Ask HN: Is dating/relationship advice a big niche? - frankphilips
======
User9821
What type of advice? User submitted content and advice
([http://www.reddit.com/r/relationships](http://www.reddit.com/r/relationships)),
or a site where you write articles about 'the top 10 secrets to dating every
guy should know'?

It is a big niche, but it's also highly competitive, and you would be
competing against people that are already well connected and established in
the industry. I would say the chances of success are extremely slim.

------
mattmanser
Simple pickup are examples of guys who did it recently.

The darker, and more dollars, can be found at /r/seduction and darker still is
/r/TheRedPill/

Every few years there seem to be a fad about these things, HN used to have
these pick up artist posts pop up regularly until about 2 years ago. I got the
impression that there was a large SV contingent involved in the pickup artist
scene which eventually spawned the brogrammer movement, though no-one openly
discusses it.

Wild speculation ofc...

------
RealGeek
I know people who make $1 million+ yearly in affiliate commissions in this
niche. There are many info products, membership clubs and networks with 7
figure revenue and few with 8 figure revenue.

Example: [http://www.pauljanka.com](http://www.pauljanka.com) makes 7 figures.
Source: [http://mixergy.com/dan-caron-member-mouse-
interview/](http://mixergy.com/dan-caron-member-mouse-interview/)

~~~
frankphilips
I'm guessing it's all in the marketing?

------
angersock
Judging by the advertisements on porn websites and lifestyle magazines online,
as well as Cosmo and whatnot offline, yes.

It's one of the most reliable sources of trouble for people, one that
transcends language, culture, and time.

As long as you have somebody who is lonely or getting less action/attention
then they think they should, you have a potential customer.

------
thejteam
I think it's so big a niche that it doesn't qualify for the term niche.

It's one of the biggest industries around. Large mainstream magazines are
centered around it. TV shows are centered around it.

Not that there aren't ways for individuals to make a lot of money of
differentiating themselves.

------
AnimalMuppet
As others have said, yes, it's big. But it's also crowded. And it's hard to be
clearly better than the existing players. (Or at least, hard to be clearly
better in the eyes of those looking for advice.)

~~~
frankphilips
But as with all existing players, there's always room for competition. Just
look at Tinder disrupting the dating scene when there were already big names
like POF, OkCupid, etc.

------
DanBC
Reddit and StackOverflow exist.

What would you do differently?

~~~
nickthemagicman
Stack Overflow has relationship advice?

I can figure out my code and my gf in one stop?

~~~
DanBC
I meant to say "Stack Exchange". And it was an Area51 proposed site but it
failed for not enough activity.

[http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/44577/relationship...](http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/44577/relationships-
and-dating)

------
omnivore
How so?

