How to find the right niche for your blog

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Aug 12, 2016 / by
How to find the right niche for your blog

Launching a blog can be an exciting endeavour. Writing about a subject in which you’re interested, communicating with a receptive audience and making money while you’re at it is a highly attractive prospect.

However, before you start blogging, the most crucial aspect to figure out is what to blog about. If you don’t select the right niche, you will be shooting yourself in the foot before you even get started. Here are some things to think about on your quest to identify the perfect niche for your blog:

1 – Personal interests

While many potential bloggers immediately think of what niche will be most financially profitable, this is a mistake. Although starting a blog on a subject that you don’t care about for financial gain can sound good on paper, in reality it always leads to burnout. Especially when you consider that it can take months or years to turn a profit from a blog, writing about a subject that doesn’t interest you with no significant financial reward in the short-term is a recipe for disaster. If you want your blog to survive for the long haul, you have to choose a niche that you’re passionate about.

As Lauren Hooker states on her personal blog:

If you aren’t interested or vested in the topics you’re planning on writing about, you’ll quickly run out of ideas and you probably won’t stick with blogging. Choose an area of blogging that inspires you and gets you excited!

2 – Competitiveness

Although it sounds counterintuitive, a competitive niche can still be profitable so long as you pick a unique angle (see point 4). With keyword research tools, you can quickly find out whether your niche is oversaturated or is ripe for a new blog. Even if you fear your niche is too competitive, it’s much better to enter a niche which you’re passionate about than one where you think there is better opportunity for financial gain.

As entrepreneur Chris Ducker states:

In my mind passion will always overcome plain old competition. It’s the passion behind Zappos that’s made them the driving force behind shoe sales online – even though there are a ton of people selling shoes online.

3 – How can you provide value?

Before starting your blog, you need to put yourself in your audience’s shoes and understand how they will receive value from you. Typically, value comes in the form of entertainment, information or actionable advice.

You can always deliver blog content as streams of consciousness, but these are more like online journals rather than professional posts. If you’re serious about building an audience, it’s best to think of ways your blog can provide value to your readers, and how this is possible within your niche. If you’re not only passionate about something, but you’re also a bonafide expert in the subject who can impart actionable advice, this is a strong indicator of a great niche for a blog.

4 – How broad should you go?

Sometimes, it can feel like the more breadth you have to your content, the more people you will attract. In reality, the opposite usually occurs. There are an awful lot of people on the net, so by narrowing your niche down to something rather specific, you’re much more likely to build up a loyal readership. For example, “fitness” would be a very broad niche, and very undesirable. Something more ideal would be “fitness for working mothers” or “travel and fitness”.

5 – Monetisation

Finally, if you’re blogging with the intention of making money (hopefully not solely for the intention of making money!), your audience has to be actually willing to pay you. We have covered some of the different blog monetisation strategies in a previous article, but if you can’t conceivably figure out how to sell to your audience, or if you feel your audience won’t want to part with their money regardless, then this is an indicator you should probably look into a different niche. Best of luck!

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