HOW TO WORK OUT THE BEST BLOGGING NICHE FOR YOU

This is a guest post from Sophia Patel.

Blogging can be a challenge, especially when you feel like you are always scraping for content. After 6 years, at times I can find it a weekly struggle to come up with content good enough. There are, however, several tools and habits to stop you from walking down this path - one of them is establishing your niche. Here's how.

Get To Know Your Audience

Just like your blog, your audience will evolve. You will gain some, lose some, and others will stick with you along the way. Base your key topics of interest on your analytics - what are my most popular posts within a particular time frame? What is the demographic of your audience? Both your topic and audience have to work together, otherwise, you will have no one reading your posts. For example, a parenting blog would not be 100% relevant if your audience were 10-15-year-old boys, would it? Establish your demographic first.

What Are You Interested In?

Over the last few years, I had had so much inner conflict with this. I started as a beauty blogger (reviewing the likes of Benefit's They're Real Mascara). Now, you will see 3 beauty posts per year. Why? Because over time your niche will naturally change. I have always considered it an evolution because the ideas you come up with at silly hours in the morning is usually a clue as to what you want to post. And let's be honest, content is always better when it comes from the heart. That's why over time I have ditched the beauty and moved into blogging tips for beginners and home & finance. When the content slowly evolves, some will stick around, and some will leave - that's just part of the process.

Don't Try and Blog About Everything

This is a mistake I learned pretty late on. Over time, it is so easy to add a little bit of everything. Been on holiday? Blog about that. Done some clothes shopping? Blog about that. Cooked yourself a nice meal? Blog about that. Just in this example, your blogging niche has expanded to travel, fashion and food. But it begs the question of which one is your direct niche. I have been calling myself a lifestyle blogger for years, yet what does it mean? If new audiences want to gain a snippet from your blog and see a dozen blog posts in different niches they may be slightly confused. Nail down your focus to a few interlinking topics (I have linked blogging tips and home niches by talking about creating a home office to blog), and perfect them. Chances are, there will always be someone else blogging about the niche you ditched so no need to worry.

If You Cannot Write About It, It's Not The One

If you have a niche that you love, but cannot ultimately write content about, then it is not the one. Increased competition means that posts need to be near 1000 words to meet the requirements of Google. If your niche cannot meet that easily, you will still struggle for content. When thinking of a niche, without any resources - make a list of as many blog posts as you can. When I moved to home and interior blogging, I came up with 50 ideas, meaning I could effectively have enough titles for the next 6 months (excluding guest posts and exclusive content). Bounce blogging ideas off one another and aim to interlink many of your posts (a series / two part post). Not only will this help to create content, but strengthen your niche.

What Blogs Do You Read?

Chances are, your niche and the topics you are interested in are going to be linked. If you are still struggling to pinpoint your niche, look at it from a different angle and self-reflect. Think about yourself - your hobbies, career path, the books you read and the blogs you follow. Create a Venn diagram if need be and see where it all overlaps.

Then look at the competition. If the market is oversaturated, it is going to be difficult to stand odd / offer content that Google doesn't have the answer to. E.g. Blogging tips is a very large field with lots of high DA Bloggers competing. As this is something I want to pursue, my niche has shifted to beginner level. We strip back all the technical terms and start from scratch. The key is to find a balance where you are offering content that has not been done a million times before, and something that you have enough experience to talk about. After all, list posts and how-to's are the most popular.

Give It Time

This is the number one piece of advice. Blogging takes time, finding your niche takes time. If you find it straight away then you are the lucky one - but more than likely a new blogging niche is caused by a love for something else and a critique of current work. If you ever have that dilemma, then it is time to change, because otherwise it'll be shown in your content.

About the Author:

I am Sophia - a recent marketing graduate who is blogging full time in lockdown. I talk about all things blogging; as well as the progress on renovation of an 18th century home on a budget, to boost valuation for sale.