Finding the right niche is an important part of building a successful blog. This early step will steer the course of your blogging journey—the subject of your content, your writing tone, the audience you will target, and the promotional tactics that you’ll need to prioritize.
In order to find the best subject focus for your blog, you must find where your expertise, your interests, and your audience’s interests overlap.
To get you started, take a look at this list of blogging niches to give you some idea about potential topics. I’d suggest that you create a list of 8-10 topics, then narrow them down in the subsequent steps.
Steps to Finding the Right Blogging Niche
1. What topics are you an expert on?
Being an expert at something often require years of practice. You might have heard about Malcolm Gladwell’s take of a 10,000-hour venture that one usually go through in order to achieve the utmost competency on a particular skill.
If you’re one of those people who’ve spent a long time developing their knowledge and skills in a particular area, then this one would be obvious to you.
Maybe you’ve been employed in this field for years, maybe it’s what you majored in during college, or maybe you’ve spent months interning for a master in this field. The keyword here is time.
However, if you’re the type who hold a number of skills under their belt, then it might take you a moment of deliberation before you could pinpoint your greatest strength.
If you fall under this category, I’d suggest that you start by going through your training and work experience—then find the most prevalent area. Try to recall the issues that your colleagues usually ask you for help. Additionally, reflect on subjects that typically comes easily for you than others.
If possible, try to narrow down your choices to 4-6 topics by the end of this step. We’ll shorten your list further as we learn about you and your audience’s interests in the next steps.
2. What are your interests?
Often, getting the commitment and effort needed to develop a craft requires a genuine passion on the given field. That’s why for some, finding an overlap between the things they’re interested in and the things they’re good at is as easy as pie. If that’s you, then you can skip this part. However, if you find that your strongest skill is not exactly the thing you want to offer in your blog, then read on.
Choosing the central theme for your blog would mean that most (if not all) of your content would be related to that chosen topic. So start by asking yourself what topics would you be most interested in writing and talking about all day.
You might also be able to get some ideas by going through the types of articles and blog posts you read the most. Do you find that the majority of the articles you read are about do-it-yourself projects? Have you noticed that your day isn’t complete without checking on current events? Do you like to engage in conversations that relate to a particular sport?
Furthermore, you should also consider the writing tone that you want to go with. Find out if your preferred style matches your topic of interest. For instance, if you’re someone who’s inclined to write in a humorous tone, then creating an informative blog about a particular health condition might not be suitable for you.
By now, you should have a list of four topics that fit your interests and skill set. Try to rank them from your most to least preferred subject. In the next step, you’ll finally identify the perfect niche for your blog by finding out if there’s enough demand for your chosen topic.
3. Is there enough demand for this topic?
Now that you have an idea of themes that you’re good at and passionate about, it’s time to find out if there’s enough interest for it. In this step, you’d want to make sure that your subject is at a level of popularity that could regularly attract a substantial amount of readers but distinct enough that there’s not much competition.
A great way to check this is by looking at a topic’s search volume in recent months. The following are some of my favorite tools in gauging audience interest through search volume:
To maximize these tools, start by checking out the demand of your prospective topics and sub-topics. Then take your assessment further by tinkering around with potential blog post titles.
By the end of this step, you should be able to identify the perfect theme for your blog. If you find yourself torn between several topics, you can consider going for a multi-topic blog if the said subjects are somewhat related and have the same target audience.
Your Turn
Identify the niche that you want to go forward with by choosing from a handpicked list of topics that are interesting for you, are within your areas of expertise, and are in demand among your target audience.
Summary
To recap, this lesson has walked you through the steps in finding a niche for your blog. In deciding the right topic, you’d want to pick one that you’re an expert in, you’re interested in, and attracts a substantial amount of audience interest.
That’s all for now, check back soon for help in naming your blog!