How to Start a Blog #1: Choosing a Niche
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Starting a blog is often the most difficult part of the entire blogging process. It’s at this stage that you’re building something to work with and then striving to build momentum like traffic and engagement. This is the point in blogging where you are literally working to transform nothing into something.
How to Start a Blog #1: Follow Your Passion
The first step in entering the exciting world of blogging is to choose a topic for your blog. Many of the online gurus will recommend that you search throughout the internet for a niche that has plenty of people interested in it and very few people actually blogging about it. This reduces competition and increases the probability of attracting many readers.
However, I won’t be giving that advice. In my mind that concept encourages laziness and most people who follow that advice are actually less successful than those who follow the advice that I’m about to share with you.
Choose a topic that you’re passionate about. One of the essential elements in online writing is passion. When you learn to infuse your passion into the things that you write, readers become inspired to follow you and your advice. Sure, you can fake passion but will get old quickly you’ll probably end up being another statistic that simply wrote for a couple of months and then quit.
If you want to learn how to start a blog that’s wildly successful then you’ve got to learn how to express your passion in your writing and you won’t be able to do that if you’re not passionate about what you’re writing about.
Even in a crowded niche, a passion to get your message out will drive you to excel. You’ll work harder to engage readers. You’ll design a better looking website with clean navigation. You’ll find a way to move to the head of the competition.
Do we need a group reflection today? You know what to do.
Nicholas Cardot
Nick uses his blog Site Sketch 101 to express his passion for helping bloggers and webmasters connect with real people through brilliant designs, unique content, and genuine creativity. Nicholas Cardot has 200 post(s) at Site Sketch 101
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John (Human3rror) said:
i agree. it’s simply the only thing sustainable!
Helmi @ Huzzer Magazine said:
yah..without passion, nothing will sustain for a long time.
However, if our passion is the same with the trend and demand, that is the best thing that can happen to us as bloggers.
Right?
Renz said:
I totally agree. I too have struggled on what to post on my blog. At the end of the day, I posted articles that I like the most. Travel, Fun, Motorcycles, Gadgets and Computers. At first, i tried to look for topics that trends up but I find myself frustrated.
So I have decided to just blog what I love the most. Thanks SS101!
Nicholas Cardot said:
Renz » You’re welcome. Let your passions pour out into your writing, my friend.
Nicholas Cardot said:
John (Human3rror) » It really is. It’s difficult to maintain a blog for a long time but when you’re passionate about it, it really adds a powerful fuel.
Eric B. said:
I agree. Tons of the bloggers that quit early are the ones that don’t seem to care much about the topic. The great bloggers are the ones that are genuinely interested in what they are writing about.
The growth of my blog has been quite slow, but I keep on writing anyway. I keep on writing because I just love web development. It’s also partly because I’ve but almost 8 months of work into my blog, and would hate to see all that go away.
Off topic: Are the AdSense ads in the sidebar context-based? Because right now it’s displaying an ad for some sort of a “Love Thermometer”, which doesn’t seem to fit at all with choosing a blog niche
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Andrew said:
The ‘love thermometer’ is relevantly contextual to ‘passion’ which is the most prevalent keyword on this page.
You’ll see as new comments are made, which alters the keyword frequencies, the ads will change too.
Eric B. said:
Hmmm. Maybe that’s why on some pages I saw ads for weight loss stuff and Forex
Nicholas Cardot said:
Eric B. » Uh oh. If I see that I’m definitely going to be adding them to the banned list of sites so that they don’t show up again on the site.
Nicholas Cardot said:
Andrew » That’s probably what it is. Good observation.
Nicholas Cardot said:
Eric B. » Supposedly they are context based but sometimes they are kind of weird. As I find sites that aren’t necessarily relevant to the site, I’ll be adding them to the banned list in the adsense control panel. I’m really kind of experimenting with the ad there to see how well it performs.
Don Gilbert said:
I was wondering when the weekly video was going to get updated. Thanks for this. (Also – glad you finally got rid of your Christmas tree. lol)
You are right on with this. Don’t just go for the “open niche,” go with what you’re passionate about! People need to see that you know what your talking about, but they also need to feel your passion, otherwise you’ll have one time visitors and no repeats.
Get involved in your content and put yourself out there – that’s what my tip for starting a new blog.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Don Gilbert » Sorry that it took so long to get it up and going. I’ve got some topics already picked out for every week for the next 8 weeks so hopefully I can provide some more consistency in that area.
Derek Jensen said:
Before I started a blog I read the usual posts of how you should find that unpopular niche.
Instead, just start one on something that you really love and just comes ‘natural’ to you. You certainly need to represent yourself through your content.
The reason bloggers say to find an unknown niche for beginner bloggers is because this will create fast success for them, if they can do it.
IF they can do it. What happens is these beginners get into a niche they really do not know themselves or really don’t have that strong passion for and they just quit.
Instead, a new blogger should get into whatever niche they want but push and work to make their content and self-image stand out. So, choose YOUR niche and not one Google has not found yet.
Nicholas Cardot said:
Derek Jensen » People who follow the traditional advice are essentially trying to jump out there and pretend like they are experts at something that they’re not. Not always, of course, but a lot. It’s better to get out into the blogosphere being genuine.
Derek Jensen said:
Many times it is good to prove other bloggers wrong. And many times it is great to take no ones advice.
By taking no ones advice, I mean that you should not let people tell you directly what you should do. Instead take what they say and form it to your belief. So, for picking a niche follow your TRUE passion and see if you can use any advice (like from Nick here) from many to support your decision.
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Helmi @ Huzzer Magazine said:
Totally agree with you Nich. Some of us too focus on getting fast traffics and moneys by choosing niche base on stats not their passion.
In the end, although they probably get what they want in the first few months, most of the times they will lost their passion in the next months and do not any income out of it.
On the other hand, although those who blog about their passion will probably find it hard initially.
I believe at one level,people will start crowding their site. From there, the traffics + income that they do not get initially will be easily compensated after the reach the level I said earlier and probably more as compared to those who blog base on stats not passion.
Cheers!
Eric said:
If you’re truly passionate about something that you can talk about it all day without losing interest… If you’re also unique in the way you deliver what you know, there is no competition.
Great video, Nick. Looking forward to the next video in this series.
Re-Tweeting now!
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Helmi @ Huzzer Magazine said:
Passion is totally important to us and that is main element that keep us to be motivated in blogging.
However, sometimes we are too ‘enjoy’ with our passion to some extent we ignore our readers’ needs and feelings.
Personally, while writing our blog post, we should try to balance between our passion, our readers and Google.
What do you think?
Derek Jensen said:
Helmi, you make a great point in how we should, when pushing our passion in our niche, balance that passion with our readers and with ‘Google’.
If you have too much passion it will seem like you only care more about yourself than your readers. If we just write to help out our readers with no passion, than we are not making our blog in our niche powerful. And if we don’t make Google happy, we will not have the chance to gain new comers into our current readers and passion.
I will say that the biggest thing for choosing and going forth with a niche is to always have the words: distinction and passion in the back of your head.
Eric said:
I agree here.
Well, though I do believe passion is extremely important, after reading some comments here I have to add this one.
Passion is great, helping readers is wonderful and why we’re all here at all, and we want to find new people to share with so Google is also a good resource.
With all that in mind, I truly believe that’s why Nick believes it’s not just content that’s king; it’s the army behind it.
Passion: The niche, topic, idea you can’t get enough of and can talk about with results behind it from your own personal experience non-stop.
Audience: Helping others discover new things and figuring out what they want and how you can best help them and deliver results with what you know.
Online: Finding new people who share those same interests and connecting with them and spreading the word as far as can go.
The ARMY: All of this (and more) combined and positioned just right to make a completely kick ass blog post that truly has a HUGE impact on what the entire blog is about.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Eric » That’s a perfect summary. Passion empowers a blogger to express themselves in ways that excite readers build a community of people rallying around your topic.
Nicholas Cardot said:
Eric » Thanks for the retweet. That’s awesome of you. You’re right about passions affect on your subject. You really can talk about it all day. And being unique really is the way to get it done.
Eric said:
Nick,
Everyone has to talk about the key to success and I’ve seen you talk about blogging and all that. I know what you’ve said about it and what some of your points are.
Those keys are great and like you’ve said, it’s not just content that is king, which I have to agree with. There’s a door that has to be unlocked and without all those “keys” and the king to open the actual door, nothing happens.
What do you think?
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Eric » I think that you have exactly the right perspective on this. Often when you post an article about one of the less important keys, people will argue that it’s not important instead of simply working to improve themselves in that category. Although some keys may be less important than others, they are still worthy of our attention. We should work to be the best in every area possible. Focus on one of the keys then move on and focus on the next one.
Brandon Cox said:
Amen, bro! When I first got into underwater basket-weaving I wondered – how will I ever begin to express my great passion for the sport?
So I committed to writing 18 posts daily about it. Now I’ve made dozens of cents in affiliate dollars from companies selling underwater basket-weaving gear. All because of a deep-seated passion I gained when I was just a toddler.
At first, I couldn’t believe my parents had thrown the basket into the lake, especially with me in it, but when I finally got out and swam to shore I made a commitment…
What was I talking about?
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Brandon Cox » What were you talking about? I’m not sure. Someone else is going to have to help me out with that one.
Keith said:
Yes passion is important, but just because you are passionate about something doesn’t mean you have enough knowledge to write about it. For example, many bloggers write about making money online, but have never really made money online…
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Keith » If you don’t have enough information to write about something that you’re passionate about but do you think that they would be more successful in something that they don’t care about?
Keith said:
Yes, I agree passion has to be there first, but knowledge is important. I am mainly referring to all the make money online blogs I see, and the writer has never made money online
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Glen said:
I tend to agree with you. You need to find what you are passionate about and like Eric said present it in a unique way.
If your goal is to make money from your passion though you need to make sure you are passionate about something that a lot of other people are willing to pay for.
Like underwater basket weaving for example.
I somewhat also agree with Keith that you need to have knowledge of the topic but if you are interested in it you eventually will become more knowledgeable.
It will just take longer to make money from your efforts..
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Glen » You do need other elements like knowledge and a potential audience. But those aren’t the most important factor in my mind.
Suresh K said:
choosing a niche is very important for blogging also explain things with passionate writing..
Self Improvement said:
Hey Nick,
I love that first step! Follow your passion. I think that was great. I was expecting it to start off with technical details on choosing a niche, but following the passion is truly the first step. If people aren’t passionate about what they write or do, then it won’t be GREAT. I know from experience. Thanks
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Self Improvement » I think that it’s important to have some basic understanding of the technical aspects of blogging but I find those who understand the far more important principles of being passionate and connecting with people will actually go much further than those who only know the technical aspects.
sernan said:
i totally agree here, i just write whatever interests me.. explaining things in a passionate way and having a good study on the topic is important…
@nick – just a question here, since you mentioned niche, is it the same as branding? thanks!
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Nicholas Cardot said:
sernan » The word niche refers to the topic that you blog about. If I say that my blogging niche is ‘how to blog’ then I’m saying that the topic of my blog is about ‘how to blog.’ Does that answer your question or is there something more than I can help clarify?
David Enders, D.C. said:
Passion is what keeps you blogging for years on the same subject. However it is possible to fine tune your passion so that you receive maximum compensation for your time. Let’s say you are interested in tropical birds, you can do a search and find a species of tropical birds that you have an interest in and that also has high interest but low competition. This would probably give you a better start than writing on a tropical bird that has high competition. You can focus your passion in order to give yourself a boost.
Lee Ka Hoong said:
I used to blog about make money online in the past and I found myself had very limited knowledge in that field and I got bored of keep writing the same thing. Now, I write about whatever I like about blogging, my personal life and etc, that are all what I love to write about.
Sometimes write something about you’re passionate about, it doesn’t mean that you can inspire your readers and make them follow you. It’s because the topic you choose is not necessarily what your readers like, says “Cancer or health” related blog. I have a friend who writes about this topic, he is good in that field but he is hardly to drive traffic to his blog and get more readers engaged in his blog.
Best regards,
Lee
Saad said:
Useful tip. Quite radical than other gurus. However I have a difference of opinion here. The most difficult part is not starting a blog but promoting it.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Saad » That may be the most difficult and it may be more important, but the truth is that this is still important. Just because it’s not the most important doesn’t mean that we should not visit and discuss this idea. Also, if you start a blog with amazing content and an awesome design then promoting it becomes very easy. Site Sketch 101 is the perfect example. This site receives new backlinks and new sources of traffic nearly every day.
Olusegun Adedokun said:
Yessir,
Passion is the energy of life. It is what will sustain a blogger during the teething stages too.
I my internet access could load the video faster but no problems.
Cheers man.
How are you?
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Mikkel ‘DaneBlogger’ Juhl said:
It can be hard to choose your niche, but well you just have to think about it and then be sure of your choice..
The worst thing is when you’ve decided what you want to do, and then you quit a few months later.
Just be sure, that this is what you want to write about, be sure it is. You see blogs with no fresh content all the time.
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Ron Leyba said:
In blogging, it always a good start to write what you love. If you are passionate enough on a certain niche, then providing topics or articles about it will not become a big problem.
Its just a matter of how well you choose your blog topic or niche. Right niche will always be the key to success.
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Shawn K. said:
I think you need to find somewhere in-between your own passion and what interests others.
For example, I made a website strictly about high performance micro RC cars…I narrowed my niche far too much.
I was passionate, I had great content, but if you lack a crowd to draw there isn’t much more you can do.
Just my 2 cents!
btw, once again, nice post Nick
Latief@AnotherBlogger said:
Will you blog something that you really hate? I’m not sure, but I agree if we blog about our passion, it’ll be fun and we will start our research to enrichment our articles.
I think passions, interest and research is great combination for a blog.
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Kok Siong Chen said:
I have chosen the cancer as the niche for my blog. However, i just failed to drive many traffic to my blog except from search engine. I do not know whether i have chosen the right niche. But i quite love to write in my blog currently.
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Davor Gasparevic @ Internet marketing ebooks said:
I am a fan of a “middle way” – something between passion and pure profitability and efficiency. However, I still have to prove to myself whether that’s working or not.
I am not sure if you are passionate about Galapagos caymans lizards that you can make any profit from that… except PPC ads, but they require hell of a lot traffic to rake anything decent.
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