How to choose a niche for your blog to make money?

Why is a niche so important?

Blogging with a niche in mind can bring extremely lucrative results and give you the chance to become a pioneer in the selected field, since your blog will provide answers that your audience can’t find anywhere else. A niche can’t be too broad or too narrow – the perfect balance is key here. Once it is wisely chosen, the audience will grow and come back to you willingly. That is how you attract people to your website and create a loyal group of recipients. We can differentiate three types of niches.

Macro Niche is one I will not write about much in this article, because this concerns big players who are not afraid of a huge amount of competitors in the market. Due to their size, those publishers can opt for vast thematic areas as they already have significant audience and traffic to start with. This type of niche covers popular and very general topics with huge competitors’ scores, e.g., fashion, dogs, food, etc. It is tough to stand out covering such broad subjects.

The next type is Niche which goes a bit deeper by adding some details to the areas of interest such as vintage fashion, dogs behaviorism, vegan food, etc. This kind of niche makes it easier to find a profitable field to fit in than its macro version.

Finally, the Micro Niche gives super-specific ideas. Those topics let you find exact audiences interested in the subject, so it’s much easier to make an impact and be seen in the vast world of digital publishers. Adding extra features to the mentioned ideas create topics such as: plus-size, vintage, second-hand fashion for women; small-sized, aggressive, male dogs behaviorism; gluten-free, vegan food on a budget for lactose intolerants, etc. As you can see, those topics are incredibly narrow and probably won’t find a massive amount of readers. Writing for such a small group of people gives you a limited number of recipients. On the other hand, there is a much greater possibility the users that will pop in to read your content will be the targeted audience you write to. That is how you collect a group of supporters instantly, instead of generating traffic of random crowds that will bring you nothing but a temporary burst.

Is niche for blogging with low competition the best option?

Let’s assume you have an idea in mind, but how do you find out if someone already addresses the same blog niche as you? Perhaps you’ve concluded that this could be only bad news. I am here to tell you – not necessarily! Competitors who cover the same niche as you may make you less relevant in the market – that’s true.

However, who said you would create exactly the same content as them? Sometimes it’s nearly impossible to come up with the newest idea that was never covered before. It doesn’t mean you can’t treat the topic from a completely new perspective. There are a bunch of creators out there writing about similar things, but each of them interpret the topic differently, presenting their unique view on the subject. Maybe you will also add the extra spark to the ideas they came up with, and you will work as collaborators now and then, inspiring each other? What’s more, the existence of competition means there are users out there interested in the topic. That’s not a threat, but an opportunity! Make the best out of it and benefit from the experience of publishers in the field!

To see if there are rivals on the internet, you can simply use Search Engines in the investigation. Type your niche idea into the search toolbar and press “Enter”. You will see a list of websites covering the same topic. You can visit their websites to check how they make money on that content. Examine if they display banner ads or other ads on their site; if they sell e-books, master classes, courses; or if other brands or e-commerce platforms willingly collaborate with them or advertise their products on their pages. You can also check their revenue reports if they publish those. There are many more ways to monetize your content. However, the information provided above is enough to tell if you can earn money on a blog covering similar topics. With this knowledge, you can use the presence of competition and benefit from not being a pioneer in the field, which always comes with some risk.

How to check if your niche is a trending topic?

It’s not that complicated! In fact, it’s a lot easier than you think! All you need is an open-access Google Trends Tool and some simple analysis. You can easily put your topic into the search toolbar and verify appearing results. You will see a trend showing people’s interest in that particular thematic area. Thanks to the “Compare” button, you can put even two topics at once and see the differences between them. Are the trends rising, falling, or steady? It’s recommended not to opt for steadily less popular trends, as those aren’t profitable unless you know something about their hidden potential (that Google does not recognize yet).

Next, steady trends show that the topic is fine, but it doesn’t have a growing number of audiences. Think twice before choosing this kind of niche because when you reach this steady level of popularity shown in the trend, there is only a slight chance for you to go any further. Once you get there, you will probably get stuck forever with no opportunity for development. When choosing a topic characterized by this type of trend consider the number of competitors it has. If it’s a significant amount of rivals again, it will be difficult to stand out. What’s more, it will take a huge amount of time and effort to reach the same interest as competitors. Sometimes it is better to not lose steam over such topics. However, if the topic is not fully-covered and has not many publishers yet, consider giving it a try. Success is not guaranteed in such a situation but it may give excellent results with risks included. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Alternatively, the most unsteady chart – shows people’s periodic tendencies to look for specific information. This could be connected to the season changes (the change in seasons), significant events, national days, moon phases, or other occasions like Black Friday. This is not a bad idea to go for such topics, as when well-prepared, you can skyrocket the highest results by taking advantage of such profitable but occasional highs. However, be ready for unsteady and unforeseeable revenue. If you decide on such an idea, keep in mind that you will not earn considerable money between popularity peaks. Sadly, that’s the price you would pay.

Finally, the most profitable and (relatively) predictable option – is a steadily rising trend, which is characteristic of topics growing in popularity. That’s the golden goose among blog ideas you should settle with. Regarding this kind of thematic area, blog monetization should be just a matter of time.

Want more niche-related ideas?

We’ve got some helpful tips for you 😉. Start by typing the main search word related to the niche (e.g., vegan food) in search engine and press the ”Search” button. You will first see a list of websites covering that topic, but it is not our concern right now. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and then you will see searches related to “vegan food” – a phrase you typed before. That is how you can get an idea of what people search for and inspire you to seek potential topics in different places. Next, you can choose the most interesting ones and use keyword tools like Ahrefs or KWFinder to find out more about the ideas you came up with. You can simply type chosen phrases into the search toolbar of these tools to see results. Use mentioned keyword search programs to check the volumes of searches and discover the public’s interest in these topics. It’s that simple!

What to ask yourself when choosing a niche?

Still don’t know what to choose? Don’t worry! We prepared a short list of questions that should aid you in this tough decision. Prepare a notebook, grab a pen and just answer these questions to acknowledge what is the unique niche for your blog!

Read before spreading your wings

Before you start, consider that not every idea you come up with has to be the best one right from the beginning. There are also some fundamental rules to take into consideration. One of the most common mistakes is a money-oriented mindset when choosing a niche. If you decide on a niche solely because of its profit capability, you will lose steam quickly. What you write about has to spark joy within your heart and be fulfilling. Otherwise, your audience will notice your lack of authenticity! Speaking of being true, there is also the importance of bringing value. It’s essential that your blog is precious to your audience and doesn’t contain “beating around the bush” kind of content. Last but not least – do not stick to trendy topics regarding niche ideas! As mentioned before, they too shall pass. Alternatively, you can use them for specific posts but not for the blog topic.

Ok, now you are an expert in defining your niche. Make use of your newly gained knowledge and start your blogging journey today! The publishing world is waiting for your debut! Fingers crossed, we will see each other on the other side!