Do you have a bunch of blogging ideas floating around in your headspace? Or maybe, you’re struggling to even think of one.
Either way, you’re not alone. Finding the right niche is a roadblock for many aspiring bloggers.
Despite all the indecisiveness, however, it’s not that hard.
Through this step-by-step guide, you’ll converge on the perfect niche to set up, grow, and monetize your blog.
Why do you need a blogging niche anyway?
Most of us think of blogs as personal diaries—a place to have your random ideas scribbled. Writing on diverse topics is fine if all you’re interested in is spilling out a bit of creativity.
But the problem is people might not be interested in every topic you write on. This means, you’d struggle building and retaining viewership if you keep things general. To top it all, it wouldn’t be easy to monetize your blog when you can’t drive reasonable traffic over it.
For these reasons, it is important to niche down your blog. In fact, your niche could be a deciding factor for your blog’s long-term success.
How to find the perfect niche?
Now you know why you’d rather stick to one niche than juggle with a bunch of random ones.
The next job is finding a niche worth building your blog around. Ask yourself these questions:
- Can you write on it consistently?
- Is there a defined audience for it?
- Can you make money from it?
Simply put, we need to find a niche that offers the best of these three factors. Let’s break it down into 4 steps.
1. Pick a topic you can write on
It might be fun and games to get things rolling with a trendy topic. But if it’s not something you can stick with for long, you’ll quickly run out of gas.
Before anything else, be sure to choose a topic you’re passionate about. It might sound trivial, but it would be a big driving force for your blog.
What if you’re not sure about the topic?
Well, in that case, your best bet should be topics you’re fairly interested in.
Put down a list of blog ideas off the top of your head. Then shortlist in terms of most to least interest. Write a couple of guest posts or sample articles to get the feel of it.
If you enjoyed that, can you write another 50 articles on that topic? If it’s a yes, congratulations; you have accomplished step 1.
If not, consider taking inspiration from the books you read, movies you watch, or your buying habits.
You can even dig up your niche from your accomplishments. And with that, the added advantage comes in the form of authority! Think about it—would you like to read an article on cat grooming written by a vet or someone with a previous article on the DIY paint job?
2. Get specific with your topic
Suppose you decide to keep “Sports” as your niche. What could be wrong with it? You might be a sports enthusiast, sports are loved globally, and it’s definitely lucrative.
The problem comes with your target audience.
See, sports is an exceedingly broad topic. There could be thousands of sports types, making it virtually impossible to cover unless you have a big team and resources in place.
Instead, let’s say you opt for “Cycling.”
Cycling might appear like a good niche, but it has the same problem deep down. We’re talking about categories like cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track racing, BMX, mountain biking, and more.
So, if you’re covering cycling in general, it would be very difficult to cater to audiences for every cycling type. A more reasonable approach would be to focus on one type—”mountain biking,” for example.
A target audience is one reason why getting specific is important. There’s another strong reason: competition.
If you look up Cycling on Google, you’ll find high-authority websites on the first page. These can normally be identified by .org and .gov domains. Since these are top-level domains, there’s very little chance Google will rank you over these well-established websites.
However, the more you narrow it down, the lesser would be the odds of finding these giants. Result? Better chances of ranking.
3. Check demand and competition
Now you must have brainstormed a few niches based on your interest. But are they in demand? How much competition will you be facing?
To get answers, you need data.
Start off with Google Trends
Plugging your niches in Google Trends will answer to questions:
- Is there enough demand?
- Is the demand rising, falling, or stable?
Using Google Trends is simple. All you have to do is put your topic’s main keyword in the search field, then select a relevant country and time range.
Selecting a bigger time range will tell you how consistent your topic’s demand has been in the past.
How to analyze the results?
If the graph is above 50 consistently and is stable (except for a few anomalies), you’re good to go. It is even better if the trend is rising. Of course, avoid topics with a declining graph, for they might die out soon.
Do a bit of keyword research
Google Trends gives you a reasonable idea of a topic’s demand, but the figures are relative.
To find high-demand blog topics, it’s important to know the exact search count. In other words, how many people are searching for your topic of interest?
For that, you’ll need absolute numbers by doing keyword research.
First, brainstorm a list of possible terms that could be related to your main keyword. Continuing with the previous example, mountain biking, the related search terms could be “mountain biking for beginners”, “mountain biking equipment,” etc.
If you can’t think of related keywords, just Google your main keyword, and you’ll find suggestions at the end of the page.
Next, put these terms in a keyword research tool. What you’ll have are average monthly searches for those terms. There’s no rule of thumb, but it’s best if you’re hitting several thousand searches for the top 10-20 keywords.
Also, you’ll be suggested other related keywords, which will help determine if you can plan sufficient content down the road. Can you come up with a batch of the first 50 blog posts? If so, you’ll likely be able to do it for the next 50 and so on.
Check your competition
For every term, a keyword tool indicates competition intensity. It’s in your best interest to have low or medium competition for the main search terms.
Another way to check your competition is by googling the top relevant keywords.
If you find 3-4 articles covering your keywords and the rest going off the track, there’s space for you to fill. By contrast, if you see plenty of articles, and that too with high authority domains, your potential niche could be too competitive.
4. Check profitability
By now, you must have filtered out topics that:
- You can consistently write on
- Have a distinct target audience
- Have a consistent demand
- Don’t have too much competition
Now comes the real deal — can you make money out of it?
Granted that not every blogger might be interested in making money out of their blogs. But for those who’re considering it as a side hustle or a main income stream, finding a profitable niche is a must.
How to tell if your niche is good for monetization?
Consider the following metrics to get a fairly good idea:
Can you find books or magazines related to your niche?
If there are eBooks/magazines with hundreds of reviews, there is a good chance your niche has a large paying audience.
Are there products/services aimed at this audience?
What products come to your mind when you think of mountain biking? A mountain bike, of course. What else? A helmet, backpack, special gloves, maybe?
Having products and services surrounding your niche means you’re probably targeting a profitable blog niche. After driving reasonable traffic, you could promote these products and earn a commission out of sales.
Are companies advertising products/services encompassing your niche?
Affiliate commissions can make you good money. But it’s not the only way to monetize your blog. Ads are another reliable, long-standing medium of earning.
Type in a few of your top keywords on Google and see if any ads appear. If so, consider it a green signal. If not, your blog might be tricky to monetize.
Over to you
You’ll zero in on the perfect niche by implementing the above-mentioned steps. But that’s not the end of it.
The real test begins when you have your blog set up.
Driving visitors over your blog can be time-intensive. In fact, it could take several months before you start generating a good amount of traffic.
However, if you stay patient and stick to the right principles, you’ll eventually find success with your blog.
