How to Choose a Blog Niche
One of the most important things to consider when getting into blogging is what your niche will be.
This means you need to know what kind of topics and content you want to cover, as well as how you're going to reach your audience.
In this post, we’ll discuss what a blog niche is, how to come up with niche ideas, why you need a niche, and how to choose the right niche for YOUR blog.
What is a blog niche?
A blog niche is simply the topic you write about.
For example, if you like to talk about art and graphic design, your blog would be in the niches of art and graphic design.
These topics of art and graphic design may even be a little broad.
In fact, you may even want to niche down further. For example, maybe your passion is talking about impressionist art or maybe you like to create art and you are going to teach others how to do the same.
On the other hand, if you were blogging about graphic design, you could niche down further and write a blog about graphic design in advertising.
How do I create a niche for my blog?
The first thing to think about when choosing a blogging niche is what you're passionate about.
It's important that your passion drives the content of your blog, so choose something that really interests and excites you!
If there isn't much information available on the topic already, blogging maybe even more fun because it gives you an opportunity to share your expertise.
On the other hand, if you are researching a topic and notice there is already a lot of content in that niche, it may be the perfect niche to be in realizing there are a lot of people that want to learn about that topic.
The next thing to consider is what type of content you enjoy writing about the most.
Is it blogging tips? Fashion trends? Product reviews? If there are already blogs covering that topic, take a look at how they're doing things and get inspiration for your own blog! You may even be able to reach out directly to popular bloggers to ask them for blogging advice.
If you need some ideas, check out this blog niche generator.
Next, you'll need to consider how difficult it will be to attract an audience that is interested in your niche.
For example, if you're blogging about dog training and showing people how they can train their dogs at home on a budget, there are probably already several blogs covering this topic.
Furthermore, if you decide to blog about fashion, there are thousands of other bloggers who could be your competition. In this case, you’ll want to niche down and focus on something like fashion over 50 or fashion for stay-at-home moms.
Finally, think about the monetary possibilities in blogging for that niche.
Blogging is not a get-rich-quick scheme by any means! However, if you can make money blogging within your chosen niche (by selling ads, creating a course, or linking to affiliate products, for example), blogging may be more lucrative than you think!
How to come up with a blog niche
Here’s a quick step-by-step guide on coming up with a blog niche that’s perfect for YOU.
Decide on a topic you're passionate about
Consider your audience and what they might be interested in
Find out what other bloggers are writing about - research blog posts, social media feeds, and forums to find out who is blogging about similar topics
Brainstorm keywords that will rank high in search engines for your chosen niche
Create a list of categories in your niche you want to write about and blog post ideas for each of them
Pin this List for later
How do you define your blog niche?
Choosing a blog niche is somewhat like being Goldilocks in the home of the three bears.
Select a blog niche that is too broad, for example, bicycles, and your audience won’t understand why they should be coming to your site.
Select a niche that is too narrow, for example, bike locks for kids, and you won’t be able to reach a wide enough audience and you’ll run out of ideas to post about.
A just-right niche could be bikes for kids. It’s niched down but it still allows you to cover lots of topic ideas such as how to fit a bike for your child, which bike brands are safest for kids, how to teach a child to ride a bike, etc.
Here’s another example of choosing a “just-right” blog niche. Let’s say you decide to start a blog on cooking. After you try out some articles, you begin to realize that what is really driving traffic are the posts you created on quick and easy dinners, insta-pot cooking, and crockpot cooking. So you WON’T be blogging about all things cooking. Rather, now your niche is in that “quick and easy cooking” niche.
When readers think of your blog, they’ll know they are going to find quick and easy solutions to fit their busy lifestyles.
Lifestyle Blog vs Niche
Lifestyle blogging is blogging about your life in general--what you do, what you like, who you are.
This type of blogging can be done by anyone with a laptop and an internet connection.
Niche blogging is blogging about one specific topic in which the blogger has expertise or passion.
For example, if someone loves reading books then they might want to start up a blog that reviews different types of literature or analyzes different book genres.
It's important to note that niche bloggers often have more specialized knowledge than lifestyle bloggers because they're writing about their area of interest whereas lifestyle bloggers are just blogging on anything and everything that piques their interest at any given time.
Niche blogs also tend to get more traffic than lifestyle blogs because people will be searching for that specific topic on Google, whereas lifestyle blogging doesn't have a ton of search traffic potential.
The same holds true for a niche blog vs a general blog.
Does your blog need a niche?
I often get asked, “do I really need a blog niche?”
Depending on the goal of your blog, you may want to consider having a niche or specialty. Many people like to blog as a creative outlet or a place to write their daily thoughts like an online journal.
However, if you want to make money from your blog, having a niche is vital to its success.
Having a niche will allow Google and other search engines to understand what your blog is about.
It will allow them to send you the RIGHT traffic and it will pique the interest of like-minded individuals. The goal is that they will come to your site and read multiple articles on a topic they are interested in rather than read just one article and leave.
It will also help establish you as an expert in your niche and make you a go-to person in that field. This builds trust with both your reader and Google making it easier to monetize your site.
How to Find Bloggers in Your Niche
While you are researching your niche, take some time to see what others in your niche are blogging about. Knowing the competition is important because it benefits you in several ways.
You’ll be able to see if your blog niche idea is viable. If others are already in the space and making money, that means you’ll be able to make money in that niche as well.
It also helps you brainstorm ideas. This is not to say you are going to copy their ideas, rather, you’ll be able to see gaps where they might have missed a content idea that would be beneficial to your audience.
And another big benefit of checking out your competition is that you can identify which keywords they are using to attract the audience you want.
Here are some simple steps for finding bloggers in your niche.
Use Google to search for bloggers in your niche
Check out the social media pages of blogs you find - do they post a lot and have many followers, or are their posts infrequent with few followers
Start reading blogs in your niche to get a feel for what is popular among readers
Do a search in Pinterest and see what bloggers in your niche are pinning/posting about
Search for "how-to" videos about your niche on YouTube
Best Niche Blog Ideas
Now you could ask, which blog niche makes the most money and focus on only that.
However, keep in mind you are going to be spending A LOT OF TIME writing and thinking about this topic. So even though you want to choose a blog niche you can monetize, you also want to find a niche you enjoy and are passionate about.
My friend Paul, over at Pocket Business made this ultimate list of 403+ Amazing Blog Niche Ideas (sidenote: my other blog is featured in that list!).
So don’t waste time, choose your blog niche and let’s get going on your new blog!
Now that you’ve chosen a niche, it’s time to get a domain name. You’ll want to read this post, What Should I Name my Small Business?
Let me know what blog niche you choose in the comments below and feel free to add a link to your new site!
