Starting a blog can be exciting, but the process can also be time-consuming and overwhelming. This is especially true when choosing a blogging niche that you'll enjoy and can also make money with as your blog progresses.
Fortunately, you don’t need to choose profitability or passion. Instead, you can combine the two when choosing a blogging niche, and create an online business that earns you money while also fueling your creative fire.
In today’s post, we’ll discuss the importance of profitability and passion in blogging. We’ll then provide you with a three-step strategy to help you find the perfect niche for your new blog.
Why Profitability and Passion Are So Important in Blogging
There are a variety of elements that come together to create a successful blog. One such element is choosing a blogging niche, it’s an extremely important aspect for new bloggers to consider.
To start, what’s a niche? In very basic terms, it's the main focus of a site's content. This is crucial to the success of your blog, as it largely dictates the kind of material you create and how you can monetize your site.
It’s also important to understand two key points that will impact how you go about choosing a blogging niche:
- Profitability refers to how easily the niche can be monetized, including whether people are willing to pay for products and services within the niche. If you plan to earn an income from your blog, profitability will determine the likelihood of making that happen.
- Passion is a bit more convoluted, but it really boils down to creating a niche around what you love. While money can be a large motivator, passion can be an even stronger one, especially when things get tough. It will also ensure that you take pride in the content you produce, which is likely to shine through for your readers to see.
Alone, these key elements aren’t enough for you to build a successful online business. Together, however, you can create a website that beats out the competition, earns you a respectable income, and brings you joy.
How to Combine Profitability With Passion When Choosing a Blogging Niche
Choosing a niche where profit and passion meet can be difficult. However, we’ve created a three-step strategy which will bring you closer to creating a successful and profitable blog.
Step #1: Create a List of Interests
Since we've already identified that passion will play a large role in your blog's success, it's important to choose a topic that really interests you. Moreover, listing all of your interests can help you come up with some unique and low-competition niche ideas.
Some people might have a long list of interests, while others have a fairly short one. Either way, you might be surprised once you get started. Here are just some of the many interests that could be worth blogging about:
So, how should you go about creating your own list of interests? While you can certainly take a few ideas from the example above, you can also ask yourself some questions:
- What do I enjoy doing in my free time?
- Am I the go-to person in my circle of friends for a specific topic?
- What subject can I talk about for hours?
At this stage in the process, you aren’t overly concerned with profit possibilities. Just focus on creating a list of interests that speak to you.
Step #2: Narrow Your List of Topics
Unfortunately, not all interests align themselves with profit. However, with a bit of creativity, you can come up with a few ideas on which to build.
Fried Dandelions is an excellent example of how to narrow your list of topics to create a profitable niche. The creator combines two passions (being a mom and eating a vegan diet) that work together nicely. She uses affiliate marketing (linking to vegan products) to earn the bulk of her site’s income.
In this example, the narrow niche draws targeted traffic, which offers the perfect opportunity to monetize the blog. A narrower scope should also make it easier to become a niche leader. There will likely be less competition, making you more visible in search and on social media.
Speaking of competition, this study offers lots of insight into what's currently being covered (and what isn't). For example, these are some common blog topics, ranging from most to least popular:
- Personal development
- Productivity
- Marketing
- Technology
- DIY
- Parenting
- Food and beverage
- Fitness
- Finance
- Sports
- Celebrities
- Automobiles
- Gossip
It's also worth noting that the study suggests that most bloggers don't choose one topic, but rather cover multiple topics, such as in the example above. However, trying to blog about too many topics may result in a lack of focus and could lose you readers.
Conversely, it's also possible to get too narrow when choosing a niche. There may simply be too small of an audience to make it worthwhile. It can also be a struggle to create relevant content in the long run.
We've got a few tips to make sure you strike the right balance:
- Choose a unique angle. It doesn't have to be a completely unique topic, but you should be able to bring a fresh approach to it. To see what's already out there and possibly get some inspiration, you can try entering your proposed topic along with the word ‘blog' in search engines.
- Try combining interests. You could combine two, or even three, semi-related interests to create a unique niche, like Fried Dandelions.
- Think about a target audience. Always think about who would be interested in your niche and if there are enough of those people to make it profitable.
Ideally, at the end of this step, you'll have a shortlist of potential ideas that you'll eventually narrow down to one.
Step #3: Research Niche Keywords
At this point, it will be easier to see which niche ideas are winners and which are duds. However, it’s always good to do some more in-depth research before making a final decision.
Keyword research is the process of learning what people are searching for on Google, Bing, and other such search engines. It also enables you to gauge how competitive and profitable particular keywords are. By discovering the keyword potential for your list of niches, it will be much easier to decide which area you'd like to delve into.
How can you get started? First, for one of your niche ideas, create a list of possible search terms related to the topic. For example, if you're interested in email marketing, some search terms might include 'email marketing automation', ‘build email marketing leads', and 'email marketing campaigns'.
Once you’ve got your starter list, you can enter them into the Google Keyword Planner. This is a free keyword research tool, and all it requires is a Google AdWords account. It will give you additional keyword ideas and information about average monthly searches, competition, and more.
Depending on how far you've narrowed your list during the second step, this part could take a while. However, it's crucial to discovering which ideas are really worth your time and effort. Moreover, it will give you a head start in deciding which keywords to target when you begin creating content.
Conclusion
The world of blogging may seem over-saturated, but when you combine individual passions with profit possibilities, you can create your own unique niche in which to flourish.
In this post, we've outlined the three steps necessary for combining profitability with passion when choosing a blogging niche. Let's recap them quickly:
- Create a list of interests.
- Narrow your list of topics.
- Research niche keywords.
Do you have any questions about choosing a blogging niche that combines profitability and passion? Let us know in the comments section below!
Whats Next ?
Now that you have choose your niche, you can also learn how to choose your domain name in 4 simple steps and sign up for your hosting account and start building your blog.
Image credit: Unsplash.
Lee says
Hi!
I have just re-started my own blog, or, found some new passion and inspiration to do more about it, and this post was super encouraging.
Matt Challenge says
Glad you found inspiration. Read about your post on postcrossing. Learnt something new. 🙂
Dr Mariette Jansen says
Hi Matt, would love to hear what you think would work better for me. I am currently publishing my blogs on my website http://www.drdestress.co.uk. I have about 100 visitors a day. Would it make sense to leave my website as a website and start a separate blog on de-stressing with a compelling title? Or would i be competing with myself?
Matt Challenge says
Thanks for reaching out. You are doing a good job on getting 100 visitors a day to your website. Sent you some ideas about your new blog.
Anthony Little says
Hi Matt, I’ve started my new blog, If you have any pointer for increasing traffic, i really appreciate your thoughts.
Matt Challenge says
New posts coming on that soon. Congrats on your new blog.
Christie Cole says
Still learning