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Whether you're blogging from a place of personal passion or as a form of content marketing, having a defined niche can have a big impact on your blog's success.

A lot of companies write exclusively about their company's activities, but a blog can do a lot more than keep people informed about your latest products and/or services. It can assist you in building a reputation, establishing your brand as an authority in a subject, and provide value to your customers.

In this article, we will take a look at some of the important considerations to take into account when searching for a good niche for your company's blog.

Who is Your Target Audience?

Are you hoping to reach an audience in a specific demographic? Is your core audience involved in a specific subculture or similar line of thought? Is there a common element that just about everyone in your audience has in common?

These are key questions to ask before selecting your blog's niche. If you aren't writing something that your target audience is interested in, it will provide very little value to them.

If your company is associated with a company that sells cookie cutters, having a blog about the Smurfs isn't going to do your business very much good. You may be passionate about Smurfs, but unless your company specializes exclusively in Smurf-shaped cookie cutters, your audience is going to be quite limited.

Here are a few blog niche ideas that might work quite well for this company:

• Daily Recipes
• Baking Tips
• Life Hacks (tips for kitchen organization, saving money, etc.)
• Baker Interviews (interview professional bakers about their businesses)
• Beautiful Food Photos

Are You Being too General?

If you have a real passion for technology, the idea of doing a general tech blog covering a wide range of tech-related topics might be very appealing, but it can be very difficult to make a mark on the world with a generalized tech blog.

If your blog covers everything from mobile devices to desktop video cards, you have essentially positioned yourself as a small fish in a very, very big pond.

There are already many established names in this genre, and the chances of your site reaching a large audience and gaining search engine rank in your subject are slim. If these things are important to you, you should consider narrowing your niche down a bit.

If you love technology, think about a type of technology that appeals to you the most. Consider your audience, the amount of content that could come from the niche (you don't want to be too narrow, either), and how many other players are in the space.

A general tech blog might struggle where a blog specifically about technology of the 1980s, or Windows phones might find some success with its narrow specialty.

If you run a camera shop, for example, a narrow niche could serve your business very well. Here are some examples of niches that could work, within the more general field of photography:

• Interviews with Photographers
• How to Guides for Recreating Famous Photos
• Camera Reviews
• Photography Tips
• Camera-Specific Tips and Tricks

What Are Your Goals?

When you pick a subject for your blog, each post has the potential to set you up as an authority in your topic.

When McDonald's Canada wanted to take on the growing concern people had over its products, it created a blog that answered these questions, head on.

It isn't easy to believe that a blog about pink slime and preservatives would be a very good idea for a company that's very reputation was at jeopardy because of it, but it was.

Not only did McDonald's have a definitive resource customers could go to for answers, but it has significant rank in Google when the terms "pink slime" or "McDonald's meat" are used.

Think of your blog as an ongoing story, and your company or business model is a part of that story. It doesn't have to be the focus, and certainly not the main character. You just need to determine how writing about a subject will help you achieve your goals.

Will blogging about Smurfs help a camera store sell cameras? Not really, but it could help a retro toy store sell Smurf action figures. Find a niche that helps you tell your company's story.

If you can provide value around a common interest your customer base shares, your business and the community it works in will undoubtedly benefit.

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