How to Choose a Topic for Your Blog

There are, literally, millions of blogs in existence today. With the success of blogs turning into books and then movies, or the chance to earn ad money from your site, many people are drawn to the possibilities of earning income by blogging. But how many of these millions are vibrant blogs with dozens, if not hundreds, of page views daily, and how many are the equivalent of an empty house, the last post dated sometime in 2008? Unfortunately, the answer is...most of them. According to Caslon Analytics, as many as 60%-80% of blogs are abandoned within the first month.

How do you prevent your blog from turning into one of these statistics? The most important factor is to find a topic that you will want to write about regularly (meaning several times a week) for an extended period of time.

1. Write your passion

This is not necessarily what you do for a living, what you received your degree in, or your intense, but fleeting desire to find the perfect outfit for your high school reunion. Instead, think about what your dream job would be, or what section of the bookstore or the library you normally gravitate to. Gardening? Self-help? History?

Your first instinct may be to choose a topic that is PC. "What I really love is watching reality TV, but I'm embarrassed to admit that, so I think I'll blog about my job in the insurance industry instead." This is a recipe for a boring blog that will soon be abandoned. By contrast, one of the liveliest and popular blogs out there is called Gosselins without Pity (http://gosselinswithoutpity.blogspot.com/)

The point is, no one will be paying you to write your blog (at least not for awhile) so this is the time to do what you love and what gives you the most fun.

2. Find a niche

After identifying your subject, think about what part of that subject interests you most. This will help you focus, especially in the early days of your blog, and early readers will immediately "get" what your blog is about. Using the bookstore analogy, someone can decide they want to write a blog about cooking...then about French cooking...then about the doyenne of French cooking Julia Child...and voila! The Julie/Julia project (Julie Powell's blog about cooking each recipe in "Mastering the Art of French Cooking") was born.

This may seem counterintuitive to some...wouldn't it be easier to write about a wide range of things, rather than on one small segment? Perhaps, but you'll know your subject is too vast, when, in writing a fifty word description about your blog (either in the "About" page, or when submitting your site to search engines) you spend several hours trying to figure out what to say. As an example, someone who wanted to write about the independent music scene could simply describe their blog as, "my thoughts on the indie music scene". But if your interest is really on up and coming artists, or the industry itself, or on the various genres, then that is your niche.

3. Consider a process.

There are many successful blogs that chronicle a process, or a stage in someone's life. A journey, striving to reach a goal, overcoming a setback, are all popular process-type blogs. One of the most popular blogs on Salon.com a few years ago was someone posting about their trip through Southeast Asia. He wrote about the difficulty of finding an Internet café to write his posts, took pictures of the ancient (by our standards) computers at these cafes, as well as the beauty of the country and his journey. It was funny and poignant, and readers who thought they had no interest in a 20-something's travelogue found themselves hooked.

4. Read other blogs. If you have an interest in monetizing your blog, this is a good way to research what is already out there and to convince yourself, that yes, there is a market out there for someone who wants to review shampoos! It is also a way to further refine your topic and find your voice. Some blogs are written in an informal, casual manner as though you were speaking to a friend, while others are more authoritative and informational. If someone is already writing about your topic, decide what you would do differently. Add more pictures? Shorter posts? Then do just that. Look at sites like www.technorati.com or www.wikio.com for ideas.

Finally, don't be afraid to start all over again. Creating a blog is free, and if something no longer interests you enough to want to spend many hours writing about it...everyday...then it's time to move on. Just keep refining the process, keep thinking about what it is that you have an interest in, and/or what you want to be an authority on. You'll find your way.