The Most Popular Article Categories and What To Do With Them

I’m not one to make lists just for the sake of making lists. If I’m going to spend part of my few remaining years on the planet making a list then there had better be a darn good reason for it. Such is the case with this article and this list.

I want all of you to have a starting point as you venture forth into the scary world of freelance writing, but I also want to give you a few words of friendly advice that are related to that starting point.

Let me start by saying that I don’t much care about search engine popularity. Anyone who has read my articles of late knows that I write because I love writing, and I also write to help others. I refuse to use keywords and to me, SEO stands for Search Engine Obstinate. J

However, there are many writers out there who do care about SEO, and they are trying to make it in this writing world either through passive income (writing for HubPages or other such sites) or writing articles for magazines. If you are one of them then pay attention because I just might be able to help you.

Here is your first lesson. How do you make money by writing articles? Give people what they want or need.

First lesson is now completed.

Think about it for a second. People do online searches mainly because they want to know about a particular subject, right? It would then follow that if you, as a writer, had a list of the most popular search categories, you would have a rather important piece of information. So here is that list.

1. Personal finance
2. Business
3. Autos
4. Technology
5. Home
6. Health
7. Travel
8. Fashion
9. Pets
10. Education
11. Arts and Design
12. Family
13. Sports
14. Politics
15. Religion
16. Gender
17. Food
18. Holidays
19. Games
20. Books

If you answered that question by saying that now you write about one of those categories, I want you to step back to the end of the line because you just failed my little test. It just ain’t that easy, folks!

By doing a quick Google search of “personal finance” I managed to find 950,000,000 articles. That’s million, my friends. HubPages alone has over 250 articles about personal finance. Obviously there are other writers who want to cash in on the “personal finance” category, so we need to help you be a bit more competitive.

When the pie is too big for your stomach you need to cut off a smaller piece of pie, and that is the whole point of this article. Narrow the focus so that you are a big fish in a little pond rather than being a little fish in an ocean. Get it?

Let me give you a real-life example. A friend of mine, tillsontitan on HubPages, has chosen to write about movies. Now, movies do not show up on the above list, but I can tell you that they are #21 for those keeping score. That means there are a great number of writers writing about movies, but that did not deter tillsontitan (Mary) from writing about them. What she chose to do, and I applaud her for it, is write a series of articles detailing the Academy Award winners for each year. Since there have now been eighty-five Academy Awards she will eventually have eighty-five articles floating around the internet, all with the same basic title and all with the same basic keywords. By this time next year, whenever anyone does a Google search for “Academy Awards,” there is an excellent chance that one of Mary’s articles will pop up at the top of the list.

That, my friends, is smart, and Mary now moves to the head of the line.

Another friend, Bill on HP, writes about travel. Check the list above and you will see that travel checks in at #7 on the popularity list. Big ocean! Bill, however, whittled down the competition pool by only writing about tourism in Italy. Smart move! If he keeps pounding that particular niche he will be sitting pretty in a year or so.

And there is the only keyword I want you to concentrate on…..niche!

Excuse the pun but pay attention to the message.

There are days when I think that if I see one more recipe posted on HubPages I’m going to upchuck my lunch. Why? It’s not because I’m against food. I love to eat just like everyone else, and I love to eat good food….but….I can count on one hand the number of times I have read a recipe that was actually unique in the nature of the writing and niche.

“Julia’s Home Cooking Lasagna Recipe” is infinitely more memorable than “Great Lasagna Recipe.” In the same vein, a series of “natural” recipes, or “organic” recipes would have a much better chance of success than just “recipe.”

I’m trying to help you here so pay attention and take notes.

Find a category you are passionate about and then narrow the focus to a smaller sub-category….and then….beat that sub-category into the ground with repetition, repetition and more repetition. It is the only way to win playing the Google game, and I want you all to win.

And when you have found your sub-category, I want you to do the following.

Start a blog featuring nothing but that sub-category, and start writing blog posts daily on the same theme and linking to your articles. Blogs are free and easy to construct. My blog on Wordpress took me fifteen minutes to construct, and I am basically brain dead when it comes to technology. If I can do it then anyone reading this article can do it. Trust me!

Your ultimate goal is to become a leading expert in your field. Think Julia Childs. Think Martha Stewart. Those two started out just like this and look at how they ended up. In today’s world of online writing and presence, one does not have to be an expert; one only has to appear to be an expert. Perception is the key to marketing and marketing is the key to any business enterprise.

I just took a break but I’m back. While I was taking my break I stopped by HubPages, and a new article was posted called “Buttermilk Brownies.” That was the title….I swear to God I’m going to scream.

Off to Google I went and I typed in “buttermilk brownies”…..2.6 million entries.

Need I say more?

Is anybody listening to me???????

So what do we do with this “buttermilk brownies” nonsense? How about a series of articles titled “Down Home Buttermilk Recipes” and then each recipe can feature buttermilk? How about a series of “brownie” recipes?

There are those out there who write for the pure pleasure of writing and I applaud you and respect you. We need more of you and less of the keyword/SEO crowd in my humble opinion, but my opinion and seventy-five cents just might get you a cup of coffee in a diner.

I am writing at this moment for those who are trying to make money writing articles but who have no focus. I am writing for those who write one time about fifty different topics, then send the articles out into the cyberworld and hope for success.

Success in writing has very little to do with hoping. It has a great deal to do with talent, focus and a plan.

That is what I want for all of you…..success…now you need to work on the talent and focus since I just gave you a plan free of charge.

2013 William D. Holland (aka billybuc)

“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”