I still haven't chosen a new niche for this blog yet, although I have given it some thought. There are a few ideas in my head that I'm mulling over, trying to figure out which one would be the most interesting and enjoyable to pursue while needing a reasonable amount of work. I don't want this to take away from my digital content work, but I do want it to contribute to my personal branding and expertise in a substantial way.
I Could Do the Blogging Case Study Again
I could, and I have thought about it. My only issue with it is that I feel like I would still have to choose a niche, so it doesn't remedy the problem I currently have. Without a niche, I would trouble ranking for keywords (kind of tough to have keywords to rank for without a niche) and I would have trouble determining how many visitors came from search engines (because I don't have a good grasp of the keywords). It might not be a bad idea to combine the two, choosing a niche that doesn't have a strong business blogging presence and needs some barrier busting, but perhaps we'll do that if the niche works. I don't want to limit myself to a niche that would work with the blogging case study. Although, if I did do this, I don't think I'll blog every day. That's too much for me.
I'm Leaning Toward Identity Theft and Credit Repair/Scores/Reports
My identity theft protection client just reduced my workload by two-thirds. I'm okay with that, since I wasn't too fond with their business blogging methodology anyway. I've been writing for them for about two years now, so I've developed a wealth of knowledge in this arena. It's information that's badly needed in today's society, as how identities are stolen is constantly changing. Credit reports and scores and one of the few ways we can find out about identity theft, but our credit reports and scores aren't always accurate and can be used against us if we don't know what's on them. Also, things like scams, malware, phishing etc. also jeopardize our identity theft risk.
I'm Also Considering Something to do with Activism or Political Issues
It was my maternal health critique that went viral, even though all I did was critique the book reviews of a book I was reading about maternal health. They were misrepresenting the facts and the issue.
The point is that I think I could do well in this arena, even though I do think I have to choose a specific issue or a specific format. I've considering answering U.S. and international extemporaneous questions, since I know there is an audience for that type of analysis (and I would have wished to have such analysis when I was doing speech and debate). This niche also allows me to cover a broader array of topics. The hard part with this would be the workload. I would have to spend the time doing the research and sourcing my arguments. It would also be hard to choose only a couple of questions each week, when 20 new ones are introduced each week.
I could also do an overall advocacy or a consumer advocacy blog, where I'm covering the news while primarily introducing materials to help people to take action and to advocate for their rights or for certain things to happen. I'm thinking something similar to the business idea that my business coach and I drew up a few months ago (not sure if it would a been a good business because I'm not sure if you can sell this sort of thing. You also can't appeal to everyone, so you'd have to choose to narrow your market substantially, which isn't good). It fulfills a huge need, and I know I would absolutely love doing this work. I also have the experience and expertise to back it up.
What to do? I still need to think about it. This helps a lot though.