Where Should a Newbie Start: Why Select a Niche You're Interested In?

When I first started out in internet marketing, I thought - why pick something I'm passionate about, I just want to work on something that makes money!

Now, after a bit more experience, I think that newbies are best served by starting out in a niche that they're interested in. If you are lost about where to start, think about what you are genuinely interested in. Which niche do you already know a lot about?

And by "niche", I mean a broad category, like weight loss, cooking, fashion, gadgets, cars, etc. You need to then hone down on the specific keywords such as "lose weight for your wedding" or "best casserole dish". Then you can add Adsense or affiliate links to start earning money online (of course, monetization is a topic by itself!)

The benefits of starting out in a niche that you enjoy are multiple:

1. You will find it easier to write on.
I discovered this the first time I started writing about clothes/accessories. I can reel off benefits for certain shoes or bags off the top of my mind. However, if I need to write about grills or diy tools, I have a really tough time.
As a newbie, you are probably doing most of the writing yourself, so you'll make life easier for yourself if you pick a niche you enjoy talking or reading about anyway.

2. Keyword research is easier.
I know nothing about speakers but they are expensive. One time I decided to make a site on audio stuff, and I needed to research audio equipment. What the @#$% are tweeters? They kept coming up! I didn't know what to write on or what to do.
Avoid this kind of problem by picking something you know.

3. Picking products is easier
If you want to sell products on your site, you can easily tell which ones are more expensive and will earn you a higher commission. For instance, I know without doing any research that a leather bag is more expensive than canvas or a DSLR camera lens is more expensive than an entire point and shoot camera.

4. Building authority is easier
I recommend expanding your site to become an authority, but even if you have a few articles up, readers will understand if you are passionate about your topic. This makes it easy for you to build credibility with your audience. Think in terms of a gamer discussing Final Fantasy: as opposed to me reading up about it and then rehashing what I've learnt. It would take hours and hours to "fake" the kind of passion that comes naturally to someone who actually loves the topic.


Of course, picking a general niche and then running with it is not enough. You will need to use a keyword research tool (I love Market Samurai - it comes with a 30 day free trial so you should at least check it out! But there are other good tools as well) and then go through the nitty gritty of the keywords you're interested in - how many searches it receives and how steep the competition is.


So, what's a quick way to find out if a keyword is worth your time? I like to use something I call "social site leveraging".

Pick a site like ezinearticles or hubpages - I prefer hubpages since they will share Adsense revenue with you. Write up a quick 300+ word article on your keyword, do a bit of backlinking and then see where it ranks and how much traffic you are getting; both Hub and EZA offer traffic statistics and you should make use of those! Within a week or two, you'll be able to tell if you're getting enough traffic to make it worth your while.

Of course, I skip this last step these days since I've gotten more comfortable with keyword research and knowing what kinds of keywords do well.

If you were having trouble deciding where to start - I hope this helped!