So, you have made a firm decision to Blog. Welcome to the club. The next thing that would haunt your mind, after you have zeroed in on your favourite theme, is about ways to establish an identity for yourself. Yes, you have chosen your theme, let’s say, the sports blog. You have chosen this for two reasons – one, because you are passionate about sports, and two, because you can write. That’s awesome!

However, you need to do some reality checks before you pounce on your target. Does your target give you what you want? And more importantly, does your favourite theme give readers what they want? In other words, are there enough readers who would seek out for information that you dole out?

Now, that’s a tricky question. How would you, an individual who is by no means a market research organisation, know for sure as to what people are looking for? Even if you were at the top of an organisation that does extensive research on what people want and what they don’t, you are more likely to be confused about what people want and why they want it. That’s a trick that even the masters of the trade have never been able to perfect.

That’s no reason to panic, however. The internet gifts you with all the hints and cues that would make you a successful blogger.  For the uninitiated, Google is a search engine that powers the world’s most popular searches using a set of words called “Key Words”. Before you take the plunge, do some research – it always pays. Go through sites such as Google Adsense Keywords and Yahoo Answers, where people interact with one another in search of information. It’s not that people always search in Google or Bing to have their solutions – there are many such portals where people ask questions and have them answered. Right from the nearest computer centre that teaches ERP and Java to the best beauty parlour in your neighbourhood, people these days, just ask.

Go through these questions and pick on them. What is it that people want to know? What is it that people are searching for? Which are the areas that are more likely to grow faster when it comes to future demands for products and services? Which keywords are those that are being searched for the maximum?

Do your research. You can be sure the internet that has developed well beyond its initial infancy stages will give you the answers. And, you have just positioned your blog where it really matters!