Pragmatism vs. Passion: How to Choose the Right Blog Categories for Your Niche

Some content writers need to be passionate about the topics they write about to fuel them on their journey. Others prefer a more pragmatic route – a profitable opportunity and their love for writing is more than enough to keep them going.

Regardless of their approach, both have the same goal: to attract the right audience. Here’s the thing: all of the content you worked so hard to create means nothing if your target audience can’t find it. Sure, providing helpful content to your readers is paramount. But, how did you organize that content?

Readers use categories to find more of your articles on the same topic. If you have too many categories, they might feel overwhelmed scrolling through a seemingly endless list of sections. Likewise, if your blog has no structure whatsoever, your position as a trusted source might suffer.

Don’t worry! There is still hope for you. In this article, we’ll talk about how to organize your content and choose the right categories for your blog.

Let’s begin, shall we?

How Many Blog Categories Should I Have?

One of the most common mistakes content writers make when it comes to blog categories is that they use far too many. Just put yourself in your audience’s shoes for a second – would you want to scroll through 30 different categories to find something you are interested in? Absolutely not!

The fewer categories you have, the better for you and your readers. For instance, I like to keep it under six, but that’s just a preference of mine. However, once you’ve created more than ten categories, your blog will start looking more cluttered and difficult to navigate.

How Should I Choose the Categories for My Blog?

Creating meaningful categories for your blog can feel like a daunting task, especially if you are staring at a big mess of articles. You want your blog to be clean, cohesive, and user-friendly, but it feels like it’s impossible to make that happen since your content is all over the place.

Don’t panic – it’s still doable. Follow these steps that will help you figure out the best categories for your blog,

1. Consider Your Target Audience

Even if you are passionate about the topics you write about, consider this: you’re not crafting articles just for yourself, you are doing it for your readers, too. That’s why it’s important to consider their need before deciding on your blog categories. Ideally, you’ll want your categories to relate to your audience, and help them find the information they need as quickly as possible.

2. Ask Google (Seriously!)

If you have no idea where to start, look at your analytics. What type of articles are getting the most traffic, shares, or comments? Do they follow a common theme? Could you organize them into relevant categories?

3. Look at Your Business

Sure, you want your content to be relevant to your audience, but you also want it to reflect your company and your niche. What products/services do you offer? What pain points do your products/services alleviate? Can you transform these issues into meaningful blog categories? For instance, if you are a freelance writer specialized in real estate financing, you could identify specific pain points your prospects face and address them directly through your blog categories.

4. Consider the Rule of Overlap

Well, it’s not actually a rule, but it’s a great method that can help you pick the right categories for your blog. First, you need to figure out what are the top three topics you cover. They can be very general, like Content Writing, Content Strategy, and Copywriting. Don’t choose more than four topics. Then, try to think about the topics you write about pretty often, but not as much as the first three. Examples of overlap categories could include Case Studies, News, and Tools. And, there you have it – you already have a great list of categories for you blog.

How Should I Name My Categories?

Now that you have a list of blog categories, it’s time to choose a name for them. The name of each category should be clear, meaningful, and help your audience navigate your blog with ease. Here are some rules of thumbs you should follow:

• Choose Category Names People Will Understand – You might think it’s creative to name your category “Content Wizardry”, but your audience will understand “Content Writing” much better.
• Pick Categories that Are Also Keywords – Choosing category names that are keywords not only that will help readers find what they need faster, but it can also boost your SEO rankings.

Choosing proper categories for your blog content is important for both you and your audience. Unfortunately, is not at all an easy task. But, with an analytic approach and some brainstorming, you can definitely create meaningful blog categories. Follow these steps to get started.

Jitendra is the CEO of RightlyWritten, a premium copywriting services company serving businesses of all sizes globally.