What to Blog About – 14 Ways to Choose a Blog Topic

What to blog about? This mind-bending question provokes a lot of thought and shakes the sweltering passion and interest all newbies start with. Even the best bloggers have been in this situation. All popular bloggers once started their blogging adventure, and in the beginning, most of them had the same problems.

With a vast pool of topics to blog about, you are spoilt for choices. So, where does the problem begin? The most difficult is choosing the “perfect” idea.

Choosing what to blog about is not an impossible mission, but it is a big challenge. Whether you are trying to blog to create awareness of an individual cause or push a brand and even talk about your delights, you won’t miss a topic. For new bloggers it becomes quite difficult to find ideas for their blog. So, if you are also surrounded by such confusion, then you can read these great blog post ideas.

So let us discuss the rule of thumb that will lead you to an outstanding idea to blog about, especially when positive outcomes are precarious.

Before diving into anything, a crucial aspect is understanding what a blog is and what its functions are.

Understanding what a blog is

A blog is short for weblog, which is a website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). The blog is regularly updated with content that its consumers find either inspiring, educative, or informative. There are numerous purposes for running a blog. It could be to raise brand awareness or awareness of an individual cause. Some give information about a particular topic. Others promote businesses to boost sales. All these depend on the type of blog, of course, and all blogs are different.

You may also like the article: Why a blog? The benefits of blogging

So let’s follow these criteria that will get us what topic we want to write about.

How to find what to blog about

1. Purpose of the blog

The primary purpose of a blog is what determines its future success. A well thought out one has the chance of standing the test of time. Although this is not the sole determining factor, it plays a significant role in its performance. A blog should strive to solve the problem. Is there a gap in the male fashion industry? Are there enough blogs talking about ties, how to tie them, and how to pair them with suits? If not, the lack of adequate information is the problem. This is where your blog steps in to solve this problem.

Some blogs aim at relieving fears. Before consumers make a purchase, they do their research on the products to get them closer to their decision. For instance, if you managed to clear your acne-prone skin, your blog will do reviews on acne products in the market that were effective in your journey. Their fears will be relieved through this.

Some readers may visit a blog to learn something new or seek clarification on some topics. This is usually when you have a mastery in a specific field such as Physics or Politics.

85% of the time, traffic goes to your blog because the readers want to be entertained. In this time and age, it is tough to grab people’s attention always. Therefore, your blog needs to have this in mind and deliver exciting content that will keep readers coming back for more.

2. Niche

A popular blog niche is almost a guarantee that you will have traffic going into your website or web page. However, this is a double-edged sword because, on the one hand, you might get the attention you will be looking for. On the other hand, if it has nothing new to offer, it will backfire in your face. It should be noted that even if you are going into a popular niche, it has to have unique traits that can only be found in your blog. For example, if you intend your niche to be in food, it could have a twist such as a blog that focuses only on recipes for diabetic children.

Some of the most popular niches include Travel, Fashion, Parenting, Health, E-Learning, Tech, and Games.

3. Audience

Finding an audience can be difficult, but once you have established this, half the work has been done. When figuring this out, it helps to visualize your audience, like really visualize them down to a T. Who are they? What age group do they fall? Do they have families? Where do they like to shop? How much do they earn? Are they male or female? Visualizing them brings them to life hence making it easier to know what type of content they would prefer, what will work and what will not work. Again, you have to create content that will make them hungry and always wanting more.

4. Market Research

To get quality content, you have to conduct market research. Blogging is not just about putting up content. The content itself has to be intentional. Who is it aimed at? How will they receive it? Is it something they will love? Is there someone else putting out similar content as yours? Will your audience prefer theirs or yours?

Timing is another essential factor. The time you put out your blog post is directly related to your audience. Market research is like a spotlight in the dark. It lights your way, highlighting your path you need to attract the most audience. This means that the more people swing your way, the more attention your blog gets for it to be useful.

Not having market research is like tight roping while having a blindfold. Without it, it becomes difficult to promote products and services in your blog. This is because you cannot market anything before you know who you are selling it to and for what reasons. After learning everything about your target market, then you will be able to understand what measures to take to please your audience.

5. Keyword Research

Picture this, you have just launched your makeup blog, and your first three posts are getting a lot of traffic. That is wonderful, right? Wrong. Just because your blog posts are gaining popularity, that does not mean you are on the right path. Little do you know only 20% of the readers were there because they wanted to know more about makeup? The rest (80%) they were sommeliers for a wine festival week who thought the palettes you reviewed, which were named after wine, were real wine.

Using the right keywords will not only attract visitors to your blog but will bring the right kind of visitors. This is very important as it is not about quantity but quality. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is all about using specific keywords that your audience is more likely to use hence driving more targeted ones towards your blog. This requires you to have already done audience research followed by keyword research.

Google AdWords Keyword Planner is instrumental is it makes your work much more comfortable. It helps you find the top keywords that are most likely to be used by your niche.

Long-tail keywords are better than short-tail keywords. The long-tail keywords are usually three to four-word phrases, which makes them much more specific.

6. End Goal

What game-plan do you have for your blog? You pay money to blog. Although blogging because it counts as a hobby is fine, it is advisable to look for ways to earn money while still enjoying a hobby. Your content will have an immense impact on what amount of money you could potentially make. You have to be 100% sure about your niche; will it be something you still enjoy pursuing in the next five years? If not, then you will have to change. It would be unfortunate to have a profitable blog for the first three years only for you to shut it down because you do not want to be known for Playstation Games. All because your niche shifted to electronics.

7. Passions

Have you ever watched a live band performance, and from your observation, you can tell the guy, or the girl behind the drums is having the time of their lives? You can almost guess that even if she were not paid to do it, she would still be doing it. Why? Because they are passionate about it. Your blog should be something you love investing time, money, and energy into it. Of course, there will be those moments when you will have a creative block that does not seem to go away. Sure, but there will be moments you will thoroughly enjoy putting out that content. That is what passion does to a person. This is what you should strive for. The things you are passionate about will be stepping stones towards narrowing down to your primary focus.

8. Consider The Blogs You Read

There those blogs you wish would put up posts often. You know, the ones that get you excited when you see a new post or when you have a backlog of posts you have not been able to catch up on? Think about why you like them, what draws you in? Is it the writing style? Is it their delivery method, or their aesthetic? Write down every little detail you like from different blogs and compile them. This helps when formulating a blueprint for your blog, primarily.

9. Consider What Those Blogs Lack

Sometimes no matter how much you love a blog, there are few things here and there that you do not like. What are they? Is the post too long or too short? Does the font bother you? Is it how the paragraphs have been arranged? Anything you do not love also has to be noted down to avoid them when you finally know what you want to write about.

10. Teach

If you are a pro in any field, the best way to share your knowledge is by teaching those who need that information. Do people always ask for your opinion on fashion? Have you considered writing on that? Or perhaps you work with persons with disabilities. And there is so much that the public does not understand about them. That could be a start.

11. Write as a learner

No, there is nothing wrong with still being an amateur in any field. That is literally where all the professionals started. This could be documentation on what you are learning, and it is the enthusiasm that makes all the difference. Are you learning a new language? Is it French? What are some of the words that are hard for you to pronounce or learn? Or the ones that are hard to spell? Maybe you decide to write about all the challenges you face and how you are overcoming them.

12. Competition

The competition in your field determines a lot about your success. What are you going to write about that will be different from your competitor? Conducting research based on your competitors’ engagement and return on investment or traffic flow to their site could give you a glimpse of yours. It will be some preview that will highlight how your blog could turn out if it past specific tests.

13. Social Media

Since almost everyone in the present day uses social media in one way or another. It is an excellent place to start when looking for what’s in and what’s not. A popular topic merged with unique content is a perfect combination to birth an excellent blog. It helps to filter out niches that will not be successful. Try searching on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Which blogs have the most following, and why do you think they do? What do they offer that the rest do not?

14. Final Decision

Conclusion

Finding what to blog about is not as straightforward as we initially thought. It might take an unusually long time to settle on something substantial, finally, but that is fine. Good things take time, they say. All you have to make sure is what you have settled will still be something you can write about in the years to come.