So you want to make it big as a blogger, or at least make some sort of passive income off the thing. It could be you’re already blogging and want turn your hobby into something you could profit off of. Or you could be new to the blogging world altogether and want to get started off on a money making foot. When it comes to successful blogging these days, niche blogging is the way to go.

It’s important to keep in mind that there are many paths to success. Doing the leg work like comparing hosting sites, researching keywords and topics can seem tedious. But if you really want to be a big hit you’ll have to put in the leg work. It’s absolutely worth it.

Why Write a Niche Blog?

There are a billion blogs out there on the internet spanning thousands of topics, and some of them are just plain done to death. Whether it’s food or fashion, web design or book reviews. If you pick something popular you’re going to be competing against some high level honchos who have been in the game much longer than you, and likely have much more extensive resources. With a niche blog you can focus on a much smaller topic. Just write about that small topic, promote it around the internet and your community will find you. The more specific you are the better your odds. Don’t just write about food, write about re-creating gluten free pasta dishes. It’ll be easier to write, it’ll help you keep your focus narrowed, and it’ll make earning money off your site a lot easier.

Pick a Niche That Isn’t Covered

There are two steps to picking your niche topic. First and foremost, you’ll need to pick a niche that you know about. It needs to be something you can write easily and naturally about, something that is perhaps already a hobby that you enjoy. This will help you stay active in your community. The fact that it’s something you actually enjoy instead of something that you made up for quick cash will be obvious to your readers. An audience can always tell when you’re faking it.

The second is to make sure your niche isn’t already done to death. Plenty of people have caught on to the fact that niche blogging is the only way to go these days, so even those areas are starting to fill up fast. Do a quick google search for your topic and see what comes up. Browse through your web hosts keywords to compare content against what you’re considering launching. Once you’re satisfied that you’ve found your topic, it’s time to figure out what you need to do to keep it profitable.

Do Some Keyword Research

You don’t have to invest a lot of money or go super high tech, but there’s a lot you can do for your site if you keep some key keywords in mind. Find an online keyword generating tool and put in some that immediately come to mind for your blog. You’ll want to use a tool that will tell you what the competition is for that keyword, though, before you use it. To truly build your niche blog you’ll need to make sure you’ve got one that isn’t already in high competition. After all, that would defeat the purpose of your blog in the first place. Scroll through your options and pick one or two that you really want to emphasize. Trying to focus on too many can give your blog a fake feel, and you don’t want your readers to feel like the only reason you’re generating content is to make money. The more genuine you sound, the better your success will be.

Once you’ve selected the keywords you’re going to build your site around, you really need to make them your focus. Make sure they’re in the URL of your web domain. It’d be a good idea to try and make your primary keyword, a part of your site title as well. Browsing through other similar titles for comparisons sake may help you figure out how to work it into your title. Follow the lead of those who have already been successful. Make it a goal to work the word in at least once into every single one of your posts. The more often and the more naturally you use it, the more Google is going to associate the word with your page. Add to this legitimate content and you’ll increase the odds of your page showing up on search results. The more often your page is brought up, the more likely it is that viewers are going to get a chance to click on your link and view your page content.

Pre-Write Your Content

There’s one crucial step. Make sure you have your content written up before you ever launch. If you have it there, waiting in the wings, you know you’ll be able to get off on the right foot by producing a steady stream of relevant content for your blog. No stressing about meeting a weekly posting deadline or wondering if your content streams together well. You know it does because you planned it in advance. You can even write out a whole series of posts and stagger them however you like amongst other ones. It takes the stress out of content writing and makes organizing it all a breeze. It’ll also give you plenty of time to write up new content while you cycle through what you’ve already launched. This will give you time to take pauses in writing in so you can plan your vacation without stress.

Money Making

Now that you have the content and a way to get the views, it’s time to set up some affiliate marketing. The easiest way to do this is to set up an Amazon Affiliate account, because they make it so darn easy. If they sell it on Amazon, you can link it to your account. Let’s say you write a travel blog about backpacking through Europe, and you found one particular lock for your backpack that’s phenomenal. Impossible to crack, super lightweight, and a real life saver. While you’re writing the story about how this particular lock kept a pickpocket out of your bag, turn one of the references into a hyper link to the item through Amazon Affiliates. If your readers click on it and purchase the lock, you get a percentage of that purchase. And you can do this with any item on their site, so long as it came from a URL generated through your affiliate account with them.

Depending on your niche, you may have other affiliate options as well. Search around to see if there are specific programs for shopping or baking, and apply to have their items displayed on your page. It doesn’t cost you anything, and you could stand to earn a few bucks from it.