Sunday 8 January 2012

Help Me Define My Topic For My New Blog

The first thing I need to do is work out what I want my topic to be.  Let's have a look at what I have so far.

1. What are my goals for my new blog?  The first step in defining my topic is thinking about my goals - why do I want to start this blog?  
  • I would like something fun and enjoyable to work on
  • I want to find other people with a similar interest to connect with
  • I want to be able to really immerse myself in a new challenge
  • It would be nice to be a leader in the field and produce something meaningful
  • It needs to have minimal establishment costs
  • Help me become a better writer
  • Reach a wide audience
  • Produce enough income to have as my primary job.
2. List possible topics that I have a) experience in, b) an interest in and c) think I could be good at writing about.  So here is the hard part, write down all possible topic ideas.
  • Homemade items: I definitely have an interest in this and I think I could be good at this, but I don't have too much experience.
  • Critiquing and discussing TV programs. I watch a lot of TV and really enjoy it and I could definitely write about this.  But maybe it would become a bit mundane after a while?
  • How to be organised.  I am very experienced in being organised, and I could definitely write about this.  I'm also always interested in finding out about tips and tricks to lead a more organised life.  Although not sure how to monetise this?
  • Education. I could share programs, lesson plans, other resources and write about the latest innovations.  I'm experienced in primary education, am definitely interested and I know I can write about this.
  • Children's books.  I could have a go at writing these and sharing the process and finished products on the blog.  I'm interested in this and I think I could do it, but I have no experience in actually writing a children's book.  Although I could link this in with an education blog and write books to accompany teaching lesson plans and programs??
  • Something to do with novels, maybe similar to the TV idea?
3. Review the list against my original goals and criteria.  Eliminate those that don't match. Make a short list and narrow it down to the top 3.

I don't think I could really immerse myself and be a leader in the field with a blog about TV programs or homemade items.  Even with novels, I'm not really sure how to fully define this topic and it's definitely been done a lot before.

So that leaves being organised and education.  What do you think?

I'm definitely leaning towards education as I feel I have a lot I could share with teachers, parents or anyone who has an interest in education.  I could then tie in the children's books idea at some stage as well.  I know that there is ample information out there on education so I wonder if I could really succeed at this.  However, I know when I searched for programs and lesson plan ideas as a teacher, there was a lot out there but they were not of a very high quality.

I'm not sure how many people would be interested in tips and tricks for leading a more organised life.  I may need to do a bit more research on this to see what's already out there.

I also really need to consider if I can make money from these topic choices as this is one of my goals.  The education blog I think would be much easier than the organised blog.  For the education blog I could sell lesson plans, programs, eBooks, digital resources for the smart boards and maybe some sort of consulting.  

For the organised blog I could do some affiliate advertising (this is earning a commission for selling other people's products) maybe an eBook on tips and tricks.

What do you think are the pros and cons of these topic choices?  

5 comments:

  1. One of your strengths while teaching was creating your own individual lesson plans....go with your strengths!

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  2. Yes I do agree that one of my strengths was creating individualised lesson plans, but do you think that it matters that I have been out of primary education for a few years? I will definitely need to reacquaint myself with what’s been happening in primary education in the last few years. Speaking of this, I’ve just started to sign up to various educational journals, the start of reacquainting myself :-). Any teachers out there, is there a must journal/website that I should be reading?

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  3. Ok now that you have narrowed it down to two topics, put away your list of reasons for and against and just go with the one that deep down in your gut you feel excited about. I think sometimes we can keep analysing too much and just need to go with the gut feeling.

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  4. Vicki I have been considering just this since I posted my possible topic choices. Deep down I don’t think I can get excited about ‘organisation’ and writing about this. I feel excited about writing on education and delving into the current issues, sharing lesson plans and programs and connecting with other educators.

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  5. Well decision made. Now go for it!!!

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