The @steemph.antipolo Blogging Workshop - 02

hoosing a niche for your blog is important as it is a necessary part of ensuring regular consistency in the topics that you write about, which in turn, improves follower loyalty. After all, we do not make money by writing about random topics in hopes that we get some upvotes -- we make money by having loyal followers who read everything we post, upvote our posts and leave comments that inspire interactivity.

If you published a magazine like FHM, and focused all of your content on topics devoted to things men like to read about, you make money, not by publishing the magazine, but by attracting regular subscribers who like the content and buy the next subscription with an anticipation that it will be relevant and is captivating. But let’s say you start posting about topics that belong in Cosmopolitan, how many followers would stop reading your magazine because it is no longer relevant, because it is no longer consistent.

Focusing on a niche, allows you to build a base of loyal followers, who will keep coming back for more information -- if what you are providing is unique, interesting and informative.

So how do you chose a niche?

This is a very common question, but most people ask, what the most profitable niche is. These are two completely different questions, the latter of which should never be asked by a new blogger. The reason for this is simply because the most profitable niches are already monopolized by Whales. We cannot compete with Whales, because they already have a large follower base, and have shown consistency within their respective niches.

We need to choose something that we are familiar with -- something that we can write about all day, and answer questions quickly. For example, my posts are almost entirely about professional and personal development. The topics and information are based on years of experience in training agents and other workers in the BPO industry. I can easily answer any question to any article I post, because I am familiar with the topic. I also have absolutely no competition, and although the niche is very narrow, I am able to generate a consistent $1/day income after only 3 weeks on Steem.

And, if I do write about something off-topic, I make sure to add a designator in the title of the article, so my follower base can ascertain if it is an unrelated post. So for my short stories and tall-tales, I add Pickles to the name of the post. These stories exist only for relief from writing about the same thing every single day -- they are not part of my niche, but their rarity does not adversely affect my follower base.

In choosing your niche, you need to find something you know personally, something you are experienced in or otherwise passionate about. Do not ask others what would be a good niche, because if you write about something simply to make money from it, you are no better than any other spammer on Steem. Your niche has to be something you can easily write about, something you can, without hesitation, reply to any question related to the post.

Choose something that only you can write about, and then be consistent and regular about your content. Every article you write, every post you create should be consistent, it should be relevant and it should be reliable. You need this to build your follower base, and to build your income potential.

When writing, make sure to choose a title that is as consistent as the content. It should include enough information so your follower base can judge if it will interest them, but should also be written in a manner designed to entice them to click on it and read -- just make sure you are no “click-baiting”.

Click bait is a title designed to convince someone to click and read the content, only to find out that the content is nothing like the title. This form of exaggeration is heavily frowned upon -- it is fraudulent and manipulative. You need to be a trusted source of consistent and relevant information