Futurists are having a hard time predicting how our civilization will look in the future, even 20 or 30 years from now. After all, half of the things we’re doing now were unimaginable 30 years ago. Few could say that they had predicted the massive boom of the Internet – today, the digital economy is as vital as any manufacturing or service sector.
In many ways, we live online – we communicate over the Internet, buy everything on the Internet, and find our service providers on the Internet. That’s why content creators of all kinds have had so much success in the past decade. For instance, if you want to start a blog on just about any topic, you’re almost sure to find a niche audience to support it; of course, provided you have a knack for writing and put enough work into it.
Naturally, the more preparation and thought you pour into your content creation process, the better your chances are of reaching a wider audience. So, let’s take a look at some basic factors before starting your blog.
Decide Which Topic To Cover
If you’re serious about your career as a blogger (and blog owner), this is your most important decision. So, here is some good and bad news. First of all, the good news is that you can blog about pretty much anything and manage to find an interested audience.
However, the bad part is that this makes deciding what to cover incredibly difficult – especially if you’re interested in a lot of stuff. So, are you supposed to pick the right niche?
For starters, it’s crucial to choose something you’re actually passionate about; stuff you’re happy to spend your downtime on, things you like to discuss with your friends, and something you’re happy to read about. It doesn’t matter if it’s chess, golf, skincare, or cooking – as long as you can see yourself writing about it for the next 5 years.
Besides that, it’s also helpful to pick a topic you’re actually familiar with – that will make your content more original and relevant to your target audience. So, consider what kind of expertise you possess – is there something people view you as being particularly great at? Or, is there something people will ask your opinion on frequently? That’s the sort of stuff you’ll be able to translate into a quality blog.
Research The Competition
Regardless of how original your idea is, you need to prepare for one simple fact: there’s already a similar blog out there. In 2022, five billion people were regular Internet users – which means well over half of the world’s population. So, the chances of you coming up with something new globally are relatively slim.
However, that’s not necessarily such a big thing. The fact that there are other blogs out there covering the same topic means you can do some research on the competition. You can see which blogs are successful and which aren’t in any given niche – and while outright copying someone else won’t get you anywhere (and will be penalized by search engines), you can still see which pitfalls to avoid.
For instance, you can see which writing styles people respond to more regarding your chosen topic. Also, what kind of elements besides writing do the best blogs in your niche use? We’re talking quotes, images, graphics, videos, etc.
Also, this gives you a great chance to see what sort of unique angle you can bring to the table – just regurgitating existing points or imitating already successful content won’t get you anywhere in the long run.
So yes – a generic cooking blog isn’t likely to be a success in 2022 and beyond. After all, countless others are out there offering the same thing. But a cooking blog that covers a specific topic, like getting all of your macronutrients on a tight budget or covering the cuisine of a particular culture, has a much better chance of becoming a hit.
Consider The Structure
The first few posts you write may result from a moment of inspiration. However, if you’re going to maintain a blog in the long run (and as a source of income), you’ll quickly see that relying on spontaneous inspiration isn’t going to get you anywhere.
Besides that, you’ll also learn that search engines and readers have one thing in common – they like structure and order. And while you’re unlikely to have a comprehensive content strategy as a beginner, you should still think about creating a couple of main categories for your content that will make planning it out easier.
For example, if you’re going to start a fitness blog, you can create 4 categories of posts in the beginning: something like nutrition, workout plans, recommended gear, and general advice.
