subject: How To Choose The Best Niche To Blog About [print this page] Plenty of people want to blog but worry they won't be good at it. The number one question I'm asked is "what should I write about?" For any blogger who hopes to gain an audience, this is the key question. Sure you can talk about literally any topic under the sun - there's a blog for just about anything you can think of - but you need to keep the topic of your blog posts to a limited number of subjects if you expect to develop a readership.
Nothing turns off potential readers faster than a blog that's chaotic and winging from topic to topic without rhyme or reason. If you're talking politics on Monday, recipes on Tuesday, and space travel on Friday, this isn't good. You want a niche for your blog. It's sort of your 'brand,' and is what people are looking for when they come to your site.
Once you get your niche figured out, often the topic ideas will take care of themselves. Still, it's possible for anyone to fall into a creative slump. Here are some ideas to help you if you find yourself stuck:
Make use of your keyword tool. If you use Google, you can get a free keywords tool as part of the AdWords program. Go to Google, make a free AdWords, account, and check the Keywords tool.
Once you are at the Keywords field, enter the main keyword for your blog. If you write on digital cameras, then you would enter "digital cameras." Then click to search. Your search results will be thousands of keywords that are related. Here is the fun part: any of these related key words is a possible post topic. In fact, one or two may be so popular that they turn into a sub-niche for your blog.
Here's another way to use a blogging tool to generate ideas. Search for what keywords people use when they're directed to your site. Most traffic analytics have this information; Google Analytics works well and it is free.
To continue our example from earlier, say you blog about digital cameras. Check the analytics, and you may find that the most popular phrase used by people who end up at your blog after a search is "digital slr camera reviews." That being the case, why not do a post about it, or even make it an entire blog category?
When you are really stuck, take recommendations. Your readers come to your blog because they like the content. Who better to ask about what to write? If you find yourself really blocked for blog topics, put up a post asking for reader recommendations.
