Step 1: What topic do you know really well; so well that you want to share this knowledge with others.
Many bloggers do not immediately know the answer and will have to ask themselves some soul-searching questions. The best place to start thinking about what your blog should be about is to consider what YOU yourself are about.
• What are your true wishes? Create a list of your wishes. For example:
- Playing tennis every day
- Cooking/baking and creating interesting dishes
- Growing a successful organic gardening
- Painting, while sitting on a beach
- Creating great photographs
You could also combine two interests into one. For instance, if you love to cook and play tennis, you may want to create a blog that offers recipes using energy-inducing ingredients for meals to be consumed before a tennis match
Step 2. Are there enough people interested in your blog topic? Is your topic popular?
My first blog, Chocolates & Figs, discusses how to work with chocolates, and the health benefits of chocolate. I have worked hard to create classical and creative desserts, with the main ingredient being chocolate. I was convinced that many are “crazy” about chocolate desserts and wanted to share that interest in a helpful way with others.
I posted frequently and photographed everything I created (with a top quality camera).
Then, I watched for months how my numbers stayed below 100 readers throughout.
It would have been easy to stop blogging because of the limited readers (although, eventually the numbers started to move upward), but I am not a quitter.
I must admit that the fact that I could not figure out the reasons for this lack of interest, bothered me.
I did not stop, however, posting because of this, but rather my surprise heart attack assisted me in this.
To me, it felt as if this event was a warning to me to not forget about my health while giving all my attention to the blog.
I plan to re-launch the blog soon with a healthier theme: Functional Foods. (What are they? When and how to use them? When and where to shop for them, etc.)
Although this post is not about my neglected blog, I wanted to use it as an example of choosing a blog topic that holds your interest, but not everybody shares your interest came to the conclusion that there is too much competition and I did not create a unique blog that would outshine others.
The law of “Supply and Dend” is what most business students are taught in their first semester of studying economics and it relates to my experience with Chocolates & Figs.
You might be interested in your topic but unless others are also having the same interest you’ll always have an uphill battle in building a highly read blog.
Step 3. Who is my target market?
- New writers?
- Aspiring to be a writer?
- Established writers that want to enhance their knowledge and widen their target market?
- Writers that are doing , but not good enough for their desired income
- All of the above?
If you are like most bloggers, you cannot answer these questions immediately; it requires research, consulting with people in the industry, and an evaluation of your personal situation.
Get as detailed as you can about your target and keep him or her in mind every time you sit down to write a blog post.