How To Find Niches For Your Blogging Site

Most people who want to start a blogging site spend weeks frozen in the niche selection phase. They read list after list of “profitable niches,” compare them against their interests, and then do nothing because none of them feel quite right. Alston has a different take: every single thing that can be bought and sold online is a niche. The question is not whether a niche can work, it is whether you can spot one and commit to it.

In this video, Alston walks through three specific tools and methods for finding niche site ideas when you are starting a blog through Income School’s Project 24 framework. These are not abstract strategies. They involve opening your browser, checking your Amazon account, and occasionally your eyes and ears while sitting at a coffee shop. Here is what each method actually looks like in practice.

What You’ll Walk Out With

How to use Google Trends to compare keyword variations and spot topics heading in the right direction
Why the 5-year view on Google Trends gives you a more honest picture than a 90-day window
How to reverse-engineer your own Amazon purchase history to surface niche ideas
What Amazon Bestsellers reveal about what millions of people are already paying for
How to train yourself to spot niches in everyday life, from restaurants to your own living room
Why the “perfect niche” mindset is the thing most likely to stop you before you ever start
A simple time limit to put on niche selection so you actually move forward
Not sure which niche fits your background and skills? Take the free quiz at finder.platformproof.com to find out.

Method 1: Google Trends

Google Trends is the first tool Alston recommends because it shows you something most keyword tools cannot: the direction a topic is moving. A niche that is popular today but declining is a completely different investment than one that is smaller today but growing. When you are building a blog meant to generate passive income over months and years, you want the trend moving in your favor.

The most straightforward way to use Google Trends is to type in a topic you are already considering and see how it looks. In the video, Alston types in “ping-pong” and then compares it against “table tennis” to see which term gets more search traction. The result: ping-pong wins significantly, even though table tennis is technically the official name of the sport. That kind of comparison matters because if you are writing content, you want to use the language your readers are actually searching for, not the language experts use.

Once you have a topic in the search bar, Alston recommends setting the time frame to the past five years. A 90-day window can look flat or erratic depending on seasonal swings. A five-year view gives you the actual shape of the trend. You can see whether a topic is gradually climbing, holding steady, or slowly declining. With ping-pong, you can spot the sharp spike around the Olympics and then observe the baseline behavior outside of that event. If the baseline is rising between spikes, that is a strong signal.

A few other filters inside Google Trends are worth knowing. You can switch between web search and YouTube search, which tells you whether people are hunting for written content or video content on a given topic. You can also filter by country if you want to target a specific region, or set it to worldwide if your blog is meant for a general English-speaking audience. Alston also points out the category filter, which helps you find sub-niches you might not have considered. For example, he walks through filtering from Health down to Nutrition and then further down to Vitamins and Supplements. At that level of specificity, the trending topics shown are actually useful content angles, not just general awareness.

The related queries section at the bottom of a Google Trends page is one of the most underused parts of the tool. It shows you what people are searching alongside your main term. In the doorknobs example from the video, related queries include “oil rubbed bronze doorknobs” and Amazon-specific doorknob searches. Those sub-searches are your content angles, your product review topics, and your affiliate marketing targets all in one place.

Beyond the main search bar, Google Trends has three other sections worth checking. Trending searches shows you what is popular right now, broken into daily and real-time views. The daily view updates every 24 hours and can spark ideas even when the trending topic itself is not your niche. Alston sees taco bell and nachos in the trending list and observes that a site specifically comparing nacho chip brands would be a narrow, low-competition angle within a broader food category. The real-time view is organized by category, so you can browse business, health, sports, or entertainment separately. Finally, the Explore section pulls multi-year data and lets you filter by category to find what is consistently in demand in your area of interest. Alston drills into the Business and Industrial category and then into TikTok as an example of a rising platform-related topic he covered separately.

Method 2: Your Amazon Purchase History

The second method Alston recommends is one most people never think to use: their own Amazon account. Or Target. Or Walmart. Or wherever they actually shop. The logic is direct. Every purchase you made was a decision to solve a problem, get entertained, or meet a need. Your order history is already a list of niches you have personally validated with your own money.

Alston suggests scrolling through your last 20 purchases and asking what problem each one was solving. One item on his account is shea butter. He does not dig into why it was purchased, but the point is clear: if you can identify the problem a product solves, you have a content angle. Write about that problem. Review the products that address it. Compare the ones that work against the ones that do not. That is the foundation of a functional affiliate blog.

He also suggests going back further than your most recent orders. If you look at the last few weeks, you might catch a holiday shopping run full of gifts that do not reflect your actual interests. Go back six months to a year and look at what you bought repeatedly or what you bought to address a recurring problem. Those repeat purchases signal that the problem stays relevant and that people keep looking for solutions, which means ongoing search traffic for your content.

One angle that often gets ignored is the negative purchase: the product you bought that did not work. Alston mentions this directly. A blog built around reviewing products that fall short, explaining why they fail, and pointing readers toward what actually works can perform just as well as a glowing review site. Sometimes better, because that kind of honest content is harder to find and readers trust it more than a site that only gives five-star reviews.

Amazon Bestsellers is the other half of this method. When millions of people are buying something consistently, it means the demand is already proven. The bestseller list is not random. Each item represents a real, validated market that people are spending money in right now. In the video, Alston points to items like Cards Against Humanity and gaming gift cards as examples. These categories already have audiences and search volume. Your job becomes finding a specific angle within that category that is not already saturated with high-authority content.

Method 3: Real-World Observation

The third method requires no browser at all. Alston recommends going out into the world and paying attention. What are people wearing? What are they carrying? What are they talking about? He is not describing anything complicated. He means genuinely slowing down and noticing what is in front of you, because almost everything you see in daily life has a corresponding online market behind it.

His specific examples: go to a restaurant alone and listen to conversations. People talk about problems constantly. They describe what worked and what did not. They mention products they tried, services they hired, and frustrations they are still dealing with. A single restaurant visit, if you are paying attention, can surface three to five content ideas. The same applies at a coffee shop. Sit there long enough and someone will describe a problem worth solving in detail, often including what they tried and why it did not help.

Alston also points to the physical space around him in the video. He is sitting at a desk. There is a webcam, a microphone, a monitor, an iMac, YouTube lighting, and a backdrop behind him. He is in a house with siding on the exterior. Each one of those items is a niche. Siding alone, he points out, could support a blog covering types of exterior siding, how to install different materials, how to maintain them, and which options hold up in different climates. Most people never consider siding as a content niche, but homeowners search for this kind of information constantly and they are actively shopping when they do.

He extends the same logic to home improvements. Carpet, tile, and flooring. Which carpet holds up best under pet accidents? Which flooring option is easiest for a DIY installation? Which types of tile work in bathrooms versus kitchens? These questions have audiences behind them. People search for this content before making purchases, and readers in that research mode are already close to a buying decision. That is the kind of traffic that converts well for affiliate marketing because the reader is one step away from a purchase when they land on your page.

Why Most Niche Hunters Get Stuck

Alston is direct about the trap most beginners fall into. They are looking for the perfect niche. Something with massive demand, low competition, and a topic they are passionate about all at once. That combination almost never exists. And if it does show up briefly, it does not stay in that state for long before other publishers notice it too.

He makes a specific point worth sitting with: the more people who want something, the more competition there is for it. A niche with enormous demand will attract enormous attention from other publishers. That is not a reason to avoid popular topics. It is a reason to stop treating “low competition” as the first filter and to focus instead on finding a specific angle within a larger market, an angle that is specific enough that the big publishers have not bothered with it yet.

His recommendation: spend a few days on niche selection. Not a few weeks. Not a few months. A few days is enough time to run through these three methods, compare a handful of candidates, and make a call. Anything beyond that is usually not research. It is hesitation wearing the appearance of research. Pick a direction and start creating content. The real test of a niche happens only after you publish.

Not sure which niche fits what you already know and do?

The free Platform Proof Finder matches your background to a specific online business model in under two minutes. Try it at finder.platformproof.com.

Honest Drawbacks of Each Method

These three methods are practical and genuinely useful, but each one has real limits worth naming before you rely on any single one of them.

Google Trends shows you search interest over time, but it does not tell you whether a niche can make money. A topic can be trending steadily with almost no commercial intent behind it. People might be reading about it without ever buying products related to it. Before you commit to a niche based purely on trend data, you still need to check whether people are buying products in that space and whether affiliate programs exist that you could join. It is also worth noting that this video was recorded in 2019, and Google’s algorithm updates in 2023 and 2024 hit many niche sites hard. Sites built around genuine depth and topical authority have held up much better than thin content farms. Blogging still works, but the bar for content quality is higher than it was when Alston made this video.

Amazon purchase history is personal by nature. Your purchases reflect your specific life situation, not necessarily a broad market. If you live alone, your order history looks completely different from someone raising three kids. That is fine, but it means you need to verify that other people share your problem before building a blog around it. Use Amazon Bestsellers and Google search volume to confirm that what you experienced is a common enough experience to generate real traffic.

Real-world observation is the hardest of the three methods to systematize. It depends on your environment, what conversations you happen to hear, and your ability to connect what you see in daily life to actual online search behavior. It works best as a supplement to the other two methods rather than a primary research approach. Think of it as a source of specific angles and content ideas once you already have a general niche in mind, not as a way to validate a niche from the ground up.

A Simple 3-Step Process Before You Commit

Run your niche idea through Google Trends on a 5-year view. Is the topic stable or growing? Can you find sub-niches in the related queries section that are specific enough to actually own?
Check Amazon. Are there products in this space that sell consistently? Can you join the Amazon Associates program or a dedicated affiliate program for products in that niche? Does the Amazon search autocomplete show many buying-intent variations?
Set a firm deadline. Give yourself three to five days maximum on niche research. Make a decision and start writing your first ten content pieces. The only way to know whether a niche actually works is to publish content and watch what happens in search over the following months.

Find Your X

Knowing that everything is a niche does not always make it easier to pick one. If that still feels like the sticking point, the Platform Proof Finder is built for exactly that situation. It asks a few questions about your background, your existing skills, and what you have done in the past, then points you toward the online business model most likely to produce real income for you specifically. There is no generic list of top niches. It is a personalized match based on where you already are. Start at finder.platformproof.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to be an expert in a niche to start a blog about it?

Not at the start. The Project 24 approach is built around research-based content creation: you learn as you write, and your content improves as your knowledge deepens. That said, a niche where you already have some personal experience, whether as a buyer, a hobbyist, or someone who has worked in the field, gives you a real head start because you already understand the problems from the inside and can speak to them with more specificity than a pure researcher can.

How does Google Trends help with niche selection beyond just showing popularity?

It shows direction, not just size. A topic with moderate interest that is rising over five years is a better long-term bet than a topic with high interest that is slowly declining. The related queries section also surfaces sub-niches you would not have thought to search for directly, which is often where you find specific, lower-competition angles within a broader market that is already validated.

What if my Amazon purchase history does not suggest any interesting niches?

Widen the window. Go back two or three years if needed. Also look at purchases from other household members if you share an account. If that still does not spark anything, shift to the Amazon Bestsellers list instead. Start with the top-level categories and drill down two or three levels to find products that are moving consistently. Those specific product categories represent real niches with real buyers behind them.

Is blogging still a viable way to make passive income?

Alston made a point in the video that blogging sites were still viable in 2018 and 2020. The landscape has shifted since then. Google’s helpful content updates reduced traffic to many thin or generic niche sites. Sites built around genuine depth, original perspective, and strong topical authority have held up significantly better. Blogging still generates passive income, but it requires more careful content planning and a longer runway to results than it did five years ago.

What is Income School’s Project 24 and is it worth considering?

Project 24 is a course and community built around creating content-based niche sites with the stated goal of replacing a full-time income within 24 months. It focuses on organic SEO and long-form content creation rather than paid ads, link-buying, or other tactics that violate Google’s guidelines. Alston followed the Project 24 method when this video was recorded. Whether it fits your situation depends on whether you are committed to a content-heavy strategy over 12 to 24 months without expecting fast results.

How do I know if a niche has real affiliate marketing potential?

Start by checking whether the products in that niche are available on Amazon or have dedicated affiliate programs you can join. Search for “[niche] affiliate program” and see what comes up. Look at whether the products have a reasonable price point, since higher-priced items generate more commission per sale even at lower percentage rates. Then check whether the people searching in that niche are using buying-intent language in their searches versus purely informational searches with no purchase at the end.

Can a very narrow niche like nacho chip reviews actually make money?

The narrower the niche, the less direct competition you face. A site comparing specific nacho chip brands would have almost no direct competitors and could rank quickly for its specific search terms. The honest trade-off is that the audience is smaller and monetization options may be limited to food affiliate programs or display advertising revenue. The relationship between niche specificity and monetization potential is real and worth thinking through before committing to either extreme.

What is the biggest mistake beginners make in niche selection?

Spending too long on it. Alston’s direct answer is that anything more than a few days is probably too much time on this phase. The real test of a niche is not whether it looks promising on paper. It is whether you can write 50 to 100 articles about it, whether readers show up to read them, and whether those readers convert on affiliate links or display ads. That test takes months to run in practice. No amount of additional niche research upfront can replace the feedback you get from actually publishing.

Sources

Alston Godbolt, “How To Find Niches For Your Blogging Site,” YouTube, https://youtu.be/YVdYkA19lA0
Google Trends, https://trends.google.com
Amazon Bestsellers, https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers/zgbs
Income School Project 24 (referenced in video as the blogging course Alston follows for niche site creation)