how-to-start-a-blog

Here’s a competition check process you can follow:Can you find blogs currently targeting yourniche?Are there active Twitter accounts? You shouldfind many references to your niche on Twitter.Are there at least 5 popular blogs focused onyour topic?Do a Google search for “[niche] blog” or “best[niche] blogs”.Check Twitter accounts of people involvedwithin your niche and see how manyfollowers they have (should be at least 1k).Go to Twitter and do a search for [niche].Don’t lose interest if you see large number ofblogs in your niche. If they can do it, so canyou!Go to Facebook and do a search for yourniche. Are there active Facebook pages? Notall topics lend themselves to Facebook, butmost do.Look for Facebook pages and how manyfollowers they have. Great niches will exhibitat least 1k fans.Are there offline magazines? This is the goldstandard for a niche. If someone is going tothe trouble and expense of creating a hardcopy magazine centered on your niche, youcan be sure there are online fans looking forinformation about the topic. You can checkAmazon Magazines or just do google searchfor “[niche] magazine or journal”. This oneis no-brainer, we see all the golf relatedmagazines at the local grocery stores.If just one or two of these points are positive, it’s a good sign your niche has a potential.Potential monetizationDo you want to earn money with your blog? There are many peoplewho will start blogging as a hobby without necessarily lookingat monetizing their blog. However, others want to make extra cashor even dream of make a living by blogging. It doesn’t matter whichcategory you are in, it wouldn’t hurt to know if your blog can bringyou the income you desire. If you found other blogs, active socialprofiles, and offline magazines or journals in the previous sections,this means the niche is active and possibly monetizable.More about monetization techniques in Chapter 6.10