The affiliate should never come first when you’re looking to create a website. Focus on keywords, get a good domain and make sure it’s a topic you understand and are comfortable writing about—don’t do it just because you can earn a big CPM or CPC.
However, it is something you should factor into the equation eventually. After all, there is no point in establishing a content website with a view to earning CPC money if the CPC payout for that content is very low. Once you have established that there is a niche and that you can fill it, and if that niche happens to be in one of these high-paying CPC categories, then you’re looking good.
These are some of the highest paying CPC and affiliate niches out there right now.
5. Charity
The keyword “Donate” is a big payer, as are many related keywords. The advertisers know that people searching for these keywords are ready to donate their money to a good cause and they are in fierce competition to make sure they are the ones who get the cash, with sites like JustGiving topping the bill.
This is not how a charity should operate, but it is the way most of them do operate these days. In a competitive marketplace, where everyone is vying for their place in the spotlight, it’s probably the only way they could.
4. Web Hosting
This is a hugely saturated market because it seems like all bloggers are writing about the best hosting plan. But if you bring in visitors for this keyword and keywords like it then you could be earning as much as $25 a click. Those are the upper limits, of course, but they pay a lot for the lower ones as well.
In this case, however, you may be better off with an affiliate willing to pay you per signup. This niche has a high lead generation, with between 1% and 5% of all targeted readers eventually signing up and earning you money.
3. Law
There are many aspects of modern law and many attorneys to cater for each of them. Because of the unique legal structure in the US and the fact that we’re the most litigious country in the world, there is no shortage of legal firms all vying for business and willing to outbid each other in order to get it.
Even highly specific keywords like “how to make a claim for insurance benefits” can generate massive attention and huge revenue, while the main terms relating to law companies in your area, such as “personal injury attorney in New York”, are even bigger.
2. Health and Rehab
I have worked on a site that wrote about drug addiction and mental illness and managed to earn an average of $5 per click. Looking back over the data this last week, I discovered that some keywords had earned as much as $30 per click. Many of these related to rehabs and care, because private care costs a fortune and the ones offering it are more than happy to pay for new customers.
Anything relating to “Rehab”, “Treatment” and “Recovery” is huge and we have noticed equally big payments for keywords relating to “Detox”.
1. Finance
This is a broad category, but it’s one that earns you top dollar throughout. If you have a financial website then you can earn up to $50 for a single click, with even the lower amounts returning a few dollars per click.
It’s unbelievable money. In fact, the first two websites I created were financial. It was by chance really as I was just starting to learn about aspects of stock trading and wanted to create a site as motivation to learn more. I set up Adsense and I began earning a rate of between $5 and $20 CPM.
I now know that’s a huge amount for a basic content site, but at the time I thought it was normal. The problem is, this is a broad spectrum and not all keywords pay well.
As an example, I helped with the creation of what is now a leading financial site. The goal was to write about stocks and shares, but in a unique way. The owner of the site, who contracted me for some work, thought he had it all figured out and he would get to the top of Google and land those big keywords. He did the first part, but the problem is, to make it work so quickly he had to focus on a financial niche that everyone else was avoiding, and they were avoiding it because the CPC was low.
So, on the one hand, keywords relating to insurance, credit and loans are huge. On the other, it is a hugely competitive marketplace and very difficult to conquer.
