How to Find a Profitable Niche That Makes Money in 5 Easy Steps

Have you been trying to figure out how to find a profitable niche that makes money, whether it’s for your freelance writing business or blog?

Did you know that one of the most common reasons that startups fail is because they didn’t find a profitable niche? Forty-two percent of startups fail because there was no market need for their service or product.

Learning how to find a niche is about as fun as wrestling a polar bear on razor blades. In fact, I wasted A YEAR trying to figure out my freelance writing niche.

I don’t want you to put off starting your blog or writing business because you can’t decide on what to niche down to OR deciding that being a generalist is easier.

You’ve heard it all before. Everyone keeps telling you that you need to choose a niche for your blog. By niche, I don’t mean just deciding that your blog is going to be about writing.

I see you grimacing through the computer screen because that’s just what you planned on doing. “But Heather,” you say, “I want to reach the most readers and clients.” 

You can’t be everything to everyone and serve your audience well. Here’s an example to help you understand what I’m getting at. (I’m a show-me-kinda-girl!?)

Say you’re a new blogger looking to learn more about affiliate marketing. You run across these two blogs on the internet. Which one would be the most helpful?

• The Essential Affiliate Marketing Guide for Beginning Bloggers

• The Basics of Affiliate Marketing

Yes, the answer is the first one! You know from the title that the first one will help a new blogger learn the ins and outs of affiliate marketing. The key point is that it fits your needs.

The second example is too broad, and the new blogger looking for help likely won’t click on that link.

Plus, in our busy world, we only have seconds to convince a reader to click on our article. It’s one of the many reasons that choosing a specific niche works.

What You’ll Learn in This Post:

• What a niche is

• How to find a niche using the Niche Ninja Method

• Tools to use to see if your niche is popular and profitable

• + See the checklist for popular freelance writing niches for your business

What Exactly is a Niche?

The Urban Dictionary defines a niche as “an area of the market specializing in one type of product or service.”

I often see people confuse niches with services, so this definition can be confusing. 

For blogging or freelance writing, a niche is the primary theme or passion that your blog or writing business revolves around. It’s the subject matter that all of your content focuses on. 

A service is a type of project(s) you choose to work on, like blog posts, case studies, white papers, etc. So, technically you can “niche down” and specialize in only one or two services as well as one main topic.

You could say that a niche is essentially an audience. It’s an audience for a specific topic or theme.

Some examples of niches would be:

• Security technology

• Dog grooming

• Virginia travel

• Historical places in Massachusetts

It’s Hard to Niche Down

I’m the Girl that Waited a Year to Start Her Freelance Writing Business and Blog Because She Couldn’t Find a Profitable Niche.

Figuring out how to select a niche was one of the most challenging parts of blogging for me. Seriously! 

I wavered between my professional background (which was law enforcement), helping others with their writing careers, or my love of mysteries and crime.

IT WAS A NIGHTMARE!

To say I was frustrated was an understatement. I went through countless domains that I bought.  One day I was going to be “The Criminology Scholar,” and the next week, I was “Freelance It.” 

I tried to work with each one only to question if it was profitable or even a topic that I could grow an audience with.

I even emailed some popular bloggers that I followed, hoping that they could tell me which niche was the most profitable or viable. All I got was crickets.

It wasn’t because they didn’t want to help me out but that they likely received emails like that all of the time. Plus, no one can tell you which topic is the best one for you. Only you can figure that out.

Only you know what you’re good at or are willing to learn. Only you can decide what niche you’ll stick with or enjoy writing about regularly.

You’ll likely falter along the way and end up changing your first choice, but this doesn’t mean you’re a failure—quite the opposite. 

Trying something and figuring out what works and doesn’t is how you succeed in the long run.

Mistakes are simply life lessons to help you grow as a person. Failures pave the way to success. If we never made mistakes, we’d never learn the right way to do things.

Related: The Best Laptops for Writers This Year

How to Find a Profitable Niche Using the Niche Ninja Method

After struggling to find a profitable niche and seeing hundreds of other aspiring writers and bloggers do it, I figured out a simple five-step method that makes choosing a niche much easier.

It’s called the Niche Ninja Method, and here are the main steps.

• Your favorite hobbies, sports, and activities

• Your work skills and education

• Life experience

• Research – Demand, Competitors, & Profitability

• Cross-reference the remaining niches and narrow them down.

Now you can be a Niche Ninja too, using these 5 easy steps.

We’ll go through these steps next. But first, here’s why you need to niche down.

Narrowing your niche down helps you reach your perfect audience. Even with all of the blogging topics globally, there are still tons of people most likely blogging in your niche.

Don’t Panic!

Why? Because you have your own voice and story to tell, and that story is different from everyone else’s. It may not seem unique to you, but I promise it is. People out there want to hear what you have to say.

You will strike a chord with someone and possibly change their life. When you find those true fans, you’ll understand why narrowing down your niche was necessary.  

You also don’t want to waste time with those people who just aren’t the right fit. You want to spend your time finding your real audience and not the wrong audience. Get really specific with your niche.

The perfect niche is neither too broad nor too narrow. You’ll eventually run out of content topics if it’s too narrow, and you won’t find your tribe if it’s too broad.

For example, the topic of cooking is too broad, while making Nigiri Sushi is probably too narrow. A niche about instant pot cooking is just right.

Now get out a piece of paper and pencil (I’m old school) or open a Google Doc on your computer. Here are some questions that you need to ask yourself to find a profitable niche for your blog or writing business.

Passion-What Are You Passionate About?

Choosing a niche that you’re passionate about makes writing for clients and your own blog much easier. To succeed as a writer or blogger, you need to love your topic, or writing about it may become tedious.

You should genuinely care about helping the people who read your blog posts. Your blog post will mirror your genuine desire to serve others when you pick a niche that you’re truly passionate about.

Starting a blog and sticking with it isn’t easy. When times get rough, your passion will see you through. And times will get hard, especially if you’re still working a 9-5.

So, think about the topics that you like to read or learn about. What hobbies do you enjoy pursuing?

Write a list of all of those things that you’re passionate about. If you love scrapbooking or crafting, you can teach people new products or helpful techniques.

Jennifer Maker has a gorgeous craft blog that supplies tons of useful information and fun projects. Her pictures are beautiful, and her articles are interesting to read. 

She’s also an excellent role model for bloggers and is a fine example of truly serving your audience.

One of the things I realized over time is that my client avatar was the earlier me. That was mind-blowing because I knew what the earlier me needed on my journey to become a successful freelance writer. 

Ask yourself the following questions if you find that your audience is just someone a couple of steps behind you:

• What problems did you face?

• What products helped you or could have helped you? 

• Did you hang out in certain Facebook groups or browse on Pinterest for helpful information?

• Were there other bloggers or entrepreneurs that you followed who helped?

• What did you read or watch?

• Did you spend money on courses, books, or products to solve your problem?

Education-What is Your Educational Background or Career Path?

One way to find a profitable niche is to look at your career and educational background. 

Choosing a niche that you already have experience in is the easiest way to hit the ground running. It helps you establish the expertise and authority that will make you the go-to person in your industry.

For example, my 22 years in law enforcement establishes me as an expert in the security industry, so I can command higher rates.

What did you study in college? What was your favorite subject in high school? It’s much easier to write about something that you have a lot of background in and knowledge about.

The perfect niche is neither too broad nor too narrow. You’ll eventually run out of content topics if it’s too narrow, and you won’t find your true audience if it’s too broad.Click To Tweet

Do you have a degree in accounting? And maybe you love crafting. If so, you could focus your blog on helping small crafting businesses with accounting tips. Or you could be a freelance writer for accountants that help small crafting businesses.

Many people who begin their business journey are lost when it comes to self-employment taxes and general accounting. (Hello! I was! I still am to a certain extent!)

Something that may seem so simple to you may be difficult for someone else. New freelancers are probably looking for someone like you to save them from their own personal accounting hell.

Are you the go-to computer gal at work? Perhaps coding for websites is a natural gift. Many people would love your expertise on that subject!

By no means do you need a college education. As long as you can write well or learn to write well and have the correct tools, you can write helpful and entertaining blog articles.

Remember, you can still impact a lot of people without being the top expert on a subject. You just need to be able to share your experiences and helpful information that solves a problem. 

It’s the personal experience that’s important and will make you stand out from the rest.

There may be people new to the topic that you can teach. Remember, there are different levels of knowledge and advancement.

As I advanced through my journey of learning to work from home, I noticed that I didn’t need to subscribe to entry-level blogs anymore.

They were great when I was starting, but I had advanced past that level. Their information was invaluable to me, though, when I started.

Of course, a grasp of the English language is necessary to communicate your message effectively. But if grammar isn’t your strong suit, get someone to edit your articles for you.

Start by making a list of topics that you have a strong background in. Think of the subjects that you know more about than your friends or family. Have you accomplished something cool that could help people?

Is there a niche you can write about that relates to your current job? I was a police officer for years and debated using law enforcement as my niche somehow. That’s how I ended up writing blog articles for businesses in the security industry.

If you’re a lawyer, you may write about common legal topics that people want to know more about, such as disability or civil law.

Life Experience

I find that many people find the most rewarding and passionate niches in their life experience. Life experience is huge and every bit as important as formal education.

For example, nothing I learned in college helped me be a better police officer besides maybe report writing.

Everything I learned being a police officer came from life experience itself – actually doing the job.

People often skip these possible niche ideas because they don’t feel like they’re an “expert.” But don’t discount yourself! Millions of people out there need your solution to make laundry easier or clean the house faster.

Maybe after years of homeschooling your kids, you found the perfect curriculum and schedule. If you’re a busy mom working from home, you may have great productivity tips and ideas for making working with your family home easier.

Think of the things that you’ve mastered through life experience and add them to your list.

*Pro Tip – One thing I want to note, though, is when it comes to choosing a niche, whether it’s one tied to a hobby, education, or life experience, be sure also to tie it to an industry. For example, you can be a freelance blog writer for the beauty or security industry.

Research – Demand, Competitors, & Profitability

I’m lumping all the research methods that help you validate if your niche is profitable and verify demand all into one step.

As you use the tools that I explain below, you’ll find out a little bit about your competitors, demand, and profitability all at the same time.

Research is a critical part of validating the possible niches on your list. There’s a reason why passion and education or experience play such an essential element in the process.

Passion is so essential in a blogging niche because blogging is hard work. If money is the only thing that motivates you, you’ll give up soon. You need passion to propel you through the hard times.

Over time you can make money from your blog. You can sell online courses, eBooks, physical products, services, and digital downloads and make money from affiliate marketing and ads.  

When you niche down as a freelance writer or blogger, you’re targeting a specific audience who will pay for your expertise. That’s how you get higher-paying writing jobs. 

You’re also going to want to learn about SEO because you’ll need it for your blog and writing business.

Mike Pearson, the creator of the course Simple Stupid SEO, has an excellent free video training on SEO. 

You can find plenty of free keyword research and SEO tools out there. If you want a super inexpensive keyword tool to help your SEO, check out KeySearch.

To learn more about KeySearch and it’s incredible features, check out my KeySearch review. If you want to buy it, you can get KeySearch 20% off through my link with the code, KSDISC.

Competitor Research

I’m launching something new soon that’s going to dive a little deeper into competitor research using KeySearch. Knowing your competitors not only helps you choose your niche, but you also need to know who they are for three main reasons.

One big reason you want to do competitor research is that you want to see if there are other people already making money in your niche. You can also find new blog post ideas and backlink opportunities.

I’m going to show you an easy way to find possible competitors on Google, but the information is not as verified as the data you get using a keyword research tool that does all the work for you.

Say you’re looking at something under the outdoor niche like camping. Think of what you may search for if you’re brand new to camping. For instance, someone who wants to start camping for the first time may search for something like “camping for beginners.”

Type that exact phrase in Google and search, and you’ll get some of the following results:

You’ll notice big brands like KOA and REI, who dominate this space. Then you’ll see some other blogs and websites in this niche. So, this, in a broad sense, gives you an idea of who your competitors are.

You can search for more phrases to get a better sense of some possible competitors. Try searching, “how to set up a tent.”

You get the gist, and you’ll learn a little more below as we search for profitability if there’s a demand for your niche idea.

Is Your Niche Profitable, and Is It in Demand?

Now you need to see if the niches on the list you have so far are profitable and in demand. 

Don’t expect to make much money immediately because this won’t happen. (Sorry, but it’s true!) But profitability is a critical factor. 

The reason why passion is so essential in a blogging or freelance writing niche is that blogging is hard work. And as a freelance writer, you want to enjoy writing about your topic too, or else you’ll dread work.

If money is the only thing that motivates you, you’ll give up soon. You need passion to propel you through the hard times.

Over time you can make money from your blog. You can sell online courses, eBooks, physical products, services, and digital downloads and make money from affiliate marketing and ads.  

When you niche down as a freelance writer, you’re targeting a specific audience who will pay for your expertise, or rather your client’s expertise. That’s how you get higher-paying writing jobs. 

While it’s possible to make money from just about any niche, some are naturally more lucrative than others.

Look at how other blogs in your chosen niche make money. This research will give you ideas for your blog and let you know if it’s a viable topic.

So one of the first things you can do is some keyword research to do a deeper dive than Google. 

There are several tools you can use to see if a niche is popular and profitable.

• Google Trends
• Amazon
• Google Adwords Keyword Planner
• Ubersuggest
• Quora and Forums
• Other tools

These are just a few tools you can use to validate your niche. I go over how to use each one in detail in my popular course, The Niche Ninja Mini-Course. If you want to ensure your niche is profitable from the start, you don’t want to miss this course!

I walk you through the process and tell you some of the secrets no one shares on finding the perfect niche for you. Join hundreds of students inside of it!

Here is something to remember. You can still impact a lot of people without being the top expert on a subject. You just need to be able to share your experiences and helpful information that solves a problem. 

It’s the personal experience that’s important and will make you stand out from the rest.

There may be people new to the topic that you can teach. Remember, there are different levels of advancement.

As I advanced through my journey of learning to work from home, I noticed that I didn’t need to subscribe to entry-level blogs anymore. They were great when I was starting, but I had advanced past that level. Their information was invaluable to me, though, when I started.

Of course, a grasp of the English language is necessary to communicate your message effectively. But if grammar isn’t your strong suit, get someone to edit your articles for you.

Start by making a list of topics that you have a strong background in. Think of the subjects that you know more about than your friends or family. Have you accomplished something cool that could help people?

Is there a niche you can write about that relates to your current job? I was a police officer for years and debated using law enforcement as my niche somehow. That’s how I ended up writing blog articles for businesses in the security industry.

If you’re a lawyer, you may write about common legal topics that people want to know more about, such as disability or civil law.

Cross Reference All the Niches on Your List and See Where There is Overlap

While going through these questions and adding niches to your list, you likely see overlaps. Some niches will pass all the tests, or some may only overlap on three.

The profitable niches, the ones other people are passionate about and you love, are the ones to think about seriously. If you have a background in those niches, that is even better.

Building a blog and business takes time and energy. You need more of a push on some days than money. Your passion is what pushes you through those hard times, the times when you’re tired and just want to give up.

Remember the Niche Ninja Method

Passion – your passion for the topic and other people’s passion for the topic.

Profitable – Is the niche profitable?

Education – your educational or career background

OR

Life experience (most niches fall under either your life experience or your educational or career background.)

Research – Demand, Competitors, & Profitability

Cross-reference the remaining niches and narrow them down.

I hope this article has given you a little bit of clarity on picking the best profitable niche for YOU. Your perfect niche. Because I know the struggle is real. Hello, I was on Struggle Street, too! 

However, eventually, you get off the struggle-bus and persevere! Just don’t wait a year to start your business or blog as I did.

If deciding on a niche is something you are truly having issues with, consider taking The Niche Ninja Mini-Course; I go much further in depth in it than this blog post can cover.

Here are some of the things students in this course are saying:

“Everyone always talks about Niche down, and No one explains how to do it. After taking this course, I was able to pick a profitable niche and feel confident in my choice. This course gave me tools I will be able to use throughout my business. Thank you, Heather, you are the best!!” ~ Tiffanie Mayo

“You need the Niche Ninja Course! Everyone talks about “You need to niche down” or “choose a profitable niche”, and Heather makes it easy to understand HOW to go about doing both of these. Her workbook walks you through the process of how to dig a bit deeper and get at the core of choosing a niche you’ll want to spend time writing about and working with.” ~Kelli Shipp

“The Niche Ninja Mini-Course walked me through the entire process of choosing a profitable niche, from identifying my ideal reader to researching each niche to determine whether it’s in demand and how competitive it is.

While working through the course, I used the beautifully designed worksheets to come up with a list of profitable niche ideas for my next blog and finally narrowed it down to a topic that is both in demand and one that I would enjoy writing about.

If you’ve been spinning your wheels trying to decide on a blog or freelance writing niche, stop now and take this course! “~Tonya Mickelson

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Find your profitable niche today.