How To Choose A Blog Topic

3.1 The most common mistake that new bloggers make

You can invest a significant amount of time, effort and money into your blog and yet still fail to attract and hold the attention of potential readers, if you choose a topic that is of little interest to more than a handful of people. If you only wish to blog for yourself and your immediate social circle, then it doesn't matter what you choose to write about. However, if you want to connect with others online, or even become a popular blogger in your area of interest, then you will need to spend several hours thinking through your options before even drafting your first blog post.

This module assumes that you are starting a blog with the hope of attracting at least a modest following, including a group of regular readers who look to your writing as a source of valuable content. It will guide you through the process of selecting a blog topic, asking you to consider a number of questions that will help you narrow down your options. You will learn how to research the level of interest in your chosen topic and how to select a potentially profitable blog niche.

3.2 Why you should read this module, even if you already have an idea in mind

Some people begin blogging because they like the idea of owning a website they can use to share their thoughts with the world and as a potential means of making money, even if they have no clear sense of direction when it comes to choosing a blog topic. However, others set out with a strong sense of where they want to go with their blog and are convinced that they already have “their idea”. If you fall into this category, this module can still be of help to you. Some ideas may seem good at first, but upon closer inspection prove to be a weak foundation for a blog. The ideas and checklists in this module will help you to scrutinise your idea, so that you can move forward with confidence.

Activity : Choosing A Blog Topic

Time: 20-40 Minutes

Take a large piece of paper and a pen. Give yourself at least 20 minutes to list every potential topic idea you can think of. No one else will see this list, so feel free to make it as far-fetched or fanciful as you like. It doesn't matter if the majority of your ideas are useless - you only need one good idea to make your blog a success!

The best way to begin in your quest to decide upon a blog topic is to undertake a brainstorming activity as outlined above. Give yourself free reign to put down on paper as many concepts as you possibly can. If you are completely stuck, here are a few questions to ask yourself:

3.3 How to generate an initial list of ideas for blog topics

What are my interests?

When you have free time, what do you enjoy doing? When you are with your friends, what do you most like to talk about? If you are reading a newspaper or magazine, what sections do you turn to first? When you are browsing in a bookshop, what kinds of titles tend to catch your eye? If there is a particular topic that you could talk about for hours at a time, it could be a potentially strong topic for your blog. If you have no particular interest in a subject, you will find it hard to find the motivation to continue writing about it over the long haul. Do not try and convince yourself that you will be able to make yourself care about a topic. Be honest with yourself - unless a subject area holds a real interest for you, do not make it the central focus of your blog.

What political or social causes do I care about most?

Are there any issues that keep you awake at night? When you are talking about current affairs with other people, are there any “hot button” issues that are almost guaranteed to elicit a strong reaction from you? Have you undergone any difficult personal experiences that have left you passionate about certain causes? If so, you may wish to consider writing a blog that keeps readers up to date with these issues.

If you are especially interested in politics or current affairs, you may wish to write a blog that tracks political developments in your country or in another part of the world. You could write from a particular political perspective, or create a resource that takes various viewpoints into

consideration. The latter idea could work well, if you are willing to collaborate with other writers whose opinions may differ to your own.

What am I best at?

Don't restrict your thinking to “hard” or tangible skills, such as writing, performing surgery, juggling, or bookkeeping. Think about the “soft” skills you have picked up too. This could range from people skills in the workplace (such as managing a team or training new recruits), to running a family, or keeping a relationship strong in the face of various difficulties.

When you consider the sheer scope of the self-help industry, it becomes apparent that there is a huge demand for useful information that can help people make better decisions in their personal lives. If you have been through a period of intense personal growth and are secure in your communication and relationship skills, this could be a fruitful source of blog material.

Am I looking to make money with my blog?

When you are deciding on a topic for your blog, think whether you are looking to build a fan base, make money, or both. It is important to realise that just because a blog is popular does not mean it is necessarily profitable - and vice versa. We will look in greater depth at the various options by which you can make money from your website. In the meantime, the basic principles to bear in mind if you are hoping to make money from a blog are as follows:

Choose something with evergreen appeal (see the section below), choose something that appeals to a target audience who are willing and able to spend money on related products, choose a topic that interests you to a sufficient extent that you are willing to write about it for least one year and choose a blog topic that has the potential to help your readers solve a problem that is currently holding them back from living their ideal lifestyle.

Am I looking to acquire any new skills over the coming months and years?

If you are planning a change of career or are looking to develop your skillset in the near future, a blog may be the perfect means of tracking your progress. You could use a blog to pass on your new knowledge to other people, making mutually beneficial connections with others who are also looking to teach themselves how to do something new or build their knowledge in a particular area. This kind of blog can also be useful even when you have stopped publishing new posts, as it can serve as a repository of knowledge that others can learn from at a later date.

For example, if you write a blog about the progress you make in your journey from novice seamstress to professional tailor, the photos and tutorials you may provide to your audience will be a timeless resource. Teaching others is an excellent way of building your credibility in your niche. If your blog demonstrates that you have managed to make the transition from a complete beginner to a competent professional, this will inspire others to embark on their own journey.

Allowing your audience to follow your progress - including any setbacks - will also help them to relate to you as an individual, which will broaden your appeal and encourage your readers to reach out and develop a relationship with you. If you wish to grow a popular blog, look to build a strong rapport with your audience. You can do this by responding to their comments and by taking on board their suggestions for future content.

Activity : What Would You Like To Learn?

Time: 15-20 Minutes

If you could possess any skill, what would it be? Make a list of any and all skills you would like to develop or master. If you are stuck, think about who you most admire.

What skills do they have?

Could you commit just a few hours each week to furthering your knowledge and abilities in this area?

Could you then record your progress for others in blog form?

When you have a couple of ideas written down, go online and find out whether others have written blogs with a similar theme. How have they recorded their progress?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of each blog, in terms of its format, tone and appearance?

Do I want to encourage the growth of a community via my blog?

The blogs with the strongest communities are frequently updated and feature posts on exciting or controversial content that has a strong personal meaning for the target audience. If the idea of building an active, vocal following appeals to you, then it's important to make sure that your topic lends itself to plenty of posts that will appeal to your audience's imagination. Before you commit yourself to your chosen topic, spend a couple of hours mapping out potential post titles for your blog. If you cannot devise at least fifty, this is a sign that you need to choose a different topic or broaden the scope of your existing topic.

3.4 The power of research

Once you have identified a potential topic, get online and gauge the level of interest in those who may one day be your audience. Fortunately, it has never been easier to use the internet to establish what people wish to read about, what they are willing to spend money on and which of their personal problems they are most willing to solve. Here are a few ways in which you can use online research, to gauge the popularity of your topic:

Run a series of basic Google searches

Write down a list of keywords related to your proposed blog topic and then run them through Google. Do your searches return a lot of results, featuring pages that have been updated fairly recently? This is a good sign, as it suggests a lot of people are writing about the topic.

Look at the topics addressed by large lifestyle sites and blogs

Well known lifestyle websites such as Lifehacker (lifehacker.org) and the Huffington Post (huffingtonpost.com) are good barometers of public interest and opinion. Skim the main headings of each section. Which articles receive the most comments and feedback? Remember that large websites have the resources required to research the latest and upcoming trends - take full advantage of this fact.

If certain issues come up on a frequent basis, they may make a good topic for your blog. At the same time, be aware that trends change by definition. A good approach is to combine a trending topic with evergreen content and concerns (see below for more on the concept of evergreen blogs).

Find out what affiliate marketers are selling that relates to your topic of choice

Researching what is selling well online can give you a valuable insight into your audience's concerns and desires - useful knowledge when it comes to writing content that makes an appreciable difference to peoples' lives and thereby growing your reputation in the process. A simple way of gauging the strength of a market is to look at the extent to which those trying to sell to the target demographic are succeeding. To make the most of the information available freely online, you need to have an understanding of affiliate marketing and how it relates to blogging and other online content. In brief, affiliate marketing is the practice of promoting another person's product or service in exchange for a commission on every sale.

For example, an affiliate marketer may run a blog offering dating tips and advice to men with the ultimate goal of promoting a particular confidence boosting book or online course designed to improve men's love lives. In order to decide which products to promote, many affiliate marketers use marketplaces such as Clickbank (clickbank.com), which contain a number of products they can promote on their personal websites and via social media.

However, the information on Clickbank is useful even if you have no plans to become involved in affiliate marketing. Go to the Clickbank homepage and then browse the Affiliate Marketplace. You will see that the products are grouped according to interest, such as “Business/Investing”, “Games” and “Self-help”. Clicking any of these categories allows you to see the products available for promotion.

More importantly, it shows you how successful their creators have been in selling their products online. If a category contains plenty of “high-gravity” products (given as a figure beneath each product description), this bodes well, as it suggests that there is a receptive market for solutions in this niche. By extension, it also means that people are eager to learn more about that particular topic.

This method of research is not to be used in isolation, but it can provide you with extra validation that you are on the right path in choosing a blog topic that will attract readers. As a bonus, undertaking some research on Clickbank can also reassure you that there is potential to

make money from your blog in the future. We will return to the topic of affiliate marketing later in the course, when we consider the various ways in which you can monetize your work.

FACT

ClickBank has grown to be a top 100 internet retailer and leader in digital e-commerce, dealing with over 200 Million customers and working with more than 6 million entrepreneurs in 190 countries around the world.

Source: Clickbank.com

3.5 Warning signs that you have chosen the wrong topic for your blog

According to blogger Jon Morrow of SmartBlogger (smartblogger.com), there are almost two dozen warning signs that you may have chosen the wrong topic for your blog. Based on his list, available in full on his website, here are some indications to watch out for:

There are few books for sale on your topic

It is a mistake to try and devise a completely original blog idea. Instead, a better strategy is to write about topics that have been proven to “work” and already attract a following on existing blogs and other platforms. Do not be afraid to enter a niche that is already well populated by bloggers and other online personalities. A quick test that will tell you in minutes whether people are interested in your topic is to go to Amazon or another online book retailer and type in a few words relating to your topic.

If there are many books available for sale and they each have multiple reviews, this is an encouraging sign that there is an audience out there who are willing and ready to read about your topic. If you can find well received books that point you to a blog in their description, then so much the better - this implies that the author has managed to set up a successful blog based around their topic and found an audience willing to pay money for related books (and possibly other paid resources as well).

You are trying to combine two topics that ought not to be combined

Some bloggers attempt to broaden their blog's appeal by catering to two audiences. Sometimes, this is an effective strategy, but too often it results in a blog that lacks focus.

For example, targeting people who are interested in fitness and who also have busy family lives could work well, but targeting people who happen to be Christians and also enjoy building model railways will only generate confusion amongst your readers. You may be tempted to split your posts so that the first is targeted towards one group, the second post to the other group and so on. However, the outcome will be a patchwork blog that does not attract a stable target audience.

You cannot find any popular blogs on the topic

If you can locate at least five active blogs that have endured for several years and centre around your particular topic, this is a good sign that people have been looking for information on a particular topic and that they will continue to do so for years to come. Do not make the mistake of thinking that established bloggers have completely dominated your chosen niche - there is always room for writers who can approach a topic from a new angle or write with a distinctive new voice.

Remember too, that well established bloggers may feel restricted in the content they can post or the extent to which they can change the direction of their blog, because they do not want to risk alienating their audience. As a new blogger, this puts you at an advantage - you can take risks in presenting content in a new way, because you do not yet have to worry about upsetting those who have been following you from the very beginning.

You cannot find any well liked Facebook pages on the topic

Facebook is still one of the most influential social networks and so is a good barometer of the internet's interest in particular topics. When you start narrowing down your list of potential blog topics, search for Facebook pages that pertain to your interest and look at how many “Likes” are associated with the first 10-20 results. In general, more than 10,000 “Likes” is a positive sign, but the more the better.

You cannot find any relevant Twitter accounts with more than 50,000 followers

Look for leaders and influencers who already write about your topic and sell related products and services. Ideally, you will be able to find several people who have at least 50,000 other Twitter users following them. If you cannot find any thought leaders in your niche, this is a sign that you will struggle to locate a target audience for your blog.

You cannot find any trade associations or organisations based around your topic or target audience

The easier it is to define your audience, the easier it will be to reach them. Think about who will be interested in, or benefit from, your posts. For example, if you are writing about the creative process that goes into writing fiction, your target audience may be described as “beginning fiction writers” or just “writers”. Writers, like many other groups, have a strong sense of identity. Ideally, to maximise your blog's reach and popularity, you need to appeal to a group of people who take pride in holding a certain identity and are eager to apply a particular label to their “tribe”.

A useful clue as to how secure your audience is in their own identity is to seek out conferences and trade associations. Try and discover how well attended these events are. If you can't find many clubs or societies that cater to your target audience, it is time to rethink your proposed blog topic.

Your topic does not βit into any of the “evergreen categories”

One of the key principles of marketing is that people all over the world are broadly alike in that they share similar concerns and challenges. These common difficulties are useful to writers, bloggers and marketers, because they present an opportunity to create “evergreen content”. Evergreen content does not date or become irrelevant, because it addresses universal human concerns. An overview of five evergreen categories is outlined below.

Health and fitness

Every year, millions of people attempt to get fit and lose weight. Weight loss is therefore an example of a huge niche that, when executed properly, can attract a reliable following. In our increasingly sedentary society, there is also an unprecedented interest in physical fitness, exercise and strength training. Within this broad category, there are numerous viable sub-niches, including diet plans aimed at mothers, exercise regimens aimed at busy professionals and exercise plans suitable for those with specific health problems. Common mental health problems such as anxiety and depression also attract a large audience.

Dating and relationships

Most people list relationships as one of their chief concerns in life. Blogs, books and courses that advise readers how to successfully start and grow a happy relationship are highly sought after. Relationship skills are important for both romantic and non-romantic relationships and so there is a never-ending demand for content that helps people sharpen their communication skills and resolve difficulties in relationships.

Finance

Many people wish that they could earn more money, or put the money they already have to better use. For this reason, blogs that give people practical tips on how to save money and build a more secure financial future are often popular. Debt management is another topic that attracts many readers who may be desperate to improve their financial status.

Education

The cost of going to college or university can be prohibitive for most people and so many are looking to the internet for free or low-cost alternatives. Blogs that teach valuable skills which may improve an individual's chances of promotion or even help them embark on a new career are likely to be well received. Another angle within the education niche is study skills and tips for students who want to achieve good grades, whilst expending the least amount of effort.

Self-improvement

Human nature is such that we often try and improve ourselves in order to secure more fulfilling work, higher status and greater mastery over our self-perceived weaknesses. As a result, there is a flourishing self-improvement (also known as the “self-help”) industry dedicated to helping people become happier, more motivated and more successful in their personal and professional lives. This is a broad category, which includes topics such as confidence-boosting, goal-setting, increasing personal productivity and obtaining a sense of purpose in life. There is often an overlap with dating and relationship related content.

For example, if you are writing a blog on how to improve one's self-confidence, then it may be sensible to make the connection between good self-esteem and greater likelihood of success in romantic relationships. If your blog topic does not βit any of the above categories, you may find it hard to attract a sizeable audience.

It is certainly possible to develop a successful blog that is not based on an evergreen topic, but if you are serious in finding an audience and helping them solve problems, then it is sensible to ensure that you are blogging on a subject that resonates with many people.

Module Summary

It is well worth taking a few hours or even days, when deciding on the best possible choice of topic for your blog. You will be writing about this subject for months, years and perhaps even decades to come, so it must be a topic that will hold your interest. Asking yourself what you enjoy doing, talking and thinking about it is the first step in devising an appropriate topic.

Other important considerations include how much existing interest there is in your topic. This can be researched using common sites such as Google and Facebook, supplemented by data from Clickbank and other affiliate marketplaces. You should aim to choose a topic that already attracts significant levels of interest from your target audience and then aim to present your thoughts on the topic from a fresh angle that will capture their imagination.

If there are already several popular blogs and websites on your proposed topics and high-profile individuals working in your niche, then this is an excellent sign. Do not worry about being completely original, as this is impossible. Choosing an evergreen topic such as fitness, self-improvement and dating is a good strategy for building a blog that appeals to a significant number of people.