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Andrea Wren is aiming to build a successful career and business as a blogger. Her first step is to decide what subject to blog on
If you read last week's Work cover feature, you'll know I'm building a blog with the aim of making money, under the guidance of Glen Allsopp of ViperChill. The first step, of course, is to decide what you'll blog about. There are zillions of possibilities and it's your passion for a topic that will keep you writing. Of Glen's own sites, the most successful have been on subjects he loves writing about.
So Glen's simple approach in deciding a niche starts with the question: what do you love? Begin by thinking about your hobbies, the books you read, your personal experiences or expertise, and what websites you enjoy.
I wrote down a list of blog ideas, one being "vegetarian travel". Glen liked my angles, but asked which topics I could talk about for a long time? Or could the whole topic be reduced to a single blog post like this.
Glen also advised: "My tactic for picking a niche isn't just saying I want to write about 'X', but also looking at how to help people. Do you want to make them laugh? Do you want to teach? If you can just focus on how you want to help people, the process becomes easier and you're never stuck wondering if a post you're going to write fits your audience."
I decided a veggie travel site might help others, but I'd have struggled to keep it updated, especially as I don't travel continuously. I revisited my niche ideas, and worked out which one I not only had enthusiasm for, but could write about for years, and I specifically wrote down how and why it would help people. My blog will inspire others on something I'm passionate about – which you'll see after the site has had a chance to establish itself. Your blog might, for example, teach gluten-free cooking.
Then I got on to my next task: niche research. What was already out there? Who were the biggest "influencers" in my subject? (These are people I'll need to engage with in the future for my blog to grow.) And the important thing: could this make me money?
While Glen says: "In reality, if you're getting traffic, you can make money," he points out that not all niches have the same income potential.
Using sites such as Technorati, as well as typing related keywords into Google, I identified popular blog on similar topics I'd like to write about.
I determined the biggest blogs by, for instance, seeing how many Twitter followers they had, and popular blogs posts by examining how many comments they received.
I also looked at how the blogs were earning an income. Was it through advertising (such as banners)? Did they sell items (like eBooks)? Did they have affiliate links (eg, were they forwarding readers to sales websites where they would make a commission)?
In my case, I haven't yet found anyone doing exactly what I want to do, but I've found enough related niches with very popular blogs apparently earning decent incomes. What I now need is my domain name – which we'll be looking at next time.
For more detailed information on niche development and research, see Glen's separate BloggingCaseStudy.com resource website (but note, this site is not my startup blog, which will be revealed later).
This column will appear fortnightly
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