Selecting a niche
I was reading a post by Bazboy247 about creating a niche, and that set me thinking,
First of all I must say that, in selecting a niche you must have three things in mind
1) That you will have to work in it for a long time
2) That you will have to stay focused on it and not be sidetracked
3) That you will have to satisfy some needs of the readers.
So, consider these points:
1) it is true that you are there to make money, and your choice must keep that goal in mind. But do ask yourself "how will I feel a month, six months, a year from now?".
Think whether you will be still happy and enthusiastic about blogging, writing articles, researching and so on. The website you are building will be your place of work, and while you will be free to leave it, rebuild it, go on with it, having a comfortable working place is essential.
2) If you are choosing a niche related to a passion of yours, try to stay focused and do not let your enthusiasm sidetrack you on a lot of diverging streams, simply because they throw new and unexpected light on some obscure corner of your room.
Do not follow the shadows, stay in the light. You will find that the passion you are putting into your work will transpire and attract, entertain, educate your readers.
Maybe you will not make a lot of money at the beginning, but doing something you really like is a reward in itself.
3) All this said, remember that a text is a long distance dialogue between a writer and a reader, and to establish and maintain this dialogue you have to provide answers to a set of questions.
You will have to anticipate those questions, and give a satisfactory answer, whether from your direct knowledge or as a result of your researches. So make sure you are not superficial, because anyone can Google a query and find answers.
You must provide some added value, even if it simply saving time!
Recent Comments
6
My favorite, a three point blog. Happy writing valuable information in my niche answering questions to help my reader. Thank you. ^_~
Great post. Thanks for the insight. These are all good and important things to consider with a niche. Good luck and thanks again.
Dawn
thank you Donatella, I believe no one ever mentioned point#1 before (or maybe someone did, I'm the one that haven't heard of it?) : that you gonna work on this for a very long haul, so it must be 'evergreen' and will pass every other seasons ----- got it!
Nice post, and good things to remember. I especially like the idea of not getting sidetracked within your niche.
I chose a niche that I have been interested in for my whole life, so I don't expect to get bored with it, but there is the potential to want to tackle too much, so I will just have to keep in mind that staying focused will reap bigger rewards.
Very sensible and logical advice, DB