How to decide what to blog about

So, you have decided to write a blog. And so you should. It’s a great way to promote a business, gain website traffic or even make money.

But what should you blog about?

Well, we are going to help you decide. In this article, we will look at the different types of blogs and popular blog topics. Furthermore,  we will show you how to find fresh content for your blog.

When blogging first became popular, it was a great way for people to write about their interests and post them online. Bloggers could tell the world about their hobbies or anything else they felt people would enjoy reading about. Many blogs are still just a platform for us to write about things we enjoy. But the world of blogging has grown into something much bigger.

Pretty much every professional business, from small start-ups to global leaders, now has a blog. The reason for this is that blogs are a vital part of marketing, specifically content marketing.

Content Marketing involves providing free content to your target audience. The content can be on blogs, email, social media, e-books or videos. Being informative and engaging is the key. Offering helpful content, tutorials and tips related to your business can provide many benefits.

Ultimately,  the aim is to lead potential customers to your online products or services. Providing free, helpful content earns trust within your niche. On top of that, people may see you as an influencer within your industry over time.

Types of Blogs

The first question to ask yourself when thinking about starting a blog is: What will I blog about? The answer is likely to come under one of the following blog types:

A personal blog

This is pretty much just like a personal social media feed. A place where you just want to write about things you are currently doing or interested in. It’s almost like an online personal diary.

A blog about your favourite hobby

Lots of people create blogs relating to their favourite pastimes. It might be about a sports team, travel, playing video games, or watching movies and TV shows. This can be anything you want to write about and that you think readers will find interesting. But just because the topic is about a hobby doesn’t mean your blog can’t grow to be extremely popular and even profitable.

A blog to promote a business

Blogging is a very effective way of promoting a business. Every business looking to stay ahead of the competition has a content marketing strategy. For forward-thinking businesses, blogging is a big part of that strategy. Producing interesting articles related to your industry will bring targeted organic traffic to your website. Great content will also be shared on social media and linked to from other blogs in your niche. All of this adds up to more visitors to your website. Even better, these visitors are very likely to be interested in your products or services.

Keep in mind blogging to promote a business is a low-cost strategy but not a quick win. Doing it the right way can be time-consuming. It involves topic research, keyword research and SEO copywriting techniques. Also, Google may take some time to index your posts. But the long-term benefits of blogging make it more than worthwhile.

Popular Blog Topics

Any type of blog can become popular, and many can even make money. This is true for all business, personal and hobby-based blogs, as mentioned above. This can be done through advertising, affiliate marketing and many other methods.

Here are some of the most popular topics people use for their blogs:

Food & Drink

The number of blogs relating to food and drink has grown massively in the past few years. We are all becoming more conscious of our diet and what is good and bad for our bodies. This has led to lots of online information about healthy recipes, special diets, energy-boosting smoothies and everything in between.

This niche is not just about healthy recipes, though. You will just as easily find blogs about cupcakes, cocktails and burgers. The bottom line is this is a tough topic if you want to stand out. But if you find your own unique angle, then there are millions of people out there searching for food and drink related information. Companies who provide food-related products know this and will be happy to pay for advertising on popular blogs. If you have your own products to sell, even better.

 

Travel

Travel is one of the biggest industries in the world, contributing around $2.5 trillion to the global economy yearly. Blogs focussing on travel guides, hotel reviews, restaurants and visitor attractions can bring a ton of visitors. This can provide income via advertisements, affiliate links and paid reviews. It might also be a good idea to add a user forum to this type of blog. Forums allow visitors to share vacation experiences and travel tips.

Lifestyle

A lifestyle blog can be about anything in your day-to-day life that you are passionate about. This might be home furnishings, fashion, money or weddings. It can be related to your home, work or social life. Lifestyle is a broad term and another niche in a busy market. But it is very popular, meaning that if you can find your own angle, then visitors will follow.

Health & Fitness

Health and fitness have an impact on all of our lives. This means that people are searching for information on this topic in their millions every day. It can range from physical workout tips to mental health advice. If you feel you can offer an interesting view within this niche, then it can potentially bring you a lot of traffic and even financial gain.

Parenting

Being a parent is a tough job, especially for first-time parents. Bringing up children covers so many different topics, and parents are always searching for the best solutions. If you are a parent willing to share your experiences and best practices, then you will gain a large loyal following. Popular blogs within this niche are huge and have hundreds of thousands of monthly visitors. This brings in lots of monetizing opportunities, such as affiliate marketing and advertising.

Gaming

The gaming industry continues to grow year on year. With multiple platforms and continuously changing technologies, the gaming industry is perfect for a blog. You can help keep gamers informed about all the latest developments. And with such a wide market, you can narrow your topic down to a subject that you are an expert on. This time of blog attracts a loyal following if your content is engaging. Add a forum or somewhere where visitors can contribute to the discussion. Once you build a strong gaming community, you can offer advertising space at a premium.

Sports

Writing about your favourite sports team might be something you want to do just for fun. But for many sports bloggers, this also brings in extra income through advertising and affiliate links. Being passionate about your blog content is paramount to success. And this is true for sports blogs more than any other niche. Fellow fans will share your passion, and opposition fans will argue about your content with equal measure. The great thing is, this will bring you lots of loyal visitors. Adding a discussion forum will enhance your blog even further in this niche.

The 3 most important aspects of picking a topic are:

Choose something you are passionate about

The most successful blogs in the world are done by people who are very passionate about their subject. Enthusiasm in content shines through and connects with the reader instantly. If you don’t care about the subject you are writing about, this also resonates with the reader. As far as they are concerned, if you don’t care about the topic, then why should they?

The other benefit of picking a topic you are passionate about is that your content won’t dry up. You will continue to want to write articles about things that you are deeply interested in. The opposite of this is also true. If you are not fully invested in your topic, then you will find it very difficult to write new interesting articles.

Choose something you know lots about

Passion and enthusiasm for your topic are vital, but that alone isn’t enough if you don’t know enough about your topic. A good, solid understanding of your subject will go a long way when you start to write posts. Cover the basics first to get the ball rolling. It would be difficult to be an expert in every aspect of your chosen niche. But you can grow your knowledge as the blog grows.

Keep up to date with the latest developments by reading news, social media and other blogs within your industry. This will help keep your content fresh with new ideas. Before you know it, you will be a respected member of your niche community. This can bring you a bucketload of traffic from multiple sources.

Choose a topic people want to read about

Picking a topic that others don’t want to read about is going to get you nowhere. So, it’s important to do your research first. Researching topics is straightforward. The easiest way is to do a Google search on your subject. This will give you a good idea of the kind of things people are writing about and interested in within your niche. The search results will also give you related searches. This tells us what people are typing into Google related to your topic.

There are a bunch of other great tools that can help you decide which niche to settle on. Google Trends will provide you with ideas of topics that are currently trending. You can narrow down your search to location and other demographics. Also, you can use the search function on Quora. Quora is a massive website where people ask and answer questions on every subject under the sun. Type in a question relating to your topic to see what kind of things people want to know about. This can provide you with not only a popular topic but also some great ideas for articles.

Your research can go as far as you want it to. Check out social media platforms and type your topic into keyword research tools like UberSuggest and SEMRush. The more research you do, the clearer the subject idea you will have. We will look further at some of these tools in the next section of the article.

If you find that the specific topic you want to use is not very popular, think of coming at it from a different angle. You can maybe choose a more popular, broader subject that includes your topic.

Creating Content for Your Blog

Your content is the heart and soul of your blog. This should be, by far the most interesting part of your blogging journey. Back at the start of this article, we talked about researching your topic thoroughly before you start writing content. As we discussed, through your research, you should find a clear idea of what you want to write about. If your research has been thorough,  you will have a bunch of article ideas to get you started.

If, however, you are suffering from a bout of writer’s block, here are some ideas for finding fresh content:

Google Trends

A simple Google search for terms relating to your topic will throw up some good content ideas. You can adapt these for your articles. Among the search results, you will also find “People also ask” and “Searches related to” sections. Both of these show you what people have searched for recently or often related to your search term. Sticking with Google, you will also find some great ideas using the Google Trends website. Again, just search for your topic, and you will be given lots of fresh content ideas. Google Trends also allows you to compare two similar search terms. And you can filter results by country. This gives you a good indication of what people are currently searching for within your niche in different parts of the world.

 

Social Media

Billions of us use social media channels every day. A quick search for your topic on your favourite platform will give you some great article ideas. Also, keep an eye on influencers within your industry on social media. They will be talking about the most popular subjects and the latest trends. You can also engage with other users on these platforms. Find out what kinds of things they would like to read about.

Blogs

Keep an eye on your competitors (particularly the successful ones!) and find out what they are writing about. You can offer your own take on these popular articles and post them on your blog. Good resources you can use to spy on your competitors are UberSuggest and SEMRush. Simply enter a rival’s web address, and you will see lots of data related to their website traffic.

Quora

Do a search related to your topic on Quora’s question-and-answer website. This will give you a good indication of what the hot topics are in your industry. It will also tell you exactly what people are interested in and how you can help them with your article. Additionally, sign up to Quora and answer some of the questions yourself. This can generate extra traffic for your blog.

UberSuggest

This is a great place to find keywords and article ideas at the same time. Type in a popular keyword, and you will see lots of related search terms along with their search popularity and ranking difficulty. On top of this, you can also enter a competitor’s URL and find out what keywords they are ranking for.

SEMrush

Similar to Uber Suggest, SEMrush will provide you with lots of juicy competitor data and amazing keyword ideas for articles. Once you have a few articles under your belt, go back to SEMrush and add your own blog to projects. This will provide you with a lot of important data about your own content and how it can be improved.

Next Steps

We hope this article helps you find a blog topic you are passionate about. Enthusiasm for your topic is a great start. That alone, however, isn’t enough for your blog to be a success. Research is the key here. Find a subject that not only interests you but will interest others. As explained, that data is easy to find with the available tools. Once you find that perfect topic, you will have lots of ideas to make your blog grow. Continuing to learn more about your subject will keep your content fresh and interesting. Once you have an established blog,  you can earn money from your hard work if that is your goal.