An article from The Blogging Factory that looks at blog niche ideas and how to find them for your next blog.

Hey Pete Harris here and I am constantly asked how I come up with blog niche ideas. You are probably here because you are struggling to come up with blog niche ideas for your next blog.

What I usually say to people is to look closer to home so to speak, and look at what you are interested in. Also, you have knowledge and experience in many topics so that could be a place to start. Finally look at what you are good at and determine if this is something you could create a blog on.

I know that for many people blog niche ideas is the first hurdle to overcome. So, I thought it would be valuable to you if I shared some strategies and resources that I use. Hopefully I can make this exercise much easier for you so let’s get on with it.

Blog Niche Ideas – How To Come Up With The Perfect Topic For Your Next Blog

 So, what is a niche? Well a niche can be broken down to three things and they are a noun, adjective or a verb. What we are interested in is the adjective and in this case a niche means the following. “Denoting or relating to products, services, or interests that appeal to a small, specialized section of the population”.

Now this is very important for you to understand. If you already have a business, then your industry is your niche and not everyone in the world is going to be interested in what you have to offer. So, the blog that you will be creating has to reflect the look and feel of that industry.

For an example. If your business was in the garden care industry you wouldn’t want to have pictures of cats and dogs on it. It wouldn’t be congruent and people landing on your blog would be confused.

So, if you have an already established business the best way to do some research is to simply go to our friend Google. In the search box simply enter the following term “(your niche) blogs” and Google will return hundreds of relevant results.

Blog Niche Ideas – When In Doubt Turn To Google

From here I would open the first 6 in different tabs and take some time to study what they are talking about in their message. Also, what products and services are they providing. These are your competitors so gather the information together, see what they are doing well and model it, don’t copy because you need to differentiate yourself from them. What is unique about what you have to offer.

This information will be used later when we go through constructing your blog and the psychology behind creating your content. The following section will help you also so make sure you keep reading.

If you have not got an established business but you want to use blogging as a platform to create a home based business then I am going to go through some great resources to help you determine what niche you decide to base your blog on.

Before I go into these resources there is something that I want to bring to your attention. There are certain niches that are referred to as “Evergreen” niches. What this means is that there is a constant and established market for products and services that are offered.

Now these are huge niches and contained within them are sub-niches which in turn contain further sub-niches. Don’t worry I will explain more about this shortly.

Also, if you are looking to make money from blogging there are niches that contain more affluent people in general and the products and services you can offer are referred to as mid to high ticket. Meaning the retail price is higher but because these people have more disposable income they don’t really think or worry about spending it.

What Are Your Passionate About?

The easiest place to start is what you are passionate about. This could be hobby based, health related, wealth related, fashion the list goes on, but I am sure you get the point by now.

At this point if I was to base this on myself starting a new blog then I would go into the Golf niche. I am passionate about golf and like to play as often as I can but sometimes this work thing just gets in the way!

Also, there are a lot of wealthy people who play golf and they like to spend money on their hobby. Alas I would not class myself as wealthy in relation to the size of my bank balance. I am more of a journey man golfer and a normal person. Saying that though  I have been known to spend a fair bit of money in my time walking the fairways. Which then brings me on to products and services which are available for golfers to purchase.

Equipment is the obvious one which can cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars, pounds or euros depending on your currency. Then there is apparel closely followed by training aids, membership subscriptions, travel and holiday products. Now I know through experience that I could create products and services or leverage ready-made products and services and generate a sale through the content I create and publish on my blog. Are you starting to create a picture or vision in your mind as to what you can achieve?

Where Is The Best Place To Do Some Niche Research?

The first place I go to is Amazon. Why? Because they sell just about anything and everything that you can buy. I would start at their bestsellers section as it is potentially a gold mine.

You will notice that they have many categories so take some time to look at the general categories they have listed on their website. Now it is very important for me to be clear. Each category is a niche!

Click on the categories one by one and you will see the sub-categories, these are sub-niches and then you can drill down even further to the sub sub-categories. Very often there are veins of gold when you go this deep. One tip I will give is that you don’t want to be too broad, you must be specific. Is there a category that fits in with what you are interested in?

By doing this exercise you will also be able to gauge the products and services you could provide. Don’t try and invent the wheel because it will cost you time and money, the information is right there in front of you as to what the market for each category or niche wants. Base your business on this.

Blog Niche Ideas – Look In The Magazine Racks

Another great resource is magazines. Now you may not have been expecting this but here is why I use this research method. People buy or subscribe to magazines because they are interested in the content that is published. Again, don’t try and invent things as everything becomes clear by looking on the shelf.

Walk into your local newsagent or supermarket and take some time to look at what publications there are available. The reason I say this is because if magazines are prepared to spend money to have things physically printed then you can be sure that there are people buying them! These validates the demand.

So, once you have taken the time to see what magazines are available in your niche go and buy 2 or three of them. It won’t cost you much but could be very valuable for a couple of reasons.

The first is that you see what type of content people want to read. The second is there will be advertisements for products and services so you will see what people are buying. By the way people are buying them otherwise the product vendors wouldn’t be advertising!

You can also do this virtually as well. Just like before when I said enter “(your niche) blog” into Google only this time enter “(your niche) magazines” and Google will list all of the magazines in your niche so you can click on the links and explore online what they are publishing.

Digital Product Marketplaces

Most of these magazines will have a subscription that people pay so the same analogy can be applied as the printed version. These magazines would not be available if people weren’t subscribing!

My next port of call is a marketplace called Clickbank. Here you will find thousands of digital products again in hundreds of categories or niches. Use the same principle as I said for Amazon. Study the niches and then go and explore.

I like Clickbank because it gives me ideas for affiliate products and products, I can create to sell on my blog, but I will talk more about this later in this book. For now, we are just in niche research phase for validation.

So, there are three great resources to carry out your niche research. Don’t rush this, I can’t emphasise this enough. Once you have all your information together and decided on your niche it is then time to start building out your blog. That starts with your virtual real estate.

Hopefully I have given you some valuable insights into researching blog nice ideas. If you are looking for additional help in launching your first or next blog, then download my free guide. My How to Start A Blog guide will take any element of doubt you may have about starting your own blog. It is a roadmap that if you follow step by step then you really can’t fail. I know that is a bold statement so why not take me up on my offer so you can see for yourself? Click here to download now!

I wish you every success.

Pete Harris

Professional Blogger & Information Publisher