What makes a good blog subject? If you’re new to blogging, a great first step could be to find a niche to build your blog on.
Having a niche makes it easier to choose good blog subjects within your line of expertise so that others can benefit from what you have to offer. How to find that perfect niche subject? Read on to find out.
Finding Your Niche in the Blog World
When it comes to blogging, theoretically, you can write about anything you want. Building a successful blog, however, takes planning and thought. Choosing a niche for your blog will help you narrow your blog topics list to concepts that will hit the mark.
Having a niche will make it easier for you to focus on unique blog ideas that will be of help or interest to your readers. Good blog topics will provide useful information that can help resolve readers’ problems or answer their questions in your area of expertise. A blog that only provides random information about a wide range of topics isn’t going to go very far.
In contrast, a stimulating niche blog can attract the attention of readers interested in your particular field and keep them coming back for more. When selecting a niche for your blog, consider the following questions:
- What’s your passion?
- What are you knowledgeable about?
- What topics could you talk or write about endlessly without growing weary of them?
- In what areas do you have training or personal experience in?
- What topics would you be interested in researching and learning more about?
There’s a lot to be said about choosing a niche you know well and have a passion for writing about. For one, it’s easier to write on topics you’re interested or experienced in. You’ll have greater inspiration in what you’re doing and you’ll be willing to put more effort into creating a top notch blog.
If, however, you choose a niche solely for the purpose of trying to make money from your blog, you may find your efforts less rewarding. There’s little inspiration in blogging about subjects you have little interest in or aren’t very knowledgeable about.
Choosing Blog Subjects Within Your Niche
Once you’ve found your niche, you can start making a list of prospective blog topics you feel would be of interest within your area of expertise. Consider subjects that offer value, are open to debate or fill a void in your niche field.
When considering personal blog topics, try to choose subjects that will meet your readers’ needs. Take a poll from your readers to see what subjects they’re interested in or would like to learn more about. Then write fresh, updated, informative content that will satisfy your target audience and turn them into regular followers.
In addition to educating your readers, good blog topics will encourage discussion and debate among your followers. Readers should feel free to comment about your topics, ask questions or even give opposing views on what you write.
Go for a balance of common and ‘hot’ topics to keep readers engaged. Never underestimate the value of a lively blog debate to drive new readers to your site. The quality of your content will help determine the success of your blog. Meaningful content that’s fun, relative and instructive will make your blog stand out.
Blog Ideas That Make Money
If the goal of your blog is to make money, you should be aware that some niches are more lucrative than others. Some of the most popular blog topics on the market today are great money makers as well. Not all blogs wind up making money, however, the following blog subjects could help bring in some income, when done right:
Lifestyle
Lifestyle blogs are extremely popular on the Internet today. They attract a wide spectrum of readers due to well written blog posts on a variety of subjects. Lifestyle blog topics can range anywhere from the arts to cultural events to politics, local news, finance, business and more.
It’s not unusual for popular lifestyle bloggers to make extra funds on the side by speaking at private events, writing for major publications or partnering with major corporations to promote their services and/or products.
Fashion
Fashion is a massive industry with a global target audience. If you have an eye for beauty and fashion and the creativity to write stimulating articles on the subject, you could do well as a fashion blogger.
When it comes to fashion, there are quite a few subjects for bloggers to choose from, starting with the latest fashion trends and colors and extending to specific fashion topics like evening wear, sportswear, celebrity fashions, latest shoe styles and more.
Parenting
Parenting is a universal blogging niche with great potential for profit. Topics related to parenting can range from pregnancy tips to care of newborns, toddler discipline, communicating with teens, raising responsible children, helping young people choose a college and more.
There are literally hundreds of relevant topics to choose from in the parenting field, not to mention the personal stories and experiences bloggers can share with their readers. There are also hundreds of products to promote for kids of all ages. Through ads, sale of products and affiliate marketing, parenting bloggers can use their blog to turn a profit.
Food
Food blogs are more likely to attract people looking for new recipes, tips on healthy eating and restaurant reviews as opposed to people looking for something to buy. A colorful food blog with interesting cooking tidbits, down home recipes, foodie stories and the latest restaurant news and reviews has great potential to develop a large audience which bloggers can target with paid ads to earn income from their blog.
Personal Finance
Who couldn’t benefit from professional advice in managing their personal finances? Finance blogs cover such topics as frugal living, how to start a business, budgeting, paying off debts, staying out of debt and more.
Finance bloggers can also share their wealth of experience in the business investment field. Once a blogger has developed a fairly large audience, he can offer his services as a financial consultant or personal finance coach to help generate some revenue from his blog.
Health and Fitness
With more and more people turning to the Internet for advice on health and fitness, fitness instructors have a golden opportunity to meet the need. At the same time, they can use their blog to help generate extra revenue to meet their needs.
As a fitness blogger, you can offer valuable advice on such subjects as healthy eating, weight gain or loss, strength training, exercise workouts, health supplements and more. Through affiliate marketing, sponsored content, ads and the sale of health products, your blog can be a source of profit as well as health and fitness advice.
Travel
Travel may not be as popular a niche as lifestyle or fashion, but travel blogs do have their fair share of followers. A good travel blog can help readers learn more about traveling with kids, destination hotspots, packing tips, traveling abroad and more.
Travel bloggers can also share personal stories and experiences of their travels to exotic destinations to include lessons learned along the way so others can avoid their mistakes. Through ads, sponsored posts and freelance writing gigs about destination travels, you can make money off of your travel blog.
DIY
By subdividing their blog into different categories such as arts and crafts, woodworking, metalworking, construction projects, etc., DIY bloggers can engage with more readers and build a solid community where readers share their personal experiences with one another.
Bloggers can also use sponsored posts, ads and affiliate links to bring in revenue from their blog on the side. Paid workshops provide additional means of earning income from a DIY blog.
How to Ensure Blog Success
Provide Valuable Advice
People often come to the web to seek answers and advice – your audience is no different. Answering their questions in your blog and providing valuable advice is a great way to engage them and hold their interest for future posts.
If you want to attract a loyal audience to your blog, you need to be continually creating content that is of interest to them and, ideally, to you. You can establish yourself as an expert that people will go to for advice and information on a specific topic. If they find value in your content, a readership will follow.
SEO
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a vital component to integrate into all of your blog posts. Without optimising your post, it is highly unlikely that it will reach the top pages in search engines.
User experience is at the centre of SEO – so make sure that your website is secure, user-friendly and visually engaging. Understanding your audience and what they are searching will give you an insight into what keywords you should be using. By researching this and answering the questions your target customers are asking, you can build a blog that builds your business.
Readability
A crucial part of optimising your blog content is making sure it’s ‘readable’. This means trying to make your text as easy to read as possible, which can have a huge effect on its quality and user experience. If your content is hard to understand, readers will be more likely to stop trying and simply leave your site.
For this reason, it’s vital that you maximise the readability of your content – this can be done by checking your work with the Flesch Readability Test.
Through blogging, people have a way of sharing their knowledge and expertise so others can benefit from what they have to offer. Readers are always looking for information on basic topics like parenting, travel, home décor, DIY projects, finances and more. If you have experience in these or other essential niches and can transmit your knowledge via writing, photos or video, you could be a great candidate for blogging.
When you blog about something you’re passionate about, you’re often more likely to come up with stimulating ideas that will catch the attention of your readers. As people recognise what you have to offer, your target audience will grow and you will cultivate a bigger following.
Quality content is key to successful blogging. The best blog subjects are those that inspire, educate, encourage and edify your readers, making them glad to have found your blog.
For more information, get in touch with us today.