Have you decided to start a blog and heard someone say you need to choose your niche? You think to yourself – what is a niche?
When I began training with Wealthy Affiliate, I was asking myself that same question. I knew what it was generally, but it was helpful to go more into the specifics and learn what I needed to do.
We will define a niche and discuss the purpose and benefits of choosing a niche below:
What is a Niche?
What is a niche? In Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary a niche is defined as “a specialized market.” You could look at a niche as being a specific topic.
Many people who decide to blog, decide to choose a niche or specific topic to blog about.
They may be interested in a particular hobby or fitness regime. They may be interested in photography or electronic gadgets.
There are people who blog about health, sports, politics, or other topics. Some of these topics can be too broad and may have to be more specific or “niched down.”
A good example of the point I am trying to make is when someone goes to Google and looks up a topic such as health, it can be too broad.
If they search Google for “healthy recipes” that is more specific. I am not saying you cannot have a website about health. I am pointing out that your website needs to be specific. Are you going to share healthy recipes, health tips, fitness tips or other things?
Being specific and using good keywords helps your website be found by the search engines when people go to Google, Bing, or Yahoo to find the information they are looking for.
Many bloggers get into affiliate marketing, so a specific topic or niche is important.
What is the Purpose of a Niche?
You may be asking yourself this question too as you read this post. A niche discussed above is a specific topic or specific market.
Many people decide to start a blog or website because they have a hobby or a particular interest. They are usually passionate about that topic.
They may just blog because they love a hobby and want to share it with others.
For example, with a photography blog, one could share family photos and describe the photos to their family members about what was going on when the photo was taken. Sharing one website or blog with many people at the same time instead of sending that photo to one person at a time may make more sense.
There are others who enjoy sharing their love of food, a weight loss program that has helped them, or a fitness program.
So, the purpose of a niche is to be as specific as you can to reach your target audience with the information you have to share.
What are the Benefits of Having a Niche?
The biggest benefit to having a niche is to be able to reach out to people who are looking specifically for your topic. They are looking for information and you
have the answers.
For example, if you have a website about health and fitness, you do not want to talk about your sister’s baby shower or your cousin’s wedding. You need to talk about health and fitness and the different aspects of that field.
If you have a photography blog, and you are sharing traveling photos, landscape photos, or other types of photos and you are trying to sell them you want to talk about photography and share your work.
You may also decide to have a few affiliate links devoted to the topic or the equipment you use for your photography on your site too.
If you just have a photography blog for family and friends, it does not matter if you are being specific to that one topic. You can share photos and everything going on in your world. It does not affect what you are trying to accomplish.
The benefits to having a niche come down to whether you want to make money as an affiliate or if you are just doing it for fun.
How to Pick a Niche You Love
Do you often find yourself talking to people about one topic? Or do you share things with friends over and over about the same things? You may be passionate about something and not even realize how passionate you are.
Defining a niche, something that you are interested in, for some, can be one of the hardest aspects of blogging. It was for me.
I have so many interests that I could not decide what I really wanted to do. I just knew I wanted to get started.
So, how do you pick a niche? The easiest thing to do is to sit down with a notebook and write down the things you enjoy doing.
What are your hobbies?
What do you spend most of your time thinking about?
Is there anyone thing you choose to do over everything else?
There are so many avenues to take and so many different niches that you are sure to come up with something you are passionate about.
My husband used to tell me, “that’s all you ever talk about.” Has anyone ever said that to you? If so, you may have stumbled on something.
If you decided to start blogging, decide on the reasons you are blogging first, and then choose your niche.
If you are just blogging for fun or blogging as an online journal or blogging for friends and family, it does not matter if you niche down but if you are blogging to make money and have affiliate links on your blog you want to try to be as specific as you can with your topic.
No matter the reason you decide to blog, just have fun.
Happy Blogging,
Pamela