All potential bloggers want to know how to choose a good niche blog topic, how to find good niche website ideas, how to create a cool website, and then find riveting things to write about that will dazzle all our friends with our brilliance. Right?  Some bloggers, like you and me, want to know more!  We want to know how to use a blog to make a bundle of cash and retire to a tropical island of our choice. Right?

The very first thing you need to decide, is what type of blog you want to set up.  For information about the different types of blogging platform, such as Blogspot, Blogger.com, or WordPress.com; or the independent type of blog set up with your own Web Host using WordPress, see my articles:

• So You Want To Set Up a Blog
• What is a Domain Name & How do I Buy One
• Tips for Choosing a Good Registrar
• How to Choose a Good Host
• WordPress: How to Begin

How to Choose the Right Blog Topic Niche – For You

Choosing a good niche blog topic is where all blogging journeys start, but it is one the hardest choices that you will make as a blogger.  Of course, you can always change your mind later on if you want to, but it may take you months of work before you realize that you should have chosen a different blog topic right at the beginning. So, first of all.

What is a Niche Topic Anyway?

A niche topic is a topic that is a small slice of a bigger pie.  A niche blog topic focuses on some specific aspect of a larger more general topic. It’s a corner of a bigger market or topic where a start up blogger stands a good chance of finding some traction when competing against ‘The Big Boys’ in town.

For example: The topic of ‘Motor Cars’ is not a niche – it’s too big and too general to focus on with a blog.   It’s a market, but it’s not a niche market.  Also, a blog that was about Motor Cars in general, would be all over the place – unfocused and therefore weak.  You need to specialize, and if possible, find an angle or something that is specific, different, or better, than everyone else out there trying to get a slice of the ‘online surfer’ pie.

If someone has an interest in motor cars, it is highly likely that they will have a more specific and focused interest, such as an interest in Mercedes cars, or sports cars, or racing cars.  All those topics are still very large – and also very competitive.  You, as a humble start up blogger, will not be able to compete for visitors and buyers when up against such a large and profitable market.

Suppose you wanted to start up a blog on say, Vintage Cars manufactured in Europe before a certain date – I have no idea what sort of prospects that niche topic would have, because I haven’t done the necessary research on it, but it is a niche market. There will be a small but obsessed group of people in the world who would come flocking to a website that dealt totally, and specifically, with their particular interest.

Disclaimer: I haven’t researched that niche, so I’m only guessing that there would be enough vintage car addicts to make a blog flourish. Which brings up a very important point:

Research is Insurance Against Failure

You MUST research your potential niche topics before you choose ‘the one’.  And then do more research. Research is insurance against failure.  For much more on Niche Markets, Competition, and how to choose a good niche topic, see the articles:

Use Keyword Tools to Research Blog Topics Part 1

and Keyword Tools to Research Blog Topics  Part 2.

How Can I Avoid Choosing the Wrong Blog Niche Topic?

There are a number of strategies you can use to narrow down your choices, and increase your chances of finding the exact right niche where you can flourish – the right blog topic for you.

Don’t choose a topic niche that is so broad, it isn’t really a niche at all. Then your blog content loses focus

Don’t choose a topic niche because you see other people are making money with it

Don’t choose a topic niche that you are passionate about but no one else shares that passion

Don’t choose a topic niche that you know nothing about

Don’t choose a topic niche because someone else recommends it if you don’t yourself have a strong interest in it.

Don’t choose a topic niche, which you personally think, is riveting, but no one will give you money in order read about it, or learn about it.

In How To Set Up a Blog, I used the example of inventing a toaster gadget that flashes a light as well a ping when the toast pops up. It is definitely a niche. And it might be novel, and possibly interesting, but does anyone else find it interesting? And more to the point, will enough people (anyone?) be prepared to pay money to learn how to do it?  I don’t think so.

The next question you have an answer to the question:

Why do You want to Start a Blog?

Only you can answer this question.  For the purpose of this article, I will assume that you want to set up a blog that will earn you some money online, and that you will be using an independently hosted blog site, using a WordPress theme.

You might think that the next obvious question would be ‘What sells easily, fastest, and will make the biggest profit for me?’ Sorry, friends, that is so not the right answer.

How to Choose Your Marketing Model

There are several marketing models to choose from: Affiliate Marketing, Article Marketing, Clickbank based marketing, Facebook and Amazon marketing, and of course the dark arts of Viral Marketing……as some of you might know, that one is not for me….yet.

In this article, I will cover choosing a good topic for the style of blog called

The Authority Blog

This is a blog on a topic that you have a real interest and passion for – and that you know something about. You will intend to work on posting many Content Rich articles to this blog for at least 3 months before making a decision as to whether you have chosen a good topic that is worth investing more time on, or if you should start over with a new topic for your blog.

So ask yourself:

1.  Can I write a Content Rich article on this topic, every second day, for a month, or two months?

2. Would people want to read these articles for more than 2 minutes before clicking away?

3, Can I write in a way that differentiates me from all the other wannabe bloggers out there?

4. Do I have some special insight, or knowledge, that will attract visitors to me, personally?

5. Can I write with enough personality so that my readers will want to come back, time and again, to read my latest article?

Tuff questions I know.  And the best way to find out the answers to these questions is to follow the advice that we Aussies like to yell out at footy games: ‘’Have a go, yer mug!’  Nothing happens without taking Action!  But first, we do need to sort out a few details if we want to succeed.

Your choice of authority blog topic must have 3 Basic Requirements if it is going to be long lasting and profitable:

• Passion
• People
• Profit

Question One: What is Your Passion?

You might be lucky and already know exactly what it is that you love so much that you can happily spend a few years blogging about it, without losing interest.  That’s great, but not everyone is so sure, and that requires some serious brain-storming.

Allow yourself half an hour on your own, with all distractions turned off, and think about what you are really interested in.  At this stage, don’t worry if you can’t see how you can possibly make money from that topic, just write them all down.  Maybe you end up with 2 or 3 real interests.  Maybe there’s just one, or maybe…none?  Well, worry not, dear friends! All is not lost!

If you are really stumped, ask people who know you, what they think you are good at.  They might say something like, you always know the latest scandal and gossip , or that you are good at helping people sort out their computer problems, or you know all about the latest car designs, or the best wine for a dinner party, or you are a soccer fanatic, or tennis, or golf, or horse riding etc, etc.

You may be good at cooking up delicious meals at short notice, or providing 8 course banquets on shoe-string – everyone is good at something, or at least has a real interest in it.  Note to self: check out ‘Tasty Treats for Trendy People’

Still stuck? What are your hobbies, experiences, what were you good at in school? What would you be prepared to do….. even if you weren’t paid to do it?

Question Two – People: Are There Enough Other People Interested in this Topic?

To answer this question you need to think about

Who is My Target Audience?

This might seem impossible for you to know, but basically you can get a good idea of the potential for a blog’s target audience, depending on the answers to these questions:

1. Are there enough other people who are passionate about it?

2. Do they have a problem, or a need, that you can provide answers for e.g. a drinking problem, being overweight, or they need to learn about a particular subject so they can pass an exam, or they want to know all about the best mountain bike trails in the world

Question Three – Profit: Will People Pay Money for Products Related to This Topic?

There are several ways to find the answer to all these 3 questions, but basically, you ask Google to tell you. That is another huge topic, so I will tackle that in my next article: ‘How to Use Keyword Tools to Research Blog Topics’

The main thing to remember at this stage is:

It’s Not All About the Numbers!

It’s easy to endlessly research various topic ideas, so end up after a month or so, and you still haven’t started your blog.

By now you should have maybe 2 or 3 topic areas that you are sufficiently passionate about that any of them ‘might do’ as a topic.  Now you need to Take Action!  See you in the next article where we will start to focusing in on our targets!

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        Cue Motto…….

Plan Well.  Start Small, Think BIG!