6 REASONS TO PROMOTE SPORTS NUTRITION AND BODYBUILDING AFFILIATE OFFERS

With so many offers available in the market, finding a profitable affiliate marketing niche can be difficult. The sports nutrition, bodybuilding and muscle building niche has proven to be one of the fastest growing and most profitable for affiliates, along with other evergreen popular niches such as weight loss and health.

The demand for sports nutrition and muscle building supplements is continually growing along with a more mainstream audience who are consuming these products. Here are six reasons why you could benefit from promoting to this niche.

 1. A PROFITABLE MARKET WITH LARGE POTENTIAL

Sports nutrition and muscle building market trends

So how big is the sports nutrition market? According to a report from Technavio, the global sports nutrition market is estimated to grow an average of 8.27% a year and reach $40 billion by 2020. Although there are large and rapidly growing markets in every geographical region, North America dominates with 41% of the total market share, followed by Europe with 25% and Asia-Pacific with under 20%.

The report also reveals that consumers are shifting from products made of synthetic ingredients to herbal supplements.

Another way to search for market trends within the sports nutrition niche is by using Google Trends. You can search for terms such as ‘Bodybuilding supplements’ to check how much potential they have.

On the image below, you can see that interest in bodybuilding supplements has not only increased over time, but is also subject to seasonal behaviour. Interest tends to spike at the beginning of each year, stabilises throughout the first half of the year and then decreases as the year ends.

2. GROWING AND WIDENING TARGET AUDIENCE

Sports nutrition supplements audience profile

The market trends show that the consumer base is broadening and there’s no longer a typical consumer. Each type of user profile has its own drivers and needs, therefore segmentation is very important in order to find opportunities within such a big market. It also will help you choose the right offers and create content for your website or campaigns that can add more value for your visitors.

Evolving fitness trends are driving more consumers to demand sports nutrition supplements. According to the Les Mills Global Consumer Fitness Survey carried out by Nielsen, 78% of the adult population exercise or would like to, and 27% attend a fitness facility. The report also reveals that 81% of Millennials (18-34 year-olds) exercise or are interested in exercising compared to 61% of Boomers.

The market drivers for the fitness audience are to get healthy or maintain health, and to get in shape or maintain shape.

 

According to a Euromonitor International report, new consumers and new needs are constantly redefining the sports nutrition market, and therefore the consumer audience is becoming broader and more segmented. The market can be divided into three main user groups:

• Core Users: Elite athletes and bodybuilders. Demand for cutting-edge formulations and low cost-per-serving concentrates

• Casual Users: Demand for convenient products and trusted ingredients

• Fitness Lifestyle Users: Brand conscious and in search of the latest health and wellness trends. Demand for products to boost their stamina and enhance physical and mental performance

According to Nutraingredients.com, the recreational and fitness lifestyle groups are expected to expand due to the increase in health awareness and participation of other mainstream groups, such as women, overweight and ageing consumers.

So even though the market is very competitive, you can still find opportunities by narrowing down your target audience to specific niches or non-traditional users (e.g. ageing population and elite bodybuilders).

3. A WIDE AND EXPANDING RANGE OF PRODUCTS

The sports nutrition market has a wider range of products to satisfy the very different user needs and this means you can also gain more cross-sale and up-sale opportunities. For example, the user will look for products to enhance their training performance, but you can explain the benefits of considering multiple supplements to complement their training (e.g. pre-workout, intra-workout and post-workout supplements).

A common way to divide the sports nutrition market is by product type which is usually divided into protein and non-protein products. Sports nutrition market sales are dominated by protein products (powder, bars, ready-to-drink) as protein is the most accessible and popular sports nutrition ingredient. On the other hand, non-protein products are preferred by the core users.

You can also segment the market by product categories, for example:

Bodybuilding

• Performance boosters
• Muscle gainers
• Recovery
• Fat burners

Endurance Sports

• Hydrate
• Refuel

Weight Management

• Weight loss
• Muscle toning

The infographic from Global Industry Analysts, Inc. below, shows that the endurance sports and bodybuilding categories have had a significant increase in user demand, so don’t forget to use this information when choosing the right products to promote.

4. COUNTLESS OPPORTUNITIES FOR TRAFFIC SOURCES AND CONTENT CREATION

 Unlike other niches, the sports nutrition niche has many different audiences, user types, and products. The market diversification and expanding product development means you have a vast range of products and topics to focus on. Here are some ways to help you find the best opportunities.

Keyword searches on the sports nutrition and bodybuilding niche

The sports nutrition market is highly competitive and if you are planning to get started with your affiliate marketing campaigns, it’s important to find opportunities in less crowded segments when choosing affiliate offers and content creation. An effective way to do this is through in-depth keyword research.

You can go directly to the search engines and look for keywords and check search volumes, the type of websites that rank highly, and related searches.

Alternatively, you can use keyword research tools that make it easier to analyse popular terms used by consumers on search engines and for competitor link building strategy. The following example shows how to analyse keywords for the bodybuilding niche using the Ahrefs tool.

Using the Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, I searched for ‘bodybuilding supplements’ for the United States and got a list of all keyword ideas. The image below shows some of this list. The list is ranking the suggestions with the highest search volume, therefore it’s very likely these will also have a high difficulty rating, for example ‘supplement reviews’. But you can find some suggestions with high search volumes and low difficulty, such as ‘best mass gainer’.

 

On the same Keyword Explorer, I went to the search suggestions section. The following image shows part of this list. You can see there are keywords with a very high difficulty rating, for example ‘bodybuilding supplements store’. Again, aim for those with a lower difficulty rating and high search volume, such as ‘bodybuilding supplements that work like steroids’.

If you do the same analysis for other related searches and topics, you will find great opportunities on less competitive terms that will help you create valuable content that can also help your site rank better and compete against other big players.

However, don’t forget that you must create content for the user and not only with search engines in mind. This is what ultimately will keep a visitor on your page and increase your chances to convert that visit into a sale.

As with any highly competitive niche, you will have to go above and beyond to truly make the most of this profitable sector. If you are familiar with SEO, you will know that links continue to be an important part of the search engine ranking algorithms.

You can also use tools such as Ahrefs to analyse the websites which are driving the most traffic for the keywords you wish to target and the amount and quality of links that you would have to get in order to outrank them. This article by Martyn Slack will give you more insight on how to get relevant and quality backlinks.

5. MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO BOOST YOUR EARNINGS

Repeat orders

Because of the nature of this niche, you are more likely to benefit from repeat orders and multiple product purchases. Sports nutrition consumers tend to exercise regularly and follow a sports nutrition regimen that requires a periodic acquisition of supplements and products to complement their healthy and active lifestyle.

Higher order values

Sports nutrition and muscle building consumers are usually searching for products to fulfil different needs. A customer will want to buy a product to improve their performance, however there are many ways to achieve their goals and there are products for each need.  Also, the extended duration of their training plans results in a need for supplies to last for longer periods of time.

Therefore, unlike other niches in which customers will make just one purchase, it’s common for the average fitness consumer to buy multiple products resulting in a higher order value and bigger earnings for each sale you refer.

6. HIGH-CONVERTING SPORTS NUTRITION AND BODYBUILDING AFFILIATE PROGRAMMES

Just as the sports nutrition market has been steadily growing, so have the affiliate programmes serving this niche. On affiliate networks such as MoreNiche which specialises in health and beauty offers you can find profitable offers that can help you monetise your affiliate website within the same network.

Have a look at the high-converting bodybuilding offers you can promote on MoreNiche:

• Brutal Force This high-quality steroid alternative online store is our top-converting offer in the MoreNiche bodybuilding category. Affiliates can earn 40% per sale. Find out more here.

• Blackwolf This brand offers a range of all-in-one premium formulas to enhance each stage of the workout process. It’s a great option for affiliates interested in promoting to the sports nutrition niche and pays 30% commission per sale. Find out more here.

ARE YOU READY TO GROW YOUR EARNINGS WITH THE SPORTS NUTRITION NICHE?

The sports nutrition niche can offer a wide range of opportunities for affiliates willing to promote to this constantly growing consumer base. If you already have a fitness website or a sports nutrition-focused online audience, you can continue to look for new product trends to boost your earnings.

If you are considering starting out with this niche, don’t forget that although it has great potential to help you make money online, it won’t come easy. You will have to do your research before choosing the offers and create content that can add value for your audience. A strong keyword and link-building strategy, as well as choosing the best converting offers will also improve your chances of success.