There are millions of niches out there that you can write about or blog about, so it always baffled me that people have a hard time choosing one. I’ve shared some resources and examples previously about how to choose a niche.

Today I’m going to do some of the work for you, and break down several popular topic areas into more specific niches you can blog about, write an e-book about, or specialize in as a freelance writer. Here are your 101 niches to write about:

Business / Money

1. Legitimate ways stay-at-home parents can earn extra money from home
2. Living on a budget in college
3. Starting and running a restaurant (or insert any other type of business)
4. Managing credit card debt
5. Social media marketing
6. Accounting for small business owners
7. Securing business financing

Arts & Entertainment

8. Insert name of your favorite television show here
9. How to get acting gigs
10. How to play the guitar (or any other instrument)
11. Insert name of your favorite celebrity here
12. Broadway shows
13. Tourist attractions or “things to do” in your city or state
14. Video game strategies or reviews

Green Living

15. Raising “green” children (or focus solely on green baby products)
16. Document your own efforts to go green
17. Green business tips
18. Green travel
19. Reviews of environmentally friendly products

Sports

20. Soccer news (or insert any other sport name)
21. How to play (insert your favorite sport here)
22. Write about your favorite athlete (history, stats, news, etc.)
23. The history of (insert any sport here)

Pets

24. How to train a dog
25. How to choose a dog (or other type of pet)
26. Pet health (general or for specific types of pets)
27. Exotic pets
28. Create a pet photo blog

Home & Family

29. Recipe blog for 30-minute or less dinners
30. Parenting (insert age range here–teens, preschoolers, etc.)
31. Family-friendly day trips and destinations
32. Romantic vacation spots for couples
33. Review kitchen appliances and gadgets
34. Home decorating ideas for small spaces
33. Organizing parties and family get-togethers
34. Home organization (tips, product reviews, etc.)
35. Recipes using chocolate (or any other favorite ingredient)
36. Growing an indoor herb garden

Technology

37. Insert your favorite gadget here (iPhone, netbooks, etc.)
38. Social media news and tools
39. Automotive news and reviews
40. Mobile technology for travelers
41. Computer software reviews for small businesses (or another target group)
42. Open source computing
43. Google tools, tips, and tricks
44. Blogging
45. Designing websites
46. Simple computer fixes (like dealing with Windows error messages)
47. Careers in technology fields
48. Camcorder tips (shooting better videos)
49. Home theater equipment or setting up a home theater
50. Podcasting
51. Online videos (creating, uploading, finding, etc.)

Health & Wellness

52. Insert any disease or disorder name here (symptoms, treatments, coping, etc.)
53. Getting better healthcare on a budget
54. Pregnancy
55. Stress relief tips, product reviews, etc.
56. Insert your favorite exercise here (walking, running, yoga, etc.)
57. Alternative medicine / natural healing
58. Diet plan reviews
59. Tips, products, and programs to help people quit smoking
60. Better health at work (ergonomics, healthier lunch options, etc.)

Fashion & Style

61. Celebrity fashion watch
62. Everyday fashion tips for the busy working woman
63. Designing or creating your own clothes or accessories
64. Getting style on a budget
65. Makeup tips (get specific with certain skin types, colors, etc.)
66. Wedding and formal fashion

Education & Learning

67. Learn how to speak French (or any other language)
68. How to choose a college or university
69. How to secure more scholarships
70. Online degree programs / distance education
71. Going back to school / adult education
72. Math tips for teens (or insert any other subject)
73. Study tips for better test taking
74. How to write papers and reports

Crafts & Hobbies

75. How to become a better chess player
76. Knitting / crocheting / insert other sewing technique
77. Painting better portraits
78. Taking better digital photographs
79. Jewelry making
80. Collecting (stamps, trading cards, etc.)
81. Card games
82. Simple magic tricks for kids
83. Researching your family history / genealogy (or Irish genealogy, etc.)
85. Making candles or other homemade gifts

Travel

86. Backpacking through Europe
87. Cheap international travel destinations
88. Historical travel (traveling to see historical sites)
89. Adventure travel destinations and tips
90. Preparing for travel (booking trips to getting through airport security)

Writing

91. How to write a novel
92. How to write nonfiction books
93. How to market yourself as a writer (or your work)
95. Freelance writing
96. Writing for the Web
97. Writing screenplays / teleplays / stage plays
98. Developing characters
99. Writing e-books
100. Self-publishing
101. Writing book proposals

That’s just a very small sampling of the available niches you can specialize in or blog about. Use it as a starting point to help you brainstorm other ideas, and remember–niches should neither be so broad that you can’t compete or so narrow that there’s no audience. Best of luck finding your own happy mediums!

Update Old Content – Look at your website or blog statistics, and see what some of your most popular (most visited) articles or posts are. Are any of them outdated? Could you post something new on the same subject to take advantage of the popularity? You probably can.

For example, if you’re a U.S. blogger, you may have posted about how the 2008 presidential election results could effect your industry. Have any of your predictions come true? Were you, surprisingly, proven wrong about something? If so, blog about it.

Here’s another example – let’s say you’re a webmaster in the “make money online” niche. One month, you post your earnings from a specific ad network as an example to readers, and the post is wildly popular. You could turn that into a monthly series.

Look at Similar Sites – Other sites in your niche are great resources when you need to come up with article or blog post ideas. First, look through their categories or sections. Are there entire subject areas that would fit into your site that you’re currently neglecting? If so, add it. Then look at specific articles (especially if the site highlights their most popular articles).

Do not, under any circumstances, simply take the ideas or content in those articles and re-write them into your own article. Depending on where you live, that would be considered a derivative work, and be copyright infringement. Instead, take one of these routes instead:

1. Write a post of your own responding to theirs. Link to it early on in your post. If they took a stance on an issue, you may want to explore another side of it.
2. Use that article as just the first step in the research process. Look to several other sources for more information, and write your own article or blog post on the subject matter (and keep it ethical by citing your sources if you do this).

Use Keyword Suggestion Tools – Keyword suggestion tools, like the Adwords Sandbox, can give you lists of article ideas based on keywords and what people are searching for (if they’re searching for it, they want to know more about it, so it’s a good idea to write articles on those topics).

To use the tool, enter keyword phrases related to your site. For example, if you write a blog about knitting, you could just type in knitting and have it find suggestions for you. You would get a list of related keyword phrases, as well as how often those phrases are searched for and how much advertiser competition there is for each keyword phrase.

If you typed “knitting” into the Adwords Sandbox tool, for example, you would see results including:

1. “How to knit” – An average of 110,000 searches per month with very high advertiser competition
2. “Loom knitting” – An average of 22,200 searches per month and average advertiser competition
3. “History of knitting” – An average of 2400 searches per month and high advertiser competition

While these tools can be used to choose actual niches for a site or blog, they’re also effective for choosing specific articles. Here, for example, you may decide to do an article on the history of knitting, or a how-to tutorial series for beginners to knitting. (Keep in mind though that to take advantage of high search numbers, you have to rank very well in search engines, and it’s very difficult to do that for general keyword phrases – meaning longer phrases with fewer searches may actually bring you more readers over time.)

A few other article-specific ideas you’ll find in those results for the knitting niche include: “How to Knit a Beanie,” “Sock Knitting Patterns,” and “How to Knit a Blanket.”

Never assume you have nothing left to write about. Take a fresh look and see what you’re missing, what could be improved, and most importantly what your audience actually wants to read, and you’ll always be able to find new ideas.