One of the biggest confusions and worries people have when starting out online is how to choose a niche. I am not talking only about the technical aspect of keyword research (greatly explained in Steve’s course).
What I am referring to is the eternal question “Should I pick a niche I am passionate about or the one that makes money?” So let’s see the Pros and Cons of choosing one over another.
Choosing a niche that makes money
Starting an online business by default means you want to make money from it. So this would be a no-brainer, right? Wrong. There is more to it.
I have a friend that decided to go with the money niche and it was about kitchen blenders. He bought the niche (a researched list of profitable keywords) and started building the site.
He found it extremely hard to work on it because he didn’t care one bit about kitchen blenders. It was like a chore, not joy as an online business should be. He had to do research all the time, cause he had no clue about his topic.
However, after a long time of suffering (it took him much longer to build the site than it should have) he started making passive income that kept growing as the site got older.
PROS:
- potential to make a lot of money
- potential to sell the site when it is successful for a big fat check
CONS:
- you don’t know much about the topic
- you need to spend a lot of time doing the research (or outsourcing)
- the competition is fierce since everyone wants to make money
The main thing to consider – Can you see yourself writing over and over again about the topic you know nothing about or care nothing about? It would be like me writing about boat engines!
Choosing a niche because you love it
Writing about something you like is much easier. Especially if it is something you are exposed to on daily basis. I could write hundreds and hundreds of pages on stuff I like. However, you also need to know a lot about it!
I love sport bikes. I can write a whole book about how much I like them. But could I build a site on it? No. Because I have no clue about the parts, equipment, engines and all other related topics.
Being passionate will not be enough but it is a great start, because it will be easier to learn about it and do the research.
Two things to consider, though, are: how big is the demand for a topic and how “deep” the topic is.
The size of the demand is what will make or break your site. If there are only 1.000 people in the world that like to collect statues of Santa in a blue suit, how will you make money from it? So you need to do the research and make sure there is some demand for your niche.
The depth of a topic is how much can you say about it. I love Monster drink but how much can you say about it? Two pages? Five? Definitely not enough for a money making niche site.
My rule of thumb is not to even consider a niche if I can’t easily find 30 pages to write about. Are there money making sites with only 10 pages? I am sure there are, but you need to pick one you can grow. Because if you can’t grow it, you can’t grow the income!
PROS:
- you can write a lot about the topic without researching it
- if you need to research it, you won’t feel like it is a chore
- it is easy to run a site about the topic you like for years
CONS:
- can be limited if the niche is really small
- some things you are passionate about may never make money
The competition
This is one issue I need to address in regards to both choices. If a niche has any potential, there is always going to be competition.
You can even invent a niche, as soon as someone realizes you are making money from it, they will try to do the same. Don’t let the competition stop you.
If you pick a money making niche, it will be competitive, but that just means there is more money to make in it. All you need to do is to make sure your content is great and keep writing more and more. The more content you add, especially if you are answering questions others are not, the easier your site will win those rankings.
Of course, don’t forget to optimize your pages for search engines.
Just make sure you are not after keywords that are too hard (pretty much impossible to win), like “fitness”, “pregnancy” or “travel”. Pick some more specific keywords and go the long tail marketing route.
How to connect these two together
There are evergreen topics on the internet (explained in more details in Steve’s book) where you can carve a niche for yourself. Evergreen topics make money, you just have to pick the topic and work hard 
So instead of picking “health” which isn’t a niche anyway, you could do something like “health for women after 40″. Instead of “cooking”, you will pick “best crepes recipes from France”.
Here are some general rules I follow when I am deciding on a new site:
- pick something I like in one of the evergreen themes
- carve a smaller part of that topic
- something easy to research, if needed
- do keyword research to make a list of at least 30 good keywords, preferably much more
- see how serious the competition is (not just the amount of it, but the quality)
These general rules are all I need to decide. Of course, doing a deeper research, with more details narrows down how good the niche would be at the end.
When it comes to monetization, if the niche is in one of the evergreen topics, there are always going to be ways to monetize it. I usually research what my potential competition is doing so I can do the same 
Conclusion
Choosing a niche is a big problem for some people but I never let the competition stop me. I may drop an idea if I don’t see a lot of potential for making money, but I know the more competition there is, the more money there is to be made. Decide what topic can you write about to the infinity and back, see if there is any income potential in it and hit it.
Are there any questions about niche sites you need answered?
Related posts:
Hey Pit,
What a nice read and such informative stuff here.
I happen to have Steve’s course and I have to say it goes DEEP down the rabbit hole!
I remember you told me you were working on this big niche site of yours, have you already started building it?
I already have a niche site of my own with its domain, the domain name itself doesn’t carry a very strong keyword but it is very short and straight to the point.
Planning to build a very B.I.G. site there but it will involve a looot of work (audio, video, software, etc) so I think I will be addressing this as I get more experience with membership sites and stuff like that.
However, everytime I visit sites like Whalley’s and others about AdSense, I always get second thoughts if it wouldn’t be better to build something that drags traffic like crazy and monetize that solely with adsense.
Who knows I may give this a try.
As for the micro niches go, I think Ed Dale (from the challenge) recommended to start with 3 micro niches and discard what didn’t bring any results after 2-3 months.
Of course, there were a lot more indicators to address but that’s it in a nutshell.
Looking forward for your updates and well… I think I’ll let you know whenever I start my own and write about how great or awful I did! LOL
Take care, speak soon!
Sergio
PS. Amazing revamp and great to see your picture up there, looks amazingly RAD!
PPS. Congrats for being featured on Danny’s site. I just mentioned him on my latest post and it was very cool to see you there.
Thanks for all this Sergio.
About niche sites. I registered the new site but can’t seem to find time to work on it which I plan to do in next 2 months hopefully. Just to get it going. It is in the fitness niche so it will be hard work, but there is a lot of money making potential there. Me being a sports trainer, it should not really be hard to write for it, it is something I like.
I am not a big fan of microniches. For example, my pet site is a big niche, cause I kinda mixed 3 niches in it (focusing on three kinds of small pets) and that gives me the space to grow it an develop but at the same time, it is still a niche.
If you would do 2 or 3 micro niche sites for 3 months, unless you are working on them a looooooot and all the time, or outsourcing a looooot, I don’t see them making it big in that period of time.
On the other hand, some of those microniches are not something I could get myself into. I prefer the slower but steady growth that brings back a lot after more than 3 months. So instead of having a site about pet bird cages, which is a microniche, I chose to have a bigger niche but the great thing is that when it gets the ball rolling it just makes it roll faster. It is the “tortoise way” Site Build It recommends
Wonderful post Brankica!
This topic is indeed most people would love to read- that includes me of course!
You are so right when you share both types of niches and their pros and cons as well. Guess you can’t really have best of both the worlds- yet you should go with what your heart tells you or what you are comfortable writing about, rather than taking up a niche that makes you struggle a great deal and which you don’t enjoy as well.
It sure has been a wonderful learning lesson for me as well and I am going to check out Steve’s book as you mentioned right after commenting here.
Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful weekend
Hey Harleena,
there is always going to be something that won’t be all flowers and butterflies 
For example, I am just starting a new fitness site which is what I went to University for and has great money making potential. But there is a big competition in that niche so it won’t be easy. We always have to sacrifice something but it doesn’t matter if the payout is good, lol
it is hard to get the best of it all
I can’t imagine having to write about something I don’t enjoy or have a passion for. I have a hard enough time coming up with new ideas after two years on a topic I love.
Great advice. I don’t worry about my competition because in my niche everyone has new and different takes on organizing and I think that’s a good thing. We learn from each other. Glad to see your friend’s pain is paying off.
I know exactly what you mean, having to come up with topics even if you love something.I mean there is only so much you can think of about a topic, lol
Brankica,
I have to always go with love because you can focus your love to make money but writing or creating strictly for the purpose of revenue gets tiring and lacks passion I think. With the shear # of sites available for consumers to find I think a passionless web presence will never reach it’s potential.
Just my thoughts…
Great topic!
Ryan H.
Doing it totally without passion will show, you are right about that. People do often chose money over passion when there is more to be made
I personally go for a ballance. I find niches that I am passionate about, while researching various niches to make sure they will be profitable. However, passion is first on the list. I have sites that never made any money that I still love to work because I am adding value to people’s lives. I will continue with them even if they never make any money because I love doing them.
However, you do have to find the right balance if you want to make this your full time living.
That is about how I decide if I am going with it or not. I do have to say that I don’t have any passion sites for the sole reason that I am bad at organizing so I don’t find time for it, but all my sites are something I really love so I guess that counts for something
Hi Brankica,
This is a great rundown of the pros and cons of choosing a niche. I like the idea of creating a niche which was sort of what I did by pulling in three niches together. One great benefit is that I always have a wide range of choices to write about and a good sized audience!
Stacy
That is a great strategy because almost every niche is somewhat limited and once you reach the end, you can only spin the topics some, but creating a niche like you did is a great recipe for success
Hi Brankica,
I’ve tried to create a profitable blog for a niche I am very passionate about, and that’s vegetarianism. But after about a month I stopped without earning any money. I realized that even though I’m very passionate about the niche, I hadn’t done any proper research, and I didn’t care much about writing for the niche. I’m a vegetarian, and I’m passionate about it, but I didn’t have any fun writing about it.
So, to me, it’s very important that we start thinking as entrepreneurs, and ask ourselves if the niche is a business, or just a hobby
Could not agree more! Even though I love a lot of different things, I can’t see myself writing about some of them all the time. On the other hand, if you want a business, it better be profitable.
I usually give my sites a lot more than a month to make money because I like to do things slowly and thoroughly. It starts off slower but once it is on healthy feet, I don’t have to do as much.
Hi Brankica
Love the new gravitar … very effective
To blog about something we are passionate about that is also profitable is the “holy grail” eh of a successful business model that gives us a good chance of turning into a profitable business.
However, as you have shared in the post, doing due diligence such as keyword research and competition parameters are important to know before taking the plunge to build a successful business.
With SBI and their many tools of the trade, makes it a whole lot simpler. As always really informative and valuable post Brankica. Thanks.
Patricia Perth Australia
Hey Patricia, a lot of people will go nuts about persuading you that passion is the most important but if it won’t make any money, it isn’t a business, rather a hobby site, right?
Exactly. And passion doesn’t pay the bills lol If what we are passionate about is profitable then that’s great. But I haven’t met many where that is the case.
Patricia Perth Australia
Oooh … I really love your new photo, Brankica — beautiful!
You’ve made it very easy for me to understand the up’s and down’s of choosing a niche. Thank you! Like one of your other readers mentioned, finding the perfect niche “balance” would be, well, … perfect!
I have to admit, though, my personal niche scale is tipped toward “passion”. I burn out quickly when I’m not having fun while working.
If something isn’t enjoyable to me and it feels like blatant DRUDGERY, I’ll give up and throw in the towel. Life is too doggone short (especially at my age!) to spend it hating what you’re doing.
Super post!
I agree, but what if that dreaded thing was a site that makes you $5.000 a month? Would you be willing to do it? Maybe not for $5.000 but more? That is where the business mind comes in for me
Hello Brankica. I have to go with passion. SEO is my passion and when you’re going to put so much effort (blogging is effort right?) into something, you’re gonna want to be passionate about. There are quite a few programs available on ClickBank (It’s hard to find them, sure) that will help you choose a niche you’re good at, like or would buy yourself to market in. And that makes sense to me
I once read a post that explained how SEO can’t really be a passion. I mean who is passionate about SEO. Now making money with SEO makes more sense in passion sense, lol. I will never forget the point of that post, had to mention it
Not sure about Clickbank, I never search for products there, I go the opposite way, try a product and then get a link from CB; but I do know that Site Build It tools are perfect for letting you research topics you love and then see how profitable they are.
Hello Bankica. I have a different angle. You can also make money blogging on behalf of companies you have a contract with and manage their blogs. That’s where I make the majority of money. Sure, many times it’s a chore, so I employed someone to do some of it under my guidance. Still producing great quality and I focus on creating new websites, blogs, social media management and creating campaigns. There’s a lot of fulfillment when you see traffic coming in and leads are converted. Engineering, oil monitoring etc are also niches. I’m not passionate about it, but it pays the bills.
You know, I like that angle. I am not sure if I personally could do it just for the fact that I can’t even concentrate on stuff I like, but for the right price I would tackle any niche. Like you said, that is what pays the bills
Hey Brankica,
I am planning to start out on a serious blog. And this is what was confusing me. Money or passion. But like you say, why not both?
The main point is that we need to find where our passion lies, what we are good at, and what might help us fulfill it. If we feel a blog might do justice to our passions and also earn us money at the same time, then we just have to go for it.
But yes, making money is also an important part when you enter the blogging scene with the hope of being independent. It will strengthen your passions and also make you do the blogging with much more enthusiasm.
Hope I made sense! Have a great day
I have to say that my initial start of this online journey was for the money. Now that I am making it, it is easier to talk about passion.
Here is what I don’t get. People start blogs “not to make money” and it is just a hobby, but they end up wanting money. If you want to make money online it will take some hard work to do it. So having a hobby blog for someone that wants to make money makes no sense to me. It is better to just pick a good plan from the start
Great overview of all of the pros and cons of this sometimes very confusing topic. There’s always people that select a passion topic that forget to look at whether it will monetize and come up surprised later. Then there is folks that look at monetizeable niches they eventually grow to loathe. It takes finding that careful blend of both to be successful!
Kim
I think the only way to go with those sites that you will end loathing is to build it and sell it, lol. But really, you have to find the middle, I had sites that although I love the topic, I kinda get tired of writing about it. Can’t even imagine writing about gardening
Let’s just say it’s a good thing I like my day job and it pays me quite well, huh?
I loved my day job and it paid great, but let’s just say I like this online thing better, lol
Oh, I love the online thing; I just know where my strengths are so I don’t need to take my eye too far off the ball.
I will go for passion any day! I get awfully bored with projects that I have no passion for and leave them for dead for the ones I do enjoy.
I know you as a great blogger and I bet that you make sure that passion can yield something. Am I wrong?
I agree with you Brankica. The secret lies in blending the two. Writing about only the things you are passionate about may fail to bring in the traffic. On the other hand, chasing the keyword with the mentality of making as much money as possible can get your worn out easily.
Thanks for the great post.
Thanks Martin
My personal take is: definitely go for passion, within reason. Doing an online business as a chore doesn’t make sense. If you don’t like it, you might as well find a more traditional job you don’t like either.
Being passionate about something with money-potential is the best scenario, even if you gotta be lucky, and you gotta work hard for it.
I admit I don’t have experience with making money online (in the strict meaning of it, I say this ’cause after all my company DOES make money online, somewhat) but I know that if I don’t give a damn about something I will never give my 100% to it.
That is about the same what I feel about it. I can’t work on something just for the money, cause I sometimes find it hard to even do what I like
From the business stand point, the only thing I think is out of the question is passion only, with no money making potential since it takes a lot of hard work to make a successful site.
Hey Brankica,
Great thoughts here!
I would go for passion. Because for me, it is really hard to write on issues that I don’t like (I have suffered a lot of that in high school and now will be doing it in the future for my college English classes).
But, you know, when it comes to living a life, you really need money. If I was really depending on blogging for my college fees or for my living, I would certainly choose one that gets me the money (I understand there are lots of niches that can earn us a lot of money, so I would choose the one I am interested in). Like you said, connect both of these things together
Thanks for the great read,
Jeevan Jacob John
I agree with you cause I am sure anyone can find one thing that interests them in the niches that can make money. It may be hard to dig it out but once you do, you are on a roll
Brankica,
First of all, thanks for all the great links to my book here. Always appreciated!
I think the topics of passion or money is sort of like a venn diagram. You have to have SOME intersect.
Using your blender friend as an example. Of course it is hard to really be “passionate” about a blender unless someone is one of those, “objectum sexuality” people.
But a lot of people are passionate about cooking and may have strong feelings about what makes a good blender. That type of caring would give a lot of latitiude for making great articles. (recipes using blender -drinks, food, hor dourves (sp??), shakes-, reviews of favorites, personal experiences)
It would be a lot more than just “business as usual”.
It may not be necessary about the EXACT niche if you are talking about micro niches, but it can really help if you care about tangenital niches.
As you pointed out, the best way is to carve off a small piece that has both the $$ potential and meets at least a “like” potential.
The absolute last thing anyone wants to do is try to write about a topic they detest or (if the goal is $$) write about something they love with no real clue about monetization.
Awesome comment, Steve, I agree about the blender thing and it would have been better if it was a female we were talking about, a girl could find more interest in the topic, lol.
I think it isn’t hard to pick the middle really, it just seems that a lot of people just don’t want to say it out loud, that they are after some income online
Well hello Brankica,
great post and you address the eternal question very well. If you chase the money but hate the life you have created for yourself, you maybe richer but certainly no happier.
I remember a lady being interviewd about garden gnomes as she was the expert on these, simply because she created a site about how much she despised them but went into detail about their history and thus her site became the authority on a topic she disliked.
I would always go with a topic that I at least have an interest in because should you ever get a question from a customer, you can respond with a clear conscience.
OMG that is a complete different angle on this. I love it. There are so many things I despise, lol, I think I could make a fortune out of sites like those
That’s something I definitely fought with at first. Doing something I like versus something that makes me money. Honestly, I chose a few topics based off the fact that I knew about it. I’m glad I did it my way because although I did not start making any income for a while – it’s paid off. I have much more authority on the subject, I get hired out for paid blog posts, people advertise on my site, and now that I have Adsense it’s giving me some decent earnings. However, I’m not against diversifying even if it’s a topic I don’t necessarily know about. I think it’s a good thing to start with a few things you are well versed in then branch out to a few that might make you some decent money.
Yes, that is a great way to do it. It takes a bit longer to make money with something you love if it didn’t have much income potential, but in the long run, it may be worth it.
This is great Brankica, as I said on G+ – I wanted to create a niche site for my offline biz and I knew it I could do it. I set it up, made it look pretty, did hours of keyword research, mapped my content etc … it was going to be great. The only issue? A small part of me died every time I sat to write something. My heart wasn’t in it. Sadly the motivation that I could own most of the search results was not enough to make to do it even if I have all the knowledge on the subject – the passion is missing …
That is scary
But believe it or not, that can happen even with something you love. Not often and not forever, but it can happen…
Yes, of course it can happen when you really love something but when you don’t love something from the beginning it’s really hard, actually next to impossible, to find love in it!
Lol, I agree cause I am like that
For me, this is easy. Write about a topic you love, that you have passion about.
Your writing will come as genuine and you will come across as an enthusiast/expert in the field.
Your visitors will recognize this as well and respond accordingly.
And when your visitors respond positively, that is when the money will flow.
So, to sum up, do what you love and it will never seem like work. You will also make all of the money you ever truly meed to.
I would not agree with that. You can love Monster drinks as much as you want, they won’t make you money. Some people love to eat furniture (yes, it is a fact) but I don’t see you making money out of writing how much you like eating a chair…
Hey Brankica!
Wow, I haven’t been here in a minute I guess, the site looks great!
I recently quit my job and started a new biz (marketing for businesses through search, social, and web development), and one thing I recently learned is you can have all the passion possible, but if the vehicle or direction is wrong, you will never make it.
I work with a business consultant now, and this is something he helped me see in my own business. For example, you can be the best chef in the world, but that doesn’t mean you should open a restaurant. Maybe you should have a culinary school, or a food show, or a catering business. Maybe you just aren’t cut out for the restaurant biz…. does that make sense?
In my example, I came to find out I much prefer SEO over design, but there is more money in design. So, I hired people to help do the design so I could work on more search clients. I also looked back on my history, and realized my “micro” target market should be any business related to the building industry. After all, I have 20 years experience in it, and I built a contracting business off nothing but a blog and social media….
Anyway, yes. Start with passion, but look much closer if you are building a real biz….
See you around Bran….
I think you landed on the blog as soon as I changed the theme
I’ve been following your story and I remember that book of yours, where you explained how you improved your building business with Twitter and blogging if I am not mistaking. I love how you do stuff. I don’t like that you had to start over because that is always hard to do, but it doesn’t seem to hurt you!
I agree with you on all this, like the example about the chef. And it is cool to hear that in the process you learned about what you like better, same happens with me over time. I should just apply for a job with you, it seems like something big is happening there
If you are into freelancing, I am building my database and will be outsourcing several projects in the future…. email me your contact info and rates
I have been here before. I love playing golf and I built a nice golf blog that went nowhere because of my lack of passion to write about it was non-existent. As much as I love playing golf with on weekends, I couldn’t see writing about it daily. I got bored with it and wasn’t inspired by it. Now, I love what I write about and I am able to help others along the way. Great post Brankica!
Hello Brankica, I find there are ALWAYS pro’s and con’s now matter what we do in business. I believe to follow your passion and write about it, but at the same time a good key word search is important. When I’m “stuck” writing, I do a key word search which is in accordance to my niche. It often inspires me for a new subject to write about.
I like the example you gave about the niche of cooking and how one can play it with different words. It resonates with me because I’ve done it and it works.
Of course, we need to leverage our blog posts, and that is another story lol.
I enjoyed reading your blog and will return.
Blessings,
Donna
Hi Brankica. First time visitor to your website here – found you through Lisa Irby. Thanks for sharing this as it’s exactly up my alley for what I’m doing right now – planning what niche site I should do. I have a few websites already, but I never really planned or strategized them, so they don’t earn much.
I have the “challenge” if you want to call it that of a great paying day job with benefits that allows me to live comfortably. But I like your comment – this online thing is much better
After 4 years of not planning and having a strategy, I’m finally waking up and now thoroughly planning what niche I will do. So far, that is the hardest part – deciding what niche I want to do long-term.
Thanks for taking the time to write and care about this subject.
I loved my job and never thought I would be doing this, but every day I wake up at 10 AM and drink coffee till 12 to actually start “working” at 2 PM and finish by 5 PM is a great day, lol.
Let me know if I can somehow help!
Thanks for the response Brankica. I’m currently working on my next niche site using Lisa Irby’s niche site guide. I’ve never ever actually planned and strategized a website before. I’ve spent the last couple days wrestling with which idea I should do. I (like many others I’m sure) have many ideas.
If you wanted to take one minute and help by voting which idea you think would work best, the poll is on my home page. Other than that, it’s up to me to get it started and share my results
Brankica
Thanks for the review! Agreed, I need to like and know about a topic to be able to write about it. How timely is your article, this is the year I am going to experiment in Niche sites
Will check out Steve’s book!
Best, Rajka
Hi Brankica & everyone else !
I have just come across your blog & really enjoyed reading your posts – especially this one ! I have often struggled with the idea of liking a subject, enjoy reading about it, having some knowledge but NOT enough knowledge to write about it on a regular basis !
Also, I have never understood how some bloggers pick any random subject you could think about make a successful blog from it – without any knowledge / interest in that subject simply because there is money to be made in it.
It really does seem that no matter what you do sometimes you need to have some good fortune on your side.
Nick