Profitability of the fitness/bodybuilding niche?

by Andy22
19 replies
Hey guys, one of my first posts here.

My question is the following. I have an interest in the bodybuilding niche. I know alot about it, enjoy writing about it etc and want to start a website around it. How can i go about finding how profitable a certain niche is before i start?

I figured the biggest revenue stream for these types of sites would be through supplement sales as an affiliate. My goal is to rank for the most popular bodybuilding supplements, offer a review of them, and a price comparisson linking to different supplement stores. Most supplement shops give you in the range of 15% commission or lower on supplement orders. Average orders are around $90. Other than that i have no idea at what type of ratio i will convert at and how much money i would make for ranking X for X terms.

Is there any way to get a better estimate for how much i could make without actually doing it? I guess there must be some kind of money in it because i have seen some websites do the same thing as my idea already. I would class the serps as competitive but not unbeatable for sure. Esp given my starting capital and seo knowledge.

Anyways, looking for your thoughts and opinions. This might not be the best place to bost, but worth a shot.

Thanks again,

- Andy
#bodybuilding #fat loss #fitness #fitness or bodybuilding #niche #profitability
  • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
    If you are going into this market, you are going to need a hook, an angle, something that makes your site and you unique.

    I don't know this to be a fact but I am guessing that supplements are auto-rebillings. If that is the case, you are going to need some edge over the sites where the people are already signed up to get their auto shipments every month.

    You cannot compete on price if you are not white labelling your own line of supplements, so you are going to need to sell either on your own story, or your great placement in the rankings.

    It is hard to estimate anything if you don't have any numbers from your competition. If you like this market and have good knowledge about how the internet works as far as promotion goes, there doesn't seem to be any reason why you can't try it, even without an estimate.
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  • Profile picture of the author ianbong
    Yeah, I agree with what JMichaelZ said.

    Basically it's harder to compete with all those websites out there already doing supplement reviews and stuff. Make yourself different - stand out from the crowd. Basically use a different angle of attack and offer something they don't have.

    You said you know a lot about this industry. This is a huge bonus since you can offer something unique. My advice is to start building a list, and a blog which will act as funnel to your list. Offer reviews on your blog, and develop relationship with people on your list.

    If you offer supplement reviews, maybe you could offer bonuses for your list members if they buy from you - personal email consultations for example. Anything to make you stand out from the crowd.

    Just my two cents, hit thanks if you like it
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  • Profile picture of the author Fun to Write
    Andy

    You could start a blog about your topic and reveal some juicy insider information that you have personal experience about. This is one of those evergreen topics that never grows old, because there's always people who want to build up muscles.

    Be absolutely authentic and talk with your genuine voice. Be yourself and tell it like it is, and you should be able to build up a following. Capture emails and offer a free report as an incentive to sign up.

    Mix in posts about your own experiences with fitness and bodybuilding with the product reviews.
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  • Profile picture of the author OliverJacob
    Almost everythings been done in the bodybuilding niche how ever if you bring something new to the table I dont see why you cant carve out a little chunk of the market for yourself. First of all be genuine one angle might be take on some clients first get results and the world is your oyster.
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    • Profile picture of the author Andy22
      Hey guys, thanks for ther response, maybe i didnt make myself clear enough.

      Basically, i want to create a site something like this:

      Jacked Reviews: 8.7/10 - SupplementReviews.com

      where i do reviews of a bunch of supplements, then refer the visitors to other supplement stores. And then i get a comission based on the visitor buying the product or other products from that supplement store.

      The value i can add is basically by sorting the BS supplements from the ones that work. I have tried countless ones and am pretty familiar with what does doesnt work. But TBH, i dont think the "value" i can add with the content means that much. It will basically come down to ranking for all the product names in google. I am fairly confident i could pull something like this off, but really, its not easy.

      My main question really is, how much money could i make if i did this on a mass scale.

      Obviously i would add other things to the site, such as articles, answering peoples questions, maybe a forum, free ebook/list etc and what not. But i think the biggest revenue stream will come from selling supplements to bodybuilders/people wanting to get bigger muscles.

      Obviously this is a competitive space and everything has already been done, so its not like i am re-inventing the wheel, and im not really asking about how hard it will be to do (I know it will be hard :-) I just kinda want to know how much i could make if i pull it off. I guess thats hard for anyone to know, since ive done a bunch of research and still dont
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      • Profile picture of the author LilBlackDress
        Originally Posted by Andy22 View Post

        Hey guys, thanks for ther response, maybe i didnt make myself clear enough.

        Basically, i want to create a site something like this:

        Jacked Reviews: 8.7/10 - SupplementReviews.com

        where i do reviews of a bunch of supplements, then refer the visitors to other supplement stores. And then i get a comission based on the visitor buying the product or other products from that supplement store.

        The value i can add is basically by sorting the BS supplements from the ones that work. I have tried countless ones and am pretty familiar with what does doesnt work. But TBH, i dont think the "value" i can add with the content means that much. It will basically come down to ranking for all the product names in google. I am fairly confident i could pull something like this off, but really, its not easy.

        My main question really is, how much money could i make if i did this on a mass scale.

        Obviously i would add other things to the site, such as articles, answering peoples questions, maybe a forum, free ebook/list etc and what not. But i think the biggest revenue stream will come from selling supplements to bodybuilders/people wanting to get bigger muscles.

        Obviously this is a competitive space and everything has already been done, so its not like i am re-inventing the wheel, and im not really asking about how hard it will be to do (I know it will be hard :-) I just kinda want to know how much i could make if i pull it off. I guess thats hard for anyone to know, since ive done a bunch of research and still dont
        You could potentially do very well with it. You would have to dig deep into the words to find ones that you could compete for.

        How much could you make will depend on the commission of course and your traffic. If you are using health and beauty affiliate sites, many of the products offer commissions in the $35-$45 range per sale. So it doesn't take to many sales to scale up to a nice income. If you are using CJ, many of the health offers run at around 8-15 percent per flat sale. If you are using Amazon you will start at 4% but can easily ramp up with more sales.

        Your best bet is to find a few of the products you want to affiliate with and check out the commission rates.

        There is definitely good earnings potential. And if you hit on a new hot product at the right time, it can be very sweet.
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  • Profile picture of the author Fraggler
    Andy, I recommend that you go and have a read and sign up to Rusty Moore's Fitness Training Blog (Fitness Blog Training: A Full-Time Living from One Blog?). It is an amazin resource and will get you well on the way in the fitness niche (or any niche for that matter).
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  • Profile picture of the author Fraggler
    How do you intend on getting eyes onto your offer?

    Organic traffic will be determined by the amount of content you can write and the search demand for the different products or the niche in general. You need to brainstorm that using you own knowledge and tools such as the Google Keyword Tool. This isn't an exact science though, the search numbers will vary a lot. Also don't forget that roughly 50% of people click through to the first result in Google and it tails off quickly after the top 3 results.

    Paid traffic will be limited by your budget and conversion rate.

    You need to work out how your page converts for each traffic source. 20%, 10%, 2%? You'll need to test that too. You then need to work out how much you can get per sale or lead. From this you can work out how much each visitor should be worth to you.

    Once you know how much each visitor is worth to you, you can focus more on paid traffic - knowing what your profitable budget is. You can also put more effort towards article marketing and content creation to get even more organic and referred traffic to a page you now know converts.

    Do people buy supplements online? Absolutely! The niche is profitable but how much you make is how you approach it.

    No one can pull a figure out of thin-air and say that's how much you'll make. You shouldn't base your judgement on what someone else thinks either. If you do get a figure, work out how and if that figure is possible.
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  • Profile picture of the author Andy22
    Yuh, i want to use organic traffic.

    Ive already done a bunch of KW research. What i have done is used the adwords tool to find out the exacts to each of the supplements. I have looked at over 50 supplements. Then checked out the serps and done some backlink analysis on the pages to determine the competition. For the most part, theres some low hanging fruit on the supplements that arent the most popular.

    I just dont really know how much i would make from the traffic and the value from each visitor, since i know nothing about conversions and havent had a chance to test yet.

    I guess the best answer is to jump in and find out, but it will cost me a bit of money to get started.

    And yeah, for the most part i will be writing the reviews myself.
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    • Profile picture of the author Fraggler
      Use one of the established Web 2.0 properties (Hubpages/Squidoo/I hear InfoBarrel is pretty good too) to test your idea before putting a lot of time in generating a new site. Write some articles for terms you want to target and send them to where you would send them from your own domain.

      Build your links and other off site promotion like you would with your own domain and see how it goes. Check if the traffic numbers are as expected and see how the merchant's landing page converts.

      The properties will get you results either way fast. Once your site is established you can edit your existing properties and link through to your own domain too.

      My only tips is to present the information in a way that the user doesn't have to go anywhere else for more info. Make it genuinely helpful and your results should be pleasing.
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    • Profile picture of the author paulie888
      Originally Posted by Andy22 View Post

      Yuh, i want to use organic traffic.

      Ive already done a bunch of KW research. What i have done is used the adwords tool to find out the exacts to each of the supplements. I have looked at over 50 supplements. Then checked out the serps and done some backlink analysis on the pages to determine the competition. For the most part, theres some low hanging fruit on the supplements that arent the most popular.

      I just dont really know how much i would make from the traffic and the value from each visitor, since i know nothing about conversions and havent had a chance to test yet.

      I guess the best answer is to jump in and find out, but it will cost me a bit of money to get started.

      And yeah, for the most part i will be writing the reviews myself.
      Andy, there's no way to really know in advance. The traffic figures are estimates at best, and you won't even know how well your website converts until you put it up (and this is a big factor that determines your overall profitability which cannot be known in advance).

      Just go for it - your monetary investment would be pretty minimal since you are intending to use SEO for traffic. I'd say to just do it, because bodybuilding/supplements is pretty much an evergreen niche that will stick around for the long haul.

      Paul
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      • Profile picture of the author sbeard
        Why not take a backdoor approach. Become an affiliate for some well known fitness gurus such as Jon Benson, Craig Ballentine, and others who not only write for Mags like Mens Health but have affiliate programs for eBooks and workout plans etc. Drive traffic to their programs but route it thru a squeeze page so you can build a your own list to market to at a later time ... maybe via a newletter or blog that reviews supplements, fitness books, equipment etc. That might help you build your brand quicker than a direct frontal assault on many long standing and highly ranked websites. Plus, you can make a few dollars in affiliate commisions along the way.
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  • Profile picture of the author Andy22
    thanks for the answers, i think im gonna try this, but instead of going for an all out assault on every supplement in every bodybuilding niche, im gonna create a mini site for a specific type of supplement.

    That way i can get some generic traffic and some traffic for the supplement names, without investing in creating a huge portal. That way i can test the waters and decide how effective it is.

    If you guys want i can post my results here after im done.
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    • Profile picture of the author LilBlackDress
      Originally Posted by Andy22 View Post

      thanks for the answers, i think im gonna try this, but instead of going for an all out assault on every supplement in every bodybuilding niche, im gonna create a mini site for a specific type of supplement.

      That way i can get some generic traffic and some traffic for the supplement names, without investing in creating a huge portal. That way i can test the waters and decide how effective it is.

      If you guys want i can post my results here after im done.
      If you opt to do this choose a generic type of name so you can quickly switch to other types of products if one runs cold or you decide you want to expand.

      I also agree with sbeard in that you may want to choose a couple affiliate programs via ClickBank to add to the site. If the focus is on the supplements, you may just want to choose one and really push it along with the supplements.

      There is definitely very good money in this type of site if you can get the traffic.
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      • Profile picture of the author Andy22
        Thanks guys!
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  • Profile picture of the author firminite123
    Very conscious in food habits.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rsberg
    As you probably know and have already been told...it's a very competitive niche.

    One thing you might want to consider is also doing reviews on other related products...weight belts, workout gloves, gym memberships, weight sets for the home, home gyms,...etc etc

    You could cover a wide range of products , add your own personal spin to it and make it "yours".

    I'm an avid fitness nut myself and I know there are thousands of reivew sites for supplements...like others said....you will need to stand out somehow.
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  • Profile picture of the author firminite123
    Quite interesting conversation.
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  • Profile picture of the author oziozi
    Hi Andy
    Another way to check out what this "hungry crowd" is looking for is to visit some of the forums for that subject. Just go to google search window and type in muscle building forums- and you will see a heap of forums where you can see the questions this group of people are asking and getting help for. Maybe this will give you a niche within this huge market to check out too? And then there will also be discussion re appropriate supplements being used and recommended. Hope this helps.
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