and — the part everyone else ignores — the strength of the Reddit community you can build alongside it.
Grant Ongstad · 4 min read
Coffee / Food & Cooking · Industry Hub
The full map of the coffee and cooking affiliate vertical: economics, the sites that win, the subreddits that matter, and five sub-niches still open in 2026.
Grant Ongstad · 3 min read
Pet Care · Industry Hub
Economics, winning sites, the subreddit map, and the breed- and condition-specific gaps still open in the pet vertical.
Grant Ongstad · 3 min read
Coffee / Food & Cooking · Subreddit Guide
Every subreddit a coffee-niche builder should know — what gets asked, what the mods tolerate, and how to participate without being that guy.
Kevin Glover · 3 min read
Pet Care · Subreddit Guide
The subreddits that matter for a pet-niche builder, the questions that repeat daily, and the breed/condition gaps nobody has claimed.
Kevin Glover · 3 min read
Pet Care · Teardown
One topic, done exhaustively, with a recall database nobody else maintains — the indie authority playbook.
Grant Ongstad · 3 min read
Post-HCU · Teardown
The most documented HCU recovery on the internet — what HouseFresh actually changed, in order.
Grant Ongstad · 3 min read
Post-HCU · Analysis
The three-year story of Google vs. affiliate sites — and the specific traits shared by every site that made it through.
Kevin Glover · 3 min read
Consumer Tech / Electronics · Teardown
How a compatibility checker became one of the most update-proof affiliate businesses on the internet.
Grant Ongstad · 3 min read
Keto & Diet · Teardown
The cleanest example of the funnel every niche site should envy: free tool in, paid product out, community in the middle.
Grant Ongstad and Kevin Glover · 3 min read
Home Security / Home Improvement · Teardown
How a minimalist home-security site combines premium brand-direct payouts with original crime data nobody can copy from a SERP.
Grant Ongstad · 3 min read
Gifts / Novelty · Teardown
No SEO playbook, no reviews, barely any text — and reportedly $20K+/month. The distribution lesson everyone misses.
Grant Ongstad · 3 min read
Post-HCU · Analysis
We dug up what AffiliateNicheSites.com used to be: a 2009 build-in-public blog posting $7 income reports and chasing eBay commissions. The tactics died. The dream didn't.
Kevin Glover · 4 min read