7 Clever Secrets to Really Pick a Blog Niche Like an Expert

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Are you thinking of becoming a blogger but you need to pick a blog niche?

You notice that many of your friends or people who you know are getting into this blogging thing and you want to do the same.

Let me know if this sounds familiar.

As the years go by working at that 9-5 job is proving to be more difficult when you want to spend time with your loved ones.

The idea of running your own side hustle sounds super attractive but you are terrified to get started.

In fact, you don’t think that you are any good at writing and besides who would listen to you anyway.

Creating your very own website or blog seems pretty scary because you are just not a techy person at all.

The good news is that none of us was born knowing how to blog, we all learned along the way.

In this post, you will learn the necessary steps that you can take to get this blogging thing right as well as how to pick a blog niche that is right for you.

What on Earth is a Blog Niche Anyway?

You can think of a niche blog as a website that is focused on a specific topic that addresses the concerns of people that share a common interest.

That common interest could be a location, food, gadgets, experiences and just about anything.

In fact, according to Wikipedia, niche blogging “may appeal to geographic areas, a speciality industry, ethnic or age groups, or any other particular group of people.”

The most important aspect is that this group of people would share a common interest that is meaningful enough for them to talk about.

A location could be Manhattan, a speciality industry could be 3D printing and age could refer to millennials.

One thing I find super interesting about blogging is that generally speaking no one likes to be labelled.

However, everyone wants to belong to a group or a community that represents them in some way.

Broad or Narrow?

At this point, you are probably wondering if you can go too broad or to narrow with your niche.

The secret of a successful blog is to ensure that it does not appeal to the masses. Also, it should not only interest a village with a population of 1,000 people.

Getting the balance of reach right is super important to your success.

If 100,000 people are interested in your topic then chances are that you have found a good niche.

However, your addressable market size is not the only factor in finding your niche.

Another thing to take into consideration is the potential profitability which will be addressed later in this post.

In fact, the most important aspect of blogging is your passion and ability to enjoy the ride.

So, let’s spend some time looking at you, your interest and your past accomplishments.

What Should You Blog About? (Finding Your Passion)

It has been a while since I wrote about this topic but one of the secrets to blogging success is uncovering your passion and interests.

Think of your passion as that work from home job that you are excited to do every day of the week.

Here are five main areas that we will look at to help you find your blog niche.

1. Childhood hobbies
2. Educational accomplishments
3. Spare time activities
4. Skills vs Talents
5. Purpose and Cause

Let’s spend some time looking at each of these in details so that we can come up with a shortlist for your passion project.

Childhood hobbies

Most people I know were crazy about something as a child but something happened and they lost interest in that thing.

It actually reminds me of my daughter she was super excited about starting elementary school.

Only recently I asked her where is that 4-year old who was so excited to start school so many years ago. What happened?

Surprisingly her answer to me was, “school happened mom“.

I do admire her for sticking with her artistic abilities.

We were going through paper faster than they were cutting trees when I decided to get her a ‘Magic Artist’.

Those writing boards that can erase very easily without the need for ink or paper.

Now, she is an avid tree hugger. Definitely funny how life works, isn’t it?

Do you remember what you were crazy about as a child? Write down a list of those items.

Educational achievements

Yes, school attendance or formal education may have spoiled your imagination and caused you to be very serious about life.

However, while attending school you learned a number of cool things.

It could be anything from doing handstands to home economics and everything in between.

I totally disliked English literature and art appreciation so I know that I am hopeless in those areas.

However, I always had an interest in technology.

Write down a list of 5 things that you learned in school that you can do with little to no research.

Rate each one of them on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest score.

Spare time activities

Each one of us has 24 hours in a given day and with that comes activities that we do in our spare time.

I like going for walks along the beach and I also like to read books about self-improvement.

Another favourite thing I enjoy doing is travelling to different countries and learning about other cultures.

Spend some time thinking about what you have been doing in your spare time over the last 2-3 years.

Make a list of the top 5 activities and rank each one of them on a scale of 1-10.

What are your Skills vs Talents?

Anyone can easily confuse skills and talents so let me clear that up for this specific exercise.

A talent is something that you were born with from childhood. On the other hand, a skill is something that you learned along the way.

I have a strange talent of super quick reflexes and I am not sure why or when it would be useful just yet.

In terms of skills, I learned to cook and bake from a very young age. My talent in that area is doing it in the shortest time possible.

Make a list of your top 5 skills as well as your top 5 talents and rank them on a scale of 1-10.

Your Purpose

Every single one of us is here on earth because we have a purpose. It boils down to finding a cause that you can get behind.

It will take some time to figure this out if you don’t already know what your purpose is just yet.

Think of something that you will support with a lot of passion but without payment or compensation.

I started this blog after learning that over the last 20 years there has been no reduction in the number of illiterate women globally.

About 20% of the women, even in first world countries, continue to suffer from illiteracy.

Write down your cause or purpose as it may be part of the vision statement for your blog.

Here is what your list with 5 categories should look like.

As you can see at the very bottom the numbers are adding up to something worthwhile.

The ideal scenario is that your passion should correlate nicely with your purpose to help you feel fulfilled.

Strengths Shortlist

After completing your list of skills, hobbies, talents, etc. you will notice that some items that have a higher score compared to others.

What you are looking for is a way to combine 3-5 items in order to help you with your next project or to find a niche.

Here are two videos that will help you to find your passion and purpose in great detail.

Click on each image and the video will open and play in a new window.

Find your passion

Find your purpose

After completing this exercise you should have more clarity about what niche is best suited to your personality and experience.

Next, we need to look at profitability.

Niche Profit Calculator

Did you know that you can calculate the amount of profit that you can make in your potential niche?

The process can be simple and straight-forward but not easy.

It would involve some research together with applying a formula commonly used by bloggers focused on advertising income.

You would basically need to find your first 100-1,000 keywords or phrases as well as their associated cost per click (CPC).

Although the process is simple it does involve some painstaking work of making a big list of potential keywords.

The next step would be finding the cost per click associated with each keyword using a tool like the Google Keyword Planner.

You can pick up the ebook that walks you step by step on how to use the niche profit calculator here.

How to Know If You Picked a Good Niche?

Even after finding your passion, purpose and doing a profitability calculation on your niche you can get it wrong.

Other key considerations to take on board when choosing your final can be as indicated below.

Here are some questions to consider;

1. Can you write topics on your chosen niche for the next 3-5 years?
2. What are the current ways to monetise your niche blog?
3. Is your chosen niche trending up or down in Google Trends?
4. Are the majority of blog topics evergreen?
5. Where do your potential fans or clients currently hang out?
6. Can you potentially build a tribe before starting a blog?

Let’s look at each of these questions in more detail so you know what to look out for.

1. Topics for 3-5 Years

The idea of starting a blog or even getting involved in a new project is always very exciting.

As a general rule, when the honeymoon period is over then life becomes really difficult.

I can compare it with falling in love with someone new. After the first 6-12 months, it requires a whole lot more effort to stay in love.

This same concept can be applied to blogging because it can be very difficult to get results based on many factors.

You can easily run out of topics in your first 6 months. If you do then your chosen niche may be too narrow or you may need to switch things up a bit.

2. Monetising your Blog

Unless you plan to have your blog as a hobby I suggest that you think about monetising your blog upfront.

Looking at other bloggers in a niche that is similar to yours will help you to make a list of potential ways to generate an income from your blog.

Dozens of ways exist to make money blogging. Decide ahead of time so that you can take the necessary actions to ensure that you are ready.

This big list of ways to monetise your blog should help you to get ready and make a long term plan.

3. Google Trends Really Helps

The biggest disservice that you can do to yourself and your blog is not doing proper research.

Google Trends is a free tool that you can use to look at what is happening in your niche in terms of demand.

A continuing downward trend in your niche suggests that you need to switch over to something different.

The Atkins diet is a great example with a downward trend. I do remember when it was oh so popular.

Here is what it looks like for the last 5 years. You can easily to conclude that it’s trending downward slightly.

However, when compared to the Ketogenic diet, reality suddenly hits home.

According to Google Trends, the ketogenic diet is massively more popular compared to Atkins over the last 5 years.

Always do your homework.

4. Evergreen Content

Another key factor when deciding on your niche is the fact that evergreen content is king.

If you decide to get into a niche that addresses current affairs or the latest news like the Huffington Post then you will need to churn out a lot of content.

However, if your niche topics are good for a lifetime then they are more or less evergreen which is the best way to go.

5. Client Platforms

While this may not be vitally important during the early stages knowing where your clients hang out can give you an advantage.

The reason for this is that if your clients hang out on Youtube but you decide to stick with blogging only that can slow you down.

Knowing where your clients hang out and their preferred way to consume content really gives you the edge in the planning stages.

6. Building a Tribe

One secret to getting enormous success before launching your blog is building a following or tribe of loyal fans.

This is not an easy process unless you focus on a topic that has a high demand.

A great example of this is helping people find coupons or deals for shopping.

Here is a Facebook page that was created 3.5 months ago that has gone from zero to 46,000 likes.

The owner was scrambling to find a way to monetise it and he finally decided to charge his fans 10 euro a year to get 7-10 deals a week.

Don’t ever think that your market is saturated because you can find opportunities everywhere.

How to Choose Your Blog Niche In 48 Hours or Less

Now that you have a fair understanding of what’s involved in choosing the best niche for your blog let’s streamline the process.

In order to get this all done and dusted in the shortest possible time here are the necessary steps you need to take.

1. Watch the videos about finding your passion and purpose – 2 hours
2. Formulate a shortlist of your best skills, talents, hobbies, achievements and spare time activities – 2 hours
3. Discover your purpose or cause that you will support without compensation – 5 hours
4. Research a list of 5-10 topics that you can talk about with little to no research – 2 hours
5. Conduct some research using Google Trends to ensure these topics are growing niches – 2 hours
6. Write 1,500 to 2,000 words on each of your 5 top topics – 20 hours
7. Publish the articles on the most appropriate platform like Medium, LinkedIn, Kinja, Thrive Global, Tumblr, Facebook page – 4 hours
8. Take note about which ones gets the most feedback or engagement

This is a surefire way to dip your toe in the water without having to invest a lot of time and resources.

You also have the ability to get immediate feedback from your potential client about their needs on that topic.

7 Obscure Niche Blog Examples You Don’t Need to Follow🤣

To give you some inspiration that anything is possible when it comes to starting a blog here are 7 obscure blog examples for you.

1. Nerd + Deadlift focus

I came across this blog that is in the fitness niche but it focuses solely on nerd fitness as well as doing deadlifts.

The blogger Steve Kamb is a self-confessed nerd who does deadlifts and his goal is to help nerds, misfits and mutants.

Several elements of this website remind me of the movie ‘The Greatest Showman’, where the performers wanted somewhere to belong.

2. Physical Agility

We all are accustomed to the idea of sitting 8 hours a day at a desk or working in upright positions.

However, I came across a blog that is focused on building physical agility for the longterm.

GMB fitness promises to help everyone to get strong, move better and build total confidence in their body.

They offer lessons teaching you how to do handstands.

3. Spice Your Way Slim

Another great blog I found was one that teaches a very unconventional way to lose weight.

Just in case you are thinking that you need to deprive yourself of sugars think again.

Nagina from Masala Body promises to help you lose weight using only spices.

4. Freelance Writing

As you probably know we are living in the information age where the demand for writers is relatively high.

A great way to generate an income online from your blog is from freelance writing.

Growing a community or writers is a great way to generate 6 figures which is just what Carol from Freelance Writers Den has done.

She charges $25 per month and she already has over 1,200 members in her community.

5. Paleo Diet for Dogs

The thought of going on a diet makes me squirmish every single time. Some may say I don’t need it but my preference is a lifestyle change.

However, putting dogs on a paleo diet sounds even stranger for me.

Kimberly Gauthier from KeepTheTailWagging.com is helping dog owners to feed their dogs on a raw diet.

She also has a special focus on pet wellness as an added benefit.

6. Help Short Men Dress Better

Well, this one surprised me a bit because of the heavy focus on women when it comes to fashion.

Have you ever thought about the needs of men and what they wear?

Brock McGoff decided to help short men dress better so he started a blog called the Modest Man.

He offers style advice, outfit ideas as well as tips and tricks to help them date with confidence.

Short men include any man under 5 foot 8 inches.

7. Did You Get Enough Sleep Last Night?

A very obscure blog making $2,500 a month is one that focuses on sleeping well.

Did you know that about 35% of Americans don’t get their required 7 hours of sleep every night?

Blogging about sleep is what Kieran from the Dozy Owl which goes against unconventional wisdom.

Summary

What a ride! Just when you thought it was too hard to find a blogging niche I have given you everything you need including the kitchen sink.

In case you need help remembering we covered the following:

1. What is a blog niche
2. Broad or narrow
3. Finding your passion + purpose
4. Strengths shortlist
5. Niche profit calculator
6. Elements of a good niche
7. Obscure blog niche examples

At this point, I believe that you have everything you need to make a shortlist of 3-5 blog niche ideas.

Starting a side hustle is very daunting and the fear of failing is what is preventing a lot of people from getting started.

One thing that can definitely help is joining a group or community of people who are in a similar situation to yours.

I would really like to hear about your experience.

Do let me know what has been your experience of picking a blog niche as well as any obscure niches you came across.

Share it in the comments below.

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If you need more ideas when it comes to blog niches then grab these blog niche ideas.

Are you curious about which blog niches make the most profit? Check out these most profitable blog niches.

Want to take advice from bloggers who did it? Take a look at this awesome blog income report across several niches.

My focus continues to be helping female entrepreneurs to become successful using proven organic marketing strategies here at Success Unscrambled.