There’s a common thought that new bloggers should do some Google research to find the best niches. Basically, do some keyword searches to see what categories are “light” and then go develop content on that subject matter. There’s no doubt in my mind that this strategy works to a degree. That said, I don’t believe that it’s the BEST strategy, not by a long shot. In the short term, you can probably get away with blogging about something you know little about and make a few dollars along the way. In the long run, however, unless you fall in love with the topic, you just can’t last.
Although this particular blog is somewhat new, I’ve had other successful blogs in the past. The most important part of blogging is consistency. That means posting useful content on a regular basis. For this blog, in particular, The Edge Search com, almost always, I can just sit down and just start typing. And once I’m done, I have a hundred other topics sitting in the queue ready to go. You only won’t be able to do that if you know nothing about your niche.
Look at it this way. When I post about project management, I have an arsenal in my brain that will never run dry. In fact, on one of my blogs, I still post a free daily project management test question for PMP®, CAPM®, and Project+ exams. Merely producing a new issue every single day would be an extremely time-consuming process if I don’t already have an inherent knowledge of the subject matter. This is how I earned a good living in the past, and I still teach a project management certification course at a major university. This is what I know about and not only is it quick and easy for me, it also keeps me fresh as an expert. I am genuinely excited to write about one of my passions, and it shows through the writing. It is safe to say that I am very motivated by providing the service to my readers.
Now imagine if I found a niche with a void that I know nothing about. For instance, after performing some due diligence, I learned that there aren’t any major opera blogs and I can easily own that niche (I have no idea whether or not that’s true!). Even though I’ve never been to an opera and I have little interest in learning more about it, I am motivated by the income potential of being the leader in this space. I buy the domain, get my hands on anything opera, talk to people who I know are opera fans, and spend countless hours reading about opera online. I will come to the realisation that after the first few weeks, it gets tough to continue to post about opera. So let’s say I get 10, 20, even 50 quality posts up, since I am not really interested in opera, my articles are getting shorter and the time between posts are getting longer. I start to see the pattern: I dread thinking about my next post and do not look forward to doing the proper research to produce a useful post.
In the latter example, how long do you think I can keep it up? Blogging is a long-term game and if you write about something you don’t care about, how long can you stay in it? I don’t care how money-motivated you are, your posts will suffer. You can only fake it for so long.
Do yourself and all your potential reader's huge favour and blog about one of your loves. Go ahead, do that Google keyword research but do it to select your blog topic from your personal shortlist of favourite niches. In the beginning, when your audience is one (you!), you have to find something that will keep you going because the money won’t be there yet. There’s no better way to keep you blogging along than choosing the topic that will allow you to blog regularly due to the knowledge and fun factors for you.
