If you want to write a website that is going to attract tons of traffic and make you a passive income every month, the first job is to pick a topic that is of interest to enough people, but for which there is not too much competition.

There are plenty of ways to choose a few potential topics, the first being to think about your own areas of interest and expertise. It’s always easier to write about a subject that interests you.

Another lens through which you can study potential website ideas is to look at topics through the eyes of a beginner.

I say this because beginners in many areas of interest are not very well served online.

My own money-making website, CoffeeDetective.com, is aimed at beginners – people who are just becoming interested in brewing quality gourmet coffee at home. When I started with the site there were plenty of existing sites for “coffee geeks”, but almost nothing for people with a very low level of knowledge on the subject.

Look online and you will see that many information websites are written by experts either for other experts or for people with more than a rudimentary level of knowledge.

For example, go check out the websites and blogs that talk about high-tech gadgets. Few that I can find are really aimed at beginners.

What if I want to choose between an iPhone and one of the new Android smartphones? When I go to sites like Engadget.com and TechCrunch.com, their writers assume I already have a reasonable level of knowledge. What if I don’t? What if I don’t even know what half the terminology means?

The same goes for many subject areas – cycling, baking, making wine, brewing tea, traveling to Australia, playing jazz guitar, choosing a mortgage, buying gold coins, breeding cats, restoring furniture and so on.

Make a list of three or four topics you might like to write about, and then check out the existing websites online. Are the needs of beginners well served? If not, you might have just found the perfect focus for your own, money-making website.

You‘ll find more on this topic in my book, New Path to Riches.

Buy New Path to Riches from Booklocker.com (also available as e-book)

Buy New Path to Riches from Amazon.com