Need Advice on Blog Topics

[deeze6]

Hello Everyone,

I have a couple of subjects I can blog about but not sure which one to go with.

Topic A – Cisco CCNA certification (a computer networking certification). I am a subject matter expert on this topic because its related to my work, and think I can monetize it by starting my own computer training school. The problem is I’m not 100% passionate about the subject, and may get bored with it after a while.

Topic B – A career advice blog for people in the IT field. I am passionate about this subject but I don’t have enough content to make this a blog on its own. Also I'm not sure how I can monetize giving people career advice.

Which one should I go with?

Since the topics are distantly related to each other (I mean VERY distantly related), would it make sense to combine both into one blog? Or do blog readers prefer to stick to one subject?

Thanks,
Nick

[chardee42]

Have you tried Google Trends with keywords related to both of these? Google Insights is also helpful. You might want to see how many people search for these before you make a decision.

[deeze6]

Thanks for the tip chardee42.

Unfortunately the trend line shows down for both my topics
Does that mean its a bad idea? Or could it be just the economy is down so not as many people can afford training?

Do you know if there is a way to see the actual number of searches?

[MynameisJJ]

Pardon me if I'm mumbling whatsoever. I'm very sleepy right now but I still want to respond.

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You need to love the subject of your blog in order to have a successful, consistent and long lasting blog. So I would say Topic B would be much better than Topic A as you are passionate with Topic B.

Topic B – A career advice blog for people in the IT field. I am passionate about this subject but I don’t have enough content to make this a blog on its own. Also I'm not sure how I can monetize giving people career advice.

Do some research/homework whatever that is necessary to find more info to complete the subject. Do brainstorming. Jot down your ideas on a piece of paper. Try to 'branch out' more ideas from one idea.

Try to google and find blogs with similar theme. Analyze how they execute their blogs in a whole.

[stacylee]

When I decided to start a blog, I started writing topic ideas for posts. When I reached a full notebook page, I figured I had enough ideas to actually get started.

For some of my post topics, I DO have to research some specific facts while writing. So researching is part of my work. I use the internet, knowledgeable friends (like an interview), I browse the library for ideas, I use current news. Sometimes a totally random topic will pop into my head and I just write.

It seems that there are a million blogs on techie stuff (and I don't understand any of it - lol). However, due to the economy, I think your career info path is a better choice. So many people are job hunting now, or will soon be job hunting as the economy continues to change. Being passionate about something is the most important reason to write a blog.

You could take the blog in many directions. Job hunting, how to handle stress, career development, types of classes to take to increase your knowlege, career trends, how to interview and do a resume. The list is endless - yet still ontopic for your audience.

[loutam]

I agree with an earlier poster. Choose the 1 that you have the most passion and knowledge of. I think natural is always better then forced writing. Good Luck.

[QuirkyMomma]

I second Staceylee. It's advice someone else on here gave: write 100 future articles for your blog. It becomes feeder for when you are in a rut and can't think of a post and is a good starting point. If you can come up with the list you probably will have the patience to put it into practice.

And something else I learned on here, even if your trend is low, there may still be a fringe niche that you can exploit. Example: I started out as an advice forum for moms... then I realized most of the people coming were looking at my activity suggestions. Then I became a site for "moms of preschoolers". I recently started adding the term homeschooling in my tabs as I am discovering that many of my readers are homeschooling parents. Turns out even though "moms" is a fully-saturated market, there is a demand for resources to "homeschool your preschooler" its, not a trend, but there are enough people out there to keep me happy and blogging.

Maybe as you come up with your list you can find a niche area that is not fully reached online and your blog can fill that need, even in a saturated market.