Choosing niche subjects for writing online

Finding niche subjects or topics for writing online is essential for ranking high in search engine results. The reason is niche subjects narrow the competition and it’s easier to rank higher on a topic that returns 800,000 thousand results instead of a topic that returns 80,000,000 results or more.

A niche topic is a specific angle to use in approaching a subject. I’ve been writing online for two years and I was always puzzled by the advice of writing for niche topics. I wasn’t really sure how to develop one. But here’s what I’ve learned on narrowing a topic to generate greater readership. Finding a niche subject means taking a broad subject matter and narrowing the content to focus on people who have interest in a specific sub-set of information. We can take any subject matter and repeat the same exercise.

Let’s get started. Think back to the first research papers you may have had to write for high school. I was always interested in the west and I chose to write a paper on The Battle of Little Big Horn. Now that’s like writing for a niche topic. Let’s see how to move from a broad topic to a narrow topic to a niche topic.

Broad Topic: American West

You can’t write a research paper on this subject or even a book since it has no angle.

Narrowing the Topic: Settling the American West in the mid-to-late 1800s.

While this is more narrow you need to ask the question: what do you want the reader to learn about this subject?

Focusing the Topic: How the Battle of Little Big Horn was a Mistake in Settling the American West.

Now the title may be too long for a paper, book or web article but that is the idea. Let’s take a different approach on which I know little to nothing: clothes and fashion.

Broad Topic: Fashion

Why are you writing on this topic? This topic is too broad for a book or web site. And your article won’t rank high in the search engines.

Narrowing the Topic: Fashion for Business Success

Okay. But you’re still competing against general keywords and phrases that companies like Bloomberg, Forbes, Entrepreneur, etc are using in paid and organic search.

Focusing the Topic: Business fashion for management consultants

Even more Focused Topic: Choosing business fashion to lead a HR Seminar

Hopefully, you get the picture. This type of thinking also leads to successful search engine optimization strategies. I helped a client who owns 26 apartment buildings in one specific area of Los Angeles to gain more local traffic to the corporate web site through re-writing the site using neighborhood landmarks and street intersections. Judging by the keywords using in finding the site, it worked.

Here’s another reason why writing niche articles and web sites is helpful.

Imagine writing an article titled “Health” or “Good health for men” or even “Good health for men over 50.” Don’t you think that the web site Web MD, a CBS-Viacom Web property, is already loaded with information related to those topics? They can allocate large budgets in generating clicks and they have amassed the content to generate organic searches, too.

So where does that leave the health writer on Hubpages or their low budget website? Choose a really specific topic: How fish oil capsules improve memory for men over 50.

These are examples of developing niche topics.

Now, how do you know those niche topics are in demand? Search Hubpages for many of the excellent Hubs on using Google Adwords tools, Wordtracker or other sources. But I also say, if you’ve narrowed the topic to your specific area of interest, then create a Hub and you can track the results month by month. You can write both to your area of passion and to a niche topic that will end up high in search engine rankings.