The goal in picking a topic for your authority site is to pick something that you can really help people with. Ideally you want your topic to be one that has lots of people who really want that kind of help badly. Some topics will appeal to a large audience who want the information but aren’t really dying to get it. Then there are some topics where people would absolutely love to have the information, but yet the number of people who want that information is very small. Here are a couple examples.
“How Maintain Your Pet’s Health” vs “How To Treat Hypothyroidism In Poodles”
There are lots and lots of people who want to maintain their pet’s overall health. But, how many of them lay awake at night wondering about how to maintain their pet’s overall health? Lots of people want that information, but they won’t go much out of their way for information that is that generic.
A much, much smaller number of people would be interested in How to treat hypothyroidism in Poodles, but the people who are interested in that topic will want that information very badly. They will want that info because they have a Poodle who is affected by hypothyroidism. They will want to know how they can keep their dog alive and well as long as possible.
Which of those two would make a better niche site?
Probably the more specific one about hypothyroidism. But, this is something you have to judge the pros and cons for in each case.
There are some niches where you have the best of both worlds. You have lots of people who are willing to spend lots of money on solving their situation. These are the most popular niches in the internet marketing world such as making money, solving relationship issues and weight loss. There are millions upon millions of people who seek help and information in those categories.
With your authority site, you are much better off looking for an untapped more specific niche like the Poodle hyperthyroidism example rather than going after one of the big general niches. Once you have some experience under your belt, then you can always go build a site to target a much larger niche.
Try to come up with a topic idea where you have some specialized knowledge about that topic. Doing that would make it relatively easy for you to build a site because you speak from experience.
Did you know that every single person has some valuable specialized skill or some rare knowledge that would be highly beneficial to other people out there? You do too. Think about it for a minute. Isn’t there one thing that you know how to do that your friends or relatives are asking you about all the time? You bet there is. If you can’t think of anything, then you’re not thinking hard enough.
People Will Trust Your Advice If You Are Knowledgeable About Your Topic And Have Experience
Everyone is an expert on something. You can usually tell right away whether or not someone really knows what they are talking about.
Have you ever read articles published on sites like eHow.com? If you have then you will see that the vast majority of articles on there are written by people who really don’t know what they are talking about. Those are mediocre sources of information at best. You simply don’t get the high level insider knowledge that you are really seeking when you come across an article on there. The same can be said about pretty much all of those content farm style sites.
What if you come across an article on a blog about pet health that is written by someone who works at a veterinarian’s office though? Would you listen to that person for advice about your dog? Not only would you take their advice, you would probably consider them to be exceptionally authoritative on the subject. Even if that person wasn’t an actual veterinarian, her advice would still probably be more authoritative than some random person’s advice.
What if you came across someone who was a breeder of Poodles and they were giving advice about Poodle health? Well, if you had a pet Poodle you would probably consider that person an authority on Poodle health. If you had a German Sheppard, then maybe you wouldn’t take their advice to heart as much.
Your goal is to find something that you know way more about than the average person because you have so much experience with it. Everybody possesses some rare knowledge like this; even you.
When you find a site like eHow or Wikihow or any of those kinds of sites ranking high in Google for a long keyword phrase, those situations are likely to be a great opportunity for building an authority site.
What Questions Do Your Friends Ask You About?
One way to get ideas for blog topics is to think about what kinds of specialized questions your friends, coworkers, customers or colleagues ask you about. Chances are there is an opportunity awaiting you that has something to do with the industry you work in.
If you are a stay at home mom or dad then that is your industry. Believe me, there are a million things that stay at home parents are experts in. And, there are plenty of other people in that situation who need those questions answered and really want your advice.
Don’t just choose to make a generic blog about being a stay at home parent. Instead, build an entire authority website around one topic that lots of people are seeking information on. Here is an example.
In this modern era, new parents are often torn with the decision on whether to use cloth diapers for their baby or the disposable ones. If you are a recent parent and you did a bunch of research on that topic and you have personally tried both options then you could build an entire site around that topic. You should easily be able to come up with ten questions that are directly related to that topic that you could use as topics for creating the core pages for your website.
The main thing is to choose something that you really are knowledgeable about or that you find so interesting or that you are so passionate about that you are willing to do deep research into it. That way it will be much easier to write about it. You won’t struggle so much to come up with topics. You can just write an article as if you were talking directly to one other person in a private conversation.
What Topics Are Good If You Intend To Monetize With Google Adsense
A lot of people who decide to try blogging for money want to use the Google Adsense system to monetize their blog. This is a great idea so long as you are blogging about topics that are centered around a product or service that there are plenty of advertisers for.
For example: If you work as a dental hygienist, then it would be a great idea to create a blog that educates people about all kinds of things they could do to improve their oral hygiene. You could review some of the latest rechargeable toothbrushes. You could talk about different brands of tooth paste. You could write about the whitening strips that people use to brighten their smiles. All of these topics will have plenty of advertisers bidding on Google Adwords ads. That means there will be plenty of better paying ads to show on your blog.
You might be able to find an even more specific niche inside there that you could build an entire website around. A good example would be electric toothbrush reviews. There are probably enough different electric toothbrushes on the market that you could build an entire website around helping people pick out the absolute best one for them. Believe it or not, that is the kind of information that people crave and are willing to do research about. And, because you are a dental hygienist, you would be considered an authoritative expert on the subject.
Which Niches Pay The Most With Adsense
The higher paying ads tend to come from the advertisers that stand to make the most profit from a new customer. Wherever there is big money to be made, there are usually good paying advertisers. So, things like elective surgeries, legal matters, insurance, mortgages, loans, investing or getting a professional education will usually pay well.
Some topics just don’t pay well because of their nature.
Some topics just suck when it comes to monetization. If you chose to blog about a topic such as politics, you would be disappointed in your advertising revenue. People assume that because politics are so controversial and so many people are involved in politics that there would be plenty of advertising money to go around. This is simply not the case. Most of the ads that will show for political blogs are really low paying ads. You would probably have a tough time earning even a dollar per day. It might be fun to run your blog, but you will not be making much money with that kind of blog. The people who make real money with those kinds of blogs have tens of thousands of visitors per day. You aren’t going to get that kind of traffic consistently if you are doing this thing part time. If you really think you can build a site to be as popular as The Drudge Report or Politico, then by all means, go for it.
I suppose if you were creative enough with monetizing a political blog, then you could make some decent money with it. Adsense would not be the way to go though.
Another common topic that people love to blog about is making money online. I can tell you firsthand that it is a lot harder to make money blogging about this topic than you probably think it is. It does make it easy to meet people because so many others write about making money online. But, it is a pretty lousy topic to monetize with Google Adsense. The people making real money in the MMO niche are people who are selling their own products and services to those of you who want to learn how to make money online.
Plus this niche is ultra-competitive with lots of heavy hitters in the industry. You will be competing against people with a lot more experience than you. There are other much better niches that you should target that have next to zero competition. Look for those. Remember, don’t look for topics that you don’t know anything about. Start your search by thinking about the things you are really knowledgeable about. Look for the rare niches.
What Kind Of Topics Work Best For Authority Sites
The best topic is the one you are most knowledgeable about with the least amount of competition. Think about what kinds of skills you have that other people lack. Think about what kinds of products you know a lot about that other people don’t know much about. Look for opportunities there.
Think about topics that start with sentences like “How To ………” or “What is the best……”
Once you have some good ideas, then start doing a little research. Just go to Google and type those questions into their homepage search box. Do the search. See if there are any good sites in the top 3 results that are really giving you top quality information. In many cases there won’t be. You might find a bunch of articles about the topic. Take a closer look though. Are those articles really giving out the kind of information or advice that people really want on that topic? If not, then you have just discovered an opportunity.
What Do You Do When You Just Can’t Seem To Come Up With A Topic No Matter How Hard You Try?
Let me help you. If you are totally stuck trying to figure out what topic you should build your authority site around, then I have some more free help for you. I came up with a series of questions to ask someone who is stuck trying to figure out what topic to build an authority blog around. Those questions are included in my Authority Blog Starter Kit. You can download it for free, no strings attached.
If you read the questions in that kit and you still need help, no problem. Just let me know. Send me an email – Ted **at** authorityblogstarterkit.com and ask. Please be sure to put the phrase “I need help picking out a topic for an authority site” in the subject field for the email.
Send your answers for those questions to me in an email. I can then offer you very specific advice for your situation. You should also read part 2 of this article that offers more advice for picking a niche.
