Choose A Niche

Arguably the most important and difficult part of creating a niche blog is settling on the perfect topic. If you’re looking to make money or bring in visitors, your topic could very well make or break your success. The first step I take when choosing a new niche blog topic involves making two lists: a list of topics I love and a list of topics about which I am knowledgeable or would like to become knowledgeable. If you are new at this, I suggest choosing something you already know about, but if you are willing to research it isn’t strictly necessary.

To create the lists, I simply brainstorm. Let your mind wander and write down anything that comes into it. There’s no editing required at this stage because these lists will be just for you. Once your lists are complete, compare them. It’s quite likely you’ll have some topics on both lists. These are the topics with which you will move on to the next step. I’m a visual person, so I like to use a Venn Diagram to map out my list. It makes it easier to find comparisons:

During this stage there are also some questions you will want to ask yourself:

1. Is it possible to build an entire blog around this topic?
2. Will you get tired of writing about it?
3. Is there enough content to write about indefinitely?
4. Is there a strong community of hungry buyers (I will discuss this more in the next step as well)?

As you become more experienced you will come up with your own list of questions, but these are good basics with which you can start.

Once you have narrowed down your lists, choose two to three topics to carry over to the next step. Because of the over-saturation of many markets, you will want to narrow down your topic to a sub-niche. This will be down in Step Two: Research Keywords to Target a Sub-Niche.

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