Knowing what you should write about is often very confusing as there’s so many elements to consider.

Choosing a clear focus for your writing topic-wise is important from the start as it ensures your efforts are aligned with your goals as a writer.

In this video, I’ll show you how to select the right types of topics to cover with your writing.

I’m not talking about how to decide which topic to cover in a specific article, but instead I want to help you clarify the overall focus of your professional writing.

This is essential to clarify in the beginning as it’ll be very confusing to readers and editors if you’re writing about a range of unrelated topics like finance, real estate, fitness techniques and feminist causes.

You can certainly write about whatever you want, but from a professional standpoint, you’ll see the most success by focusing on one or a few related topic areas.

A topic area might be something broad like business or technology or something more specific like augmented reality or evolutionary psychology.

One of the goals of getting published is to earn credibility in your field and become known for your expertise on a certain subject.

It’ll be easier for others to remember you and your writing when there’s a clear, consistent focus to it.

You want to choose a subject area that is broad enough to provide you with plenty of specific topics to write about.

On the other hand, your topic areas need to be narrow enough that you’re writing for a specific audience as opposed to trying to cater to everyone.

Because trying to write for everyone spreads your efforts too thinly leading to an audience of no one.

To select the best type of topics to write about, ask yourself the following questions.

What industry do you work in or want to work in?

Whether you’re active in PR or engineering, it’s likely you’ll want to write on subjects relevant to what’s trending in your industry, as well as addressing common challenges.

See what others in the space are writing about by looking on Twitter or industry blogs to see what topics tend to be covered the most.

If you’re trying to move into a new field, writing is an opportunity to build up your credibility in the space more quickly than traditional means.

What expertise and experience do you have? Basically, think about what you’re qualified to write about as that’ll inform what direction you take topic wise.

It’s a chance to showcase your expertise about the industry and get in front of relevant professionals, which should be kept in mind when deciding which topics to address.

What do you want to be known for? It’s a simple question, often with a complicated answer.

You might have ambitions to be the top business coach or the leading personal chef in Los Angeles, regardless this will inform what you’re writing about on a regular basis.

If you’re not sure at first that’s okay, as you’ll have the opportunity to develop your voice as you continue to write and see what resonates with readers and what does not.

When I first started writing, I didn’t have a clear objective in mind other than I wanted to share my thoughts on marketing.

In the beginning, I wrote about social media and marketing in general to see what it was like to get my thoughts out there.

Over time, I noticed which topics I enjoyed writing about and most importantly, which topics readers were really interested in.

Today, I’m laser-focused on writing about how to do marketing the right way without the hype or the fluff, so other marketers can succeed at their jobs.

If I had a clearer understanding from the beginning about what I was looking for as a writer, I would have more quickly been able to find my sweet spot topic-wise.

Who are you trying to reach?

My writing is mainly catered to marketers and entrepreneurs looking to succeed with marketing, but another writer in the same space might be going after c-suite executives.

Regardless of who you’re trying to reach, think about your intended audience and what interests, preferences and challenges they have to inform what you’ll write about.

What are people interested in learning about? This question requires doing some research on your own to see what’s being shared and discussed on social media.

Use a tool like Buzzsumo to conduct some preliminary research about the topic areas you’re interested in.

For example, if you’re thinking about writing about jewelry design, search that phrase in the search bar and filter by the past month or six months to see what recent content has been shared the most on that topic.

Scroll through the results to see the article headlines of the most shared articles and where these articles were published.

These search results can help highlight patterns in what’s most often covered and shared about this topic, which seems to be news of celebrities wearing jewelry and leading jewelry partnerships in the industry.

To see who’s sharing these pieces, click on view sharers to see the Twitter users tweeting these articles.

You can get a sense of the following size of each Twitter user, but most importantly, a look at their profiles to see the demographics of the individuals discussing these topics.

Go back to the most shared tab, do additional searches by typing in a related word or phrase to see what the suggested topics are to kick-off additional research.

A search for ‘jewelry tips’ appears to showcase more how-to content as opposed to news about celebrities wearing jewelry.

Use the insights found during research like this to further inform your focus as a writer.

It’s a trial-and-error process, but once you’ve taken the time to think critically about your focus as a writer, you’ll significantly reduce any confusion about what to cover next.