Recently I have posted an article on choosing a blogging platform the right way WordPress vs Blogger, now in continuation to that series today I would like to give some insight into choosing a niche for your new blog. I don’t know the exact classification of types or varieties of niches present. To name them there are many niches like religion, cooking, education, entertainment, blogging, making money, automobiles, technology, mobiles, etc if I name them there would be more than hundred. In simple I have classified all the niches into two categories namely timeless and time dependent. Timeless niche are those which doesn’t depend on time but they do have their importance irrespective of time. People get information even after years after their posts go online. For example if you have a post on how to get comments this would be a useful topic even after years from now because daily many people are in search of such posts. Coming to time dependent these are the posts which have the importance only to a particular time period, like if you post season 12 results of American Idol it wont have that effect during season 13. Though you get traffic it won’t be as much as it is in that particular season.
Time dependent Niche:
If you want to get things done right way then you need to update it on daily basis. Time dependent niches do have lot of impact with our earnings too as we cannot give a clear picture of the income generated. Some times traffic would be good and you get good income that month and when traffic is low your income too gets low. Below I have discussed few niches which can help newbie’s whether to choose a time dependent niche or not.
Entertainment:
This is a time dependent niche yet it can draw results if you post some cool wallpapers of movies, actors and actress etc. People who work with this niche usually post movie reviews, gossips and latest happenings. This is one of the craziest niches that anyone could ever work, only thing you need is to present it in your style. Perez Hilton is one such guy who gets millions of traffic and of course he writes on the latest buzz happening around and he is bit controversial and yet people like his style.
If a movie is released today and if you could write its review within a couple of hours after its release your traffic would simply touch the sky and the traffic for that page will slowly and gradually come down until some other movie gets released. This niche does bring in some traffic when it is dormant unless you have some 500 to 1000 articles posted with some cool wallpapers, as this niche has good standings with wallpapers rather than news. This niche could be a good option if you could update it on daily basis.
Example: Perez Hilton, TMZ, Celebrity Gossip etc
Latest News:
So you are interested in posting news this is the hardest ever task you could ever do competing with some of the great news websites and blogs. Yet you could drive some traffic as sometimes your articles get lucky with the search engines. Updating it on a regular basis would surely make your blog to pick up a good spot but once you leave it unattended then you would see a steep decrease in the traffic. So if you are good at collecting news and presenting it in your own style then you can opt for this niche else it is better to switch over.
Example: Huffingtonpost, Gaurdian etc
Latest Exam Results and Job Notifications:
This niche is little bit famous among Indian bloggers and few are comfortable with their income that they get through such blogs. Choosing this niche needs your presence daily as you need to post on latest results released, latest job notifications and openings on a regular basis. Blogs of this niche should be in operation every day. You can also choose a university in your area which is famous and can post all the news, results and notifications released by that university. In my area JNTU is one such university where many students study and they rely on blogs which post latest news of JNTU.
Examples: Sarkari Naukri, JNTU World etc
Personal blogs:
If you are writing a personal blog on your life story or events happening around your neighborhood and if you have some loyal followers who keep visiting for your articles then such blogs will not get expected traffic once they are left without updates. So personal blogs too need daily attention as they are not much searched by people unless you are a celebrity. If you are a celebrity then there are chances of searching your blog but if you are writing for your friends then you need some personal attention every day.
Examples: Neil Gaiman’s Journal, Kathryn Cramer etc
There are still many time dependent niches like latest coupons, latest offers, daily deals, politics, Sports etc which needs to be updated regularly else could find a great decrease in traffic compared to timeless niches.
Timeless Niche:
These blogs are the perfect examples of earning while sleeping as when you leave the blog dormant, sometimes you could see a rise in traffic rather than decrease. For such blogs organic or search engine traffic would be more dominating compared to traffic generated through regular visitors.
Blogging:
This is one of the best niches of this category as it draws good visitors on a daily basis even when such blogs are not updated daily. Only the regular visitors or returning visitor’s count may drop but overall traffic would be good even if it is left without any updates.
Example: Problogger, Basicblogtips, etc
Making Money Online:
This is one of the most searched niche by many internet users and it is increasing day by day. If you are able to provide some genuine and legit ways to make money then this niche is surely going to stand out from the rest.
Example: Smart Passive income, I will teach you to be rich etc
Designing Tutorials:
People are fond of learning designing online more than offline. There are two reasons for this one is time feasibility and the other factor is availability of many tutorials compared to offline teaching centres. If you are a good designer then some cool tutorials will definitely be a good source of traffic for your designing blog. Blogging tutorials and WordPress tutorials too are some of the cool niches to play with.
Example: CSS Tricks, Smashing Magazine etc
Education:
This is an evergreen niche, as for a course there would be no end for students. Year after year there would be students doing a particular course. If you are good at giving some nice education material for a course then you are sure to make some good bucks. Pat Flynn who writes for smart passive income still gets most of his income from his education site which is his first source of income.
Example: GreenExamAcademy, 123IITJee etc
Technology:
Technology is the hardest niche to play with and most chosen among new bloggers as they believe this niche could earn them some good income. But fact is there is lot of hard work needed to make this niche grow as you can’t simply gain the attention of users or search engines by just mentioning the specs or usage information of a product. Sometimes you need to go further in solving problems like rooting or jail break sort of things. Be careful you should not touch the areas of hacking or cracking as it would be taken seriously by Google.
Example: Techcrunch, Engadget, Lifehacker etc
Which Niche suits you best?
There are also many blogs which are running successfully with niches like travel, cooking recipes, pets, gadgets, real estates, automobiles, parenting, personality development, etc. It is always a good choice to choose a niche which is not time dependent as we sometimes can be busy with our personal lives and to update our blog daily sometimes becomes so risky. Whatever niche you choose if you can dedicate some amount of time and learn new things every day any niche can be taken to a top spot. It is better to choose a niche which is more close to your interest as you would not struggle to write articles. So hope this article will be a handy guide for newbies who are just about to blog or to bloggers who are about to explore a new niche.
Its all about people interest , what people love to read , you can see news website they sometime post offline topic which is not related to news but related to people interest.
Hi Vishnu,
People interest definitely matters a lot in choosing a niche thanks for your opinion.
Hi Vijesh,
Wow! You listed so many different niches, I never really though of all of them. You really brought a good point to my attention about time sensitive topics. I hadn’t really thought about that. I will think more as I continue to post. Thank you. Have a great day, Lisa
Hi Lisa.
Thanks for stopping by and dropping your valuable comment.
Great day ahead,,,
Thank you so much Vijesh…
This is a great advice! You have covered a wide spectrum in what niche to choose. Guess its like song writing. When Earth Wind and Fire wrote a song…oh say Michael Jackson invented the dance many decades ago…their songs & dances are still appropriate today. People still remember them.
The song and dance have not been outdated. How many people you see in So You Can Dance contest who dances like robot? Who started this? It is still adaptable in the 21st century.
Anyhoo, I’m typing thus on my tablet. I finally put it to use! So proud of me. I finally learn how to type in this thang. Now this makes me wanna get a mini iPad. I’ve been buying so many books lately. And I use my tablet now strictly just for reading only and or checking my designs.
So far I bought another book on my kindle entitled “How to write 2 ebooks in 21 days” its got a 5-star and people said it is so darn funny! I need to laugh. Anyway, kudos to your writing. Loved your style! Have a nice Tuesday!
Angela
You did a fabulous job Vijesh of explaining the different niches or giving us great examples of some of them.
It’s true how some people will start promoting a niche and not think down the road. I’m still promoting one in particular that will never go out of style. The information is spot on and will never change. If you can find products like that and continue promoting them then you can make some good money for years to come.
Sounds like your other commenters are pretty happy with learning this as well so great job.
Now, enjoy your week.
~Adrienne
Hi Vijesh,
I so much needed to read this post as I am going through narrowing my niche. Great job explaining about the different kind of niches and thanks for listing them.
The idea of the time dependent niches and timeless niches is really one to be considered seriously in choosing a niche.
Thanks Vijesh for sharing these valuable information. Have a great rest of the week.
Be Blessed,
Neamat
As they say, the narrower the niche the more likely you will be successful. I was perhaps a bit to hasty on one of my niche sites, and picked a niche that wasn’t specific enough. That being said, it does get a small stream of traffic to it, and I haven’t really done anything to it at all – I am sure I could turn it into something awesome, but that is the second problem – I don’t have the passion to make time for it. And at this stage I’m not willing to invest any money into getting someone else to spend the time doing it…
I keep on um-ing about if I should try to sell it, or hang on to it for the couple of dollars it brings in each month (well, I guess it has paid for itself as I have only really purchased the domain name for it), or just get rid of it. I am going to hang onto it for now, and maybe might invest in it in the future!
I guess to sum up:
Choose a narrow niche
Choose something you have a passion for or else be willing to pay for someone to do some work!
That’s my take away for niche sites!
Is very hard to choose the niche that fit your time and your knowledge too. Thanks for sharing this Vijesh.
Best regards from I. C. Daniel
Hi Vijesh,
Thanks for sharing so useful information, To find a proper niche is a very tough task even I m in search of a Niche in which i hv interest and can lead a good traffic but cant be succees.
Hi Rupali,
Thanks for your comment. Most of the time choose a niche which interests you most and write quality articles you will definitely be among the top.
You are absolutely right about Tech blogs, Vijesh. They take a lot of time. People should be careful when choosing a niche or else they should regret later. Great article for a newbie.
Hi Achari,
I think you became busy with your schools, tech blogs function well when there is team effort behind it rather than struggling alone. Thats the only secret why Techcrunch, Engadget like blogs are ruling tech niche. Thanks for your comment.
Hi Vijesh
I was not aware of two types of Niche i.e. Time Dependent Niche and Timeless Niche and its further type like education, results, jobs comes into time dependent niche while blogging, and technology comes into timeless niche.
I was not aware of this two different types types, only I was knowing was of different typoes of blog like exam, results, blogging and etc.
Thanks to you for clarifying about the niche
Regards
Siddhartha Sinha
Hi Siddhartha,
I have classified Niche into two types as per my knowledge nothing more. Thanks for your comment.
Vijesh
Many bloggers makes this mistake by not chosing right, but I personally believe and have much interest in personal blog as it create chance for other things to be done unlike timeles that involve rigorous work day and night.
Selecting a niche is very difficult but in my opinion personal is better for starting.
Thanks for your nice info.
I think timeless niche is better for the long term strategy. Nice article
Ple write article on links building strategy
Nice article on choosing a niche. Thanks for this informative article. finally i decided one micro niche.
Regards,
kathir
very informatic and really appreciated thanks!!