Choosing a blog niche might come easy for some but for most of us bloggers trying to narrow down our focus is a real challenge.
I have wrestled and struggled with picking a blog niche for years. Even now, when I have a more narrow focus, I still want to break free from it at times.
Then I’ll have grand plans to start 10 different blogs with different niches that I think will work! Trouble is there just aren’t enough hours in the day to do it all, especially if you’re trying to raise a family while already working an existing job too.
Some bloggers do start off their sites with a very specific niche. They choose a subject they are passionate and knowledgeable about and just run with it.
But for many of us, me included, we start with a broader theme such as parenting or lifestyle.
When I got started with my parenting blog, I wrote about the thoughts in my head about parenting.
I had seen super successful bloggers who had opened up and shared their views on parenting doing amazingly well. People such as The Unmumsy Mum and Mother Pukka.
The trouble is that for anyone starting out in blogging now, the market is so so swamped that it’s virtually impossible to become big and make money just by being a “relatable” person. Social media is full of relatable people.
Plus some people just have a gift for humorous, witty and emotive captions or blog posts. That’s a skill to that you can’t learn, or rather you can learn to a degree but the talent is what takes people right to the top.
So my point is, if you want to blog to get noticed, and therefore make money from your site, you need a niche rather than setting out to become a “famous” blogger.
What is a blog niche?
Your niche is the subject that you write about for your audience. It’s the area of expertise that you can offer guidance in for your audience.
Your niche may be very specific, for example making smoothies, or a little broader, such as baking.
If you have a website that sells products, then the blog section of your site will tie in with the type of products you are selling.
If you sell artwork for people to decorate nurseries with, then your blog may focus on nursery decor tips with advice on colour schemes, furniture arrangement and ways to decorate on a budget.
Your blog niche is the reason your audience turns to you for help. It’s the area in which you can offer them advice, help and inspiration.
Why is a niche important?
A blog niche is important for several reasons.
The ways bloggers make money with their site are:
- Affiliate income – money made through sales that come from affiliate links to products on their site.
- Advertising
- Sponsored posts
- Selling own products
All of these things require a loyal audience and/or regular, high traffic to your site.
Having a specific niche, and a carefully chosen one at that, will make it much easier to get your website to rank on Google.
Why do you want to rank on Google? Because traffic from Google will be more reliable (barring any algorithm disasters) than traffic from social media sites such as Instagram and Facebook. It will also be easier to sell through affiliate links to Google traffic.
We’re going to deep dive into SEO and getting your site to rank on Google in another post, but niche plays a huge part in this.
Of course Pinterest traffic can be amazing, and I’ve already explained how Pinterest is the number one driver of traffic to my parenting blog. Having said that, even Pinterest likes to understand what your blog is about so it knows who to show your pins to.
And if you do manage to grow an audience on Facebook and Twitter, they will be coming to you for the specific information or content you have to offer.
Having a niche will also help you grow a loyal audience who comes back to read your new posts every single time you upload.
Another good reason to have a niche is it gives you a focus on what to do next. If you know your niche, then you know your audience and what they need, so you have ideas on what to write for them.
Now, by talking about niche some people might think I’m sucking all of the joy out of blogging. That’s really not what I’m trying to do!
If you want a lifestyle blog that talks about all the stuff you are interested in, then I say go for it!
When I talk about niche being important, I mean it’s important if you want to grow your traffic fast so that you can monetise your site with ads and affiliate marketing.
If you want to read more about why niche is so important, I thoroughly recommend checking out the content from the team at Income School. They are great and also offer some good inspiration for niche site ideas.
I had spent some time contemplating my niche after my blog was launched. It was kind of about parenting, kind of about my thoughts on stuff and kind of about reviews of stuff I was sent.
Now I’m three years down the line and it’s main focus is pregnancy, babies and early years. I find my content about babies and maternity leave is what gains the most traffic. So that’s the niche I have decided to focus on with that site.
I wish I had been more focused from day one, but really blogging is such a steep learning curve and it’s so difficult to pick one topic when you get shiny object syndrome and just want to write about absolutely everything.
Don’t worry if this is you, it’s totally normal.
How to pick a blog niche
Choosing your blog niche may not happen overnight. So the key thing here is, not to panic if you don’t have it all figured out right away.
If you’re struggling to narrow down what your blog is all about, then try writing about the stuff that interests you.
Get your social media channels going and share your content. Now after a few months see what type of content is popular and getting good hits. This could be pointing you in the direction of what you should be focusing your energy on.
Important considerations when picking a blog niche
There are a few things you need to bear in mind when choosing a blog niche.
The biggest one, if you want to blog for real money, is choosing a niche that has a realistic prospect of getting seen on Google.
Search engines like to provide users with accurate and trustworthy information.
This means that if your niche site is all about herbal cures for cancer, chances are you will never get close to page one of Google.
That’s an extreme example of course, but Google wants to serve up information that answers users questions thoroughly. It also wants to avoid any disinformation from people who are not experts in their field.
So for this reason, if you are considering blogging about people’s finances or their health, which includes areas of parenting, pregnancy and dieting, I would just have a really good think about this before you take the plunge.
There are of course plenty of bloggers who have built all of their success on a good following on social media. You may become a huge hit on Facebook for your amazing diet posts, or your pregnancy updates.
But for the purposes of this post, I am focusing on building blog traffic to your website first. There are many routes to becoming a successful blogger, I am just trying to explaining route in to making money from blogging.
Another important consideration is will you have enough mileage in the niche you choose.
When considering your niche, try to think of all the different blog posts your audience may need to understand this area. The list of posts could include reviews of products, advice on choosing a particular type of product and tips on a particular skill related to your niche.
The best type of niche is ones that help and inspire people. They offer them practical help and give them motivation to try something for themselves.
25 niche site ideas
To help you out with picking your niche site, here are 50 brilliant niche site ideas!
Now, I’ve put some ideas in here that do fall under money and health. Please do bear in mind that in these areas it may be much harder to rank on Google, so it’s worth thinking twice.
If there’s an area here that you can do well that doesn’t involve advising people where to put their money or how to have great health, then go for that one. Crafts, hacks and practical advice for the home are great areas to check out.
- Pets – you can get specific on species here
- Keto recipes
- Vegan recipes
- Baking sourdough
- Baking bread
- Baking with kids
- Upcycling furniture
- Home productivity
- Crochet
- Photography – narrow it down to a particular area of photography such as nature, wedding, children, sport etc
- Creative a garden office
- DIY – narrow it down a specific area like doing up a kitchen or bathroom
- How to run a marathon
- Product reviews – niche this down to a specific area such as smart watches, baby buggies or kitchen gadgets
- Healthy pregnancy
- Travelling with babies and toddlers
- Adoption
- Cloth nappies
- Baby showers
- Attachment parenting and baby wearing
- Paying off debt (this may do well on social media, especially when sharing your own story such as My Frugal Year has done, but will be difficult to get ranking on Google)
- Saving money
- Using vouchers
- Meal planning
- Renovating your home
Final thoughts on picking a blog niche
Now having said all of this there are bloggers out there who have a quite wide net when it comes to niche.
I know of many who are focused on the parenting topic, but also blog about travel and cooking, who do extremely well. But they have worked for years to get to where they are.
Some may have first grown a huge following on Instagram, YouTube or one of the other social media channels, before then being able to grow a successful site that works alongside their most prolific channel.
Of course there is no “right” way to blog. I am talking from my own experience and specifically trying to offer advice on how to start a website that gets a lot of traffic ASAP.
There are many, many paths that people take to become successful as their own boss, so don’t let one person’s advice stop you from trying something out that you think will work.
But, if you are looking to grow quickly, then I thoroughly recommend you get thinking about your niche right now.
If you’re still struggling, try writing down some topics that you are passionate about.
Think about how you would write about these topics for an audience and what you could offer to help them.
If you think it’s already been done, that may well be the case but it hasn’t yet been done by you! Everyone has a unique voice and a unique way of doing things.
Don’t be discouraged by the volume of blogs already out there. Your blog will be unique because it has been written by you.
