How to Find the Perfect Niche
for Your New Blog

*This post may contain affiliate links. You can read my affiliate disclosure here.

Today's post is all about figuring out the PERFECT niche for you, as well as what topics you should write about on your new blog. I'm about to share with you all the golden nuggets I've picked up about what makes a successful niche, as well as the pitfalls to avoid.

By the end of this lesson, you are going to have a crystal clear vision for your blog that readers will be dying to check out. 

Let's get this party started!

Related posts-

• The Ultimate Step by Step Guide to Creating A Profitable Blog in 2019
• 7 Things NOT to do When Starting Your New Blog
• 10 Things to do Before You Launch Your Blog

How to Come Up With A Killer Niche
for Your Blog

1. Brainstorm topics you love talking about. 

2. Make sure your topics aren't too broad or too narrow. 

Think of finding a blog topic like the perfect porridge in Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Not too hot, not too cold... just right!

It's the same with your blog topic. If you choose something super broad (let's say "fitness" for example) you'll NEVER be able to compete with the huge publishing companies who have tons of content writers on staff working around the clock.

You'll also find that a super broad topic doesn't really feel like "home" to one particular audience. (The yoga lovers think there's too much written about Crossfit, the runners aren't that interested in Tai Chi, etc)

Here's a great way to find out if your topic is too broad.

1. Type your topic into Google.
2. Make note of the search results on the first page.

If you're getting results primarily from major online publishing companies like Huffington Post, MindBodyGreen, etc, the topic MIGHT be too broad. If, on the other hand, you are primarily getting results from other blogs, that is a GOOD thing!

You also want to make sure your topic isn't too narrow.

Too-narrow blogs fail for a number of reasons:

• You quickly run out of things to write about
• There aren't enough people searching for the information you're putting out there
• There aren't enough ways to monetize your blog, or enough people willing to pay to make it a business

Now if I'm being honest, MOST new bloggers are far more at risk of choosing a too-broad niche than a too-narrow one.

There have been a lot of very successful blogs on smaller niches. A small niche can be a great thing, because it's easier to make your mark in a smaller pond and it's more likely that people will flock to your content.

Take calligraphy for example. It's a small niche for sure. However, the people who are into calligraphy really LOVE it, and there are enough of them to make a living from a blog on that topic.

Knitting and woodworking are other great examples. These niches have very passionate followers, and there are just enough to make a blog viable and easy to stand out with early on.

So, how do you know if your topic is TOO narrow?

Take the following niche example... "Painting Russian nesting dolls for millennial women"

Here's the problem:

• This topic gets fewer than 300,000 search results in Google (aim for 1 million+)
• Very few blogs come up in search results for it
• There are almost no full Pinterest boards about this topic
• You don't know anyone in real life who fits the bill of being your ideal reader

Your job in this step is to either narrow down or flesh out each of your proposed topics until they are Goldilocks "just right".

Here's an example.

Fitness could be narrowed into:

• yoga and meditation for women
• Crossfit for expecting mothers
• Kayaking for millennials
• Running for 40-something beginners

And maybe the nesting dolls example could be broadened to teach art to 20-something women who like crafting.

3. Flesh each of your topics out with subtopics.

This is where you get to really nail down what you will write about on your blog!

For each of the blog topics you brainstormed above, come up with 4-6 subtopics you could write about.

For example:

Personal finance for millennial women-

• Getting out of debt
• Building an emergency fund
• Frugal living tips
• Beginner investment strategies
• Paying off student loans

You get the point.

If you're struggling to come up with subtopics for your blog idea, head to Pinterest my friend! Just type in your niche idea and you'll see all of the other closely related topics Pinterest recommends, like this:

You can see that Pinterest recommends subtopics like:

• Personal finance lessons
• Personal finance organization
• Personal finance printables
• Budgets
• Spreadsheets
• Debt
• Dave Ramsey

4. Find out which topics your readers love, and keep writing about that. 

The last step here is to choose a blog niche, and refine it to suit what your readers most want to hear about.

So first things first.

Give yourself no more than one day to mull over your list of blog topics and choose the one that feels the most exciting to you.

It should be a topic that you really enjoy talking about, that has the potential to earn some money, and that you are reasonably knowledgeable about.

After you've chosen a blog topic, create a Pinterest account and then create a board for each of your subtopics. So my boards would likely be as such:

• Getting out of debt
• Saving money
• Investing money
• Side hustles

The idea here is that you create a board for each subtopic, and start filling it with other people's pins on those topics.

Over the next few weeks, you will be able to check your Pinterest Analytics and find out which boards are the most popular! This, my friend, is what your audience most wants to read more about.

Can I choose multiple blog topics? Can a "lifestyle" blog make it? 

Heck yes they can! However, there are a couple of caveats.

First, I really don't recommend choosing more than three main topics to blog about. Any more than that and a blog seems to feel scattered.

Note that I didn't say avoid more than three SUB-TOPICS. You will have many subtopics on your blog, and that's fine. But try to keep it to three main topics or fewer. For example:

• Yoga, meditation, and healthy eating
• Fashion, makeup, and hair

Here's the second caveat:

All of your topics must benefit the SAME AUDIENCE!

The reason why yoga, meditation, and healthy eating go together? It's because (if we're stereotyping), most people who are excited about one of those are also interested in the other two.

Here's where a few topics DON'T work together:

• Finance, vegetarianism, and beauty

These topics do not create a cohesive blog because the audiences are not the same.

People who are interested in finance are no more likely than the average person to care about vegetarianism.

People who love to read about beauty products are not likely to be particularly attracted to finance, especially not on the same blog.

Keep the audience the same, and you'll do just fine 🙂

How do I know if my topic will be profitable? 

I'm so glad you asked! This one is important.

Unless you are planning to blog just for fun, you want to make sure you'll be able to earn an income from your blog down the road.

Think about this:

• Could you write a book or course on your topic or one of your subtopics?
• What products do you buy in this area that you could become an affiliate for?

I'll give you an example based on my blog.

#1. There are a ton of book or course ideas relating to personal finance for millennial women! Budgeting, debt management, investing, side hustles... There are a ton of opportunities to create paid lessons here.

#2. There are also a ton of products I use related to personal finance that I could become an affiliate for. Things like money management apps, budget tracking software, other people's books and courses, budgeting and spending templates...

These are all products I buy, use, and would be happy to recommend to people who read my blog in exchange for a percentage of the sale. Neat, huh?

Don't worry if it takes you a day or two to get through all of this information! That being said, definitely avoid the trap of over planning and over thinking. 

This is not the be all end all. Your blog's focus WILL change slightly or significantly over time.

It's a normal and expected part of the blogging journey. The best thing you can do is nail down the best one you can come up with right now, and then get to blogging!

What's Next?

Did this post help you pick your niche? I hope so!  If you're looking for the next best step for your blogging side hustle, I highly recommend grabbing my Profitable Blogging Blueprint below.

This clickable document is super comprehensive and will show you exactly how to build your blog, step by step. (And it's free, so yeah, don't miss it!)