How to Choose a Niche to Write About
What topic to write about when you are starting a blog? This is a genuine question that a lot of people have in their minds. In today's post, I am going to help you with that.
There are only 4 big niches.
- Health
- Wealth
- Relationships
- Arts & Hobbies
Some people are naturally inclined towards one of the niches. They have a general interest in one of the above.
I started writing about motorcycles in 2008 on my motorcycle blog. That falls under arts and hobbies. When I started writing about motorcycles, I did not know if this would be my niche, but I started because I loved motorcycles.
Within 2 years, the blog started attracting millions of page views a month. If you do something with passion, it will start getting traction. You will get readers who are interested in the same niche.
By 2012, I realized that I cannot sell anything directly to my audience. The only source of revenue for my blog was display advertising and it started getting stagnated. So I sold the blog in 2012 and in 2013, I started the DigitalDeepak blog.
You have to realize that if you select a niche you are only dating that niche. You are not getting married to that niche. The most important thing is to choose a niche and get started instead of thinking about a niche forever and never starting anything.
Whatever niche you choose and start getting some traction on it, you will gain experience in blogging and marketing. That experience can be used later for some other niche.
All the digital marketing skills that I learned while trying to grow the motorcycle blog, it helped me grow DigitalDeepak blog and also get jobs as a Digital Marketing manager in well known startups such as Practo, Instamojo and Razorpay.
Think about what you are naturally interested in. Is it health, wealth, relationship advice or some hobby? What do you spend time reading and learning about. Just start writing about that. You can always change course later.
When a car is stationary, you cannot change the direction of the car and it will be really difficult to turn the steering wheel. But when the car is moving, even at a slow speed, you can change the direction of the car without too much effort. That's why getting started is important. Only when you move, you can navigate.
If you are interested in multiple things, write about anything that comes to your mind. You can get a blog in your personal name and just use it as a public journal to type down your thoughts in that. Just share it on your social network and you will start getting some readers for yourself.
You need to write at least a million words before you become really good at writing. That means you have to write 1,000 words a day for at least 3 years before you can master content writing.
That's why I write on email newsletters, DigitalDeepak blog and WinnerTakeAll blog. I write in different styles and I make sure that I write every day.
Write whenever you get time. If you are waiting for a meeting to start, write 200 words in 15 minutes. Write something, write anything and that's the start of your personal branding journey.
You can setup a blog on WordPress or Ghost or Medium. It doesn't matter where you write, but write every day.
Write even when you are feeling lazy or depressed. Just write 100 words and the flow will start.
You type so much everyday with 2 fingers on whatsapp. What's stopping you from using all the 10 fingers and typing it on your laptop and make it into a blog post?
If you are reading this right now, remember that I did not build the DigitalDeepak brand in a single day. It is a collection of my writing work across blogs, emails and books.
Once you become good at writing, you can think of publishing a book. Becoming an author is the best way to build your authority. In fact, the word author is derived from the word authority.
When you write, you build trust with your readers. You get their attention. That's how you build an audience. If you write 10 blog posts and publish it, one blog post will have more traction than the others. Observe what that article is about, and write more such articles.
A lot of people think that people do not read nowadays and only watch videos on YouTube and reels on Instagram. But if you are reading this right now, why can't you believe that there will be other people like this who will read what you write?
Don't do it tomorrow, do it today. Start writing today and that's how you take the first step to become a good writer and eventually building a strong personal brand.
I will see you tomorrow in the next post.
Cheers,
Deepak Kanakaraju