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 · 5 min read
Strategy · How-To
Find affiliate keywords with buying intent and realistic ranking opportunities. Learn to inspect search results, map topic clusters, and prioritize content that earns.
Grant Ongstad · 21 min read
Strategy · How-To
24 affiliate marketing niches that still work in 2026, grouped by buyer type, with what makes each one winnable and how to choose the right one for you.
Grant Ongstad · 5 min read
Strategy · How-To
Affiliate niche sites still work, but the old playbook has changed. Learn how to choose a niche, create useful content, get traffic, and build an affiliate site in 2026.
Grant Ongstad · 17 min read
Flagship · Analysis
The best beginner niches share four traits: no YMYL scrutiny, testable products, a welcoming community, and economics that reward small traffic. Here's what qualifies — and the famous niches beginners should avoid.
Kevin Glover · 3 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
Affiliate Programs · Listicle
Keto affiliate programs range from 20% supplement commissions to recurring meal-plan subscriptions. Here are the programs worth promoting in 2026, how they pay, and how to pick the right ones for your content.
Grant Ongstad · 6 min read
Affiliate Programs · Listicle
The pet niche runs on repeat purchases, but most programs only pay on the first order. Here are the pet affiliate programs worth promoting in 2026, how they pay, and how to choose between them.
Grant Ongstad · 6 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
Flagship · Analysis
The niches with rising demand right now — AI tools, recovery tech, cold plunge, pickleball, and home energy — and a warning about chasing heat without a moat.
Kevin Glover · 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
Strategy · How-To
Learn how to find affiliate programs to promote, evaluate potential partners, uncover niche opportunities, and recruit affiliates for your own business.
Kevin Glover · 15 min read
Strategy · How-To
Learn how to choose an affiliate niche in 2026 with seven evaluation criteria, a 35-point scorecard, topic mapping, monetization checks, and a practical research workflow.
Grant Ongstad · 22 min read
Flagship · How-To
A five-filter framework for choosing your affiliate niche: interest, buyer intent, economics, competition, and community — with the data to check at each step.
Kevin Glover · 3 min read
Strategy · How-To
Seven practical methods to find a niche for affiliate marketing, from mining your own experience to reading subreddits, and how to know when you have found the right one.
Grant Ongstad · 3 min read
Strategy · How-To
A practical, step-by-step guide to starting an affiliate website in 2026, from choosing a niche and building the site to your first content, traffic, and commissions.
Grant Ongstad · 5 min read
Strategy · How-To
A 13-step validation process for niche website ideas: audience, content depth, real SERPs, commercial intent, distribution channels, and a scorecard to run before you buy the domain.
Grant Ongstad · 15 min read
Strategy · Analysis
Yes — but $10K/month is the wrong first goal. The math, the compounding curve, and the niche-site playbook from someone who's driven millions in referred revenue.
Grant Ongstad · 10 min read
Strategy · How-To
15 niche site ideas with a specific angle for each, plus a simple framework for turning a broad topic into a niche website you can actually rank.
Grant Ongstad · 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
Strategy · How-To
Reddit affiliate marketing isn't about dropping links in subreddits — that gets you banned. Here's the full system: search operators that surface buyer questions, the comment framework that earns trust, and the 90-day plan for turning Reddit into research, traffic, and an owned community.
Grant Ongstad · 10 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
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
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
Flagship · Analysis
By raw sales volume: fashion, electronics, health, and home. By affiliate earnings per referral: finance, SaaS, and home security. The gap between those lists is the whole game.
Kevin Glover · 3 min read
Niche Research · Niche Research
Explore 18 specialized camping niches, their audiences, affiliate products, content opportunities, and a framework for validating a profitable niche website.
Grant Ongstad · 21 min read
