Picking A Niche For Your Blog… Or Choosing To Be Nicheless
First of all, it’s very important for you to understand what a niche is.
A niche is simply the general topic that you write about on your blog. For instance, your blog can focus on the health and fitness niche, the gaming niche and so on. My niche is personal finance and I write mainly about ‘money’ related topics on my blog.
Before you select a topic of focus (i.e niche), here are a few things to consider:
1. Choose something you enjoy
This is one of the main things to consider when you’re thinking of choosing a topic for your blog. Mainly because you will need to work on your blog consistently. Therefore, writing about topics you enjoy makes it that much easier for you to work on your blog and enjoy yourself at the same time.
2. Consider things that have shaped you and helped you to beocme the person you are now
Although many people suggest selecting topics that you enjoy and are passionate about, and I agree with this piece of advice wholeheartedly, I also suggest that you take it a bit further and blog about a topic, a thing or events that have transformed you.
Backstory Alert
A couple of years back I was broke by choice. I refused to get a job because I wanted to start a business and become financially free. I knew that a job could not help me achieve the type of freedom that I desired. In that period, I really started to focus on my finances and learning as much as I could by reading books from financial gurus, investing every dime that I had into starting a brick and mortar business, speaking to other business people, learning the business environment in my country, finally finding ways to make money online, learning about online business, online jobs, side hustles and so on.
This greatly shaped the niche I choose when it came time to start my blog. Mainly because this period contributed greatly to the way I think and the person I’ve become. I urge you to consider significant periods or events in your life when thinking about what your blog will focus on.
3. Don’t be afraid to go nicheless
Being nicheless simply means your blog focuses on more than one topic. If you’re unable to narrow down on one specific topic you’re passionate about…but you can find 2, 3 or 4 topics that you enjoy, then make them your focus!
Consider the 3 tips above when choosing what your blog will focus on. Then, follow the steps below to actually choose what you will be blogging about.
How do you actually choose what you should blog about?
Choosing A Single Focus (or Niche)
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Action Step #1: On a piece of paper, write down the top 5 topics you enjoy learning about and speaking about the most.
a). Now, out of the top 5 topics you choose, what’s the one topic you can’t stop speaking about? Like ever. The one thing you would love to wake up every morning and speak about with your readers (or even your family and friends).
I’m sure you came up with 1 out of the 5. If you did, consider choosing this topic of focus for your niche.
Action Step # 2: Write down at least 3-5 sub-topics that will fall under that main topic that you choose.
For example:
Main Topic: Personal Finance
Sub-Topics: Save Money, Make Money, Invest Money, Money Hacks, Financial Freedom
Another example:
Main Topic: Travel
Sub-topics: Budget travel, Best Destinations, Food, Hotels & Accommodations…
That’s how easy it is to come up with a niche for your blog that you enjoy! That’s how I did it too!
Choosing To Be Nicheless (Lifestyle Blog)
This is a great solution for those who can’t figure out where their passions lie as yet. As well as for those who have multiple interests.
The process is simple, just pick a few general topics that you would like speaking about!
For example:
Main Topic: Lifestyle Blog
Sub-Topics: Healthy Eating, Kids, Gardening, Fitness, DIY, Relationships
Main Topic: Lifestyle Blog
Subtopics: Men’s fashion, Women’s fashion, Technology, Food, Health
Whether you choose to go with a lifestyle blog or a niche blog, you can be very successful and fulfill your passions.
Just as long as you’re enjoying the topics your choose, you will be fine!
P.S For those of you who still have no idea of what to blog about, here are some popular blogging niches to help guide you in your selection:
- Family
- Love
- Health and Fitness
- Relationships
- Mom Life
- Babies/Motherhood
- Personal Finance
- Electronics
- Cars
- Fashion
- Beauty
- Organisation
- Farming
- Real Estate
- Business
- Travel
- DIY
- Parenting
- Animals
- Jobs/Career and more!
You truly have unlimited options to choose from. Choose what makes you happy!
Now..for a question that may be causing you some grief!
I get asked a lot (and I also see tons of aspiring bloggers fretting about this issue in various Facebook Groups that I’m a part of)
Do you need to be an expert to blog/write about a certain topic?
The answer is no. You do not NEED to be an expert to blog about anything. What you do need is some experience (and at least some passion for doing some research) in whatever niche you want to blog about.
My theory (and a lot of others agree with me on this) is that if you have experience in something or you’ve overcome something, you have a great opportunity to TEACH others how you did it and inspire them to try out your way.
For instance,
- If you have experience in getting out of debt, you can teach others how you did it and how they might be able to do it too!
- If you are currently finding great solutions to your financial problems, share these on your blog to help others out too!
- If you have experience in landing awesome travel deals you can teach others how to do it too!
- If you have experience in going from broke to earning a full-time income online, you can teach others how to do this too!
- If you are currently going through a weight loss journey and are finding tips, solutions, and advice that help you achieve success, share these on your blog.
- If you have experience in losing a bunch of weight and maintaining a healthy lifestyle you can teach others how to do it too.
- If you’re a mom, who is successfully finding solutions to mommy and kids issues, share those on your blog!
This is what blogging is about, teaching others from your experience and or research.
Sometimes, all people really need is to see how real people are overcoming similar problems and blogging is an amazing outlet for this.
So no, unless you’re planning to blog about tax or medical advice, you do not need to be an expert (or have a degree in order to blog)
Just focus on sharing your solutions, experiences, things you learned and how you overcame situations with your readers and they will appreciate your blog tremendously.
Recap:
In this lesson, you’ve learned to choose your niche, choose sub-topics for your niche and we’ve established that you do not need to be an expert to start blogging. You’ve done a great job!
Now you need a very catchy blog name/domain name for your blog..start brainstorming ideas tonight.
In tomorrow’s lesson, we will discuss tips to pick a great blog name as well as how to start your blog!
See you for tomorrow’s lesson!
[email protected]smartnancials.com
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