Before reading this guide, we’re assuming that you already have a blog? If you haven’t then you can start a blog here…
So, what should you be blogging about to make money online? Where does someone get started with choosing what to blog about to make money online?
This is actually one of the biggest things that people struggle with the most, when starting a blog. I know I did, when we first got started with our first blog. Maybe you are in the same position, wondering what is the best subject for you to consider to make yourself some money?
It might seem quite easy to choose a niche. You just pick one, right?
However, for a lot of people this is a huge hurdle that many find really hard to actually get over. If you don’t get this right, it can affect your chances of making money.
But if you can get this decision right, then the rest of it falls nicely into place, and that is why we want to help you choose what you are going to blog about.
The driver of your content and the direction of that content will come directly from how clearly you’ve defined your niche, and your target audience.
That is why in this article, I’m going to outline where you should start, endeavouring to give you a solid framework that you can use to find yourself a niche that works for you.
What Should You Blog About?
First of all, let’s get one thing clear. There is no one niche that is better than another. As in, there is no magic topic that will make you a ton of money, just by choosing that particularly niche. It can also be said that any niche can help you make money.
Often the problem stems from the fact that you have a number of topics that you could consider using.
Often, we get asked these kind of questions:
- Can I blog about my children?
- Can I blog about my family?
- Can I blog about work?
- Can I blog about my hobby?
I mean, you could choose to blog about those subjects, and many more. But the first thing you need to ask yourself is, what is the aim of your blog and who is your target audience.
You need to identify who your blog is going to appeal to. Once you understand who you are talking to on your blog, then you’ll know what to say on your blog. Then, you will also know how to say it.
You have to become to authority within your niche, if you want to be able to earn money from your blog.
Identifying the audience for your niche, and blog is one of the most important steps of being able to make money from it. You’ll also know what to write about on your blog.
So, here’s how you do it…
Create an Avatar
No, we aren’t referring to the movie. What we are referring to is to create or consider the persona of the person who is your audience.
You need to consider what are the “wants” and “needs” of your target audience. The best thing to do is to write down a list on a piece of paper, and really ask yourself the questions that someone who is interested in your niche is wanting answers too.
You have to get really specific. This is because the aim is to build up a character in your mind’s eye, so that you can visualise this person.
It will really help when you write content, as you will be writing as though you were talking to this person.
This person can be real, or just pretend, it really doesn’t matter, just as long as you have a clear image in your head of who you are talking too. Give them a name if it helps…
These wants and needs will depend on the niche or topic you are writing your blog about, but could be like:
- What do they like to eat? Does it Matter?
- What do they do at the weekends?
- Do they typically have children?
- Do they enjoy sports?
- Are they men, or women, or both?
- What help do they need in this niche?
- Do they use specific terms in that niche?
There could be many different angles to consider when collating a list of topics for you to create content for. If it is already a topic you know a lot about, then this part becomes easier as you will hopefully have some experience with what questions they have, or problems they want help with, or products that they could consider buying in that niche.
But if it is a new niche you are considering, then research is needed…
Do Your Research
To be fair, even if you feel like you know your niche pretty well, it doesn’t hurt to do some more research.
But if you have no real knowledge about a niche, then you will need to complete a lot of research to understand and analyse who your target audience is.
A good way of discovering the wants and needs of your target audience is to visit forums and message boards.
Forums help you create a picture of your target market, this is because this is where they go to openly discuss their problems. The information you get from this kind of site will help you to either confirm or assess your assumptions. It also helps you create a more accurate avatar of your target market or audience.
Once you understand what your target audience/market really needs, then you will have a better idea of what buyer keywords to target.
Using a mixture of forums, google searches and looking at other sites within your niche will help you assess what the wants and needs are of your target audience.
Some good places to get started with are:
Take the time to do some research in these places to understand more about your niche, the questions people have, or any problems they have raised. You need to tune into their biggest issues.
Are their any reoccurring issues that keep coming up?
For example…
If you were to visit a blog about dogs, one of the most common topics that keeps coming up and is often talked about is dog behaviour training.
If you were to focus down on this topic, and do some keyword research on dog training and I would even research down a level into a particular type of breed and any dog training related topics.
Drilling down on all the topics relating to your niche, will give you tons of ideas of what you can write about, but also what you could promote on your blog related to your niche.
Consider the dog training niche again. You could write a ton of content relating to that, and then utilise affiliate marketing to promote books, guides, etc. related to helping them with that problem.
If You're Still Stuck...
Then, let me suggest a good place to get started…
The easiest place to get started with is with an area you already have a lot of knowledge in already. This is because, you will typically already know and understand the wants and needs in that area.
So, if you’re a school teacher. Start a blog that relates to teachers. Then find products that you can sell as an affiliate, that is applicable to solving the problems that school teachers tend to face.
If you feel like there isn’t anything that is suitable or doesn’t address the issues, then create a digital product and sell it yourself.
If you’re a nurse, then you could create a blog that addresses a particular issues that nurses face on a daily basis. You could get really specific with a particular type of nursing, depends on what you already know.
What if you’re a stay-at-home mum? Then that is an ideal subject to get started in, creating a blog to make money in a subject that there are also thousands of other stay-at-home mums that are able to relate. You probably already know what they are searching for help with on Google, and you can provide the help and guidance.
Another example, would be to just a hobby or something you are really passionate about. Doing research on something you already love is a great starting point towards monetising your blog.
By picking a niche from something you already know, have a lot of knowledge from, or something that you already enjoy is a great starting point for building an online blog that will make you money.
It also helps the reader relate to you, as you come across as someone who knows their stuff and is an authority in the niche. This means that when you start promoting affiliate products for them to consider to help them with certain questions or problems, then they are more willing to follow your suggestions.
You could incorporate affiliate marketing and promote:
- Physical Products
- Digital Products (ebooks, subscriptions, memberships, etc.)
- Relevant Advertising
Just keep in mind that you will need to focus on creating a lot of content that provides information and helps those people you have identified as your target audience. By doing that, and using effective keyword research, you can start to bring money to your blog.
Consider Getting Training?
Whether you have started a blog and want to look into ways of being able to make money with it, or you haven’t quite got to the stage of starting a blog, let me take a minute to talk to you about the benefits of getting training on how to build a successful blog.
Creating a blog is relatively simple, but turning it into a stream of income, takes some effort and time. But you need to know you are spending that time going in the right direction. That is why we consider getting training, and learning is one of the most important aspects of any online business.
If you want to build a successful blog that helps you earn money, then you should consider our top recommended training platform. It is called Wealthy Affiliate. It will help you choose a niche, build a blog website and teach you how to utilise affiliate marketing to make yourself some money.
They offer training on how to identify your target audience, and offer research tools within their platform. You also gain access to a community of like-minded entrepreneurs who are there to help at every step of the way to building your online blog.
They are a fantastic platform with a ton of resources to help you. You can read our Wealthy Affiliate Review here.
If you are struggling with your blog, or not too sure where to go with it, then they are definitely the right place to get that help. It offers a step-by-step guide to learning how to create a successful blog.
Thanks for reading our guide, we hope you found it useful? If you still have any questions or comments to add to our guide, then please write them in the comments section below. We will get back to you as soon as we can, and we will offer any help and support we can. 😉
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