The Most Thriving Blogging Niches
Based on my dozen+ years of experience as a blogger I collected the most thriving blogging niches that are really hot in the English speaking blogosphere for like a decade.
The one most striking overall trend is the establishment of new, strong performing niches.
The niches that literally exploded recently are:
1. Social media blogs
While there have been plenty of blogs dealing with social media already for a while, they rather dealt with the entrepreneurial perspective it seems to me. In recent months plenty of social media blogs appeared on the scene which cover social media bottom up.
2. Green blogs
Green blogs, in the ecological sense, dealing with the environment, sustainability and products that have a lesser impact on nature are around for a while but there are much more popular and main stream by now. Also there seems to be more of them each day.
3. Self improvement and personal development blogs
Basically before I started blogging in English, I wasn’t even aware of the term self improvement. When I finally noticed the the”Zen of everything” blogs I assumed that they’ve been around for years, but they haven’t, at least many of them.
Zen habits is still one of the leading ones after several years. There are really numerous self improvement blogs out there and each day they seem to be more of them. I love them all!
4. Productivity and lifehacks blogs
While I have been aware of Lifehacker for at least two years it has become one of the most popular blogs worldwide. Also I have seen many more productivity blogs spring up. Some but not all of them cross over to the self improvement niche or they overlap with freelancing blogs.
5. Freelancing and work at home blogs
A whole new movement of self-employed and proud of it bloggers is out there. Some of them are mothers working at home and blogging while rearing up their children at the same time, others are people who quit their regular jobs.
6. WordPress and blogging blogs
Covering blogging itself and more specifically WordPress is thriving for like a decade. New bloggers appear on the scene from time to time and establish themselves a to stay with us for years. The likes of WPBeginner, Smartblogger or BlogTyrant are indispensable for everybody who publishes a self hosted blog. That’s why they keep on rocking for ages.
7. Professionalization
Bloggers are getting professional at an incredible pace. Premium WordPress themes looking like expensive custom designs accelerate this process while highly organized and visionary bloggers appear seemingly out of nowhere and get famous in months.
8. Ebooks and video
It seems that all great bloggers either sell an ebook, give one away for free or prepare one. Bloggers turn to publishers as also video is more widely used as a new channel by bloggers filming themselves while speaking to the audience.
9. Positivity
The most positive blogging trend is positivity itself. While in Germany popular bloggers flame others and complain how messed up everything is, the English language blogosphere appears to be in a frenzy of achievement, collegiality and cooperation. I am really proud to be part of it.
Of course this list is highly biased due to the subjectivity of my unique point of view.
Looking at the international blogging community from the dark corner of Germany makes me really see a bright future for enthusiastic individuals determined to offer a great blog reading experience to international audiences.
In a way it feels a little like the early days of the Web when everything was still fresh and empowering.
Last updated: May 24th, 2016. Removed two, added one. Changed headline/URL.
I’ve noticed a lot of the same things (although I don’t watch SEO blogs much anymore).
Theres something similar in south africa as the blogging community is growing fast, theres even a south african version of Technorati (amatomu).
Excellent list – I think the biggest brand new trends are combination blog/microblog (tumblr, twitter, pownce) and live video/chat, which is going to set blogging at the forefront of whatever journalism is going to become.
Yeah Glen, there are at least two German Technorati contenders.
Michael: It might sound odd, but I don’t consider Twitter “blogging” at all. It’s more like chatting. Tumblr is more of a blog system while Pownce is more a social network to me.
Thanks Tad! You’ve put together the exact list I’ve been mulling over for the past couple weeks and have saved me a load of time. One interesting thing is that for so many people so many of those topics interrelate.
We are seeing a real emergence in the website wielding, work-at-home self-employed types and if the economy gets more and more stagnant and unemployment increases I think those trends are only going to get stronger.
@ Tad – Right, what I meant was just that people are adding these onto their blogs through widgets/plugins and broadening their blogs with these new tools. I didn’t mean to imply that twitter = blogging.
Mark: Put up your list anyways, I’m curious.
Michael: Well, many people refer to Twitter as “microblogging” thus… but now I got your point.
This list brings up some interesting possibilities. If you’re looking to be unique, for example, go with something that isn’t on it :)
Right Troy, it might be too late to jump on the band wagon but not in Germany ;-)
I really enjoyed this article and your bit about germany being behind the trends by several years is very interesting.
I am about to move country and would be looking to tap into local markets so I have to do research into different trends and cultures.
I have also noticed an increase in online entrepreneur blogs and I may jump on that band wagon. I think that it helps newcomers to the internet by providing them with a sort of guidance and also serving as a personal journal charting progress. I find that by seeing my progress I am more focused and able to achieve my goals.
I have a blog since 2002, I did if with Blogger (www.zevallos.blogger.com.br), and later in 2006, I migrate all pages to a new site, not a blog, with my own CMS tool to http//ruben.zevallos.com.br, where I added more than just posts everyday, but my ideas, references, books and news about my web tools…
My Blog increase it´s visits, but since nov/2007, I had other priorities like my marriage party, moving to another city and now, I think I´m ready to come back.
I think my “blog” is something for positivily stuff…
Thanks for the article
thanks..study a lot..
but you used “Make money online” in the sixth trend, while you said “Make money online” should be abandoned in you post”7 Misguiding Terms You Should Abandon”
Doumiao: right, but this post here was published earlier. Also the “make money online” is a downward trend. ;-)
where there is a niche there is a blog. The number of blogs in a number of different areas will keep on growing though how long they each will last… :D