Darren Rowse talks about what to go by when choosing a profitable blog. Before deciding you want to blog and make money, make sure you choose a topic also that will be enjoyable to write - unless you have content that has value, spirit and authority, you will find it more difficult to post and to make money (at least I think so).

So, here are the tips from Darren as well as some commentary of my own:

1. Topic Popularity - it’s the old supply and demand theorem. Choose a topic that is in demand by a lot of readers, and where you meet that demand because the supply of other blogs is either low or not well done for one reason or another.

2. Topic Competition and Narrow Niches - most topics you can think of already have blogs. Some, however, are underserved. Maybe they don’t post much, don’t add commentary, or simply leave something to be desired. You can also choose to make your blog more narrow - by decreasing the span of what you write on you can carve out your own very specific and informative niche. The more narrow you are, the likelihood is that it may take longer to gain profitability (decreased audience size).

3. Availability of Revenue Streams - some topics on Adsense or similar revenue programs simply don’t pay as well. More competition between advertising companies usually leads to higher click payouts. You need to balance this with point 2 above. You can also seek out different advertising revenue such as sponsorship or various affiliate programs.

4. Availability of Content - if you are going to write often, and in detail, on something, you’d like it to be as easy as possible to get right to it. You can write from knowledge for only so long - and research is time consuming. Services such as PubSub and Technorati let you subscribe to words or phrases - you can pull in information easier this way from many blogs, especially those whose topics are diverse and whom you may never read again. You can use other services such as Topix.net to pull in news information that may or may not be blog related.

5. Measure your Energy, Passion and Interest - motivation for money can only take you so far. You need to like what you are doing, as I noted in the preface.

6. Pull it all together - if you can meet some of these factors, go for it! The mixture of these will determine how much you make and how quickly - but it does not mean that you cannot be profitable. Most blogs can achieve a good level of revenue, but you’ll need many months of dedication to get there. At the same time, you may see an opportunity for a blog that may not last forever - Darren started an Athens Olympics Blog, for example. Great way to build a ton of traffic for a while, and then you can simply let it go after. Maybe leave it online just for passive revenue. But you’ll need to be well prepared for it!

Thanks Darren once again for some great advice. It’s something I’ll be taking to heart, along with some ideas of my own, as I start out on some new blogging ventures soon.

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