Ultra.
To niche or not to niche—that’s always the question when it comes to creating a blog. While as humans we are multifaceted beings that have a wide array of interests, for the sake of building a loyal audience that will continuously read your content, you have to become an authority on a topic—this is where finding a niche for your blog comes in handy.
Although it’s possible to branch off further down the road, starting with a niche at the beginning can work wonders for growing your platform and climbing the ranks on Google. Additionally, it’s more attractive to brands when you're looking to approach them for sponsorship (read this explainer if you want to learn more). In this blog post we’ll highlight some tips for finding your niche to set your blog up for success; keep reading to learn more!
Start Brainstorming Topics That You Genuinely Enjoy Talking About
Let’s put it like this. If you only posted one blog post a week, that would total 52 blog posts for the year. With that being said, whatever niche you choose has to be a subject matter that you won’t get sick of writing about and are okay with becoming fully invested in. Ask yourself some of these questions to start creating a list of topics that may make a great niche for your blog:
- What gets you going everyday?
- What are you excited to talk about daily?
- What subject areas do your friends or family often run to you for advice?
- What is something you believe you're more knowledgeable about than the average person?
If you have topics that come to mind when answering these questions, that’s a good indicator that they may make good niches for your blog as you may be able to easily come up with content ideas. And remember, creating consistent content is important to your growth as a content creator on any platform.
Scope Out The Competition
Once you have a running list of topics that may make for a good niche for your blog, it’s time to check what’s already out there. You want to avoid niches that are too saturated but also niches that have little to no demand. Your niche should fall somewhere in between. By searching “[niche] blog” you’ll be presented with some of the most important blogs in your niche based on Google rankings of search inquiries, which can give you an idea of how much competition there is out there and who exactly they are.
Get More Specific
For example, let’s say you want to start a beauty blog. That’s a good starting point but considering there are already thousands of them that exist you need to narrow down the type of beauty blog it will be. Will it be a beauty blog for mature women? Or maybe a Y2K aesthetic beauty blog? The more specific you get, the more likely your audience will be a bit smaller, however this can work to your advantage because niche content typically has better discoverability.
Double Check There’s a Large Enough Target Audience
When it comes to niching down, there is such a thing as being too specific. Some things are just so niche that the audience is not large enough to even consider as you’d experience limited growth or little to no opportunities to monetize (more on that in a bit). SEO is super important to help you rank on Google which means you need to enter a niche that people are searching related keywords for.
Below are some tools to help you get an idea of how big of an audience a niche has based on what people are searching related to that niche:
Determine If Your Niche-To-Be is Monetizable
Though passion is everything as a content creator, you need to make sure you’re entering a niche that is monetizable if you plan on exploring blogging as a potential career. Running a blog can take a lot of hardwork and dedication, so you deserve to reap the monetary benefits (sooner than later).
If you’re familiar with other bloggers and creators in the same niche or similar to one you’re considering, check out how they’re monetizing content. What kind of brands are they aligning themselves with? Are they displaying ads on their site? Are they a part of any affiliate programs? Though you may not be making money from the start, it doesn’t hurt to consider how and if you can monetize in the future.
As tempting as it may be to jump into blogging writing about whatever your heart desires, it’s not advised if you’re planning to take blogging seriously with a goal to make it a steady revenue stream. What niches are you considering for your blog? Share with us on Twitter.