What Should I Blog About? - How to Choose The Perfect Blog Topic/Niche for a Money Making Blog (2024)

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Episode 009: What Should I Blog About? – How to Choose The Perfect Blog Topic for a Money Making Blog

Listen to the Episode!

Subscribe to the Blog For Profit Podcast on iTunes here!

What should I blog about? How do I choose a profitable blog topic? What blog niches make money? What do I blog about?

Today we outlinehow to choose the perfect blog topic and niche for you to start your own money-making blog. One that you love that will grow and be profitable.

***This post is very long and detailed, so pin this post to your favorite Pinterest board to easily find it later!

Episode 009 Freebie:

Choosing the Perfect Blog Topic Ultimate Guide (Click here to get the freebie!)

This freebie takes you through the entire process of identifying your blogging sweet spot to find a topic that incorporates your passions, strengths and a need. Making for the perfect money making blog topic!

Links Mentioned in Episode 009:

• Choosing the Perfect Blog Topic Worksheet
• Jim Collins – Good to Great
• Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs

How to Choose a Blog Topic

Today I wanted to take it back to the very beginning and dive into the topic of starting your own profitable blog.

Last month I went back and surveyed my email list and I found that the vast majority of my list is very new to blogging. Most are still stuck in those very beginning stages which is why I decided to go back and do an entire series about the process of starting your blog and getting that ball rolling on my podcast the Blog For Profit Podcast. (listen here on Itunes)

So today we’re going to Start with the very first question that you have when starting your blog: What should I blog about? or How do I choose what to blog about?

I know that sometimes the hardest part of getting started is just choosing a blog topic or niche. After that, you can choose a name, Identify your target audience, start writing blog posts, start building your email list, etc.You can progress your way down the steps to starting your own profitable blog.

Which is why I wanted to tackle the subject today. So if you’re struggling with your blog topic, by the end of this post you’ll be able to decide on your perfect profitable blog topic and get moving.

Your Blogging Sweet Spot

Now, The incredible thing about blogging is that you can truly build a successful blog blogging about almost anything. As long as your topic fits between where your passions, strengths, and a need intersect.

Jim Collins, business writer and author of the book “Good to Great” talks about this in your career when

if you find where your passion, talent, and an opportunity (a need) intersect then you’ll never work a day in your life again because you’ll be making money doing what you love.

This is what he calls your sweet spot. And it’s the same for blogging, but we’re going to use passions, strengths instead of talens, and a need instead of an opportunity.

It all means the same thing but I like to use these specific words when it comes to blogging.

If you can find a topic that falls where those 3 things, your passions, strenghts, and a need intersect. Then you will not only be able to build a successful blog but you’ll be in your sweet spot and never feel like your working because you love what you do and what you blog about.

So, why are those 3 things passion, strength and need important?

Let’s break it down plain and simple.

Number 1:

• If you are passionate about your topic, then you’ll never get sick blogging about it, you won’t run out of post ideas, and you’ll stick with it even when its hard.

Number 2:

• Playing to your strengths with your blog topic will make blogging so much easier. Your readers will see the value in your expertise.
• It also allows you to add your own unique spin and differentiate yourself in the market when you can combine something you’re passionate about with your strengths.

Number 3:

• The number one way to know if your blog will be profitable is if your blog fills a need.

So your ideal blog topic lies where your passions, strengths, and a need intersect. To find that intersection, you first need to identify what each of those things are.

Step 1: Identify Your Passions

What could you write about for years?

Building up a profitable blog that generates a significant income takes a lot of time and effort so If you aren’t passionate about your topic you’ll likely get sick of it, run out of post ideas, and quit before you even really get started.

On the other hand, blogging about something you’re already passionate about, already talking about constantly then you’ll actually enjoy the journey and find it easier to stay the course as you grow.

I do want to add a little disclaimer in here to those out there who get hung up on the word passion. Because I know there are a lot of us out there who when When I say your passion, think that that has to mean defining your life’s purpose, the end all be all passion in life, the thing you just know you were meant to do.

But that’s not what I mean exactly. Don’t put that much pressure on yourself. I mean, honestly, if you do know what that end all be all passion in life is, then, yes maam, blog about that.

But for the rest of us I’m just talking about the things you love to do, the things you love to talk about, etc.

So get out a pen and paper or better yet the free worksheet below. And make a list of your passions and interests.

But, what am I passionate about?

Think about What gets you jazzed up? What topics interest you? what are your hobbies?

What could you talk about for hours on end?

Think about the kinds of books you read and podcasts you listen to.

What things do you love to learn about and What were the classes you enjoy most in high school or college?

What are the topics you could read 500 books on and not get bored?

What would you love to do even if you weren’t being paid?

And what are those things you do when you’re procrastinating something else?

Go through each of these questions and make a list identifying your passions.Once you’ve made a list of all of those things, it’s time to rank that list.

Rank your Passions

This is how you’ll get to the core of your passions, which ones are truly passions the things that fuel your internal fire and which are just relative interests.

So from 1-10 or 1-5 or 1 to however many you have rank each one by asking yourself, when push comes to shove if one has to be number one and the rest have to go which ones do you let go of first? which ones stay at the top?

It’s time to be real, there can’t be a tie in the rankings. rank them from most passionate, this gets me the most jazzed, I could talk about this thing forever to Yeah I like that or I find that interesting but not as much as I like that other thing.

And often the best way to go about it, instead of trying to identify which one is your number one, Its usually much easier to first figure out what ISN’T number one. and go from there.

Step 2: Identify Your Strengths

Once you have the ranked list of your passions (or strong interests), Step number 2 to choosing your ideal blog topic is to identify and make a list of your strengths, or talents as Collins put them.

Are you good with numbers? Good with people? Maybe you’ve always had a knack for sports, or knitting.

Your strengths or talents are the things you are good at. The things you have a natural ability towards.

Think about thinks you know a lot about, what things are you good at?

Ask yourself, What do others come to you for?

What do they want to talk to you about? and What things come easy to you?

What experience do you have?

What is your degree in?

What do you do in your career that you’re good at?

Remember that these strengths of yours don’t have to be blog related. Are you great with your hands? Awesome, write it down. Do you have an eye for interior design? Great, write it down. Are you a good problem solver? amazing. Write. it. down.

We’re just trying to get a list of all the things you’re good at. Which will make blogging about it much easier.

Combining your passion with your strength will not only make blogging easier but it will help you to add your own unique spin on that topic.

So now you should have your ranked list of passions and your separate list of talents. You don’t need to rank your talents because your interests and passions are much more important than your talents.

Passion trumps Strengths

To be able to have the grit to stick with blogging, you have to be interested in your topic. You don’t HAVE to be good at it, but you have to be interested in it. If you’re passionate about your topic you’ll keep going even if you’re not as good at it because you love it! But if you aren’t passionate about your topic it doesn’t matter if you’re good at it, you’ll still get bored or hate it.

But if you can find one that you are both passionate about, and incorporate something that you’re good at, that’s the beginning of your sweet spot.

Step 3: Brainstorm Blog Topics & Niches

So now that you have your two lists of your passions and your strengths Step 3 is to brainstorm blog topics using those two lists.

If you love scrapbooking and knitting and sewing. a craft blog would be a great topic. If you love working out, and running then a fitness blog would be great.

when choosing your blog niche is Sticking with one of your top passions is ideal when choosing a blog topic. So brainstorm blog topics that surround your top passions.

Set your timer for 10 minutes and brainstorm potential blog topics. And once that time is up, circle your top 3. What are the ones that even just thinking about them gets you excited with blog post ideas already popping into your head?

List of 50+ Blog Topic & Niche Ideas

If you need even more ideas, the freebie has a list of over 50 blog topic ideas to get your juices flowing! Get the Freebie here .

Choose Your Top Blog Topic Idea

Now, honestly, its just time to choose one.

Which one gets you most excited? Which one do you think you could write about most?

If you don’t know, then you could write down 10 potential blog post ideas for each of the topics to find out. Which topic was easiest to come up with ideas for? Maybe you’ll find even though you’re really interested in a topic, you’re not interested in writing about it.

If you follow these steps and use the freebie, then by this point you should have a pretty good idea of what you want to blog about or at least the niche you want to be in.

But before you leap online, choose a blog name and start blogging, let’s make sure your blog will be profitable!

Is Your Blog Topic Profitable?

Understanding What Motivates People to Act (What’s in it for me?)

This is the number one question people have when deciding a blog topic right? Is this blog topic going to be profitable? Is it going to generate money for me?

The best way to know if your blog topic will be profitable is if it is filling a need.

To have a successful blog, fundamentally you need people to visit it. You need traffic. Without anyone visiting your blog, you can’t grow your email list, you can’t make money through ads, you can’t make affiliate sales, you can’t land a sponsorship, or sale any of your own products.

So how you get people to your blog is by first understanding that when someone hops online, they are scrolling through pinterest, or facebook , or searching google with the intent to serve themselves. Its a constant state of “what’s in it for me?”.

Every action someone takes is to fill a need of theirs and move on to another one.

Every single time someone jumps online they are looking to serve themselves. If I’m scrolling through Pinterest, It could be because I need to make dinner tonight and want to find a new recipe.

If I’m searching google, I’m looking for answers to MY problems. What is going to help me get to the next level What is going to give me solutions.

So a profitable blog is one that serves it’s readers. One that fills a need for people.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: What things motivates us to act.

In psychology, there is a motivational theory called Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. This hierarchy explains how humans are motivated to act based on 1 of 5 needs or wants.

• Physiological needs
• Safety needs
• Love and belonging needs
• Esteem needs
• and self-actualization needs.

These needs are often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid.

Needs lower down in the hierarchy must be satisfied before individuals can attend to needs higher up.

So first, your physiological needs must be met. These are your basic needs for life. Air, water, food, shelter.

Once that need is met you can move on to safety needs. Security and stability like money and health.

Next is love and belonging. our Social needs. We need to feel loved we need to feel excepted like we belong. WE need friendships and relationships.

Next is esteem needs. We all have a desire to feel our self worth but also for others to see that worth. in other words we want to feel good about ourselves but also have respect and a good reputation, status, or even prestige. WE want to appear well to others. This is things like wealth, a title, beauty, fashion, etcetera.

And finally at the top of the pyramid we have self-actualization. A need to meet our full-potential. Self-fullfilment and personal growth. As maslow put it, A desire “to become everything one is capable of becoming”.

And in theory, you can’t move up the pyramid until the previous need is met in one way or another.

Step 4: Identify The Need Your Blog Fills

So for your blog, how are you filling one of these needs?

• A food blog or home decor blog can fill physiological needs.
• A personal finance blog, or health blog and fill safety needs.
• A parenting blog, family blog, marriage and relationship blog or even a faith blog can help fill our need for love and belonging.
• A Beauty, fashion, wealth, fitness, or travel blog can fill our esteem needs.
• And a blog on perfecting your passion can fill the self, actualization need.

So when choosing a blog topic look at where your passions, strengths, and a need intersect.

What need does your blog help fill? What problems are you solving for your readers? How are you helping your reader move up the hierarchy?

People spend their money to fill those needs.

Understanding that people are motivated to act by these needs or wants will allow you to attract people to your blog and make money. Because these things are also what people spend money on.

“I want to feel beautiful, and she looks beautiful so I’m going to buy that same dress or eyeliner.”

“I’m hungry and that looks delicious so I’m going to go buy the ingredients to make that.”

“I want to feel secure with my finaces, and to have enough for savings, I am going to only purchase generic brand items.”

That is how you make affiliate sales, that is how you’ll make product sales, and that is how you’ll be able to land sponsorship deals because you understand what motivates people to spend money.

Understanding that people act to fill their needs allows you to attract people and build a profitable business around serving their needs and wants.

Before clicking over to anything, there is a subconscious thought that goes through all of our heads. What’s in it for me?

I’m going to click on that shoe ad because I want to look that good in those shoes. I’ll click on that dumb cat video because I’m looking to be entertained. I’m going to click on the 30 ways to show your husband you love them because I want to feel loved in return.

The only person that is going to click over just because YOU want them to is your mom and grandma.And it’s hard to monetize a site with only two visitors.

A successful blog is built around providing value to others.

If you can find an area that fills one of Maslow’s needs which is what motivates people, and is a topic that you are passionate about and can incorporate your strengths, That is your blogging sweet spot. That is how you know you’re blog will be profitable. That is your perfect blog topic.

Step 5: How Can You Be Unique in your Blog Niche?

Now once you have your ideal blog topic that fits between those three elements, Its time to figure out how you can be unique.

Because right now there are millions of blogs about all different topics, and there are lots of blogs out there on the same topic you want to write about so how are you going to stand out? What are you going to take from your life and your experience to make your blog unique?

What sets your blog apart form the others like it? Why would someone want to read your blog or buy your product or buy from your affiliate links instead of someone else’s?

Can you mash up two of your passions to be unique?

Pam from the Crochetpreneur mixed her passion for chrochet with her passion for entrepreneurship to create her blog where she teaches people how to turn yarn into money by building their own crochet businesses.

Can you add one of your unique strengths to your passion?

Suzi from Start a Mom Blog takes her passion for blogging and uses her background of being mom and an industrial engineer (a branch of engineering that deals with the optimization of complex processes or systems) and uses those time management skills and her expertise in breaking down things into bite size easy to digest steps to help moms build their own blogs.

So how can you be unique in your niche?

Things to Consider:

Niching Down

You’ve probably heard the phrase, the riches are in the niches. It is much easier to be successful as a boutique in the blogging world than it is to be the mall.

You don’t want to be the Wal-Mart of the blogging world, you want to be the Sephora.

Suzi of Start a Mom Blog

This is essentially the big fish in a little pond situation. If you try to blog about “all the things” it’s going to be hard for you to place yourself as an authority and be popular in all of those spaces.

Instead, you’ll get knocked out by the big guys like Buzzfeed or The Spruce who have teams of people behind them and lots of dollars to back them up. Or you’ll get knocked out by the niched down bloggers in each of the areas you’re trying to blog about.

Instead of being an amateur blogger in many things, shoot to be an expert at one thing.

Instead of a broad food blog, you could niche down and blog only about gluten free meals. Or niche down even more and only blog about gluten free desserts!

So your readers know when they go to your site, they know exactly why they are there. They want delicious gluten-free meals or gluten-free desserts and they know your blog is the place to get it.

There is no confusion. Once they hit your homepage, they know exactly what your blog is about.

Imagine if someone when to your site and there was all kinds of fashion posts, but when they returned a month later and they saw gardening posts, they would be confused. What’s going on here? Why am I here?

It increases your authority and builds trust with your audience when you niche down and blog on one niched topic.

People want information from the best of the best. The ones who know what they’re talking about. Choosing one specific topic to blog about establishes you as that.

How can you get more specific with your blog topic?

Start Broad and Niche Down Later

Knowledge is power, but knowledge without action is useless.

Taking these steps will lead you to your perfect profitable blog topic. But waiting around until you get it perfect won’t get you any closer to your goals.

So if you just can’t seem to define your ideal blog topic, choose a general name and just start blogging.

You’ll find through blogging what you do like and what you don’t. You’ll discover what others love to hear about and what resonates with your audience.

Start broad and blog about whatever they heck you want to write about and refine as you go. You can always niche down later.

Conclusion: Just Start Blogging.

Imperfect action beats perfect inaction every time.

Harry Truman

What to blog about? What should I blog about? I hope this post helped answer those questions.

Your perfect profitable blog topic is the topic that lies in your blogging sweet spot. The spot where your passions, strengths, and a need intersect.

Once you’ve identified what topic that is for you, brainstorm how you can be unique and stand out in your niche and how you can niche down to become a boutique in the blogging world not the whole Wal-Mart.

But more than anything else, what will take you one step closer to your blogging dreams and goals is just actually starting. And for most, this is how they truly find their ideal blog topic.

Don’t wait to have all your ducks in a row, just get them all in the same general room and GO! Line them up after you start. That will be the difference between you, and the ones who are always waiting for perfect.

You’ll actually be in the game, while they’re simply dreaming about it.

The Next Step

What’s the next step? Head here to find the next step in the process of starting your own money-making blog. It’s time to start talking blog names. I’ll see you there!

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