Niche writing is a smart way to focus your article-writing time on the Internet. Perhaps you’ve heard of niche-focused writing. But how do you find your niche? This article gives you tips on identifying a niche (or niches) in which you can develop a recognized expertise. Also learn how focusing on a writing niche helps you have a denser impact on the Internet. In brief:

Niche Writing + Niche Networking = Greater Earning Potential

What is a niche?

Niche derives from an Italian word that means a recess for a statue, or an enclosed, small area, set aside for something specific. Traditional freelancing advice encourages writers to focus on a subset of writing opportunities like creative writing, technical writing or non-fiction writing. They may even get more specific: short-story writing (creative writing), product specification (technical writing), how-to (non-fiction writing). Online content writing is often classified as a niche in itself.

But on the Internet, where traffic to articles comes from patterns of specific web searches, you need to define your writing niche more specifically. You want to identify a topic area to define your niche. How specific? Not car writer, but hybrid car writer. Not product reviewer, but cell phone expert. Get the picture? Break down your topic area to a highly focused subtopic.

How do you find your niche(s)

Brainstorm about all areas where you have expertise:

What is your professional background? Are you certified in a specific field (do write to experts@helium.com to get a recognition badge)? Are you a small business owner, office manager, customer service representative…the list goes on. Identify and brainstorm about everything you know from your career work.

Where do you live? Each of you has expertise to share about your home town, which you can use to fill up our Local Guides channel. Hyper local content is in high demand.

Have you always bought a specific brand of car? That could make you an expert car reviewer for Ford-type cars. Have you fixed your own car? What aspects of car repair do you know something about? What research can you do to fill in the gaps?

Do you have a hobby like knitting, deep sea fishing, organic gardening? Brainstorm about all you know in that area; and research to complement your first-hand know-how with valuable information.

Most people get married and have children, so that may not make you unique. But perhaps you have children who have had specific kinds of challenges (special needs, behavior issues, gifted). That could give you the experiential grounding for a niche expertise. Mix in good research and you can develop a thoughtful body of articles.

Are you a pet owner? Have you always had dogs? What breeds do you know well? What aspects of care, training and behavior can you combine experience with research, and write to a broad subset of articles?

How to make the most of your niche

After you’ve brainstormed what you know, start spinning off titles to write to. Push them out further to greater degrees of specificity. For example:

How to knit a sweater

How to knit with cashmere

How to knit a geometric pattern into a sweater

How to knit a sweater vest

How to knit a child’s sweater

How to knit a ski sweater

Challenges of knitting with solid wool yarn

What to consider when knitting with acrylic yarn

How to knit a button hole

…the list goes on and on.

It’s smart to chunk your writing, and blow out as many articles as you can on a given topic. Of course, be careful not to create duplicate content, which is a User Agreement violation. The more you write to a given topic area, the greater your chances of rising high in search engine results. The more web searchers find your articles, the more name recognition and earnings you receive. You become a recognized expert.

Check Helium’s writing contests weekly too, so you notice when one of your niche writing areas forms a contest. You increase your chances of winning if you come to such a contest with expansive knowledge and pinpoint research.

Check out Helium’s Freelance Marketplace daily so you notice when publishers post titles related to your niche.

How to complement niche writing with niche marketing

Find websites related to your niche: Link to them, request links in return, get active on that site, if you can. Build relationships by complementing other writers’ articles on that website. Perhaps social bookmark others’ articles  in Digg, Reddit, etc.

Create a Zone that draws traffic to your articles and those resource sites. Let the other web owners know, and request they place a link to your Zone resource on their site.

Use Google Blog Search to find bloggers focused on your niche. Get involved, and comment on their discussions. Invite them to share their articles on Helium, for more exposure and earnings. Explain they can republish non-exclusive articles on Helium that meet Helium’s Writing Standards. Share relevant titles they can write to. Share your own work and link to their blog on your Zone.

Get involved in social networking sites, and find others who share your passion. On Twitter, Facebook and Linked In you can use keyword searches to find individual screen names and group names that identify a similar passion group. Look up gamers and you’ll find scores of video game-lovers, for example. Be sure to use your Helium connections to expand your network. Join HeliumWriter on Twitter, Helium.com writers on Linked In and Helium: Where Knowledge Rules Facebook Group too.

Find your niche(s), concentrate your writing on your niche (one at a time), and expand your networking and linking opportunities within that niche. Watch how your niche writing plus niche networking add up to greater rewards for your writing.