Hey there, if you have stumbled across this post, chances are you are a newbie blogger. Well, not that it matters but in this post, we are going to address probably the most important question of a new blogger. The question that is, how should you choose your blog topic.
If and after you finish reading this whole post, you shall be knowledgeable not only on how to choose the right topic for your blog, but also on multifarious other affairs which revolve around this main discussion here.
To address that, I need to first show you the importance of choosing a right blog topic.
Why you should spend time to choose the Right Blog Topic
And, I got the perfect example for that; my own very first blog, TechSavvy. Now, I am not giving its link here, so as to avoid link penalties (as it is a tech blog and in this post, I am discussing about blogging which are virtually unrelated), but if you search for my older posts at TechPatio, you will find its link.
When, I first started blogging, it was with the sole intention of earning money fast; while I still have that wish, I now realize the immense hardship that goes hand in glove with blogging. Being very savvy in tech related affairs, I started blogging at a very fast rate. While the first few posts lacked quality, I soon understood the importance of having high-quality posts and I ramped up my post qualities to the highest level possible.
Brimming with energy, I covered almost as much tech related information including reviews, comparisons, and analysis as I humanly could. However, I soon realized, the mistake I had made as I had not thought of a blog niche in-depth (niche means topic). I also realized some other things, which I won’t delve into here as you can always check out WinSavvy for more details on my realizations.
Anyhow, my main mistake was that I didn’t realize that technology is a rather very fast moving niche. With constant new innovations or releases of new phones and computers, I couldn’t possibly keep up publishing high-quality content whilst simultaneously spinning out a huge volume of content, and that too all alone.
To be successful in the blogosphere, I needed to undertake link building campaigns so as to increase my blog’s domain authority, for which I was getting little to no time. To make matters worse, I was getting completely drained out with a minimal ROI (return on investment). This led me to temporarily give up and start Googling about whether I should compromise on quality or quantity. My one year of efforts saw a halt.
What did I do next?
Well, I will tell you just that in the next part of the topic.
How can you Choose your Blog Topic
My extensive research led me to a website Backlinko, run by Brian Dean, a man who makes about a million dollars, with just publishing 34 posts on SEO.
And I reached my “Aha!” moment just then. While you shall see, sites like Shoutmeloud and Problogger having more than 2000 posts, the fact of the matter is Backlinko makes so much money with just 34 posts.
How is this possible?
Well, the answer is that Brian writes posts with very high quality and very high research. He had made a post on the 200 factors of Google’s algorithm after he first started out, which brought him a lot of links and repeat viewers. But, what is important and pertains to our discussion is Perennial Topics.
There are certain blog topics or blog niches which don’t just change so regularly, like pet care, SEO and art-of-living, while topics like technology and healthcare change almost regularly.
If you have not got a highly motivated team that writes a lot daily without compromising on quality, you shouldn’t go for these volatile niches. Niches which are more perennial and don’t change regularly offer more promise for most of the one-man bloggers out there.
However, do check it that you are knowledgeable and can offer high quality stuff. Just spinning out a high volume of content won’t do you any good. If readers, don’t like the stuff, even a million visitors won’t convert as customers to your site; nor will they ever return.
Conclusion
Returning back to my narration, I blogged at TechSavvy for an year, now and I suddenly realized that all those immense reading of blogging, SEO and entrepreneurship had made me more knowledgeable there than I was in technology. In fact, it amazes me that I can now go on blabbering on highly actionable advices on SEO and entrepreneurship.
Was this one year a waste for me? I guess not. Just reading about blogging, SEO and entrepreneurship would have been boring if I didn’t have a blog to use it on. If I wasn’t an entrepreneur, how could I learn entrepreneurship? After all, somethings are learnt best through experience. But I wouldn’t want you to waste your year to learn what I did the hard way.
That is why, you need to-
- First list down the niches you are knowledgeable in.
- Check their pros and cons.
- Find out niches you hadn’t thought of by doing a simple Google search.
- Check to see which of them are perennial.
However, a word of warning is never go for a multi-niche blog.
I have seen several new bloggers try that and it brings them no success. It is because, no visitor, who wants to read about technology wants to read about the latest in petcare. Plus, if they find your recent/popular posts column filled with posts of different niche, they will just assume that you are some novice, who just started out. A guy interested in technology/blogging would also not like to receive updates from sites he subscribed to about niches that don’t interest him.
Wouldn’t it piss you off too, if you received updates from blogs you subscribed to, about unrelated topics?
Be specific but not too specific in your niche as that reduced link building opportunities (one of the most important SEO factors).
Choosing the right topic is important and so is sticking with it when it seems boring and trust me it will.
Guest article written by: Adhip is a tech, SEO and Entrepreneurship blogger, a freelance writer and the founder of the blogs WinSavvy and TechSavvy. He covers topics on technology, entrepreneurship and blogging. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus or subscribe to WinSavvy to stay updated on all his latest posts!