It’s the first thing you need to do before you start your new blog.
You need to do it even before you come up with a catchy domain name – even before you figure out how you’re going to get stellar web hosting that will keep your website running smoothly. Before you start your new blog, the first thing you need to do is figure out your blog niche.
Table of Contents
What’s a blog niche?
A blog niche is a clearly defined topic that appeals to a very specific target audience. If your target audience is “everybody”, then your blog topic is too wide to be considered a niche.
For example, fashion is a popular topic for blogs, but it’s a bit too wide to be a niche. A good niche under the broader heading of fashion might be “fashion for petite women” or “fashion for teachers in their 20s” or “good clothing store options for tall men living in London”.
Why do some bloggers not have a blog niche?
Some bloggers don’t choose a blog niche because they’re worried they might turn away visitors who aren’t interested in that niche.
But this is a mistake.
Ever heard that saying, “You can be the juiciest, sweetest peach in the world, and you’ll still meet somebody who doesn’t like peaches”? It applies to blogs, too. You can have the best blog in the world and you’ll still find somebody who doesn’t like blogs.
So, instead of trying to make a blog that everybody sort of likes, why not put in all that time and energy making a blog that some people adore?
Who do you think is more likely to recommend your blog to their friends? Someone who feels only so-so about your blog, or someone who waits on pins and needles for every single new blog post you put out? Choosing a niche helps ensure that you get a high quality of visitors who truly adore your blog content.
Why is it important to have a blog niche?
When you have a niche, you attract people who are interested in that niche. And the more specialised your niche, the more fanatic your visitors will be about your blog. Because until you start attracting copycats, your blog may very well be the only blog on the topic they care so much about.
Your niche also makes it easier to do just about everything that you’ll have to do when you’re running your blog. If you have a clearly defined niche, you’ll find it easier to design marketing campaigns, and you’ll have a better quality of visitors, which also means you’ll get more feedback on your posts and you’ll be more likely to have visitors who’ll want to click on your affiliate links.
Now that that’s out of the way, how do you find a blog niche?
4 Tips to finding your blog niche when you start a new blog:
1. Find something you’re interested in
Your blog won’t inspire anyone unless you’re blogging about something you’re passionate about. It’s easy to fantasise about blogging when your blog exists only as a perfect idea in your head. When you start dealing with the day to day of running a blog, there are going to be times when you don’t feel like blogging at all.
And if you never really cared about your blog niche to begin with, those days are going to feel like absolute torture. So, the first criterion of any niche you’re considering is that it needs to be something you’re truly passionate about – something you could talk about for ages, if only you could find a willing audience.
You can’t light a fire in your readers unless you feel strongly about your blog niche. If you’re interested in lots of things, that’s great! Write them all down. We’ll tell you what to do with all those extra ideas in a minute.
2. Narrow it down
Remember: The best niches are super defined and appeal to very specific people.
So, once you have a topic you’re interested in, figure out what aspect of that topic appeals to you the most. When you do this, you’re also figuring out your target audience.
If you’re blogging about car care and DIY mechanics, are you targeting car enthusiasts or are you targeting people who wouldn’t know a carburetor if it bit them on the nose?
Although both blogs technically deal with car care, you can see how the branding for each blog would be totally different. Narrow down your blog idea as far as you can. The more specific your niche, the more loyal your visitors will be, and the less competition you’ll have!
3. Make sure it’s profitable
You don’t want to create a niche that’s so obscure that only five people on the planet will ever want to read your blog. If you’re interested in monetising your blog, you need to make sure you choose a profitable niche.
If you see lots of blogs in your niche, and you notice that those blog posts are always filled with comments, that’s a good indicator that you’ve chosen a profitable niche, though it might also mean that you might need to do a bit more work to stand out in that area.
You can also tell whether your niche is profitable by performing a simple search in Google Trends and by checking to see whether there’s any paid promotional content when you google your niche.
4. Make sure it’s sustainable
One of the most important things to do when choosing a niche is to make sure it’s sustainable. Don’t start a blog about something that will only be of interest for about three months and expect to sustain that blog long term.
If you’re going to choose a blog topic, make sure it’s one that will be worth the long-term investment. But what if you have lots of ideas that are profitable and sustainable?
Do you have lots of ideas? Expand your blog or start a new one!
If the thought of choosing a niche scares you, it’s probably because you’re imagining that once you choose this niche, you’ll be stuck with it forever and ever. But that’s not true at all! First of all, your niche can expand over time. Lots of style bloggers start out blogging about fashion, then they expand into blogging about makeup and beauty, and when they start a family, they expand into lifestyle blogging.
And some bloggers whose blogs have gained lots of traction find that they can start new, completely unrelated blogs and still keep their old visitors while attracting new ones.
The benefit of having a blog is that your readers will come to feel as if they truly know you, and this means they’ll want to support you, even if not all your content is targeted directly at them.
So don’t be scared of choosing a super specific niche to start out with. When you do this, you get more loyal visitors, who’ll be more supportive of all your creative projects!
Wrapping up
Your niche will be the cornerstone of your marketing campaigns, your blog content, and the ultimate success of your blog. It can be hard to figure it out, especially if you’re the type of person who’s passionate about lots of things. But with these four tips, you can choose a niche you’re passionate about and that will make you money. And remember: There’s no limit on how many blogs you can create. Once you’ve figured out the content and branding for one blog, you can always start another one!
