Niche Blogging 101 Series: How to Research Your Niche
This is part three in an ongoing series about how to start your own Niche Blog. To read the rest of the posts, check out the Niche Blogging 101 page.
Last week we covered the topic of how to find a niche for you to blog about. This week we’re going to discuss researching that niche and finding out whether or not it’s worth your time.
First Step: Google It
This is the easiest step, first you need to find people already writing about the same subject. This will help you decide whether or not to even pick the topic. If someone else is already doing a great job covering a niche, then why try to compete? However, if you think you can do it better then you can learn everything you need to from their blog.
When you’re looking at competitor blogs, explore the content. What kind of posts do they write? What kind of layout/theme have they chosen? Do they have a regular series? Does it look like there a content plan or if they person is just blogging about whatever, whenever they feel like it?
Most of all, the most important thing to find out is if the blog has been updated recently.
Keep track of all the similar blogs that you find. When you start marketing your blog, you’ll need to engage them and use them to build traffic.
For example, for Anglotopia I sought out other Anglophile bloggers. Many were covering the subject well and were more than happy to link to each other. It gave me an idea of how to do my blog differently and what kind of content I would cover. Some of them have even become columnists on Anlglotopia! So, don’t automatically think of the competition as the enemy. They could end up helping you greatly.
Next Step: Keyword Research
When browsing competitors, take a look as what keyword they’re targeting. I work in SEO, so I’m always thinking about things from a Search Engine Optimization perspective.
The most important thing is to find out how people are finding your fellow bloggers. What keywords find the most blogs? Is there strong competition? What keywords can draw the most traffic that will help your future monetization efforts?
One free way to do some keyword research is to use the Google Adwords tool, it will suggest other keywords and rate how competitive the term is. It’s an excellent resource.
Start building a list of keywords that you’re going to target. You’ll need these keywords when you build your meta-data, you’ll need it when marketing your site on blog networks and you’ll need it always in the back of your head when you’re writing content.
Third Step: Brainstorming
When you’re excited about launching a new blog, the ideas are flowing. Especially when you see what competitors are up and what keywords are strong. It’s important to write down all these ideas. You’ll need them when you build your niche blog content plan.
Keep a text editor open and jot down ideas as you get them. Organize them in a way that will help you get to them quickly. I use the program called Evernote to keep track of all my ideas and draft posts. I highly recommend it.
Final Step: Naming
Once you’ve got an idea of what you’re blog is going to be, it’s time to come up with a name. Something catchy that will be easy to remember, but keep in mind, your blog name will depend very highly on what domain names are available.
So, come up with a list of possible names then use a safe domain checker to see if the domain is taken. If not, then buy it immediately before someone else does.
Once you have a name, you can figure out how your blog will look and what content you’ll fill it with. You’ll begin to see it in your head, it will become tangible.
Now that your blog is beginning to take some shape, it’s time to prepare for the next step: deciding on a platform and beginning the niche blog development process.
Check back next week for the next part in the Niche Blogging 101 Series.
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Comments
I really liked your guest post at Darren’s site on How to Develop a Niche Blog Content Plan. It’s time for me to balance features and small posts to avoid burnout.
Thanks. I’ll be back to read more advice on niche blogging as I relaunch my blog on Wordpress under a new name.
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Really enjoyed this post and have left with a lot of golden nuggets.
Regards
David