The odds are pretty good that there are a few blogs that have been around awhile in your company’s industry. Business blogging gained its initial traction around 2010. That has given lots of businesses time to launch blogs. Some have lasted and many continue to launch.
This can make it tricky when starting a new business blog today. The market can feel saturated. It can be difficult to find your niche in the industry.
Here are some things to consider when choosing your niche.
1. Determine What You Want To Say
Most people have something they want to say and contribute when they want to start a blog. This is is true if it’s a personal blog. But also usually when it’s a business blog as well. We might want to provide our thoughts on a current issue. We might want to share our experiences and history partaking in the industry.
Think about what you care about most in relation to your job. Think about what you get excited about doing. These usually lead to revelations about the topics you’ll be most interested in writing about with blog posts. And that’s important because blogging can be a grind. So having meaning attached helps boost productivity.
2. Consider The Target Reader
But you also have to consider what the target reader wants. Look at other blogs in the industry. See what topics and posts have the most interaction. Shares on social media. Comments. Comments on social media. You can usually find indicators of what is most popular with readers.
3. Consider The Industry Blog Landscape
As you’re looking at those other blogs also look for what is working and what isn’t. Also look to see if there are any gaps in the coverage of popular topics. For example, you’re a local mechanic. You see that there are some great how to blogs and videos in the industry. How to fix this. How to install that. But you feel that maybe there aren’t enough posts about how to drive and how to prevent common vehicle issues.
You may see that there is interest in these topics by seeing one or two posts that get high interaction. Then you could test out a few posts of your own.
These are the little pockets you’re looking for that can lead to a powerful blogging strategy.
4. Set A Frequency Goal
Frequency is important in blogging. You can plan all you want. You can discover what you like and how that meshes with what the audience wants. But ultimately you need to publish content and learn from the results. Publish and see what works. What gets interaction.
Most business blogs publish weekly. That’s a good goal if you’re not sure where to start. This gives you about 50 posts a year. That’s enough to get some data that you can go off when you’re moving into Year 2.
5. Experiment
When you’re working on those 50 posts for the year you’ll be working on some of your initial ideas. You’ll be writing on things you’re pretty excited about. But also be sure to include some experimenting. Some shorter posts. Some longer posts. Some posts on topics that might be a little out there. Kind of on the fringe of what might work.
If people don’t like it they will disregard it and move on. But it’s a great way to discover niches that are underserved.
Conclusion
Finding a blogging niche can be tricky. These things can lead you in the right direction, but even then you can’t be 100% sure. Most often you have to get started in a direction and figure it out as you go. That’s how it is for many things in life. You’re looking for the way things intersect. What you want. What readers want. And what is being overlooked. It’s not easy. But if you can pull it off it can be very rewarding.