Ever since I got my hands dirty with blogging, I realized that there was a myriad of ways to turn this little hobby into a nifty side hustle – and even a full-blown business. There’s absolutely no shortage of posts on this topic.
Like this one. Or this one. Or, oh, this one?
But I realized how so many of you might be interested in getting in on this blogging gold mine but might forget one very, very important foundation to profitable blogging – finding your profitable niche.
We don’t want you starting a blog about anything you don’t want to, after all! So let’s get started.
Read the rest of the How to Make Money Blogging series:
- Part 2: Understanding Strategic Affiliate Marketing
- Part 3: How to Grow Your Email List with Multiple Opt-in Freebies
- Part 4: How to Know What Digital Product to Sell (+ how to promote them!)

What is a niche anyway?
In case you think I’m speaking Greek, a niche is basically a fancy word for a broad, sometimes very specific, category or a topic that interests people.
It’s thrown out a lot in marketing and business, and since you want your blog to be some kind of business one way or another, you’re going to need to find your niche too. And as an aspiring blogger, finding your profitable niche is the first step to a money-making blog.
To help you understand better, here are a couple examples.
Let’s take two completely separate niches altogether: fashion and stationery.
Someone who blogs about fashion knows their audience probably wants outfit ideas, style ideas, as well any inspiration on where to find what kind of pieces for their wardrobe. Maybe a review of a particular fashion brand or clothing service might be in order too.
On the other hand, someone blogging about stationery might want to write about the best brands for school and office supplies, must-have items to stay organized, or even productivity hacks when working from home.
But what about people in the same general niche?
It’s obviously not a crime to be in the same general niche as somebody else – I mean, just look around at all the bloggers who talk about popular topics like travel or weight loss. But the way they stand out? That happens when they do a handy thing I like to call niching down.
Let’s bring back that fashion blogger example.
Say two great gals – Anna and Beth, we’ll call ’em – both have fashion blogs. Imagine they’re both living in the United States, they’re both about 29 years old, and they both love clothes.
So how do they differentiate themselves? Easy. They niche down.
For Anna, that might mean injecting her love for budget-friendly finds. She’s supporting her family but doesn’t use that as an excuse to not dress up in clothes that make her feel great. So her blog doesn’t focus on branded finds and instead features items from Zara, Forever 21, and even her favorite thrift stores.
And over at Beth’s corner, she’s all about everything trendy in fashion these days. 90s fashion coming back? She’ll put out a couple posts on that. Big and bold accessories making waves? You can bet she’ll get in on that craze to talk about her faves.
So you see, when these ladies niche down, they target a very specific kind of reader. Anna’s blog will definitely attract readers looking for affordable but fashionable pieces, while Beth’s is hounded by the same trendy gals who want to be first on the fashion scene.
So, should you be niching down? What if you want to reach more people?
I get that you’d want to reach as many people as you possible can, especially as a beginner blogger finding your niche for the first time. So niching down probably doesn’t sound that appealing.
But here are a few reasons I wouldn’t hesitate narrowing down my scope in a heartbeat, even as a beginner blogger.
You find the right audience for you.
Readers and visitors are definitely very important for a blogger. But if you want to make money blogging, you’re going to need the right readers and visitors.
These are the people who love your posts, your values, and your beliefs. They’re the people who open your emails, look forward to hearing from you, and just think: wow, I love this blogger!
The right audience eventually becomes the people who support you, even going as far as buying your products or services because they know you just get them.
Put yourself in an average blog reader’s shoes. Who would you identify with more? Someone who blogs about a million topics with general, vague ideas you’re not sure you care about – or someone who puts out post after post that makes you go, yes, yes, yes!!!
By trying to serve everyone, you serve no one at all.
When you’re trying to a one-size-fits-all kind of blogger, chances are you’ll have a harder time learning how to make money blogging.
Because when you try to serve everyone with all these different interests, values, and beliefs, you actually give yourself a more difficult time figuring out why people are visiting your blog.
Once you know what’s getting people on your site, what’s making them stay, what’s making them subscribe, you better understand who it is you’re trying to serve.
So when you get to know who your readers are, you can figure out what they need help with, what their problems are, and – most importantly – how you can help.
And the moment you realize you’re blogging about a topic that people need help with? Congratulations, you’re on the way to finding your profitable niche!
Are all niches profitable?
Let me tell you a secret.
It’s possible to make money from any blogging niche if you can give real value to readers.
It all boils down to value, value, value.
The reason I strongly believe you can monetize any niche is because there are a myriad of ways you can help people within that niche. From raising horses to teaching gardening to sharing past experiences, people are going to be looking for all kinds of information – information you know.
Remember, blogging is about giving people useful and valuable information. And where there’s value, there’s a good chance of monetizing.
You just have to be able to find the right monetization method for you. But we’ll be discussing those in the next couple posts in this How to Make Money Blogging series, so stay put.
And if you’re curious to know what some of the most profitable blogging niches are, here’s a short list. (Do you see one you’re particularly interested in?)
- the “MMO” (Make Money Online) niche
- fitness
- budgeting
- personal development
- health
- the “Learn Something New” niche
- lifestyle
- beauty and fashion
Related: How I Made My First 10,000 in 10 Months as a Full-Time College Senior
So do you find your profitable niche?
Convinced you need to find your niche before you can make money blogging? Great. The next thing you might be wondering now is: how do you actually find a profitable niche?
I’d ask myself a couple of questions:
What are you passionate about?
One thing I like to tell aspiring bloggers is that if you’re not passionate in whatever it is you’re blogging about, chances are you won’t stick around for the long haul. And because blogging needs a lot of consistency for it to work out, you have to blog about things you love.
If you don’t feel passionate about clothes, maybe a fashion blog – no matter how many people tell you that this is a profitable niche – isn’t the best for you. Don’t want to blog about blogging? Don’t need to!
One creativity trick I’ve learned is to look back at what I loved doing when I was ten years old. Because when we were kids, we loved a ton of things with no reservations – and that’s the kind of passion you want to have in search of your profitable niche.
What are you good at?
If you want to make money blogging, your blog needs to offer something valuable to readers. More often than not, real readers – the kind who will love your content enough to support you one day – log on to your blog looking for a solution to their problem.
Be it fashion advice, an easy recipe, or a productivity trick, someone is going to be looking for something they need answers for. And lo and behold, that person could be you.
And at this point you might be thinking: “Whoa, I’m not good enough to talk about x, y, z yet!”
So I’m going to stop you right there.
Because you are good enough to talk about these things. Remember when you first started and knew nothing? How many times did you Google the answers – and maybe even stumble upon somebody else’s blog?
What I’m trying to say is you’re going to be a valuable resource to somebody who was in your shoes one or two years ago.
Maybe someone learning to style themselves for the first time, or somebody trying to cook some easy vegan meals, or anyone who wants to learn how to write their very first novel.
You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.
Zig Ziglar
You see, it’s not about finding “the most profitable niche” out there. It’s about finding your niche to be able to bring value to people who come across your blog.
And once you figure out who you’re trying to serve and what their biggest problems are, you can be sure that – no matter what niche you’re in – you can make money blogging and become a valuable brand in your readers’ lives.
Related: How to Manage a Creative Business Even when You Work a Full-Time Job
Want the fast track to starting a profitable blog?
Here’s the rest of this series on how to make money blogging. I made sure to include everything you need to know based on how I’ve made money in the early days of my blog too.
- Part 2: Understanding Strategic Affiliate Marketing
- Part 3: How to Grow Your Email List with Multiple Opt-in Freebies
- Part 4: How to Know What Digital Product to Sell (+ how to promote them!)