I meet A LOT of people who at the time of starting their online business or at least trying to make a popular page get stuck on what to create their website about.
Some even lose their minds just thinking about this and as someone who has been in that type of position, I know exactly what to do, in order to fix that so here I would like to offer 5 tips which I believe are absolutely golden for helping you get past this obstacle.
Here are your 5 tips:
And you should apply these tips in this order:
Tip 1 (start with this): Start with listing a single or several hobbies.
Normally, I tell people to pick topics which they love but let’s be honest, if you have a hobby, you already have a topic you love, so I guess this is just a more clearer way of saying it…
Tips 2: Make sure that hobby is a niche.
Simply put, the less general and more specific the hobby, the more “niche-y” it is.
For example:
Saying you love to be healthy isn’t a niche. Saying you love staying in shape and know how to help other people do it is a niche because it is more defined (here is help in finding your niche).
Saying you love technology is also not a niche. Saying you love flying drones and giving people advice on taking care of theirs or getting into this hobby IS a niche.
Quick intermission:
So by now through these 2 steps alone, we’ve address 2 things:
- We’ve narrowed down something you actually like.
- We’ve created a clearer picture of the topic we like.
As we continue to progress into the next steps, we are going to create an even clearer picture, because so far, this is the brainstorm stage, the remaining tips will start to actually frame a page out of this and build it so it gets lots of attention.
Also, if you want to brainstorm more about niches, I have 100 niche ideas that you can use.
Tip 3: A quick checkup: Is the hobby you chose something you know a lot about?
So this question can really have 3 answers:
1) Yes, you know a lot about it.
2) No, you don’t, but you like it a lot.
3) You know something about it but aren’t sure if it’s enough to write about.
The good news is that regardless of which of these 3 answers best identifies your situation, you can absolutely go from saying options 2 and 3 to 1, where you are an expert on it by simply…
STUDYING IT.
Most people who become interested in some sort of hobby either aren’t interested or know about it at first or at the very least decide they want to learn about it because they have an interest in it so at the very least, what I’m trying to say is that the beginning point will ALWAYS have you starting with scenario 2, where you know little to nothing, but with that interest being your fuel, you will study enough about it to reach that 1st scenario.
For example, let’s put a number on this…
I recently got into flying drones. If my knowledge on it when starting out was 1 which represents me just being interested in it and 10 being that I become an absolute expert in it, then right now, I’d gauge myself at a 4 or 5 because I took the time to study this, experiment with this and read up on and watch material to improve my interest and knowledge in it.
Now if I were to make a page, that 4 or 5 in experience would really carry over well. In fact, the information I put out at the current level I’m in would be very informative and interesting to my niche audience who also likes drones, but like me was or is starting out at that 1 point.
And you can do this too. But hey, don’t be lazy about it. With the internet being the way it is, you have more than enough resources out there on Google and YouTube to find out about whatever hobby you like and become an expert in it.
Now the scenario I just listed really is me personally going from the #2 point above to #3 and with more experience and testing, I can easily go to #1 and become an expert in the niche overtime. You can too.
But if you already are an expert and at that #1 point, then here’s the next tip for you…
Tip 4: How ready are you to write and create content out of this hobby?
Here’s a good gauge:
- 50 articles X 1,000 words or more each and/or
- Dozens of YouTube videos about the subject (here’s an affiliate marketing success story) who did this with drones and makes good money promoting them).
If you’re not ready to put yourself out there with either writing that amount of content and/or showing yourself/recording yourself, you may not be ready to start a page.
The thing is, I assume you’re worried about what to create your website about not just because you’re only interested in blogging, but because you probably want this to make you something and if that’s the case, then you need to be prepared to do this type of work.
Tip 5: Once you’re set and ready with the other 4, do the following to materialize everything…
So let’s recap:
- You’ve got the hobby in mind.
- You love that hobby.
- You’re either knowledgeable about it ready to study up on it to be knowledgeable enough.
- And you know the type of work it’s going to take for that idea of yours to become a website and possibly a successful business.
The planning stage is over, now it’s time to execute that plan. But what to do you?
Well the best way to materialize all of this is to obviously start yourself a page and start blogging about that hobby/topic, but you can either go ahead on your own and begin writing/making videos, which is fine, or you an maximize your efforts and have each little thing you do bring you the most return in the form of visitors and money by marketing this plan correctly.
In other words, instead of saying, blogging about your hobby, you’re now blogging with keywords in mind that attract the correct and maximum amount of audiences to your page, thereby minimizing the effort you need to put in.
And you’re also writing in a way that captures the interest of your future audiences that they’ll love your site and will buy from it.
To really ensure all of this gets done the best way, I would recommend the following:
My final thoughts:
Honestly, if you really use these 5 tips and use them on only 1 topic for now, you’re going to see that it’s not that hard to pick out something to create your website on. In fact, through these steps, you’re going to feel far more confident and energized doing it.
Now I would not recommend you do this for more than one subject, at least not if this is going to be your first website because you’re going to really be busy and it will be important that your attention be on that one hobby site you’re going to be making and that’s because the potential of is going to be huge, but it will be important that your priority be set only on that and not multiple pages.
Not everyone has lots of hobbies and interests, but that doesn’t mean they cant create their very own website and become an expert in a particular niche. You made some very good points to help people identify a niche that they can make money in. One method I use to identify a popular niche is by checking out the magazines offered by retailers. One of the biggest newsagents in the UK offers literally hundreds of different titles on a whole range of different subjects. That to me is a clear indication of a popular niche, because if people are not buying the magazine, then the publisher would not waste the money publishing the magazine in the first place. Hope this gives your readers some further ideas on creating and identifying a niche.
You know, this is the second time I hear about someone suggesting using magazines for niche research. The logic behind sounds great Daniel!
These tips/steps are exactly what I went through. I’m one of those people that loves too much of everything. I want to do it all! I’m a college student starting a blog, I ain’t got time for that! But I love it all!
So understandably my hobbies are very widespread. Choosing a niche is always a little challenging. You’re gonna be devoting a lot of time and energy into this one corner of your life experience and knowledge! What’s more intimidating than that? All my commitment issues say no, not much else.
So I really just went for it. I chose something broad that was near and dear to my heart, so the passion is all there. The specific niche-related knowledge started flowing in after the research began. But the passion! That’s probably the most important thing of all. It’ll make the ‘work’ fly by.
To anyone looking for a niche right now, take a few deep breaths! It’s gonna be ok. Dive into your passion!
Thanks for the article Vitaliy. Such good advice!
Helen
I appreciate that Helen! I hope your niche site is going well even though you mentioned your topic is broad. If you ever have questions on it, such as how to monetize the blog, here is an article I think would greatly help in that regard. You can call it a step 2 after reading this current article.
Those are good easy tips to help me. I look at the magazines for sale on a magazine rack at Walmart. Every magazine serves a niche: Good Housekeeping, Time, Men’s Journal, National Geographic, Hot Rod, Guns & Ammo, etc. to try and find ideas for niches and the articles in them.
That is NOT a bad idea at all Russell! Just make sure to cross reference the articles/products with good keyword research to see which ones are also popular online.
Vitaliy,
All five tips are vital to practice. But I personally chose number 3. Why? because writing about an article that you know nothing about can lead you into chaos. Even if you are narrative.
And broadly speaking, it is dishonest and misleading to promote something you know nothing about.
Wasting people’s time will cause you more harm than good as they will no longer trust your word in anything that you promote.
I agree that people should take time to learn about their hobby or interest to the fullest.
Hi Dorcas, I think we totally agree on everything you mentioned. I actually talk a lot about finding your niche here and when I help people with this problem, I also point them to the point I made in #3, the same point you agreed with me most on.
Hi There – thanks for providing a detail on how to or what to create on a new website for beginners I really loved it. This has given me a better idea about niche than other sites. Though I’m bit confused on the writing part, I’m not good with writing. Can we add videos or pictures to our website?
You absolutely can Mana, but in this case, your content production would be more based on video content, not written content in which case, if you for example make YouTube videos, you would get rankings on YouTube much more so than Google.
You are not going to get as much search traffic from Google if you go this route, but if you really aren’t a writer, then perhaps this may be the better solution for now.
Thank you for providing such clear steps! Number 2 stuck out because many times, the niche I chose was way too broad. Your step-by-step plan has helped me narrow down my topic quite well. I also appreciate you putting a number on the amount of posts and the number of words. I have read several articles on the topic and it seems as though no one can agree.
Kathy
50 isn’t the central rule Kathy, but it is a good measurement of a lot of content in my experience, and it’s usually around that period where Google begins taking you more seriously, plus taking into consideration that writing 50 posts will take a few months at least, and that it also takes several months to get decent authority with Google, it balances out.
Thanks for providing such clear steps! I have been literally losing my mind trying to figure out what kind of website to start.
Hmmmm the 50 articles of more than 1,000 words really puts things into perspective and knocked most of my ideas out, which is good! Knock me out of analysis paralysis as they say plagues many newbies.
This is indeed good that you now have a better idea and perspective on what type of site to make SJ. Let me know which niche idea you’re looking to use and I’ll try to help you find out if it is profitable.
Hey Vitaliy,
First, thanks for providing us with the great post. I think more people get lost with niche selection than anything else, when it comes to creating their own online businesses.
I have to agree with you when it comes to choosing something for your first site that you’re already interested in. I know that when I created my first site, I tried to chase the money with a site I wasn’t interested in at all, and ultimately, it fizzled out after about 20 posts or so.
I did have one quick question for you. If you’re just getting started with a new site, where would you recommend looking for possible content ideas? Do you prefer to look on Amazon or other retailers for product review topics, or should you start out looking elsewhere?
Once again, thanks for the great niche selection info, and I’ll be looking forward to your answer!
Well Tony it depends entirely on the niche. And I assume your purpose in doing this is to have the website make money right? If so, then I think this article will answer just that and help you find the right content ideas 🙂
I want to begin with, this is a brilliant page. Easy to follow, smooth and to the point. Your 5 points are amazing. You came up with a plan that is simple yet full of information. I know I go through turmoil trying to write and get all the good information in a document. I am still struggling with what is the best niche.
I will follow your 5 points. The step by step presentation is wonderful. Perfect flow to the best training for starting a business. I agree Wealthy Affiliate is a great place to be and the training is outstanding.Thank you I will follow your steps. I would love to have a drone. This is probably a very popular area right now. Do you have to go through training to own and fly a drone?
Hi Sherry, to answer about drones, you train on your own, but about niches, there is no such thing as the best one, I think you missed my point on that. Perhaps you meant which is the best one for you?
If so, then you may want to read the following post I made on this, I think it’ll help you narrow it down to just 1 topic which will suite you best 🙂
Great tips on getting a site started and also how to narrow it down once you get your niche selected. I have stated a couple of sites but never really thought to narrow it down that much, which may be the reason they didn’t work out as well. Using your guide would help a lot, not only with a website but I think just learning to pinpoint something better.
Yes this is true Nathan, but also you should try and focus on one of those sites, if they are niche sites that is. Forget about the others for now.
Wow, this is really informative! I love how you break things down about how to go about creating a website. People usually get intimidated about what topic or niche to build their website on. These tips are really gold! You really pinpoint what a niche really is, which is not as general as people think. I should rethink how I should adjust the theme of my website and focus on a more specific niche. Thank you for the post!
Your theme and your niche are not the same thing Rex. You can get away with having plain themes for just about any niche topic. I would not put in too much time thinking about the “perfect theme” for your site.
It was encouraging to read that you don’t have to be at 3 to start your niche and interesting how you yourself weren’t. Seems like you only have to have an avid enough interest. As well, it was helpful to have a reality check about how many articles or videos you need to be prepared to write. It’s helped highlight for me that I need to be prepared to do a lot more research than I thought, but all good. Would definitely be interested in looking further into your recommendations. (Those cartoon smiley faces were brilliant in clarifying what you were explaining. They simplified it all.)
Thanks Mandy, often times not being a “PhD” in you niche is OK for when you start the niche. When I start websites, I learn as I build it and initially start with an above average knowledge of the topic. This is normal for any site owner or business owner even because as things grow, your experiences do as well and that adds to the knowledge.
Hey!
First of all, thanks for the article! I really wish I would’ve found something like this when I was starting out.
Finding your niche is always a continuing process for those wanting to make money online, so having the basics and advanced moves down are always a great foundation for success!
Agreed Mitchell! And now that you have a clearer idea of what kind of site you want to make, it should help you greatly!
Nice guide! It IS kind of challenging to pick a topic for a website. Or at least it’s not something to be taken lightly, especially with the number of articles you are talking about writing.
It’s nice how you laid it out as a step by step process by deciding then building on the last decision for the next part. And, your graphics made me smile. :^)
Thanks for the good read.
No problem Geoff!
Loved your post. Finding a niche can be a real hassle for some of us (me included). I found it easy to find an interest but usually they were too broad and I had trouble narrowing it down. Your post has put things into perspective for me and I am sure it has helped others as well.
No problem Margaret! If you’re still confused about your niche choice, feel free to let me know about it so I can let you know if it’s good enough to work on.
Great post, I am bookmarking it for future reference. To be hoenst these are things I already knew, but its always good to remind yourself about point like this, same thing when it comes to writing, something you need to go back to the basics to get a good grasp on things you may have let slip.
Agreed, I find that sometimes when you get too far into this business, you forget about the basics which originally led to success so it’s important to remind yourself of it, and let those basics be the guide.
This article is so helpful for those of us struggling to come up with ideas for a website. I love the way your tips progress – coming up with an idea to making sure you are passionate about it enough to have a lot of material to post or write about.
Thank you for sharing your insight on how to get started. You make me excited to start something today!
I’m glad to hear that Jen! I hope this ignites the passion for you to find your niche and make it work for you!
Great tips, they really are helpful and I love the fact that you include an amount of work you have to be willing to do.
This was a very fun post to read, it’s getting me excited to start a website on something I really love.
The little faces and thought bubbles are great! Thumbs up for those!
Thank you so much for sharing!
Glad you liked those Sam!
Thanks for this article I must say I am very happy when I came across this.
This topic is exactly what any newbie should understand and you have done a great job of making it more understandable.
The split seconds between knowing what to do and knowing what makes you happy to do what you love most is very important.
The most challenging aspect I must say is knowing how to turn those into online business.
Thanks for sharing this.
Well you have the guide here on how to turn all of that into a business 🙂
This post was me a few weeks ago! Oh my goodness! I knew what I wanted to write about, but I didn’t know how to put that into a niche and it was driving me crazy! No amount of advice was helping me in that matter and even now I am told that it is still too broad. But I am having a great response with it and it is just my first week of posting. But I really wish I had this post to look at when I was trying to figure all of that out lol. This will help a lot of people!
I am glad to hear it Hayes. What is the topic you settled on if you don’t mind me asking?
This is awesome. I just started online marketing and I get stuck on what to write about all the time. It took me a whole day, just deciding my niche. I thought online marketing would have been easy, I couldn’t never been any more wrong. It takes work and if your indecisive like me, it’s going to take you some time. Great tips, I’m surely going to put them to use.
Yeah a lot of people find this out too once they get involved with it in a deep way Garrett. Honestly though, taking a day to pick out a niche isn’t bad at all, in fact, it’s quite fast. I know people who take years deciding on their niche.