Choosing the right niche is the first important step to creating a popular niche blog. You are choosing a specific “market” in which you intend to profit from, whether it be money, fame, a way to build your resume, etc.

Here are a few tips to guide you in choosing the right topic for your blog:

Choose something that interests you.

This may seem like common sense to a lot of you, but there are many bloggers out there who choose certain niches simply to target the more lucrative keywords for ad programs like Google AdSense. And soon enough, boredom sets in and they abandon their blogs.

Choose a topic that interests you- not just a curiosity, but a passion. Consider writing about a hobby you love- photography, sewing, scrapbooking, other random crafts. Or about something bigger- environmental issues, politics, etc. Your chosen niche should be a topic that is very important to you.

Choose something you are familiar with.

If you want to have an informative blog, it’s important that you know the subject very well. People read informative blogs because they find them to be helpful. If you don’t know your topic as well as the other bloggers in your niche, why would people read your blog if they can get the same (or better) information from another blogger who actually knows what he or she is talking about? You should have lots of valuable information to share.

If you opt for a news, media, or tech blog, you will have to know where to find post-worthy information as soon as it comes out, and try to provide that information before everyone else blogs about it. There is a lot of competition in these niches, and you will have to invest a lot of time and effort to become one of the “heavy-hitters”.

Also, you should do a little research on the most popular blogs in your chosen niche, and understand why they are popular. You can later use them as guides to building your own blog. I don’t suggest copying them, but look to them for ideas on how you can build yours.

Choose something that is easy for you to write about.

Why create a blog about something if you don’t have much to say about it? Some topics just aren’t broad enough to blog about for a long period of time. There is only so much to say. Be sure your topic is one on which you would be able to create hundreds, if not thousands, of posts. This goes hand-in-hand with the above suggestion.

Choose something you can see yourself still writing about next year.

When choosing a blog niche, you really need to think about the long term- because blogging is not a way to become rich or famous quickly. Creating a popular blog takes a lot of time, effort, and dedication. You will experience many ups and downs. You may even come to a point where you question your priorities and ponder whether or not you really want to continue blogging. It’s not always easy. Choose a niche that you can see yourself writing about for a long time, even if you never make any money from it.

This post is Part I of the Niche Blogging series.