I once heard someone say that there is a place in this world for everyone. I guess we could also say that there is a niche for every blogger. It is a matter of finding the right one. So how do you go about picking your niche?

I have been reading a bit on what other bloggers with experience have to say about this step. In the course of my reading, I found two somewhat different ideas. On the one hand, some bloggers think that if your main goal is to make money, then your main consideration when picking a niche should be to find a niche that is most profitable. That is, people all over the world should be searching for keywords relating to that topic everyday.

On the other hand, some bloggers think that your main consideration should be finding a topic that you are passionate about. The rationale behind this is that you should be able to sustain your writing. More so, your passion will be reflected in your writing if you pick a topic that you truly care about. Of course, it goes without saying that you should be knowledgeable in the niche that you pick.

So which is which? I suggest that you create a balance between the two considerations. It is understandable that you would want to choose a niche that has potential money making opportunities. Then again, if you could choose a subject matter that has both money making potential and is of interest to you, wouldn’t that be a much sweeter deal?

In the previous post, we discussed what kind of blog you should start – a niche blog (a blog focused on a particular topic) or a composite blog (much like a personal journal which covers a wide range of topics). Let us focus on the niche blog for the moment. I mentioned that a lot of blogging experts tend to lean towards the niche blog. Why is this so?

I came across a post on this at Tzuvelli, a blog focused on strategic blogging and monetization. The blogger lists 12 reasons to start a niche blog, I’d like to share some of the most important points (at least from my point of view).

1. Creating a local niche blog creates the opportunity for you to get from behind the computer and go out into the community.
2. Blogging is no longer simply an ethereal prospect but you can truly connect with your readers.
3. If done right, you could leverage your blog to become well known in your community.
4. With a local niche blog, you can leverage those high cost AdWords in a meaningful way. It is easier to write content related to keywords like car insurance, mortgages, lawyers because you can relate it to what is going on in your community It is easier to write about these things because you know what is happening in your community.
5. It will become easier to build a group of local contributing writers to where you could eventually move into an editorial position. Manage and expand.
6. A local niche blog with strong ties to the community would probably be easier to sell. And likely more profitable, since you can get higher add revenue.
7. Depending on your location there may not be very much competition.

What do you think, convincing enough?

All successful blogs started from something small – much like many businesses. If you are just starting your blog and you want to eventually monetize it, you should probably start with one basic question: what is your blog going to be about?

Way back when it all started, a blog functioned much like a diary did. Much like people wrote down their thoughts in their paper journals, bloggers started to write down their thoughts online and shared them with the rest of the world who were connected to the Internet. Today, blogs have come a long way. Many blogs are not like personal journals anymore (though there is still a proliferation of these blogs). In fact, many blogs today focus on specific topics. These blogs are called niche blogs. As the name implies, niche blogs target a specific niche and stay focused on it.

So if you are going to start a blog, what sort of blog is best for monetization purposes? I suppose it really depends on what your ultimate aim is. For example, you just want to make a little extra money on the side. Perhaps for this purpose, you can make your own personal blog which does not really focus on one particular topic. This kind of blog can still make money through pay per post web sites. (We’ll talk about this more later on.)

Many experts suggest, however, that you figure out a specific niche that you want to focus on. They agree that niche blogs are the way to go if you want to really monetize your blog seriously.

In the next post, let us take a look at how to start a niche blog.

For the longest time, we have been focusing on topics with regard to businesses and corporations using blogs to help increase their visibility. It is in fact a very rich subject which we can expound on more. However, a conversation that I had with a colleague the other day gave me ideas.

She is a working mother who is in dire need of an extra source of income. She earns quite well but the burden of her family’s finances and bad financial decisions in the past is catching up with her and really stressing her out. Knowing that I have been involved in blogging for quite some time, she approached me to find out more about it.

Don’t get me wrong – I was happy to help her out. What really struck me, though, was her question: Can I make money off blogging?

Indeed, can one make money off blogging? The answer is a resounding yes! Yet what bothered me – and still does, actually – is the fact that there are people who are new to the concept of blogging and that their primary consideration is to make money.

I can foresee some smiles forming as my words are being read…idealistic, idealism, and rose-tinted glasses are some words that are probably entering your minds right now. What is wrong with that kind of thinking? After all, this is a blog focusing on everything about business, right? So making money as a primary consideration should not bother me.

Then again, I would like to think of blogging as more than making money. I would like to think of this activity as providing content to those who are looking for it. With this perspective, monetization seems secondary.

(Disclaimer: I am planning to focus on blog monetization for the next few weeks so don’t take this post as a rant against it! Just voicing some thoughts out loud.)

Photo courtesy of groovehouse

We have taken a look at several things that you have to avoid when working on your business blog. Always remember, the idea is to think about your readers and how you can entice them to continue reading your blog. Here is the last installment for this mini-series.

Stay away from the pop-ups.
I honestly do not understand why people would want to use pop-ups for their blogs. Pop-ups are things that the average person does not appreciate. There is nothing more to it – pop-ups are a nuisance. Why would you want to use pop-ups for you site when they would probably just turn your readers off? If you want to get their attention, find some other means to do so but stay within your page and avoid having other windows jump into their faces.

Find a good balance between being personal and businesslike.
If you are having a hard time with this matter, try to go back to the basics. Why are you blogging for your business? The chances are that you are trying to reach out to your customers, both potential and existing. If this is the case, you want to maintain a professional front while at the same time, presenting a more personal face/personality. Just make sure that you do not lean too much towards one side. Be too professional and aloof and you risk turning away customers. Be too personal and overshare and you risk losing professional credibility. At the end of the day, you know what is best.

Photo courtesy of nedward.org

In the previous post, we took a look at some blogging practices that you may want to avoid. The rationale behind avoiding such practices is to be able to maintain your readership and even more, widen it. Let us take a look at a few more practices that you might want to avoid.

Busy bee look
I have to admit, many bloggers that I know are busy bees. They never like to find themselves without work to do. Now this is a generalization and I realize that it does not apply to everyone but if there is one thing I know, I do not appreciate blogs which have the busy bee look. The effect that these kinds of blogs have on me is that I am left confused and unsure as to what the blog could offer me. Correct me if I am wrong but this is one of the last things that you would want your customers to think about you, your blog, and company. So if I were you, I would create a blog that is neat, easy to navigate, and orderly.

Intrusive ads
Ads are a part of our lives, there is no denying that. We all know that they serve a purpose and they benefit everyone involved. The thing is, we also know that most people do not appreciate having to deal with intrusive ads. They want to read your blog and what you have to say. They do not want to be taken to another site to see an ad. They do not want to see pop ups all over the place each time they click on something in your blog.

Boo-boo is a word that you don’t normally use in the business setting but for the lack of a better word, why don’t we take a look at some blogging boo-boos that we should all avoid? Whether you are writing for a business blog or a personal blog, these things should – as much as possible – not be present.

Hard to read fonts
This could be in the form of size 8 or 9 fonts. Imagine your readers having to squint when reading your blog posts! If you were the reader, you’d probably leave before you give yourself a migraine from trying to read those small letters. Another form could be light fonts on dark backgrounds. Now this one could be a matter of preference. To be honest, I like dark backgrounds – that’s what I use in my personal blog. However, I have gotten a lot of feedback about how hard it can be to read with such a color scheme. Maybe it’s time to re-examine this?

Making it hard for readers to leave their comments
I understand the need to avoid spam comments. After all, we all hate them! Then again, would you rather put off your readers by making it difficult to leave comments? Perhaps you can use a word verification process instead. Or use plug ins that would filter out the spam.

More on comments – don’t be the spammer!
Most blogs leave the option to subscribe to comments to the reader. Do not be tempted by the idea of automatically subscribing them to your comments. Though it would theoretically give your blog more exposure, you wouldn’t want readers to become irritated at receiving unwanted e-mails.

We have had two posts on how to get ideas for your business blog posts. So far, we have talked about using the problems you have encountered, announcements, and social responsibility. Let us look at a couple more sources of ideas for a good business blog post.

Look at the bigger picture – your industry.
Writing posts for your business blog need not be about your company only. You do not have to limit yourself to your products and your activities. Remember that you are part of a bigger picture, that is, your industry. As such, you should follow the trends and goings on in the industry that you are part of. Say you sell health supplements. Though it would be good to highlight your products and perhaps your research activities in your business blog, you should also write about what is happening in the world of health, health care, and health products. You can write about new research and highlight its findings. You can write about news items relevant to the health care sector. This would certainly expand your reach with regard to your readers and their interests.

Dig up those old photos.
If you remember, one of the most important advantages that business blogging brings to your company is the fact that it humanizes a business entity. Instead of merely seeing your company as a faceless, money-making entity, your customers can see its human side through your blog posts. And what better way to present a “face” than to post company pictures? For sure you have lots of company pictures lying around. Choose a visually stimulating one, one that is relevant and write your post around that picture.

In the last post, we took a look at turning problems that you may face to your advantage. Let us continue to look at other ways you can get ideas for your business blog posts.

How about announcements?
For sure, you will have new things coming up with regard to your business every now and then. This could be a new product or a new service. It could even be a new promotion that your company is running. It does not really matter what the announcement is. If there is something new going on in the company, then you can use that as content for your business blog. The good thing about this is that you do not need to spend extra on making the announcement – your business blog is there for the taking! More so, you can personalize your announcement in your blog, which is always a plus for you in the eyes of your clients.

Social responsibility.
Social responsibility has been a big term in the business world for quite some time now. More than making money and building business empires, it is also important for companies to give back to their community. If you are involved in any activities that relate to social responsibility, why not write about these activities in your blog? Aside from actually sharing what you have been up to (other than your core business activities), you can show your customers that you care about more than doing business.

One of the main concerns of small business owners is that they might not have enough time to come up with regular posts. This is very much understandable. For one, they are already running a business, how can they be expected to sit down and spend much time on thinking of what to post in a blog?

Still, it should not be that hard to find ideas for blog posts. Aside from the products and services that the company specializes in, there are other sources of ideas for blog posts. Let us look at some easy ones – you might be surprised that you have not thought of them before!

Think of some problems that you have encountered in the past.
It does not even have to be in the past – maybe you are dealing with a business related problem right now. It would be a good idea for a post. You can tell your readers about the nature of the problem. If you have already solved the problem, then you can tell about what you did to solve it. If you are still in the midst of solving the problem, you can ask your readers to help you out. This would in fact be a good way to engage your readers and solicit comments from them. Of course, you have the discretion not to disclose certain specific information that may be detrimental to your company.

This is just one idea. Let us look for more in the following posts.