(323) 863-3603 admin@ourmilkmoney.org
Choosing Your Blogging Niche

Choosing Your Blogging Niche

Julianne Wish, Member Contributions

You can, of course, blog about anything.  However, when you choose a niche, your chances of becoming successful – and reaching your blogging goals – increase.  Choosing a niche topic helps you find a loyal audience.  It also helps you compete against other comparable blogs and profit.  Here are some tips to help you choose your niche.
#1  What do you enjoy?
A blog is a long term investment of your time, money and energy.  Therefore, you will want to choose a topic you very much enjoy.  Make a list of the topics you enjoy discussing.  Rank them in order of your most to least favorite.  You might have a few items on your list or a great many.  You can start with generalities like exotic pets, gardening, baking, etc. 
The next and very important step is to narrow down your topic.  For example, sugar gliders instead of exotic pets, organic gardening instead of gardening and gluten free baking instead of baking. 
#2  What are you interested in?
Add to your list a list of topics you are interested in.  For example, maybe you’d like to learn more about politics or investing.  Wonderful!  Again, list general ideas then narrow them down into specific ones.  For example, a guide for beginners on how to invest in precious metals or the stock market. 
#3 Explore trends.
Trends are a good way to tap into a growing market.  When you are analyzing trends, make sure you capture something that is on the upswing, not on a downswing.   You want the topic of your blog to have longevity.
Use social networking sites, media, and on trend websites to get started.  You may also research industries you are interested in and look for their trends.  For example, if you are interested in gardening, an up and coming trend is hydroponic gardening.  You can even further narrow this topic down to indoor systems for small spaces.
#4 Keyword tools.
Use keyword research tools like Google Adwords External tool to help you expand on your growing list of niche ideas.  The keyword tool can help you brainstorm ideas.  They can also help you take a broad topic and narrow it down into niche ideas.  Look for keywords and keyword phrases that have high demand numbers and low competition numbers.
#5 Research the competition.
Again, using the keywords tools or simply by searching online, you can find blogs that are currently covering the topics you are interested in.  You might use these blogs to generate niche ideas for your own blog.  Other blogs can be a great source of inspiration.
Once you have a healthy list of ideas, start narrowing them down.  Consider who your audience will be for that topic.  Research demand.  Brainstorm ways you might differentiate your blog from others.  Finally, consider the type of content you will offer.  As you mull over these ideas, a few will stand out.  That is when the serious research or soul searching can begin.  Finding a niche is the best way to blogging success.
Julianne Alvarez-Wish is a military wife, mother, business owner, professional writer, blogger and legislative advocate. She is the Director of Communications for Our Milk Money, the Colorado State Leader for the National Association for Moms in Business and the owner of Buy By Mom and Buy By Mom Blog. She is the Colorado Springs Stay-at-Home Mom Examiner for Examiner.com. She also blogs at A Wishful Thought. Her passion, purpose and goal is to help parents work from home so they can be home with their children.

Blogging – Why Niches Matter

Blogging – Why Niches Matter

Julianne Wish, Member Contributions

As has been mentioned before on this blog, it’s important that you choose a niche for your blog.  What is a niche?  It’s a specialized or highly focused topic.  The example from a previous blog post had to do with exotic pets…instead of a blog on exotic pets, one could have a blog on sugar gliders…that is a niche blog.  There are several reasons why niche blogs are successful.
#1  Loyal Readers
If you choose a niche it will be easier for you to find loyal readers.  When people do an online search, they are often searching for very specific information.  If you provide that specific information you could be on the top of their list.  It is highly likely that they will subscribe to your blog which gives you regular access into their homes and lives.  This loyalty provides you with an abundance of opportunity to profit.
#2  More Profits
Niches are more profitable.  As a blogger, it is easier in a niche for you to establish some of the key triggers that get people to buy.  The most notable triggers are credibility and authority.  When you blog about a specific niche, you are establishing yourself as a subject matter expert.  You will earn the trust of your readers which means they will be more likely to buy from you or trust your recommendations.  This results in profits.
With a niche blog, you will be able to draw very focused traffic.  This means you will have a special appeal for targeted advertisers.  Back to the sugar glider example…sugar glider advertisers will know that your audience is their target audience and they will pay you so they can advertise on your blog.
#3  More Traffic
It is much easier to compete in the search engines when you have a niche topic.  For example entering exotic pets in Bing yields 24,400,000 results!  Entering sugar glider yields one tenth of that number…a much smaller field of results!  If there is a big demand for your niche topic, you will have much fewer competitors.  This means that whenver someone searches for your niche topic, they are more likely to find you easier.  The result is more traffic!
Choosing a niche topic also makes it much easier for you to provide value to your readers.  More value means more repeat visitors.  It also means more inbound links as people will want to share your blog and the information it offers with others.  This in turn helps to increase traffic to your blog and raise awareness about your blog.  In short, a niche blog makes it easier to market and grow your blog. 
Choosing a niche topic means you’ll be able to reach your audience faster.  You’ll be able to keep them coming back to your blog and will grow your subscribers more quickly.  Ultimately this can lead to more profits from your blog.
Before you choose a niche, be sure there are good numbers behind it…this means be sure there is a good demand and low supply for your niche topic.
When the numbers support it, niche blogs prosper.  Choose your niche today and start profiting from your blog!
Julianne Alvarez-Wish is a military wife, mother, business owner, professional writer, blogger and legislative advocate. She is the Director of Communications for Our Milk Money, the Colorado State Leader for the National Association for Moms in Business and the owner of Buy By Mom and Buy By Mom Blog. She is the Colorado Springs Stay-at-Home Mom Examiner for Examiner.com. She also blogs at A Wishful Thought. Her passion, purpose and goal is to help parents work from home so they can be home with their children.