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One of the strategies for boosting search traffic on your site is by developing a creative and highly ranking topic for your niche site. Your topic selection should demonstrate topical authority in terms of providing a significant level of in-depth understanding and expertise of the niche. To this end, it is important to optimise your selected topic for higher search traffic potential. When creating a topic for your niche site, it is imperative to conduct an extensive market research in order to understand what works for your niche. The market research should include an overview of what your competitors are doing, an evaluation of your target audience’s interests and issues and ensure that your content seeks to solve the identified issues. This checklist provides a guide into factors to consider when conducting topical research for your niche site.
1 Check that your selected topic has search traffic potential.
2 Use keyword search tools to generate ideas for your topic.
3 Research and join communities related or frequented by your niche.
4 Create traffic generating topics.
5 Identify the problems your target audience is struggling with.
6 Check topical ideas that have been effective for competitors.
7 Get target topics that people are searching for.
8 Check the best ranking topics on your competitors’ blogs.
9 Select topics that resonate with your audience to build a following.
10 Choose a topic that is likely to rank higher in Google SERPs.
11 Analyse the topic’s search volume to determine the size of target audience.
12 Check the profitability of your selected topic.
13 Check that your topic is not too broad.
14 Avoid overtly competitive topics.
15 Develop a targeted focus on a specific topic.
16 A/B test your topic ideas.
17 Check that your selected topic hints at your USP.
18 Get an SEO overview of your competitors’ URL.
19 Evaluate your competitors’ estimated monthly clicks, rank, organic keywords, to identify an opportunity.
Notes:
• Use keyword tools such as Wordtracker Scout, AnswerThePublic, Keywords Everywhere, Google Keyword Planner, AdWords Keyword Planner to generate topical ideas.