I have been working on my new niche blog for the past few weeks. During the process, I spent a great deal of time deciding if a niche is worth taking. I know how frustrating it is if you are new to blogging or choosing a blogging niche.
How to choose a niche for blog
Starting a blog is easy. But before you can start blogging, the first step is to decide your blogging niche.
How to choose a niche? The answer could be as simple as “Just follow your passion”. But, there are more than that.
It is great if you are blogging about things that you are passionate about. It makes the process of building your online business more fun.
To look at blogging from a business perspective, we need to consider more than just our passion.
In this blog post, I want to share with you the result of my research, and the criteria that I have come out to determine if a niche is worth working on.
Niche Decision Worksheet Download
If you want something quick and fast, I have prepared a Niche Decision Worksheet. The worksheet is the summary of what I am going to show you in the rest of this blog post. It is FREE to download.
Without further ado, let’s look at the important factors to validate if a niche is worth taking.
Use Google Trends to validate if the niche is seasonal
It is helpful to know if the niche is seasonal. Some niches like skiing enjoy spikes during snowy seasons. And you might need to endure the slow traffic for the rest of the year.
This does not mean seasonal niches are not profitable, you do need to have a different expectation.
Preferably, we would want to work in a niche that is trending and without seasonal spikes.
Use Google Trends to validate if the niche a fad
Some niches are very popular for a brief period. We call it a fad. A good example is fidget spinner.
Fidget spinner was a hit from March 2017 to September 2017. And have a look at Google Trends, the interest in the product faded since then.
You can still blog about the fidget spinner. But to make money blogging, our effort and resources are better spent on the niches that are evergreen and trending.
Is the niche too broad? Too narrow?
To explain the meaning of the niche being too broad, let’s look at an example.
- House: This is a broad niche. You need to have thousands of pages to make a blog in a broad niche work. It is hard to attract traffic, search engine ranking, and revenue. It takes a great deal of time and resources to build a broad niche site.
- Home Decoration: This is a narrow niche, which has a better target. It is relatively easy to build compared to a broad niche. It is more beginner-friendly.
- Wall decoration: This is a micro-niche. It is very well-targeted, and It is easier to rank high in search engines. However, the trade-off is the traffic amount is smaller compared to narrow niche blogs.
What are the competitions or the demand for your niche idea?
Search our seed keywords or niche ideas on Google. Are there a lot of authority sites and blogs that appear on the first page of SERP (Search Engine Results Pages)?
If you found authority sites and blogs for your niche idea, it is a sign that people are searching for this niche topic. It indicates the demand for this topic.
The result shows you two important things.
While it indicates the demand for your niche topic, it also gives you a hint of the competition you are facing.
Do not be afraid of competition. There is no niche without competition.
It should not stop you from starting a blog in the niche. You are going to beat them. Please read on.
What is the gap you can fill?
What makes you stand out among your competitors? What are the topics that you can do better or offer better value than them?
If you can find the gap(s) to offer better content, you are good to go.
Keyword research
Keyword research is one of the most important parts of blogging. At this stage, we want to identify keywords for the niche and the potential search volume.
There are many platforms you can use for keyword research, here are some I have tried and recommend:
- Google Keyword planner
- Jaaxy keyword research tool
- SEMrush
- Ahrefs
None of the tools are more accurate than the other. Just stick to the one that you are most comfortable with.
For niche research, I use SEMrush, I have found their offers the most features and data I need. Domain Analysis from SEMrush is one of my favorite features.
For writing blog posts, I use Jaaxy, I like the QSR (Quoted Search Result) as an indication of keyword competition.
What are the buyer intent keywords you can find, and the competitions?
What are buyer intent keywords?
Buyer intent keywords are the search queries that indicate the searcher is actively looking and likely to make a purchase.
Some examples of buyer intent keywords:
- Saladmaster Alternative
- Saladmaster review
- Saladmaster vs Kitchenware
- Best cookware for busy mums
I like to brainstorm several buyer intent keywords for a niche and check the competitions of these keywords. Are there enough search volumes for these keywords? How about the difficulties (competitions) of these keywords?
There is no hard and fast rule. You need to strike a balance between search volume and the competition of a keyword.
Keywords with high competition mean you might face a tough time to rank high at the beginning. It does not mean impossible. It just takes more time and effort.
As a general guide, I prefer keywords with KD% (from SEMrush) 50%- 70%, or QRS (from Jaaxy) under 50.
Can you come out with 10 to 20 content ideas?
On top of your head, can you come out with about 10 to 20 content ideas for the niche now? It doesn’t mean you must blog about these ideas, it is an indication that you have a certain level of interest and knowledge (even if it is just a little) about the niche.
Consider the monetization possibilities
I like to have a good idea about the potential monetization possibilities. You don’t have to sign up for affiliate programs immediately. Knowing different types of monetization methods also helps my content planning.
Here are a few key questions I asked when validating if a niche is worth taking:
- Are there Amazon products available?
- Are there other affiliate products available on ShareASale, Clickbank, or CJ, etc?
- Are there Affiliate Programs?
- Are there any high ticket items you can promote?
Can you create a digital product for this niche?
Ultimately, I want to create digital products. I want to make sure the niche I choose allows me to do so.
Will your audience make a one-time purchase or recurring spending?
Referring to the monetization opportunities, how will your blog audience spend money? Are most of the products you can promote require recurring subscriptions? Or most of them are a one-off purchase?
Are there activities on Social Media?
This is optional. But knowing the niche will work well in social media platforms assures you that the niche is worth taking.
Some niches work very well in Pinterest.
For example, home decoration, Kitchenwares, or recipes. There is a big group of stay-at-home moms on Pinterest. So any home or cooking-related niche can find a ready audience on the platform.
Facebook groups and forums
Are there any facebook groups for your niche? Or any forum discussions around your topic?
Facebook groups and forums are great venues for you to establish authority and even backlinks.
How To Choose a Niche For blog – Closing Words
Here you have my guidelines to choose a niche. I hope the post is helpful.
There is no perfect niche. Niche selection is just the best guess. With analysis, we will want to know the odds are with us.
The most important step for online business success is to take action. You might fail, and you are likely to fail at the beginning. But, there are always lessons to be learned from each failure. Do not fear failure.
Before I end the blog post, I want to leave you with a quote:
The only failure is not taking action.
I have prepared a Niche Decision Worksheet which summarizes what I have discussed in this blog post. It is FREE for you to download.