Dom Kent asked this question at his X account.
I replied to his post.
Then idea popped up in my mind that I should discuss it in detail in my blog.
Because once I was that newbie freelance writer.
I started as a generalist writer intentionally.
I was a book nerd and storyteller.
I love to read about every topic in this world and then share it with friends and family.
I thought I could run my business with this approach.
But I was wrong.
It is very hard to stay in this industry as a generalist writer.
Why?
Companies hire niche specialists; especially high-paying companies.
And with the entry of AI, it’s so hard to survive as a generalist writer.
Then I decided to select a niche.
Read this article to find my secret sauce to find niches.
Table of Contents
How did I choose niches?
I was a generalist and now I’m a semi-generalist writer.
My main focus was to find niches that pay well.
I read & discussed a lot about high-paying niches on FB groups, Twitter chats, and Reddit.
My favorite Twitter chats are #freelancechat and #ContentClubUk.
Every first week of #Freelancechat is open mic.
You can ask any question and this generous community gives you best advice.
I also read job descriptions carefully. I marked job posts that paid well. I highlighted high-paying jobs industries and their requirements.
According to my research SAAS, tech and e-commerce pay well. SAAS and tech are vast fields.
All these niches pay decent money from $250 to 1500 per blog.
It was a happy news for me.
Why?
I’m an electrical engineer but now I’m not working in the field ;( I don’t want to sit outside the stadium.)
I wanted to work in tech and the SAAS field.
It gave me satisfaction that I’m still in tech.
I ran an e-commerce business and know how big e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Etsy, Alibaba and AliExpress work.
I know these fields but who will trust me if I don’t show my samples?
I just ticked mark my money goal in these niches.
Now next step was to practically explore these niches from a content marketing perspective.
How did I explore my niche?
I selected social media software and read their blog posts on their websites.
I signed in to some software and used them.
Then I selected some topics that I was confident about.
I wrote posts on my blog. My rule of thumb is to write 3 posts in the same niche.
If you can write three long-form blogs in a niche happily then you can stay in that niche. Then find jobs that are looking for the same niche writer and apply there.
Okay, if you‘re worried about how to select topics, then I get you covered.
How to select topics to write sample blogs?
I selected social media software and read their blog posts on their websites.
I read following social media blogs. I read a lot of blogs but still, these are in my mind.
- Sprout Social
- Buffer
- Later
- Many chats
- Hootsuite
I signed in to some software and used them.
I decided to write blogs in these niches and if they turned out good then I would add them to my portfolio.
To explore a niche have to write on topics that are similar to these websites’ content.
I found almost all of these websites write a topic about Instagram running a business on Instagram.
I ran a business on Instagram.
I wrote an article on it.
I landed big clients like Alibaba with this article.
This blog was ranked on the first page of Google with Shopify.
I wrote other two blogs on X(Twitter) and Pinterest.
Twitter blog got a featured snippet and the Pinterest blog is still ranking.
I entered into e-commerce and SAAS niches with these articles.
Dom summarized this tactic well.
You’ve got to be: –
- interested enough to stay
- inspired by the topic
- inspired by the pay –
- invested enough to research
What if you don’t want to follow this process?
I have answers for you.
1: Work with different clients and notice industries you like to work in.
2: Or sometimes you get a gig and then you get another gig for the same niche then it becomes your niche.
For example,
I wrote for a client on Google Sheets topics.
I liked this niche then I got another client for this niche.
Now I’ll work with other Google Sheets clients in the coming months.
That’s it.
If you‘re interested in this topic I’ll update this blog with other freelancers niche selection stories.