So you’re pumped up to write and ready to start learning how to write your SEO blog. You’re already imagining the blog theme you’re gonna use, the title in bold, that video series you’re gonna have and the dolla dollas rolling in. Fantastic.
Or maybe you’re not. Maybe, like a lot of people out there, you’re now stuck on the idea of WHAT to write and promote for. Maybe to you, “there’s nothing new under the sun” is more than just an adage, and the concept that there really are no new, good ideas out there leaves you with a faint sense of doom.
Well, this module here is for you.
The first thing you should know is that it’s NOT necessary to have a spanking brand new idea that nobody has ever thought of before. Not only is it damn difficult to come up with such a thing, you’d be in unknown territory with no guidelines or help.
So forget brand-new, and pick something that’s already working to make it better. Make that your niche.
Wait. What’s a niche?
A niche, in the simplest terms, can be a category, a theme, an industry, a hobby-centric interest, etc. The basic idea is that the narrower your focus on a topic, the more niche it is.
For example, ‘
reptiles’ is a niche for the pet category, and you can narrow the subject down even further, making it even more niche. Like
chameleons.
The reason why this is important is that narrowing down your marketing blog to a specialty makes people more inclined to trust you. If you were to care for a chameleon, which would you pick, a website dedicated to chameleons of various species, or a generic pets website with basic care sheets? It’s a no-brainer.
A lot of the time, the specific audiences that form niche markets are also easier to convert into buyers. Your specialized, target audience is more likely to have the same specialized interests or passions as you and everyone else in that community. The sense of community and overall connections built will be much stronger. Since you’re also an ‘expert’ in your chosen niche, it becomes that much easier to sell based on that rapport.
Now that we’ve established the importance of niches, let’s move on to HOW to pick a niche. You’ll want to ask yourself these questions:
- What is it that you’re good at, better than most people? (Skills-related)
- What is it that you really, really like? (Passion-related)
- What is it that you know more than most people, from experience? (Life/work related)
If you can answer ANY of the question, that WILL be the niche you should go for.
My recommendation: Pick a broad niche you would love to write on for the next 12 months.
For example, if you’re a personal trainer, you would naturally be more passionate to write about health & fitness. So don’t go for another niche like self-development just because someone said it’s more profitable. It has to be something you care about first, and then you can pick a subniche that has more opportunity to rank or might prove more profitable.
Now, every niche CAN earn you TONS of money. You can see people promoting everything from lawnmowers to ugly dancing troll dolls and still earn a lot. (Okay, maybe not the ugly dancing troll dolls.) But some niches are always in demand (i.e. evergreen) and this might be easier for a beginner. Going back to the above example, one evergreen topic would be muscle building.
But that’s STILL too broad a topic, and can often times be hard to rank on Google. So you should first focus your website on something very specific, like getting rid of man boobs. Once you rank on the first page for ‘man boobs’, you can now move on to other similar specific subjects, like getting rid of love handles.
Remember, ALWAYS narrow it down to a specific subniche. Another example: ‘Weight loss’ is a very broad market. This could include all forms of weight loss for anybody of all ages. ‘Weight loss routines for women over 40’ is a super niche market. This is narrowed down to target women who are over 40 looking for workout routines to lose weight.
The key is to have passion in the niche you’re promoting, especially when you’re a beginner.
That way, you’ll have one less question to worry about (whether your friends will laugh at you for selling dildos; this supplement is boring but since people like it so much, I’ll promote anyway). Add onto that any existing knowledge you have on the niche, and it’ll be much easier for you to come out with better content. Not just to post on your blog, but to answer on Quora, to write on Medium…. all the things that help your blog get discovered faster.
Once you get the hang of it and achieve success in your first niche market, you can then scale horizontally to other niches and replicate the same strategies you used to make even more money.
The era of promoting whatever shit is over
Maybe you’re now thinking, “Great, all I have to do is pick a subniche that’s good and something I know, then I can half-ass my way to profit.” No.
Google is getting better at rejecting blogs that offer no value from their top ranks. Users are smarter too, as they now have all the information with just one quick search. And it’s not exactly difficult to differentiate between a blog with time spent on crafting quality content and yet another blog with generic stuff, offering no value, that keeps trying to hard sell products to boot.
There are no shortcuts.
But hey, it’s not bad if you get to feel proud while saying onstage one day that you worked your ass off to become successful, right?
Your New Identity
“Hold on,” you say. You’re having one last niggling thought. What if you don’t want to use your real name and photo on your website? Well you’re not alone: A lot of people aren’t comfortable with that either.
That’s okay, I get it. You don’t want to let your neighbors know that you’ve just started on this website. It’s annoying when they ask how much you’ve earned so far in that polite but mocking tone.
In that case, you can use a pen name as well as free online stock images of some random Joe (only if it’s free license for commercial use) to stand in for your profile pic. And later on when you’ve gained more street cred, you can swap the name out on your blog and change it to your real one.
For Instagram and Pinterest, it will always be your business name. So your identity doesn’t matter. If you’re going for Quora, this new identity still doesn’t matter to the audience. What matters is the quality of the answer you’ve written.
. . .
List Of Niches
Health & Fitness
| Diet & Weight Loss | Fitness | Health |
| For Women | Mass Gaining | Diabetes |
| For Men | Muscle Building | Quit Smoking |
| For Specific Body Parts | Lean Muscle | Headaches |
| Keto Diet | Hatha Yoga | Anxiety |
| Paleo Diet | Ashtanga Yoga | Stress Management |
| Low Carbs Diet | Kundalini Yoga | Grow Taller |
| Vegan Meals | Hot & Bikram Yoga | Depression |
| Home Remedies | MMA | Teeth Whitening |
| Detox Diet | Muay Thai | Addiction |
| Boxing | High Blood Pressure |
| | Anti-Aging |
Dating & Relationships
| Dating | Marriage & Family | Parenting |
| Get a Girlfriend/Boyfriend | Elderly Care | Homeschooling |
| Get Your Ex Back | Divorce | Teach Kids to Read |
| Save Your Relationship | Breastfeeding | Food For Baby |
| Sugar Daddy Dating | Wedding Planning | Get Baby to Sleep |
| Senior Dating | Pregnancy | Disciplining Your Toddler |
| Valentine Ideas | Crying Baby | Baby Walking |
| Cold & Cough Remedies | |
| Early Sign Of Autism | |
Make Money Online
| Finance & Investing | Business & Marketing | Career & Employment | Online Freelance |
| Credit Card Comparison | Entrepreneurship | Powerpoint Tutorials | Quick Ways to Make Money |
| Housing Mortgage | Social Media Marketing | Photoshop Tutorials | Make Money From Home For Mums |
| Bitcoin | Facebook Marketing | IELTS English Training | Blogging |
| Blockchain | SEO | Get Into Dream University | Fiverr |
| Forex | Amazon | Study Abroad | Upwork |
| Gold Trading | Dropshipping | Resume Writing | Voiceover |
| Stocks | E-Commerce | Cover Letter Writing | Online Surveys |
| Cryptocurrency | Email Marketing | Interview Tips | |
| Bankruptcy | App Development | Basic Programming | |
| Personal Finance | Web Development | | |
| Insurance | Consulting | | |
| How To Save Money | | | |
| Sports Betting | | | |
| Online Poker | | | |
General Interest
| Personal Development | Hobbies & Activites |
| NLP | Hiking |
| Public Speaking | Golf |
| Brain Training | 3D Printing |
| Learn a Language | Camping |
| Spanish | Kayaking |
| Japanese | Singing |
| Korean | Play Instruments |
| French | Baking |
| Chinese | Cooking |
| Spirituality & Beliefs | Paintball |
| Buddhism | Drones |
| Christian | Survival Tips |
| Islam | Magic |
| Meditation | Gaming |
| Numerology | Dota 2 |
| Zodiac Signs | Pokemon Go |
| Horoscopes | Minecraft |
. . .
Action Plan
- Think of the questions again
(A) What is it that you’re good at, better than most people? (Skills-related)
(B) What is it that you really, really like? (Passion-related)
(C) What is it that you know more than most people, from experience? (Life/work related)
- If you think you have no ‘expert’ knowledge in anything, then go for what you think you’ll be interested to write in for the next 12 months.
- When you have decided on a broad niche, now think of a subniche that has more opportunities to WIN.
It’s highly important that you pick the right niche for you.
Let it be something you’re absolutely passionate about, and the journey is halfway done. Then keeping going down the rabbit hole until you find the subniche you can be THE expert of, and work your ass off.
Sometimes it won’t be easy. Maybe you have a hard time finding the right niche or subniche for you; maybe you’re even wondering if it’s the right one as you work on it. It’s like those romance stories where people have soulmates, ‘The One’ that some unknown power set aside since birth, just for them. Except, once the protagonist discovers their match, they think it might be some horrible mistake, because there’s no way they’ll fall for a person like that. But because it really is the right person, their soulmate, they DO fall for them. Eventually.
So maybe that niche feels only half-right now. Something you might like, but you’re not completely sure. But with some hard work and strategy along the way, you’ll get your happy ending too.
