Today is all about what you are going to blog about. Let’s talk about niches.
What’s in a Niche?
We have covered a couple of good points so far. By now you know why you should start a blog, and how they make money (seriously knowing that last one is more than half the bloggers out there know when they get started)
By now your convinced that starting a blog is a great idea. Because it is.
There’s only one problem.
What do you blog about?
This is where a lot of people get lost.
The reason is because most people think about it the wrong way.
If you go to most sites they are going to tell you to follow your passion and money will magically fall into your lap.
Ummm… no… that doesn’t happen.
It sounds nice and simple but that’s not really helpful advice.
The first thing you need to decide is….
Who you are going to help?
Your blog isn’t about you, it’s about your reader. Without readers you aren’t going to go far. So how are you going to help, or entertain your target reader.
Here’s the best way to decide.
There are essentially two types of people that you are best suited to help
A past version of yourself.
or
A present version of yourself.
It’s that simple. Let’s look at both quickly
A great present version example.
A lot of people start out personal finance blogs to help them be accountable with their money and get out of debt.
They are often a huge hit, because their readers are also wanting to get out of debt and find this to be a great resource.
This type of reader is walking along side the person and getting a view as to what is going on.
Or another example is that you love to travel.
So you could start a travel blog.
You could write about how you are planning your next trip, and the costs involved and how you are going to get there, and where you are going to stay and the activities to do there. Then when you get back you can write reviews and other things all around travel to that area.
That’s the present version. You are going through something and you share the journey with your readers.
The past version is another way to go.
Personally, I like this. While reading about someone trying to get out of debt is good, I would way rather hear from someone who has their stuff together and has already done it. It’s also a great way to pick because you already know the outcome.
This is more of an expert voice that you take on your blog and it shows people that you have already done what they want to do and they follow you because of it.
That’s why I read and follow people who are making more money than me online. Because they have already done what I want to do. It’s easier follow these people because I already know that they know their stuff.
So the question is which version of you are you going to try and help?
Which niches are the best?
I know I said not to follow your passion, because for a lot of people your passion may not be profitable. However when it comes to blogging you do want to pick a topic you are going to have a long-term interest in. Otherwise you will quit pretty quickly.
For me I love money, saving, making investing, really anything to do with money I’m fascinated by it. So personal finance was an easy one. I just lucked out that it happens to be one of the more profitable ones out there.
The best way to look at it is what problem are you trying to solve for your readers? For Family Money Plan I’m trying to help people find their way out of debt by finding ways to take control of their money by making and saving more of it.
Other niches that are big are:
- Relationships
- Fitness and Weight loss
- Health
- Pets
- Self Improvement
- Wealth building
- Earning money online
- Technology
- Beauty
- Cooking
- DIY and Crafts
- Sports
- Parenting
If you aren’t sure about what you want to write about don’t worry. Family Money Plan started out as a “I’m just going to start and see what happens” then as things progressed I made changes along the way. I’m still making changes.
That’s the best thing about your site. You can change it however you want. It’s completely your creation.
For tonight, just think about who you’re going to try and help and with what problem?
If you are already starting to think of domain names, you can start playing around with Bluehost here. They give you a free domain name when you sign up for hosting.
