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how to build
a Successful

blog
business
    niches
               3/3
Although personal blogs often wander through a
variety of themes and topics, for a serious blog project
you will want to focus on a limited range of topics.
Although personal blogs often wander through a
variety of themes and topics, for a serious blog project
you will want to focus on a limited range of topics.

Defining a single main area or niche for your blog
topic has three main benefits:
It’s Easier to Build a Memorable Brand

The strongest, most memorable brands are
the ones most quickly and easily understood
by consumers. Building a brand for a blog that
changes topics regularly is much harder as the
blog becomes harder to mentally categorize.
By contrast, a focused blog is easily simplified
into a memorable idea. So for example it’s
much easier to think “Stock Market Tips” than
“Covers topics like the Stock Market, Television,
and Cars.” You can in fact still build a great
brand around a bizarre set of topics; it’s just a
lot harder! A good example of a blog that isn’t
easily defined is BoingBoing, which covers many
things, including technology, sci-fi, gadgets,
politics, and Disney.
Your Readers Know What to Expect
A focused topic attracts and retains a
strong audience because readers quickly
learn what the blog is about, and if they like
it, then they stick around.
They are also more likely to recommend
the blog to other people interested in the
same topics. If you move between a
variety of unrelated topics, you are likely
to lose readers who aren’t interested in
some parts of the blog, or who simply can’t
be bothered to wait for the next post on
the topic they are interested in.
It’s Easier to Attract Advertising
It’s much easier to attract advertisers to a
focused blog because the topic of your site
defines your audience.
For example, businesses selling financial
advice are likely to see a blog about stock
market tips as an attractive place to advertise
given the clear overlap in audience, whereas
they may be more hesitant if the audience
match wasn’t so clear because the stock
market tips were mixed with posts about
other topics.
It’s Easier to Attract Advertising
It’s much easier to attract advertisers to a
focused blog because the topic of your site
defines your audience.
For example, businesses selling financial
advice are likely to see a blog about stock
market tips as an attractive place to advertise
given the clear overlap in audience, whereas
they may be more hesitant if the audience
match wasn’t so clear because the stock
market tips were mixed with posts about
other topics.
Sub-niches
For any topic, you will always have the option
of either taking a broad view of the topic or
focusing on specific parts, or sub-niches.
Here are some examples of niches and more
focused sub-niches:
Broad Niche   Focused Sub-niche

 Blogging     Professional Blogging

Investment        Tech Stocks

Weight Loss    Low-Carb Dieting

  Travel          Travel in Asia
It is possible to break topics down further and
further. For example, “Travel in China” would
be a sub-niche of “Travel in Asia,” and even
more specifically “Travel in Hong Kong.” Both
broad and focused blogs have their
advantages and disadvantages.
These are summed up in the next tables.
Broad Niches


        Pro                       Cons
                         Might be a bit TOO much to
Large depth of content     write about if you have
                              limited resources

   Larger potential      More competition and often
                         more organized competition
Focused Niches


           Pro                            Cons
Less competition makes them           Smaller potential
     easier to dominate

 Can act as a foothold into     Not as much depth of content
     the larger niche

Can be better for branding to
 have a strong “angle” on the         Can get boring!
         broad topic
In essence, the choice to focus is really about
whether you aim to be a little fish in a big pond,
or a big fish in a little pond.
If you have limited blogging experience, it’s
usually better to go for the smaller niche and
dominate there before trying to shoot for the
broader niche. Not only will you then have a
foothold to use to broaden your site, but you’ll
also have a much easier time doing well on a
topic with fewer competitors.
Should You Cover Multiple Topics?
As a general rule, the smaller your topic area
is, the smaller your potential audience will be.
To broaden your subject matter you could
choose to add multiple topics to a blog. If you
do this, it’s always best to make them related
subjects.
For example, an Investment blog about stocks
might benefit from articles about other types of
stock market investments like derivatives,
options, and so on. On a broader scale still, it
would also work to have articles about
real estate investment since investors often
move between stocks and real estate depending
on how the markets are faring.
Another broad option would be to have posts
on luxury goods such as cars and accessories,
the sorts of things that high income investors
might like to buy.
On the other hand, mixing in articles about
blogging would be a much tougher sell as there
are no natural overlaps between the two
subjects. As stated previously, diluting your
topic area presents more drawbacks than gains.
Your Interest Level
It can be very difficult to blog on a topic in which
you have little or no personal interest. There is
no simpler way to make blogging a chore than
to force yourself to write, read, and learn
about a subject you don’t actually care about.
As an entrepreneur approaching blogging, you
will most likely be hiring writers to write on the
subject so you have a bit more leniency in this
than a hobby blogger.
Nonetheless, a personal interest in the subject
matter of your blog has numerous benefits:
• If you do end up writing yourself, blogging is more
 enjoyable and feels a lot less like work.

• You are likely to already know a good deal about
 the subject matter.

• You are likely to be reading/learning about the
 subject anyway.
• Your passion will show through in how you interact
 with the community, your staff, and in your writing.

• You know how to solve the problems your readers
 face, or at least you know what those problems
 are.

• You are probably already involved in some
 networking groups, forums, communities in this
 area. If you aren’t, it won’t be a problem to get
 involved.
Given the profusion of available topics, unless
you have seen an incredible opportunity that’s
too good to pass up, it’s probably best to stick to
something you are interested in.
If you’re worried that the topic is too narrow,
then try opening that topic up to a broader view
of the same area.
In essence, the choice to focus is really about
whether you aim to be a little fish in a big pond,
or a big fish in a little pond.
If you have limited blogging experience, it’s
usually better to go for the smaller niche and
dominate there before trying to shoot for the
broader niche.
Not only will you then have a foothold to use to
broaden your site, but you’ll also have a much
easier time doing well on a topic with fewer
competitors.
Can You Create Value?
A key question in selecting a niche to blog in is to
ask yourself whether you can create value for your
readers.
At all costs you want to avoid simply launching a “me
too” blog that solely imitates (whether consciously
or coincidentally) other blogs in the niche.
For a blog to be successful it must create real
value for its readers. It must be a worthwhile
addition to their reading schedule.
Creating value doesn’t mean you necessarily
need to create a blog that is totally unique. It
might simply mean that your blog explains a
hard topic in a really simple way, or it might
mean your blog has a much more frequent
posting schedule giving more up-to-the-minute
updates, or it might mean your blog provides
great entertainment (you can never have too
much entertainment!).
Creating value is the difference between
offering something that is already available
and providing something new, different, or
better.
Without a solid point of differentiation it’s very
hard to catch up to competing blogs.
After all, why should readers bother switching to
your new blog if it doesn’t provide anything new
or better?
If you are unsure whether your blog can create value
in a certain niche, try asking yourself these questions:

1. Can you generate a lot of content in this niche?
2. Do you know or are you able to find out things
   that others want to know?
3. Can you create content that isn’t currently
   available elsewhere?
4. Do you have a different take or angle on existing
   subject matter?
5. If someone else came out with the blog you are
   planning, would you read it?
Inside the book:
Blogging as a Business        Staff                           Generating Traffic              Long Term Strategies
Opportunities in Blogging     Freelance and Salaried Staff    Google Analytics              Building a Long Term Business
Risk and Reward               Freelancer Basics              Basic Techniques for          From One Blog to Many
A Sketch of a Blog Business   Employee Basics                Generating Traffic              Using a Blog to Build Other
Your Role and Blogging        Finding and Identifying Good   Social Media Basics           Businesses
Experience                    People                         Guest Posts                   Valuing and Selling a Blog
Setting Up as a Business      What to Pay                    Content Aggregators
Capital and Investment        Working with Remote Staff       Buying Traffic                  Case Study 1:
Co-founders                   Setting Parameters and         Keyword Research              FreelanceSwitch
Your Mission and Vision       Focusing on Results            Giving Away Free Stuff         Hitting On a Topic
Business Planning             Other Staff Issues              Leveraging Your Existing      Capitalizing on a Good Idea
                              Roles                          Network and Assets            The Road to Profitability
                              Role: Site Editor/Manager      Consistency and Momentum      Traffic
Planning and Researching      Role: Writer                   Linking Out to Generate and   Lessons Learned
Niches                        Role: Web Designer             Keep Traffic
Researching a Niche           Role: Web Developer            Search Traffic                  Case Study 2:
Competitive Analysis          Other Roles                    A Basic Guide to SEO          Psdtuts+
Understanding the Niche
Planning Your Content      Planning Content                  Monetization Tips            Case Study 3:
Your Overall Strategy      Writing for the Web               General Tips on Monetization AppStorm
                           Making Content Valuable           Advertising
Creating a Brand           Editing                           Affiliate Sales                Appendix:
What is a Brand?           The Editing Process               Premium Content               A Blog Basics Crash
Naming Considerations      Quick Editing Tips                Support                      Course
Domain Names               Know What You’re Talking          Selling Products
Visual Branding            About                             Ad Services
Web Design                 Lists and Popular Content         Selling Your Expertise
Other Elements of Branding Frequency                         Creating and Selling Web Apps
                           Quality Evergreen Content         Other Strategies
                           News Content                      Blending, Iterating and
                           Filler Posts                      Experimenting
                           Images and Diagrams
                           Headlines
                           Headlines Galore!
                           Style and Tone
Thanks!

about the author:
Thanks!

about the author:
Collis has authored three books, written dozens
of the most popular tutorials on the web and is
an accomplished entrepreneur, designer and
blogger. He is the creator and cofounder
ofEnvato and Tuts+, producing blogs and sites
that serve over fifty million pageviews a month.

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How to Build a Successful Blog Business - Niches

  • 1. how to build a Successful blog business niches 3/3
  • 2. Although personal blogs often wander through a variety of themes and topics, for a serious blog project you will want to focus on a limited range of topics.
  • 3. Although personal blogs often wander through a variety of themes and topics, for a serious blog project you will want to focus on a limited range of topics. Defining a single main area or niche for your blog topic has three main benefits:
  • 4. It’s Easier to Build a Memorable Brand The strongest, most memorable brands are the ones most quickly and easily understood by consumers. Building a brand for a blog that changes topics regularly is much harder as the blog becomes harder to mentally categorize.
  • 5. By contrast, a focused blog is easily simplified into a memorable idea. So for example it’s much easier to think “Stock Market Tips” than “Covers topics like the Stock Market, Television, and Cars.” You can in fact still build a great brand around a bizarre set of topics; it’s just a lot harder! A good example of a blog that isn’t easily defined is BoingBoing, which covers many things, including technology, sci-fi, gadgets, politics, and Disney.
  • 6. Your Readers Know What to Expect A focused topic attracts and retains a strong audience because readers quickly learn what the blog is about, and if they like it, then they stick around. They are also more likely to recommend the blog to other people interested in the same topics. If you move between a variety of unrelated topics, you are likely to lose readers who aren’t interested in some parts of the blog, or who simply can’t be bothered to wait for the next post on the topic they are interested in.
  • 7. It’s Easier to Attract Advertising It’s much easier to attract advertisers to a focused blog because the topic of your site defines your audience. For example, businesses selling financial advice are likely to see a blog about stock market tips as an attractive place to advertise given the clear overlap in audience, whereas they may be more hesitant if the audience match wasn’t so clear because the stock market tips were mixed with posts about other topics.
  • 8. It’s Easier to Attract Advertising It’s much easier to attract advertisers to a focused blog because the topic of your site defines your audience. For example, businesses selling financial advice are likely to see a blog about stock market tips as an attractive place to advertise given the clear overlap in audience, whereas they may be more hesitant if the audience match wasn’t so clear because the stock market tips were mixed with posts about other topics.
  • 10. For any topic, you will always have the option of either taking a broad view of the topic or focusing on specific parts, or sub-niches. Here are some examples of niches and more focused sub-niches:
  • 11. Broad Niche Focused Sub-niche Blogging Professional Blogging Investment Tech Stocks Weight Loss Low-Carb Dieting Travel Travel in Asia
  • 12. It is possible to break topics down further and further. For example, “Travel in China” would be a sub-niche of “Travel in Asia,” and even more specifically “Travel in Hong Kong.” Both broad and focused blogs have their advantages and disadvantages. These are summed up in the next tables.
  • 13. Broad Niches Pro Cons Might be a bit TOO much to Large depth of content write about if you have limited resources Larger potential More competition and often more organized competition
  • 14. Focused Niches Pro Cons Less competition makes them Smaller potential easier to dominate Can act as a foothold into Not as much depth of content the larger niche Can be better for branding to have a strong “angle” on the Can get boring! broad topic
  • 15. In essence, the choice to focus is really about whether you aim to be a little fish in a big pond, or a big fish in a little pond. If you have limited blogging experience, it’s usually better to go for the smaller niche and dominate there before trying to shoot for the broader niche. Not only will you then have a foothold to use to broaden your site, but you’ll also have a much easier time doing well on a topic with fewer competitors.
  • 16. Should You Cover Multiple Topics? As a general rule, the smaller your topic area is, the smaller your potential audience will be. To broaden your subject matter you could choose to add multiple topics to a blog. If you do this, it’s always best to make them related subjects. For example, an Investment blog about stocks might benefit from articles about other types of stock market investments like derivatives, options, and so on. On a broader scale still, it would also work to have articles about real estate investment since investors often move between stocks and real estate depending on how the markets are faring.
  • 17. Another broad option would be to have posts on luxury goods such as cars and accessories, the sorts of things that high income investors might like to buy. On the other hand, mixing in articles about blogging would be a much tougher sell as there are no natural overlaps between the two subjects. As stated previously, diluting your topic area presents more drawbacks than gains.
  • 18. Your Interest Level It can be very difficult to blog on a topic in which you have little or no personal interest. There is no simpler way to make blogging a chore than to force yourself to write, read, and learn about a subject you don’t actually care about. As an entrepreneur approaching blogging, you will most likely be hiring writers to write on the subject so you have a bit more leniency in this than a hobby blogger. Nonetheless, a personal interest in the subject matter of your blog has numerous benefits:
  • 19. • If you do end up writing yourself, blogging is more enjoyable and feels a lot less like work. • You are likely to already know a good deal about the subject matter. • You are likely to be reading/learning about the subject anyway.
  • 20. • Your passion will show through in how you interact with the community, your staff, and in your writing. • You know how to solve the problems your readers face, or at least you know what those problems are. • You are probably already involved in some networking groups, forums, communities in this area. If you aren’t, it won’t be a problem to get involved.
  • 21. Given the profusion of available topics, unless you have seen an incredible opportunity that’s too good to pass up, it’s probably best to stick to something you are interested in. If you’re worried that the topic is too narrow, then try opening that topic up to a broader view of the same area.
  • 22. In essence, the choice to focus is really about whether you aim to be a little fish in a big pond, or a big fish in a little pond. If you have limited blogging experience, it’s usually better to go for the smaller niche and dominate there before trying to shoot for the broader niche. Not only will you then have a foothold to use to broaden your site, but you’ll also have a much easier time doing well on a topic with fewer competitors.
  • 23. Can You Create Value? A key question in selecting a niche to blog in is to ask yourself whether you can create value for your readers. At all costs you want to avoid simply launching a “me too” blog that solely imitates (whether consciously or coincidentally) other blogs in the niche.
  • 24. For a blog to be successful it must create real value for its readers. It must be a worthwhile addition to their reading schedule. Creating value doesn’t mean you necessarily need to create a blog that is totally unique. It might simply mean that your blog explains a hard topic in a really simple way, or it might mean your blog has a much more frequent posting schedule giving more up-to-the-minute updates, or it might mean your blog provides great entertainment (you can never have too much entertainment!).
  • 25. Creating value is the difference between offering something that is already available and providing something new, different, or better. Without a solid point of differentiation it’s very hard to catch up to competing blogs. After all, why should readers bother switching to your new blog if it doesn’t provide anything new or better?
  • 26. If you are unsure whether your blog can create value in a certain niche, try asking yourself these questions: 1. Can you generate a lot of content in this niche? 2. Do you know or are you able to find out things that others want to know? 3. Can you create content that isn’t currently available elsewhere? 4. Do you have a different take or angle on existing subject matter? 5. If someone else came out with the blog you are planning, would you read it?
  • 27. Inside the book: Blogging as a Business Staff Generating Traffic Long Term Strategies Opportunities in Blogging Freelance and Salaried Staff Google Analytics Building a Long Term Business Risk and Reward Freelancer Basics Basic Techniques for From One Blog to Many A Sketch of a Blog Business Employee Basics Generating Traffic Using a Blog to Build Other Your Role and Blogging Finding and Identifying Good Social Media Basics Businesses Experience People Guest Posts Valuing and Selling a Blog Setting Up as a Business What to Pay Content Aggregators Capital and Investment Working with Remote Staff Buying Traffic Case Study 1: Co-founders Setting Parameters and Keyword Research FreelanceSwitch Your Mission and Vision Focusing on Results Giving Away Free Stuff Hitting On a Topic Business Planning Other Staff Issues Leveraging Your Existing Capitalizing on a Good Idea Roles Network and Assets The Road to Profitability Role: Site Editor/Manager Consistency and Momentum Traffic Planning and Researching Role: Writer Linking Out to Generate and Lessons Learned Niches Role: Web Designer Keep Traffic Researching a Niche Role: Web Developer Search Traffic Case Study 2: Competitive Analysis Other Roles A Basic Guide to SEO Psdtuts+ Understanding the Niche Planning Your Content Planning Content Monetization Tips Case Study 3: Your Overall Strategy Writing for the Web General Tips on Monetization AppStorm Making Content Valuable Advertising Creating a Brand Editing Affiliate Sales Appendix: What is a Brand? The Editing Process Premium Content A Blog Basics Crash Naming Considerations Quick Editing Tips Support Course Domain Names Know What You’re Talking Selling Products Visual Branding About Ad Services Web Design Lists and Popular Content Selling Your Expertise Other Elements of Branding Frequency Creating and Selling Web Apps Quality Evergreen Content Other Strategies News Content Blending, Iterating and Filler Posts Experimenting Images and Diagrams Headlines Headlines Galore! Style and Tone
  • 29. Thanks! about the author: Collis has authored three books, written dozens of the most popular tutorials on the web and is an accomplished entrepreneur, designer and blogger. He is the creator and cofounder ofEnvato and Tuts+, producing blogs and sites that serve over fifty million pageviews a month.