A Simple Approach to Finding a Good Blogging Niche, Part III - Keyword Research

In the first two articles, we talked about brainstorming topics and content.  With that in place, it’s time to start doing some research and see just what the real world is like. It’s one thing to sit at home and think the world likes what you like, but it’s another thing altogether to see if there are people that actually do.

As I mentioned in the beginning, there are lots of tools and methods for doing in-depth data mining that the SEO pros use.  Eventually, you’ll also learn how to do these things, as you become more and more immersed in the world of blogging and Internet promotions.

However, to get started, we just want to do some solid basic research and know what is already happening in each niche. That will help us to know if a niche is starving, thriving, or flooded.

In order to have a successful blog or website, people have to find you. A vital part of that process is having good keywords that the search engines can match up to people’s searches.  A good keyword is one that’s fairly popular (meaning people are actually searching for it), and yet is not too flooded in competing sites.  Here’s a process that will help you find those keywords.  You’ll do this process for each of your niche ideas.

• Start with a general keyword

In our example in the last article, we used “Fishing” as a possible niche topic.  That one is probably too broad, but let’s start with it anyway.  Go to Google.com, and type that into the search bar. As you type, Google will drop down a list of similar keyword suggestions. These are popular, similar searches.  That means that these are possible keywords that people are actually searching for. Write these down. In my browser, it showed, “Fishing License Utah”, “Fishing Report”, “Fishing quotes”, and a few others. Save that list for later.

Do the search.  You might see a number close to the top that says something like “About 500,000,000 results” or some number. This indicates how many websites Google knows about that are using this keyword. It’s usually a huge number.  If you don’t see a number, but only see ads and pictures, then the number is way too high to display.

Scroll to the bottom of the page, and you’ll see another list of suggested search terms, like:

fishing youtube
fishing tips
fishing videos
fishing gear
fishing games
fishing report
bass fishing
fishing knots

• Begin narrowing

Obviously, your first, most general search will be way too broad, and will need to be narrowed.  Let’s try some more.  Click into one of the suggested searches. The first one I tried was “Fishing tips”, with “About 211,000,000 results”.  That’s better than before, but it’s still way too many websites.  I’ll need to keep looking for my keywords.

• Narrow further

Next, I clicked into “Bass Fishing”.  Right away, I saw that this one had “About 10,600,000 results”.  That sounds like a huge number, still, but in the scale of the internet, that’s actually reasonable.  This one could work.  When you find a keyword in this range, look at some of the websites in the list.  Click into them and begin exploring them.  Are they commercial sites or informational sites? What sorts of information are they sharing? If you see websites that you’d like to emulate, write down the addresses for future reference.

And always write down the keywords you’re exploring, and the numbers you find.

• Try a different branch

After you’ve played and explored some with the keywords you’ve gotten, go back and explore another “branch” of the same “tree”.  In our example, maybe I could try “fly fishing” or “angling” to see what kinds of new keywords I could generate.

After a while of this exploration and research, you’ll have a list of good possible keywords, and you’ll have a good idea of what’s happening and what’s available within the niche you’re considering.

Do this same process with each niche topic idea on your list, and you’ll have a lot of good information.  You’ll probably start to see some real trends in the niche ideas you’re exploring and you might even be starting to formulate some thoughts on which ones might be better options than others.

Still, there’s one more step to come...


This article is part of a four-part series on researching and choosing your blog niche. The other articles can be found here:

1. Introduction to finding a good blog niche
2. Brainstorming blog niche and content ideas
3. Keyword research
4. Monetization product research

Mark is currently employed as an Internet Business Coach.

Mark also has other sites and blogs, including Mark's Black Pot - Dutch Oven Recipes, MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

A Simple Approach to Finding a Good Blogging Niche, Part II - Brainstorming

In the first article, we talked about the 4 factors that make up a good blogging niche topic.  If you’ve read some of my other postings, you’ll recognize some of these things as the factors that make a great website!  There’s a lot of overlap.  Still, as you’re choosing your niche topic, you’ll want to approach them from a distinctly unique angle, in a process.

• What do I like?

First, we need ideas.  What possible things can you come up with?  Begin by brainstorming possibilities.  Ask yourself some questions, like, “What do I love to do?”, “What am I good at?”, “What things do I know a lot about?”, or “What do I like to do for fun?” Even simply looking back at your life experiences, your jobs, your education can give you ideas.

Write every idea down. Sometimes, when people are brainstorming they’ll say, “There are no bad ideas.” That’s not true. We all know some ideas are bad. It’s just that at this stage, we’re not going to worry about whether or not an idea is good.

Yet.

That will come later. So, don’t tell yourself, “That’s a dumb idea,” or “No one will ever buy that!” Remember that writing an idea down doesn’t commit you to doing it. It can always be crossed off the list. So, there’s no reason to not write it down.

Also, give yourself a few days to let your mind wander and remember things to add to your list. You might not think of it all in one sitting.

• What about content?

Once you have a few ideas in your list, it’s time to develop them. With each niche idea, ask yourself, “What could I say about this topic?”  Begin to brainstorm possible content ideas that could be a part of the niche.

Let’s say you love to go fishing. You might think of these things as possible content pieces:

1. What baits work best to catch what kinds of fish?
2. Where are the best places to fish in your area?
3. How to setup a fishing pole
4. What are the different kinds of lures, and why do they work?

That’s a good start. Again, write everything down, and give yourself some time to think of ideas.  If you find it easy to think of content ideas, then that’s an indicator of how connected you are to that niche. That’s a good sign. If you’re struggling to think of things to say, that could be a red flag.

Do this process with each of the topic possibilities you brainstormed in the first step. Once you have that done, you’re well on your way to finding your perfect blogging niche!


This article is part of a four-part series on researching and choosing your blog niche. The other articles can be found here:

1. Introduction to finding a good blog niche
2. Brainstorming blog niche and content ideas
3. Keyword research
4. Monetization product research

Mark is currently employed as an Internet Business Coach.

Mark also has other sites and blogs, including Mark's Black Pot - Dutch Oven Recipes, MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

A Simple Approach to Finding a Good Blogging Niche, Part I

If I had to choose one factor that would determine the long-term success or failure of a blog, it would trace back to the very start. The core question of each blog should be: “What is this about?”

Personal blogs where authors go off on tangents and rant about their feelings and opinions on a myriad of topics are great for personal expression, but when it comes to building an audience, it’ll just be too scattered.  It’s true that they might hit on a post that strikes a nerve with readers and spikes their traffic, but they won’t be able to sustain that for the long haul.  The blogs with focus and clarity are the ones that build audience, traffic, and ad revenue.

So, how do you find that niche?

There are a lot of factors that go into a great blog niche, and no one of them should make the final choice.  It’s always going to be a balancing act. Here are the primary factors:

1. Your own interest and knowledge -  It’s tough to blog about something you know nothing about, and have no interest in. Sure, you could do research and dig in, but, really, how motivating is that?  A few months in, will you still be willing to put the consistency into it if you don’t care?
2. Content - Can you think of or find information that’s relevant and interesting on an ongoing basis?
3. Keywords - Are there keywords that are of interest that aren’t flooded in competition? Good keywords in the right places will be critical to successful search engine optimization.
4. Monetization - Are there a good mix of products that could be promoted to the niche’s audience? Again, if you’re just doing a personal blog to shake your fist at the world, this isn’t an issue. But if you want to make some coin at it, you’ll need to consider this well up front.

It’s important to note that a blog or a website is in constant motion, and in constant state of revision.  You, as a blogger and site promoter will be constantly learning and growing and building on your site. The steps that I’m about to show you in the next few articles are designed to help you make a good, informed decision about the niche you’ll have.  That way, you’ll have a good foundation that can be built on, and you won’t have to tear it down and start over later on.

It’s important to note that these steps are intended to be simple and to get you do a good, solid decision quickly. Advanced SEO experts can use many tools and in-depth research to gather deep wells of data that can be sorted and manipulated to arrive at useful decisions.  This can take weeks or months to learn, and many, many hours to implement.  It’s good to learn these things, eventually, but it’s also best to learn them as you’re developing and improving your existing site, rather than to overwhelm yourself at the beginning and get mired in a swamp of meaningless numbers.


This article is part of a four-part series on researching and choosing your blog niche. The other articles can be found here:

1. Introduction to finding a good blog niche
2. Brainstorming blog niche and content ideas
3. Keyword research
4. Monetization product research

Mark is currently employed as an Internet Business Coach.

Mark also has other sites and blogs, including Mark's Black Pot - Dutch Oven Recipes, MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

What is Cloud Computing?

Even if you're relatively new to the internet, you might have heard this term being bounced around.  You might not be sure exactly what it means or what its impact will be.

Let me tell you right now, its impact will be huge in the upcoming years, and, in fact, it's very likely that you're already using it.  In fact, in some ways, it's getting difficult to tell, sometimes, when you are using it and when you're not.

What is "The Cloud"?

Let's talk about it and clarify it, so you know what we're talking about.  The internet, as a whole, is a huge, and vastly complicated space.  It's kind of hard to visualize just how big and expansive it is.  If someone were to sketch a visual representation of it, it would be very difficult.  That's why a lot of tech-y people in recent years have started calling it "The Cloud". 

If you send an email, you don't really have to know how it gets from here to there, right?  You just click "Send", and it goes out into "The Cloud" and it somehow arrives at its destination.  Do you see how well that works as a visualization?

Now, for a long time, people used their computers to do their writing, their games, their spreadsheets, their games, their calculations, their graphics, their games, and all sorts of other things.  They bought office software with word processors to write letters, they bought games and installed and played them.  They bought music players and video makers, and picture editors, and every time they bought a program they installed it on their own computers.  They stored their pictures and their videos and their game saves all on their own computers.

When they went out into "The Cloud", on the internet, they were just looking for information.  They'd read something, or they'd find something they were interested in.  Maybe they'd download something, like a program to install.

What's Cloud Computing?

Gradually, over the last few years, more and more people have begun to actually "Do" things out on the 'net.  So, instead of opening up an email reader program on my computer, they would go to a website on the 'net (in the cloud) and read their email from there.  Instead of just opening up their game on their hard drive, they would go to the game's website, login, and begin playing online.  Instead of opening up a word processor, writing a report, and saving it to my hard drive, they would go to a website that opened up an online word processing program, type the report, save it online, and be done.

The big difference is that instead of using a software that they purchased and installed on their computers, they're accessing programs and applications through websites.  That's why they're also called "Web Apps".  Since it all happens out on the Internet cloud, it's called "Cloud Computing".

Advantages of Cloud Computing

So, what's the big deal?  Why is it such a hot topic right now?  Well, there are a number of real advantages to using programs that aren't stored on your own computer.

• If you have internet access, you can get to your work.  You can get to it from your job, your home, your supersmart cell phone, your public library, your friend's computer, etc...  Anywhere that you can get to the 'net, you can get to your stuff.
• Your stuff changes with you.  If you work on something at home, and then you get to work, all the changes you made at home are still saved!  That's because the copy you were working on didn't reside at home or at work, but out on a server computer somewhere in the cloud.  You're just accessing the same thing from home or work.  Maybe you level up your wizard character in your onlinefantasy game late one night.  Then, when you're over at your friend's house the next day, you can take off playing right from where you left off!
• You can allow others to access your stuff, so you can collaborate.  School project teams can cooperate better, and work teams can get more done.
• You don't have to buy, download, and install upgrades.  When the company makes a better version, they just set it up in the cloud, and suddenly, everyone's using it!
• A lot of the web apps you can find are FREE!  They're either supported by advertising, or they have premium features that you have to pay for.
  

There's Gotta Be a Downside...

There are some problems and disadvantages.  Let's talk about those for a minute.

• It's nice to have instant access from anywhere that you have a web connection.  But what if you want to work and your internet goes down?  You're stuck!
• What if the servers that the web app company uses go down?  You're stuck!  Fortunately, most web app companies realize just how much people rely on them, and they set up backups and redundancies to keep their systems running smooth!
• Some of the free web aps out there are very good, but not as full-featured as their old-school counterparts.  They'll handle most of the tasks you'll need most of the time, but occasionally, you might need one of the more specialized features, and it might not be there.  Still, as cloud computing grows and becomes more popular, the web apps will become more and more robust.
  
• Security can be an issue.  If you're keeping your work on a computer out there in "the cloud", who has access to it, and the legal right to view it?  Just how much privacy do you have?
  

The whole concept of cloud computing, for a long time, was the talk only of the tech-y and the big business people.  It's only recently become commonplace enough for mainstream computer consumers.  Recently, small computers, called "netbooks" have started to appear in computer stores.  These will often have no hard drive storage of their own, no way to install a program, and will only access web apps.  They're becoming more and more popular with students and those that travel for work.

The reason that it's coming so strongly to the forefront is that Google is introducing a full operating system (called "Chrome") designed entirely to utilize web apps. Some are saying it may eventually replace Windows.  Others scoff. 

Whether or not it does, cloud computing is definitely here to stay, and will be growing.  The more you're aware, and the more you're able to use it, the more effective you'll be!

Here are some common and useful web apps to explore:

• eMail
• Yahoo Mail
• GMail
  
• Documents and "Office-y Stuff"
  
• Google Docs (Writing, Spreadsheets, Presentations)
• Blogger (Blogging)
  
• Graphics
• Aviary
• Pixlr
• Games
• Wizard 101
• Disney's ToonTown
• Second Life
  

Mark is currently in the curriculum Department of an internet and SEO training company. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including Mark's Black Pot - Dutch Oven Recipes, MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.