Niches: How tight to go?

[Mopman]

Hey there.
I'm just about to start the first blog I have the intention of making money from, rather than just experimenting. The chosen topic is one that I'm very passionate about and is saturated by people selling half-assed content to make a quick buck (think of how the money making online niche is at its worst ) - I think I may be able to make an impression by offering solid, honest help & advice.

However, I am unsure how tightly I should restrict my niche. Basically, the general topic of the blog is something that people do on their PC's and they can do it with one of 4-5 software packages. Do I keep things fairly broad and risk not capturing peoples attention, or do I focus on one software package and have the ability to give people targeted, really specific advice and risk losing visitors who use something else.

An analogy would be a graphic design blog - would you create a graphic design blog, or would you create a photoshop/the GIMP blog? I'd love to hear peoples thoughts on this.

ps. I used the google tool to check the estimated CPC using the application names as keywords. It was lowish (~£0.80) and didn't vary much between them, so there is no clearer more profitable application. I have experience in basically all of them.

[sukosaki]

I think that you can do both. Specifically, take the broad route to get your content going, but maybe separate the other parts into categories. OR even take it a step further and create a separate blog for each software pack.

Personally, I would think that ONE blog on the WHOLE niche, with categories covering the different packs would be a perfect fit.

Good luck.

[sequencehosting]

That's a very good question because each end of the scale can be bad.

- If your niche is too small you run the risk of working for nothing.

- If your niche is too broad you run the risk of not being able to compete.

I wish you luck with choosing the right niche.


Jack

[playeru]

My niche is indie music. I've seen blogs with the same them, they seem to be doing just fine. I will also try to make the blog as personal as I can.

[maccam87]

un forntelty mine is about make money blogging :S big niche haha so i will not be seen for ages and ages and ages haha only thing i know about tho even tho i havnt made much my self haha but i know how to do it. just its hard doing it - right i have kinda got my self into something here. Right when people want to create a blog they have to google "how to create a blog" and then "how too add money making methods" then maybe "how to get instant traffic" and even "how to promote for seo" there things people search for when blogging well my website tells it all in one place that was me plan, so i am not trying to make me sound like a internet guru just put the basics into one package lol

[stephen todd]

Originally Posted by Mopman

ps. I used the google tool to check the estimated CPC using the application names as keywords. It was lowish (~£0.80) and didn't vary much between them, so there is no clearer more profitable application.

That says it all!

You KNOW that you should forget it, and find something more profitable

$1.33 adwords bids means the most you will get is 66 cents a click - and that's a best case figure - I suspect your clicks will soon drop to about 22 cents a click once you start getting enough daily traffic for adsense to work out your site's value to them

I complete my keyword research then filter out all adwords bids under £3 ($5) - I then count up how many good keywords I've got left to build a site around

I'm not very happy when I see one of my site's average adsense click value fall below 90 cents - but it happens somedays, for reasons beyond my control

Guess what I'm saying is that if you don't have a good number of low competition search phrases with adwords bid values over $5, then don't even waste your time - you'll make peanuts from adsense

PS. advertiser competition is what determines adwords bid values - try and find niches with 10 to 20 bidders for some of your main keyword phrases - use spyfu.com to check

[Scribnia]

It's a great question.

I think you can focus on as niche a topic as you like and then grow from there.

Even if you only get 10 subscriptions by dominating this niche, it's a solid start to have 10 loyal and engaged readers that will be happy to share your content as you expand into other niches as well.

If you start off too broad, the bloggers that are focusing on the specific niches will win out. If you start as small as possible, you have to opportunity to gain some traction early, and build off of it.

[printmakingus]

its hard to be inbetween with any goal...with me i keep asking for help as im an artist..whether its angel or tarot

[Sumiki]

I believed you already good keyword searching, time now to produce quality 'how to article' I see many photoshop tutorial blog before and they earns loyal visitor and increase because of doing this methods.good luck to to you and it really appreciate if you can tell what happen to your blog now

[Scribnia]

I posted a video response to this. How niche should NEW bloggers go? | Scribnia Blog

Thanks for the inspiration (=