A niche is typically defined as a position particularly well suited to the place it is put in.

In the blogging jargon, a niche is the key area of interest a blogger chooses to base his blogs on.

Deciding on a niche requires a lot of research and an in-depth study of the market as well as your surroundings. When analyzing options for a niche topic, there are two main principles:

To estimate what your targeted reader will be interested in. For instance, events, sports, news, real estate etc.

To analyze as to which interest areas are least written about, even if they apparently don't appear to be lucrative in the beginning.

Beyond the above two principles, the topmost thought to ponder over is what is it that best defines your thought process and persona.

The main reason behind this is that a blog's popularity grows over a long period of time and it is crucial for the blogger to be passionate about, and involved with, the topic. Failing this, the blog loses its charm and sheen within no time at all.

Here we list a set of basic factors you should consider while deciding on your niche in the blogosphere:

1. Popularity Index - The principle of supply and demand works well in the blogging industry. The knowledge of what people want to read is crucial while deciding on your subject.

However, it's not advisable to search for a topic everyone is writing on. Hence, the blogger needs to create a delicate balance between common, generic topics and less-searched but interesting ones.

2. Competitive Index - It is vital to estimate as to what kind of competition your selected area of interest will have. You might have opted for a subject that's "hot", but in the process, you also might end up facing huge competition from others who are also writing about the same topic.

It's advisable here to go for the categories or subjects that might be miniscule in their popularity but will make for good meaty reading.

3. Market Neglect - You need to analyze as to what areas of general interest have been suffering neglect in the blogging community.

To start with, you might have a smaller audience, but eventually you will manage to create a selective audience for the gap in the niche you've spotted.

4. Sufficient Content - Before you actually start operating in your niche, ascertain that you have enough thought content and substantial material to sustain you over a period of time.

Switching on to an altogether different area of interest does quite badly for your reputation as a blogger.

5. Earning Prospect - You will have to critically analyze the financial scope of the topic you decide on. While the mere quality of some blogs gets you a good income, affiliate programs and impression based ads are also good earning propositions.

For earning through affiliate programs, the key is to find affiliate programs that closely match your topic. Meanwhile, the impression based ads with high traffic levels can be a major lucrative option. Adding Google Adsense ads to your blog is currently one of the more lucrative methods of earning from your blog.