As more bloggers continue to hustle for visibility, readers and clicks amidst an unstable search algorithm, one of the key things that can help you and most new bloggers alike is to find a profitable niche for your blog before getting started.
Gone are the days where anyone could start a blog about anything, create content and readers will come along. Today, not only are you going to compete for visibility with 600 million other blogs, you’re also going to contend with algorithm changes, AI led innovation and many other competitions.
To stay ahead of this competition, you don’t just have to outpace them, you have to out-strategize them, again and again. And this could be very difficult for beginners.
As someone who’s had to deal with a failed blog in my first attempt at blogging, dramatic changes in search algorithm, high and low website visits and so on, in this guide, I’ll be sharing with you the lessons I have learned in more than 9 years and the clear steps you can take to build and grow a successful blog with the right niche.
Clarify your Goals
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In the past, it was easy to create content or start a blog about any topic you have in mind without having any clear goal or expected outcomes. As blogging continues to evolve, it is now becoming nearly impossible to choose a profitable niche for your blog without identifying and clarifying the specific goals you want to achieve with the blog.
Before creating your blog, the first step you want to take is to ask yourself, what exactly do I want to achieve with this blog? Do I want to go into full time blogging to make money online, achieve another specific goal or is it all about blogging as a hobby?
When I first started blogging many years ago, I knew I wanted to start a blog but I wasn’t exactly sure about what I should be blogging about. And I didn’t really have a blogging goal.
I remember, I had recently embraced personal development then, because that was really important to me at that stage of my life… But practically I was still a neophyte at that. More of an upcoming writer at the time.
I did lots of creative writing and all but somehow considering my decision to start a blog, I still felt poetry in particular and creative writing generally may not be something that everyone will appreciate neither will it lead to a bigger audience, interest or income.
Without any thought about my goals, I decided that blogging about Poetry is not what I should do. So instead of poetry, I chose to start with personal development which had seemed to have a larger audience at the time.
Slowly yet surely, my blogging journey but I was not even thinking about anything like plans to generate income from the blog, make it sustainable or grow it for many years to come.
The problem with this approach is that this was never sustainable. First of all, this blog needed to earn some income to sustain itself but I had no clue about how to do that. And I was not so bothered about that either.
I kept blogging on and on and then after many months, I got the most terrible news from my web host saying” your account will be suspended after 7 days, if I do not renew your subscription“.
There was no way I could get this subscription fixed on time. So, I had to watch as my months of hard work, effort and time got “burned into ashes” of forgetfulness.
Literally, I failed at my first attempt at blogging, because I had no goal. You don’t want this to be your story so, if you must choose a niche for your blog, start with identifying your goals and clarify it accordingly before you get started.
Identify your Expertise & Interests
Remember I said that you don’t just have to wake up and start blogging about a topic that interests you? Well now here’s the full gist. One of the easiest ways to choose a profitable niche for your blog is to identify and blog about a niche in your area of expertise, interest, passion or hobbies.
A topic that interests you in this regards has to be one that also has an identifiable number of people who are actively interested in it. So, if you’re interested in blogging about Social Media Marketing for example, you have to be sure that there are other people interested in that topic so you can have a clear audience.
If you’re interested in a topic that does not have a sizeable number of audience, you can consider checking out other topics or niche areas that interests you, until you can find a an area with a sizeable audience.
Another way you can do this is to find out, do you have a special skill, training or experience in a specific area you’d like to create a blog about? This can also be a great source of niche ideas for your blog.
Where you don’t have either of the that, you can search further. Find topics, niches or ideas that interests you like your hobbies passion or things you care about which you’d like to learn about. This can form a core of your blogging where you share ideas and content, just as you’re learning it.
If you’re interested in journalistic kind of blogging then you want to consider looking at information area with lower coverage and higher interests. Using tools like Ubersuggest, Google Keyword Tools, Google Trends etc. could give you a real time information on topics people are interested in.
Research your Preferred Niche
Likw we have already established, to choose a niche for your blog, you want to go for a niche idea that a lot of other people are already interested in.
This is one of the reasons I automatically ditched Poetry for personal development when i started my first blog, because I felt more people will be interested in Personal Development.
Although this was purely a guess work for me. In your own case, you want to conduct an actual research on your top three preferred niches, to find out if there are actually a number of people interested in that niche.
To have ideas about the demand for a particular niche, you can find out about the number of people searching for topics in that niche, number of top bloggers in the niche and social media conversations around the particular.
You can find these details using key analytics tools like Google Trends, Google Keywords Tools, Wordstream and Keywords hashtags.
Explore Potential for Profit
There are a number of fleeting niches with a high demand by users but low profitability.
To choose a profitable niche for your blog, you want to filter out these kind of niches entirely.
If you’re out to use monetization options like Google Adsense, you have to keep in mind that there are specific topics you can be blogging about if you want to get high performance keywords.
Where you’re interested in creating your own product or services on the other hand, you must also bear in mind that there are some specific niches that it’ll become very difficult to create a product that people can buy.
These are some of the things that should guide you as you work on choosing a niche for your blog.
Consider Long Term Interest
Now, that you have found a niche for your blog, it is crucial to consider long term interest before deciding to move on with your preferred niche as a blogger. This works for both you and your audience.
As a blogger, you have to consider how much interest you’ll have in your potentially preferred blogging niche, over the long run. And how much interest your audience will continue to have in it.
Also, you must pay attention to the trends and interest of your potential audience by finding out if this niche is in an area that can command the interest of your audience for many years to come.
To put it into context, think about choosing to blog about a topic like iPhone 15 because it is currently a trending topic in a certain year.
After the said year, we have newer versions of iPhones and people move their interests to those new versions, what do you think will happen to the blog?
Obviously, it’ll die a slow death. This is why you must pay attention to the long term interest of both yourself and your audience in a particular area, if you want to choose a profitable niche for your blog.
Go for a Low Competition Niche
Don’t just choose a niche, if you want a blogging niche that will help you achieve your goals faster, choose a low competition niche. This is very important.
This is one of the best steps you’ll take to choose a niche for your blog because with this kind of niche, it gets easier to build success without getting crowded out.
To make it even more impactful, allow yourself to be the big fish in a small pond. With time, as you build, grow and gain recognition, you can spread your wings and soar as far as you want.
PS: To be successful with blogging in the long run, don’t focus on crowded niches. Find sizeable ones.
Choose a Niche you can Grow Through
Whether you’re passionate about it at the initial stages or not, you want to choose a niche you can grow through.
You want to choose a blogging niche that you will willingly learn the nitty gritty of the process and share the journey with your audience, even if you didn’t have the experience at the initial stages.
This is the kind of niche you’ll want to have because while learning through the process, you will gain a lot of experience to share with your audience while building your brand.
Learning, evolving and applying my digital skills during my second blogging journey, to make life meaningful for others improved my expertise and competence in the long run.
It grew my confidence and at the same time, creating a niche for me. It also positioned me as an expert especially because I was sharing the things I had experience and expertise in. This was very impactful, both to my brand and my audience.
So, to choose a profitable niche for your blog, you must go for a niche or topical area that will align with your personal and professional growth goals in the long term. This is very important.
Final Words
Finally, if you’re not sure of what you should be blogging about, start blogging about topics you’re already comfortable with.
Like I mentioned earlier in the opening part of this post, you can always start from somewhere. With time you’ll get to understand areas you’re more comfortable with.
But above all, before thinking about choosing a niche, identify and keep your goals in mind then follow the steps above and you’ll find a pathway to build a successful blog.
And of course, you can learn more, get mentored and find ways to walk through the bolts and nuts of blogging by signing up for our Smart Blogging Course here.
Now, it’s over to you. What’s your biggest challenge when it comes to choosing a blogging niche? Drop your comments below.
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