We give you the answers to that tricky blogging question – “what is my blog about!?”
When we were looking to start a blog, we didn’t know what we wanted our blog niche to be. Sure we had some ideas, but they hadn’t been thought through.
But, using the tips that we outline below, we soon had ideas that we thought were good enough to get started with, and sure enough, over time, we firmed up those ideas to have what we have now.
Now we have a very successful blog and even earns us a few $$! So here’s how we did it.
If you’re thinking of starting a blog or have already followed our guide on how to start a blog, you’ll sooner or later have to decide on a niche for your blog.
Some people start blogs only with the intention to write, with blog posts on various topics. But with no clear niche, these blogs aren’t often successful.
Something you should consider right from the start is whether you are blogging for fun or blogging to make money. Sure, you can blog for fun and make money, we detail many ways to do this, but for some people, one of the predominant goals of starting a blog is to make money.
Some niches are more popular than others, and some can be more profitable than others too. For instance, if you want to stay up to date on home decor trends, then you’ll likely follow home decor blogs, same goes for health and fitness.
The great thing about niche blogs is that they target a specific audience who are more likely to return and talk about your blog.
So how do you find a niche?
Choosing the right niche for you
Blogging about the things that you are genuinely interested in, things that you love, and things that you already know a lot about, are the ideal topics to build your blog around. Here’s why.
You’ll have a lot more to say, and you won’t get so bored so quickly. Blogging can be hard work, and if you’re writing about topics that don’t really interest you then you’ll find it even harder to stay motivated, and you’re more likely to abandon your blog in the future.
Blogging about what genuinely interests you will also show through in the content that you write. You’ll appear more passionate about the topics, and you’re certainly more likely to put in the time and effort to make your blog successful.
In addition to this, it will give you lots to write about, so you’re less likely to run out of ideas.
But what about making some money while blogging?
Choosing a profitable niche
If you opt to focus your blog on a niche that is mainly profit-driven, then you’re more likely to run out of ideas or lose motivation as you’re less likely to have as much knowledge of the topics and this is more likely to show through in the content that you write.
But that’s not to say that it’s going to be impossible to succeed in creating a blog purely for profit, after all, many people do just that, it’s just going to be harder work. But any blog can be successful if you put the time and effort into making it a success.
Finding what interests you
To know what to write about means looking at the things that interest you the most.
Ask yourself:
- What are the things that interest you?
- What do you want to teach or tell other people?
- What’s your story or your ambitions?
- Did you enjoy any classes when you were at school or college?
- What would you do if you had the chance to do anything?
- If you could have any job you wanted, what would it be?
- What are you currently knowledgeable about?
Here is a tip – think of a niche that interests you!
Then write down a list of blog titles that you think might make useful blog posts. If you find it hard or the titles seem weak and dull, then this may not be the right niche. However, if you find it easy to do, and the titles seem interesting, then this could be something to focus on. If so, later, as a further test, try writing these into posts on your word processor or notepad and see how they work out.
These can then lead to further ideas, and before you know it, you’ve got a lot of blog content to write about and get started with.
Bonus Tip!
Get blog content ideas from HubSpot’s blog ideas generator.
It can be hard to come up with blog topics, and it’s the same for every blogger. We’re always looking for things to write.
But there’s a tool that you can use that can help make it easier!
The Hubspot blog ideas generator lets you enter a few keywords, and it’ll generate ideas for a week’s worth of blogging!
Just type a keyword in and click the “give me blog ideas” button.
You can even use key phrases to give you more ideas, so you’ll have lots of ideas to get started with.
What you decide doesn’t have to be final
No matter what niche or topics you choose to write about, there are already likely to be hundreds, if not thousands of similar posts and articles.
So why bother if it’s already been done?
Heres why. Firstly, Google and other search engines love popular content, so they tend to rank high. But they also love fresh, new, relevant content that will rank higher than content that never gets updated.
Secondly, not everyone will read your content from using search. People can find your posts in multiple ways, whether they are browsing your site and come across them, or they have followed one of your social media profiles. There are quite simply so many ways for people to discover your blog posts.
For example, we started Meant to Be Made when there were already lots of blogs about blogging, crafting, making money. We quite simply had the mindset of “if they can do it, we can do it too…” but also, we aimed to make it better.
But remember, you don’t need to stick to the same niche if you choose not to. Many blogs start out talking about one thing and then, over time, find their voice.
We did too! We initially started Meant to be Made to be about crafting; after all, we were crafters. But over time, we figured out that although we loved crafting, we also had a lot of knowledge about selling the things that we made and making money online.
Then it all just started to come together. So the trick is just to get started, and you will find your way too.
How to be successful in your niche
Many people may get technical at this point, analyzing the formulas that can help you succeed. For sure some things are worth knowing, such as knowing who your target audience is, the demographics – is your niche interesting to women in their 20’s to ’40s, mums, etc. – understanding who your target audience is can help you tailor your blog posts in a certain way that will be most effective to your readers.
You can easily google the demographics of the niche that you’re interested in. For example, to check the demographics of a niche about crafting we searched for “demographics of crafting” and you’ll find pages that will show charts with age, gender, geographic locations and more.
But for most successful bloggers, they didn’t start out knowing the ins and outs of what would make them successful. They simply started and put in the effort, and for most, success came as a result of that.
Shortly after starting your blog, you’ll soon see which of your posts are most popular, not only in the comments but also in the page views count, and knowing which type of posts are more popular with your readers will allow you to expand on or create similar posts. You’ll soon have a blog full of interesting articles which lots of visitors will interact with and love.
We never set out expecting that our blog would attract the number of visitors that it does. It was a nice thought, and we wanted it to be a successful blog. But success comes when you put the effort in, and it’s a great feeling!
We hope that you’ve learned enough here to help you choose a niche for your blog. It’s a great stage to be at because you’re at the start of something amazing. So go on, be amazing!