Niche-blogging is the art of finding some particular topic or subject-matter on which you’ll produce helpful content for the community that gathers around that topic. There are a lot of stereotypes surrounding the issue of niche-blogging and many people begin their quest for the right niche with all the wrong questions.

I’d like to offer some guidance toward what I feel would be the very best niche in which you could possibly blog. So what’s the best niche of all for you to blog in?

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I get excited when I read a good blog post. And I react, which is exactly what you want me to do if you’re the writer. That’s the point, in fact. Get me to react, respond, interact, promote… you want me to act. So you’ve endeavored to make your post actionable for that very reason.

I thought it would be helpful to you if you knew what I (a user/reader/fan) do when I read your great stuff. That way, you can do even more of what you do to make great blog posts, but even more, you can make it as easy as possible for me to do what I do when I react to your great post.

WHEN I READ YOUR AWESOME POST…
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I remember hearing in speech class a long time that a speech could be condensed to three segments…

• Tell’em what you’re going to tell them.
• Tell’em.
• Tell’em what you told’em.

I’ve heard the same principle apply to writing also, but I’d like to apply it to blogging on a slightly larger scale (even though I think it’s pitiful simplistic and shallow speech-making advice). I think this little outline can apply well to a week (or a month) in the life of your blog. Let me expound…

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A community-sized article is one that stretches beyond your site in its appeal and application. We’re all concerned with higher traffic and more clicks, but we’re also far more dependent upon each other than we realize in this business called blogging. I think there’s a reason why car dealers all open shop right next door to each other – there’s something mutually sharpening about finding ways to cooperate with the “competition.” We’re all better in the long run when we’re willing to be unselfish, help readers out and… give traffic to other blogs (gasp) by plugging great resources.

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I just read an article at Mashable about how a guy with a cell phone broke the news of the San Francisco Bridge being shut down after pieces of the bridge fell, using Twitter and Twitpic. It’s a different world! The same happened when the plane landed in the Hudson River in New York – Twitter, on the scene!

Why are Mashable, ReadWriteWeb, and TechCrunch such popular sites for social medialites and tech junkies? Because they all have an uncanny knack for capturing the news which is truly breaking. Then the rest of us sponge off of them for our second minute content.

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Blogging is about communicating ideas, connecting with people, and building community. Here are ten very brief but simple ways you can do that…

• BE passionate – there is no substitute for writing from the heart.
• BE controversial – not all the time, but don’t avoid it. Don’t be argumentative, but don’t skirt the tough topics.
• BE helpful – give your readers something they can use and apply. Tutorials, tips, and advice.

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I don’t know who said it, but one if my favorite qoutes is, “Success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. That’s especially true in the world of blogging. A hundred blogs die in the dust each day because of a poor commitment to good old-fashioned hard work.

So here is a brief challenge to do these few things really well at the outset…

WORK. Hard!

RESEARCH everything relevant.

WRITE a lot. At least daily if at all possible.

PROMOTE like crazy (but of course, don’t annoy anybody).

DREAM of what your blog will become. Envision it.

So welcome to boot camp. Survive the first couple of months and you just might have a winning blog!

What else?

When I started blogging, there were very few platforms from which to choose. I chose Blogger at the time and later converted it to a hosted Wordpress blog, then started hosting my own Wordpress blog using a shared Hostgator (aff) account (which I still have). That was way back in the stone ages… 2005. The rest is history.

Now, things are a little tougher. There are a lot of things to consider before diving in. I thought I’d throw out some questions for “newbies.” First off… welcome to the game – blogging is a blast when you keep it fun. Here are some questions to ask…

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For a blogger, comments are tremendously important. Comments are the stream of any blog’s “community” or readership, and they serve to help the blogger know where to go next. So it’s my own opinion that we who choose to ask for comments should at least consider what benefit we can return to those willing to chime in at our request.

I’ve chosen four simple methods of doing this…

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