There are almost 2 billion websites out there, and 600 million of them are blogs. (Source: Web Tribunal) The numbers are quite impressive. Nonetheless, new blogs are being launched every day. Naturally, some of them are more successful than others. Can you really compete with so many people if you want to start a blog of your own? The answer is yes – you just have to find the right niche.

What is a niche?

A niche is a specific topic or industry you will write articles about. It should be something that is not mainstream, or it won’t be a niche. If the topic you choose is already very popular, it is likely that there are already lots of other people blogging about it.

Source: LinkedIn

In simple terms, a blog niche is what you will write about. As you will see below, you should choose one if you want your blog to be successful. Of course, you can write about various topics instead of focusing on one, but it will be hard to build a loyal community of readers this way.

Why do you need a niche?

Finding your niche can determine the success of your blog. Without one, your blog will simply become one of the tens of thousands of blogs that publish content on very broad topics just for the sake of it and without any focus. There are lots of such blogs already with a number of authors writing for each one of them, so you will probably have to compete with blogs that are backed by companies with large teams.

There are many reasons why finding a niche is better than writing articles on multiple topics. For a start, it keeps you focused. It is easier to explore different aspects of a single topic than to try to think of appealing articles on different topics.

Writing multiple articles on a single topic will make people see you as an authority in that particular niche. Being more knowledgeable will allow you to attract an audience, and if people recognize your blog, you can build a brand name.

70% of people say they’d rather learn about products through content rather than through traditional advertising.

Harvard Business Review

With some luck, they will add links to the blog, so search engines will also start seeing you as an authority.

Speaking of search engines, a niche blog is better for SEO. It is easier for such a blog to rank higher in search engine results as all its content will be on a specific topic. Every article you add will give your blog a small boost in rankings.

Here is a tip - when you choose your niche, make sure it is not too narrow. By choosing a very narrow topic to write about, you risk losing your inspiration quickly as there won’t be many things to write about. Less content on a very narrow topic also means less visitors that will be interested in reading your articles.

Finding your niche

There are a few things you can do when you want to find the right niche. As you will see below, all of them are quite easy and they only require some of your time.

Brainstorm

If you need ideas, brainstorming is the first thing you can do. Write down any idea that comes to mind, no matter if you consider it suitable or not at the time. You can get more ideas when you revise what you have written down. Feel free to ask friends or family to help you. If you plan to launch a commercial blog, brainstorm together with your colleagues. After all, each person will suggest different topics.

Look around

Restaurant reviews, fashion, local tourism, architecture - you can find a lot of ideas by simply looking around.

As trivial as this piece of advice may sound, you can find lots of topics to write about if you simply look around. Nature, birds, fashion, sports, cars, architecture – these are all things you will see around you. If brainstorming does not work, you can find lots of real-world examples around you. Here you can also include things you have recently read about in magazines or online.

Make a list of your achievements

Add anything you have done or you have accomplished here. This includes your job and anything else you have done in the past, your hobbies, projects, or even experiences – a successful diet, family life, kids, etc. You never know when an interesting topic will pop up. You can write about good practices in your field of work based on your job experience, about healthy meals that helped you lose weight, or about a hobby like collecting stamps, for example.

Research trending keywords

Find out what is trending by using tools like Google Trends. You can enter a word or a phrase, then choose a past period to see how popular it has been through the years. If you hesitate what topic to choose, the tool allows you to compare how two different keywords have performed.

This way, you can find a topic that is not too popular, so you can avoid competing with too many other blogs, but also one that has been popular enough through the years to allow you to attract an audience that will keep visiting your blog. You will notice that some terms have been extremely popular for a period of time, but they attract almost no interest today. What you need is an “evergreen” – something that people will always search for.

You can use other tools such as Exploding Topics (free keyword search tool) or Trendhunter (articles on trending terms) to discover more trending topics as well.

Trendhunter will give you quite a few ideas, including niche ones.

Find a market niche

You can find a blog niche by finding a market niche. Here is an example – if you want to write about technology, find something more specific. It could be smart watches, or a particular PlayStation game, for example. Do some research and find a product or a service with the potential to grow. Chances are that there won’t be many bloggers writing about it yet, so you can be among the first ones. If you prefer to write about something that has been around for a while, choose some specific aspect about it to make sure that you don’t create content that already exists on other websites.

Things to consider

Will you write about it after one year?

The topic you choose to write about should be something you will be interested in for a while. It takes time for a good blog to attract a decent audience, so it makes no sense to start a blog if you will quickly lose interest in adding new content. It is not uncommon for bloggers to start with a few articles per week and then end up with one article every few months. It is not worth the time and the effort if you stop writing articles regularly.

Here is one more thing to consider – you may want to write about a given topic in a year or two, but will that topic still be relevant? If you choose some event, for example, it is unlikely that people will be interested once it has passed, and you won’t really have anything new to write about.

Here is a quick test – think of at least 20-30 articles you can write about. Do not worry if they are good ones or not, as you will have more time in the future to choose good topics. What matters in this case is to make sure that you will have content for at least a year. You can also try to write a few draft articles, or even to publish 2-3 guest blog posts on the topic you have selected and see how it goes.

Will other people read your posts?

This is an important factor as the point of having a blog is to have people who will read your posts regularly. It makes no sense to write posts for the sake of it, no matter if it will be a personal blog or you want to create content with the idea to monetize it. The niche you will choose should be one that people will want to read about. Of course, for some topics you may have only a small number of readers, but if you find the right niche, they will probably be long-term readers.

Broader topics will likely attract more visitors as a whole, but you won’t really have a niche and your audience will not be a dedicated one. The number of visitors each article will attract will depend on what it is about. If you want to have a niche blog, try to find a topic that will attract a decent number of regular readers.

Can you monetize it?

This question is not as important as the ones above, but if you choose a profitable topic, you can try to make some money out of it. Of course, profit may be the main reason to start a blog. If this is the case, the articles you publish should attract enough readers so that you can earn from ad clicks, ad impressions, or some affiliate program related to your niche. Many companies offer affiliate programs these days, so if you look around, such a program can even help you to choose your blog niche.

ICDSoft has an affiliate program, so you can start a web hosting blog, for example. Discover more than 150 other affiliate programs here: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/affiliate-programs

How to start your blog

You will find a number of applications out there that will allow you to create a blog. Without a doubt, WordPress is the most popular one. There are other platforms as well, including ones that are designed for blogging, but WordPress is by far the best one. With thousands of free and premium themes and plugins, a huge community and regular updates, the application is a great choice for any blog.

To start your blog, you will need a hosting account, a domain name, and the WordPress application. You can get all three from us with just a few clicks. Our system will install WordPress and will enable server-side caching to speed up your blog. Our WordPress manager will give you access to a number of useful tools – auto-login, on-demand backups, dashboard login protection, content directories protection, speed optimization, staging websites, and more.

Another option we offer is the ICDSoft Website builder. This is a multi-purpose application, which allows you to create any type of website with ease. The Website builder comes with a Blog module, where you can create and edit your blog posts. You can easily enable/disable comments, set a post expiry date, add spam protection, and more.

Of course, you will find other options on the market as well, both in terms of the application to build a blog, and the type of service to host it. The ones we have listed are easy to set up and use, but they also give you more control over your content. The latter is not something you will see with lots of the managed WordPress options you will find out there.

Some ideas

We have listed some things above that you have to keep in mind when you consider what blog niche to choose. In this section, you will find a few ideas that can help you. As you will notice, we try to pick specific topics from broader categories. You can use them when you consider what topic will be best for you.

  • Parenting: Tips for new parents, toy reviews, raising a child with a disability, baby showers
  • Travel: Tips about living in a specific area, weekend break ideas, backpacking, travel equipment, hotel reviews
  • Health and Fitness: News or tips about a specific sports event, cycling, fitness trackers, healthy breakfast tips
  • Fashion: Wedding dresses, sustainable fashion, workout clothing
  • Sports: Running, hiking, rock climbing, esports, betting tips
  • Personal Finance: Credit card offers, saving money, coupons, debt restructuring
  • Food: Restaurant reviews, local recipes, eating on a budget, liquor
  • Movies: TV shows, movie reviews, industry news, new digital releases

In conclusion

Finding a blog niche is not an easy task these days. There are millions of blogs out there on almost any topic. Nonetheless, you can still find your niche in the online world. If you spend enough time brainstorming and researching, you can come up with interesting ideas that will allow you to start a successful blog.

Of course, you should keep a few things in mind. The topic you choose should be one that will be appealing to readers; you should be able to write articles regularly for at least a year or two; and last, but not least, you can choose a profitable niche that will allow you to make decent money.

Our web hosting services allow you to launch a blog in a matter of minutes. We provide domain registrations and hosting plans, and our WordPress Manager will give you access to many tools for the smooth and secure management of your website.

Author

A web hosting provider since 2001. We host over 58,000 websites for customers in over 140 countries around the globe.