Your Burning Blogging Questions Answered (part 1)
Welcome to the Free and Fearless Podcast.
This episode and the next one are all about answering your blogging questions. I’ll share with you real questions my readers and course students have asked and the things they struggled with the most, and I’ll give you the answers.
As I wanted to include as much valuable info as possible, I decided to turn this into 2 podcast episodes, so you can expect part 2 next week.
Here’s the episode:
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Show Notes:
- [2:10] How to know if your idea is good
- [3:45] A 3-step formula to find your niche
- [4:32] Can you make money in the personal development niche
- [8:16] What to do when you lack the confidence to start a blog
- [10:55] What to do when you don’t know where to start
- [11:59] How to monetize your platform as an author
- [14:00] Tips on traffic, monetization, content and Pinterest.
Mentioned:
Transcript
One of the most common questions I get is about finding the right niche for your blog. In fact, that’s one of the main reasons why so many women out there haven’t started a blog yet.
They either aren’t passionate about anything or have many interests and aren’t sure which can be their main blog topic. Or they get obsessed with finding the perfect, most profitable and in demand niche and they think once they find it, they’ll start that blog and the traffic and income will start coming their way.
But it doesn’t really work this way.
So in this first section of the episode, I’ll gather a few questions on that exact topic and if you have some trouble finding a niche or want to cover more categories on your blog but aren’t sure which, well listen up.
“How do I know if my idea is a good subject?”
That person told me: “I’m looking for change in my life. I love writing. I’m always reading about different subjects. How do I know if my idea is a good subject? Where do I go from here?”
And my answer is this: You love writing and want a change. You explore different subjects but want to know if your idea is good.
That’s the process of ‘finding your niche’ which happens right before starting a blog or any other online business. And here are some tips:
You can start a blog on a topic you’re passionate about and which is in demand and write content (if many other blogs exist in the same niche, that’s good). It will attract people interested in the same and they’ll see you as the expert because you’ll know more about them on the subject.
Because you’re passionate about the topic, you’ll also enjoy writing content on it not just for the first few weeks of your blog’s existence but for years.
That’s what I did. I started my blog Let’s Reach Success on the topic of personal development many years ago, but since then it’s evolved and now covers Online Business, Finance, Blogging, Lifestyle Design.
That’s because these are the things I’m doing with my life and getting better at so it makes sense to share my journey and what I learn along the way with my audience. It has turned into a profitable business over the years too.
As for your question ‘Where do I go from there?’, well you simply start a blog and learn all you can about blogging.
“How to pick a niche for my blog?”
Another reader told me: “My number one struggle when it comes to an online business is picking a niche. I don’t have anything in particular I’m interested in. I know I have all the energy and drive to create a business, but picking a specific topic to become an expert in has been difficult. “
It’s a common struggle but it’s also important to find the right niche before you start the blog or business.
Usually, the 3 things you’re looking for in a niche are:
- it’s something you’re passionate about
- it’s something you’re good at or at least know more about than beginners
- it’s profitable (that can be checked by seeing many other blogs in this topic that earn money or seeing products on Amazon in this niche that do well).
“Is there a chance to grow a personal development blog?”
Here’s something else I got from a reader: “I want to ask one question which always irritates me. I read a few articles that were saying there’s no earning potential in the personal development niche. The only source of earning is by selling self-help books. Do you think there’s any chances to grow in this niche?”
Yes, you can make money in almost any niche.
I just found ways to combine online business and making money online with the topic of lifestyle design and financial independence, which all starts with personal and spiritual development. And that’s how I lived my life too.
You can monetize your Personal Development blog with ads. Get traffic (through optimized content and a social media channel like Pinterest), sign up with a good ad network like Mediavine and make passive income.
Then, you can start contacting brands for sponsored content.
In addition, of course, you can find affiliate programs related to your topics and place links, as well as create an ebook and an online course. Courses are really profitable in any niche now.
So there you go, the 4 main ways to make money blogging applied to your niche.
“Is it the right time to start a blog or are people more into video content?”
The reader told me: “I have deep passion in writing about Self Improvement. I’m trying to start blog and wanted to ask if it’s the right time to start one in that niche or people are more into video content? Also, should I prepare articles first and launch the blog with them? Is this necessary? And what about driving traffic to a personal development blog?”
I – like many other bloggers – don’t do video content at all, it’s just not my thing.
Blogging is a wonderful business model and a great way to earn passive income online, so yes, every next year it’s becoming a better and better opportunity to start one.
As for preparing some content before starting the blog, the point is to start taking the steps now and invest a few hours weekly. You will get hosting + domain and will write these first articles, so no need to spend a lot of time deciding which one comes first.
The personal development niche is harder to monetize. You might get traffic, but if you have real goals to turn this into a full-time business one day, or even now, it’s harder.
The good news is that you can do what I did. I started with a self-improvement site because it’s what I was passionate about and wanted to create content around. And only thanks to that I was able to create so much content which helped the site grow.
Once you get traffic, you can monetize with ads. That’s for sure in any niche.
There are also many affiliates programs you can join related to the self-improvement niche and make money (for example health hacks and productivity tools and finance tips all fall into this niche). You can also create a course or book one day and sell it.
Sponsored content is another opportunity if you grow the site and start contacting brands.
If that doesn