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Picking a niche for your blog is more an art than a science. In this article I will give you a few handy tips for zoning in on a suitable niche to kick off your blog writing.

What is your skillset?

One rich vein of possibilities is to look at your current skillset and ask yourself if you could write about something that would be of use to others. For example, if you have experience as a web designer, what useful tips and secrets could you pass on. If you are a life coach, what useful advice could you give to those who can't afford a life coach? If you don't think you have particular skills then that's fine - you can always work on improving your skillset in an area of your choice.

What are your hobbies?

Looking at your hobbies can result in a number of possible topics. Are you a keen scuba diver, a world-weary traveller, an avid reader or a film buff? Are you a marathon runner or a black-belt in Aikido? Whatever your interests you probably know something that's of interest, and of use, to others.

What are you passionate about?

Are you passionate about a particular issue? For example Green issues, politics, campaigning, local issues, animal welfare? Thinking about your passions can be a good catalyst for finding a niche for your blog writing.

What would you like to write about?

If you are considering writing a blog as a way to change your life, and I mean really change your life, then ask yourself the question "What would I like to write about?". I'll give you a couple of minutes to think about that question. OK nice try - but you are being far too practical and sensible about things - you need to let your imagination run riot. Forget how for so many years of your life people told you "You can't do that", "You are no good at that", "You can't make money doing that", "That's impossible". There are layers and layers of such negativity that have built up in to a thick crust over the years. Let's try and break that crust wide open.

Sit back, relax and imagine this scene. A year has passed since you won the lottery. You now have everything - you've been spending like crazy - you've got the flash cars, the big house, all the gadgets you could ever want. You've spent a few more months lounging poolside and you feel relaxed and invigorated. So now what are you going to do? How are you going to spend your remaining days? Imagining a situation where all financial constraints have been removed can give you great insight into your true passions.

How can you help people?

Another approach to finding your niche is to try and figure out how you can help people. This is the "find a hurt and heal it" approach. Helping people has a value - or more exactly the help you can provide has a value. And something of value has a price that people will pay for that value - whether with their time or money. What kind of problems could you help people solve?

Where is there demand?

Obviously there needs to be demand in your particular niche, the more demand the better (as long as the niche is not over supplied)! There are various ways to establish the level of supply and demand, but that is something I will cover in a future article.

The ideal niche

The ideal niche has the following characteristics:

1. You have a track record and proven skills in the subject matter
2. You consider the subject to be interesting and fun
3. You are passionate about it
4. There is high demand for that subject area and low supply

Yes, the ideal niche would exhibit all of the above characteristics. Number one is important as it allows you to create a blog of value, that is useful to others. Number two is desirable as if you don't find what you are writing about fun and interesting it will seem like hard work and you are unlikely to do your best. Number three will empower you to keep going through the difficult times (there will always be those days you will be glad to put behind you), your passion will ensure that years from now you can still turn out quality articles that are fresh and exciting. Number 4 is important for commercial viability (if you are creating a commercial blog).

You can change your niche

One of the great things about blogging is that you can always change your niche. I don't recommend doing this too often though. You want to give any particular niche you try a fair go before pulling the plug on it.

In short, changing niche is possible and you shouldn't be too scared to pull out of a niche if it doesn't feel comfortable for you any more.

You can have multiple niches

Of course once you have established one blog there is nothing to stop you from creating another one. In fact that is highly desirable as you can create multiple passive income streams. The only word of caution is you should remember it does take time (typically several months) to establish a reasonable income stream - so don't give up on a niche too soon.

There is no failure - only feedback

It's also important to understand you might not get it right first time. That doesn't matter as anything you do needs to be treated as a learning experience. The most important thing is, if a niche isn't working out for you, try and understand why. The reasons can be internal or external.

Usually, internal reasons are ones that you can control, external reasons happen outside of your control, but you could potentially react to them.

It's a judgement call you have to make as to whether you leave the niche entirely or modify your blog to suit the new external environment. With regards internal factors you need to look at your own blog with a critical eye. Is the writing of good enough quality? Does your blog provide real value to consumers. Usually if you are getting good traffic, which then tails off, it may be an external factor has arisen. Here getting feedback from readers can be invaluable.

In this article I have just scratched the surface of the topic of selecting a niche for your blog. There are many other techniques and tools that can help you select a niche that will be covered in future articles.

Tony Bedford first started blogging in March 2000. Tony currently maintains a free guide to more profitable blogging at http://the-business-of-blogging.blogspot.com