I just did an analysis of articles on several of my websites, including this one, and the general theme is that people want to read articles that address getting free stuff, making money, and doing things themselves. While I don't force myself to only write those kind of articles, I do think it's interesting to note what people want to read. I'd rather you read my creative writing or my informational articles about stuff I learn, since I enjoy writing those articles more, but those articles tend to be less popular, even the ones that are THE ONLY article about a certain topic. I thought that would be a good niche as a focus, but it seems a good article about money trumps unique articles about just about anything else. Therefore, if you are just starting out as a blogger, it's something to consider. 

Don't think that making or saving money is the only thing people search for online. My kids watch Minecraft and Shopkins videos on Youtube, and those channels have millions of subscribers. Those videos are about wasting time and money, and the creators probably make enough money to quit their day jobs. That said, if you are a good writer and are looking for attention, focusing on money seems to work, to some degree. 

One disappointment, even in the money realm, has been trying to lure traffic away from decade-old forums. This surprised me. A narrow topic that only had forum posts that had not been responded to in years will still rate higher than a new article written about that specific topic. Like a DIY tutorial on fixing something on your car. Now, if it's narrow enough, there are no forum posts, like my article about speakers for my Bertone X 1/9. I'm just saying that if you go to the trouble to search lots of forums and websites in order to write a well-researched article, like on ear piercing age (there's two good articles on this website), then you'd hope your article would show up in the top 10 pages of Google and before dozens of stores that do the piercing pushing their services. And forums / mom sites that just have opinions weighing in. Then again, an opinion, even with some research, is still just an opinion, and if all kinds of people would rather click on and link to Claire's or Kmart websites to learn more about ear piercing, then that's what Google will show. Maybe a "better" article would have shown parents how to save all kinds of money while shopping for those first earrings, but the point was to find out what was safe, not what was cheap.

You can see where it's all heading, though. People realize real research does not make money online, so they write articles catered to somehow making money. Like online reviews of products that link to the product (and a commission). And I've tried that, too, but way too many companies are in on that game, so it's not worth my time to try to compete. And unless you have a good formula, you probably won't, either. I've actually seen a lot of automated websites that just republish content about products from other websites as the "review." With a link, of course. And Google sees it as useful, so I click on it. I guess that's when we're really in trouble as consumers.

One of the challenges with DIY articles is that there are websites dedicated to the idea, meaning it's hard for an individual to just blog once in a while about it and get a lot of action from searches. If that was all this website did, as in DIYfamily.com, then my articles would get more hits, but that's just not the main focus in my life. However, if you are a tinkerer, there's a market for your talents online. And you can probably make some money on the DIY sites publishing articles, though not as much as if you wrote all your own content and had your own site with plans or something. But that's a lot of work and initial investment.

Really, if you want a lot of hits, the best way is to figure out a whole bunch of ways for people to make money. Then publish articles about each idea, but use it over and over. I'll give you an example. I wrote an article about teachers being able to make more money. It's one of my top articles in the last two years. A lot of the ideas would apply to other professions, so if I rework the article enough to be seen as a new article by Google, and then just change "teacher" to "truck driver," then I have another top article without having to do much new research. Then make it "stay-at-home mom" and see more hits. And if I put links to get-rich-quick online schools, maybe I can do just that. 

I feel kind of bad that the best way to make a living at writing seems to be writing about other people making money or getting free stuff, but that's apparently what a lot of people search for online, and I guess writers have to know their audience.