Blog niche research tips that will make choosing your direction easy
"Having an interest isn't always going to make blogging profit, you need to do some blog niche research to land on a sweet spot if you plan on running your blog like a business."
In my last article covering what a blogging niche is I went over the in's and out's of what a niche is.
In this article it's time to jump into some blog niche research tips that will make choosing your niche easy.
What is blog niche research?
The niche you choose can be anything, there is however some things to take into account when choosing the direction you want to go with your site.
- What is my target audience?
- Is there products I can promote within the niche?
- Are there active searches related to my niche in search engines?
- How long can I write fresh content around my niche?
- Is this niche a new fad?
- Is this an "evergreen niche?"
Blog niche research really isn't all that complicated, really it's just taking some time to make sure there is an audience for it, an engaged audience.
Remember that's how a blog works .... You are simply writing and creating content that people want to consume on a certain subject, that's it in a nutshell!
The key is we need to make sure there is a demand for this information, sure you can blog about using a Q tip to wash your car but how many people are even going to have any interest in your blog?
Evergreen vs Trends
Throughout your blogging journey you may have heard the term "evergreen" content or "trends."
What is the difference between these two niche choices?
Evergreen:
The evergreen niche is typically a broader topic that never loses it's appeal, hence "evergreen."
These niches are fantastic in their own right however, you will be facing much more competition is you want to jam your foot in the door of these gems.
Some "evergreen" niches are as follows:
- Money and finance
- Fitness
- Dating and relationship advice
- Survival
Trends:
Trends are exactly how they sound, these niches are super cool today and everyone wants a piece.
The problem here is not only competition, but the fact that what's cool today may flop tomorrow may make it a bad choice when choosing a niche.
Some "trend" niches are as follows:
- Make money fast
- Celebrity gossip
- Gadgets
What entails a great niche?
A great niche lies somewhere smack dab in the middle of evergreen and trendy.
It's not some new gadget that will disappear in 6 months, nor is it a niche that is super saturated.
You know what? Let's get into some niche research right now, right from my screen to yours! Ready?
What are your interests?
First, lets pick out something that we are interested in. In this case I think we are going to go with "Space and telescopes."
Sounds cool enough, in my about page I'm pretty sure I mentioned that space is one of my interests.
Anyways lets start...
First off space is not going anywhere, people will always look up to the heavens and wonder.
The issue here? Space is a big niche, we need to narrow a bit if we want to stand a chance against the big boys, ie NASA.com etc.
Remember that if we can't beat the big competition in ranking on search, we will have a very hard time gaining traction with our blog.
Narrowing down ...
This is where the real blog niche research starts, we have settled on telescopes and space for are idea, now what?
It's time to hone in and narrow down on a subtopic that has enough of an audience but is not too competitive for rankings.
There are many things that I have learned over the years from my friends at wealthy affiliate, one of the biggest breakthroughs was when I learned about "Google instant."
What is Google instant?
Google is the eight hundred pound eliphant in the room when it comes to the internet.
Although Google is not the only player on the field, it's the biggest by far ... Story short? ...
Please Google and get rankings, rankings = traffic, traffic = making money with your blog.
Have you noticed how what you are typing in on google gets auto filled? This my friend is Google instant, and it's going to help us tremendously with our blog niche research.
Start by taking a term, in this case I will use "telescopes"... Let's see what Google gives us.
WOW!, just by typing our broad niche into Google we have opened up a few great ideas.
Remember, all of these terms that are "suggested" are what Google "thinks" you are looking for, this is a good sign that people are searching these terms.
Alphabet soup
Wanna go deeper? Of course!
Take that same term "telescopes" and add every letter in the alphabet after or before it ....
Annnnnd.... !
"Things are starting to look pretty cool here huh? These are all little sub niches that you can build your blog around!"
Choosing direction and some more research
I'm gonna go with "telescopes for kids"
This is a great example of how Google can point you in the right direction without a ton of effort.
Now friend, it's time to break this baby down and see exactly what are target audience is going to be for this niche.
At this point common sense goes a long way, here are some target audiences that we can target with this niche ...
- Parents
- Grandparents
- Teachers
- People near national parks
- People searching for a children's gift
- How about people looking for deals on telescopes?
I'm sure you can see what I'm getting at here, in reality ALL of these people are your target audience.
We can set up a great blog that answers questions and helps people that are getting into astronomy with their kids.
What about the single dad that knows nothing about space but his son wants a telescope more than anything else?
How about the newly retired grandmother that is going to visit the grand kids, she is looking for a great gift and knows the kids love space?
Maybe it's the mom that found a telescope in the attic and is searching for answers on how to set it up to see mars because her son loves it?
Can you see the endless possibility here? If you create a website and put in the work of writing and creating content that helps these people, you can make A LOT of money online.
The possibility is endless, we can write great articles and create content such as ...
- When is the best time to see Saturn?
- What telescope is best for a 3 year old?
- How much do I need to spend for a decent telescope for my kids?
- What are the best books for children stargazers?
Can you see the potential here? WOW!
Where to next?
Where are we?
We have broken our niche down well, "telescopes for kids" this is awesome. There's a few things that we should check into before we fully commit however.
There are premium paid tools that will break down a search term and tell you the exact numbers you need to know.
For the sake of this article let's keep it simple ...
We are going to use good old Google again, let's check out the top websites that come up in search when we type "telescopes for kids" into the search bar.
These are the results after scrolling down away from the paid ads.
Guess what friend? This is your competition, these websites have been ranked for the keyword "telescopes for kids."
This is a great opportunity to check out these sites, look at their style, pay attention to how their articles are structured etc.
Learning about the big boys that are on top is a great way to figure out exactly what you need to bring to the table with your blog.
Avoid the copycat at all costs
I shouldn't have to say it but here goes ...
We are not checking our competition to copy their content, not only is this very lame but it will get you nowhere in Google and the other search engine's eyes.
Use this research to find what your competitors may have missed on the subject, use it to make your completely original content even better.
Let's wrap this baby up!
I hope this article showed you how to really narrow down a niche that you can enjoy bringing value to for years to come.
If there is anything that you are stuck on, or if you need an opinion on your niche, shoot me an email from my contact page.
Use the techniques I list here and use Google to your advantage, with this article finding a great niche is easy!
Recapping blog niche research
- Decide your broad interest
- Use Google to narrow down the niche into smaller segments
- Locate and decide on your "target" audience
- Break down further using Google
- Find your competition and see what they are missing, make it better
- Work your @#$ off!
In future articles I will be showing you EXACTLY how to find and promote products on your blog once traffic starts rolling in.
For now get going on original, quality content friend!
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