How to Choose the Perfect Blogging Topic
Deciding on the focus of your blog is an extremely important step of the blogging process.
Whether you are thinking about starting a blog, or want to improve what you are already working on, a great area to focus on is the topic of your blog. Although this might seem like an obvious and straightforward task, there is a lot to keep in mind. Thorough consideration of your blogging focus can significantly improve its chances of success.
When it comes to this part of your blogging plan, you should focus on devising an overall content strategy. This will be comprised of both:
- A broad area of focus
- Individual post topics
(For more about content strategy, check out our post on CREATING BLOG CONTENT)
Figuring Out Your Content Niche
Firstly, having already gained an understanding of your audience, a content niche is necessary to narrow down your customer segment and retain their interest.
Whether or not you have already decided on what your blog will be about (broadly), there are a few important points to think about.
Particularly, you should consider that blog readers are mainly concerned with solving a problem. Therefore, your blog should focus on answering the following question:
How is my blog going to solve their problem?
Taking this into consideration, you can have a clear target in your mind throughout the planning and writing process. Not to mention, the popularity of niche blogging becomes clear – not only does it attract a more consistent audience and build a following – it also allows you to write about something you know and enjoy, utilising your own experience. This will make the entire blogging process significantly easier, and more enjoyable.
If you are struggling to find a niche, there are other avenues that you may consider – a good idea may be to identify a gap in the market. Not only can you take advantage of a gap that resonates with you, but you will find that in many regards, you can begin your blog ahead of the competition.
Thinking of Individual Blog Post Topics
Once you have determined your niche, you can shift your focus towards deciding on individual blog post topics. It can be difficult to find topics that have not already flooded the internet, however there are a variety of methods that you can use to come up with consistent ideas:
- Review trending hashtags on social media
- Research high volume, untapped keywords
- Interact with your audience – what do they want to know?
- Create sub-topics – expand on your previous posts
- Get involved with relevant social media groups
- Find inspiration through browsing blogs within your niche
- Keep up to date with current news surrounding your blog focus
Simultaneously, there are some other aspects of blog topics that you should look out for:
- Ensure that you are confident in the topic – commenters may be up for a debate!
- Avoid choosing topics solely because others are already succeeding with them
- Keep within your chosen niche area
- Avoid significant controversy – this can split your audience and lose followers
Conclusion
This post covers some of the basic tips and methods you can use to discover and implement effective blog topics. With these in mind, be sure to put your own spin on whichever topics you choose – differentiating your blog will give your audience a reason to choose you over the competition.
If you are interested in gaining a more in depth understanding of the blogging process, feel free to check out our comprehensive page about CREATING A SUCCESSFUL ONLINE BLOG – you can find information on everything from content creation to blog promotion.
