Choose a niche without relying on commissions
Test whether readers have decisions you can help them make.
The scenario
A publisher considers generic business software or inventory tools for small bakeries.
A bakery-specific site can answer questions about batch units, waste, and supplier delivery schedules. A larger total audience is less useful if the publisher cannot help it make a decision.
Apply it to your own work
Interview operators or collect questions from public support discussions. Build one product comparison around a real workflow and see whether readers ask for a related guide.
What to watch for
A generous affiliate offer can disappear. Validate reader demand and your ability to produce useful work before committing.
Test whether the problem repeats
Look for a question that appears at several points in the buyer’s workflow, such as tracking ingredient waste across shifts. Draft a free worksheet or comparison that would still help if every referral link disappeared.
Show the draft to people in the niche and ask what they would do next. If they cannot identify a decision it supports, narrow the problem before expanding the site. Preserve real search language from interviews without treating anecdotes as demand estimates.
Try a related tool
Measure earnings per tracked referral click after refunds and reversals. Use counts and commissions from the same cohort.
