Having too many blog ideas isn’t the problem. Having no framework for choosing between them is. If you’re stuck with ten ideas and can’t pick one, this is the article that gets you unstuck — and moving.
Why too many ideas feels paralysing (when it really shouldn’t)
The paradox of choice is real. Studies aside, most of us have felt it: stand in front of a restaurant menu with twelve pages and you’ll spend ten minutes deciding, then second-guess yourself all the way through the starter.
The same thing happens with blog ideas. The more options you have, the harder the decision feels — and the easier it is to just… not decide.
But here’s the reframe: you’re not choosing the idea you’ll pursue instead of all the others. You’re choosing the one you’ll do first. The others go in a document somewhere. They don’t disappear.
That reframe helps. Because most of the anxiety around this decision comes from treating it like it’s permanent, when it isn’t.
The three-question stress test
Take each of your ideas and run it through these three questions. Be honest with yourself — the whole point is to surface the answer that’s probably already there.
Question 1: Can I come up with 60 article ideas in this niche without straining?
Try it. Grab a piece of paper and set a timer for 20 minutes. Write down article ideas in this niche — actual titles, not vague topics. If you hit 60 and feel like you could keep going, the niche has depth. If you stall at 15 and start scraping, either the niche is too narrow or your interest isn’t deep enough to sustain a site.
This test tells you two things at once: whether the niche has enough content potential, and whether you have enough to say about it.
FYI I’m a huge advocate of going for a walk and mulling this kind of thing over. No headphones + a slight hangover yields the best results for me (though in general alcohol plus productive blogging are bitter enemies).
Question 2: Is there a clear problem people will pay to solve?
Not “are people interested in this” — are they spending money on it? Are there products, courses, tools, or services in this space that people buy? If the answer is yes, there’s a monetisation path. If you can’t think of anything anyone would pay for in relation to this topic, that’s worth taking seriously. (Article #6 covers the full profitability check if you want to go deeper on this.)
Question 3: What do I know about this topic that most of the existing content doesn’t say?
This is the hardest question and the most revealing one. Not “am I an expert” — what’s your angle? What’s missing from the content that’s already out there? What do you know from experience that the polished, comprehensive guides skip over?
If you can answer that question clearly for one of your ideas and you’re struggling to answer it for the others, you probably already know which one to pick.
The mini content matrix test
If the stress test hasn’t broken the tie, try this:
Take your top two or three ideas and spend 20 minutes on each building a mini content matrix: 5 sub-topics, 4 article ideas under each. That’s 20 potential articles per niche. Which one came most easily? Which ideas made you think “ooh, I’d actually want to read that”?
The one that generates that reaction — consistently, not just once — is usually the right one. Your genuine interest in the content is one of the most reliable signals you have.
You can also whack it into an AI and see what it spits out BUT you need to review what it says, don’t just blindly follow it. There can be angles you haven’t yet covered. Bear in mind, AI works by referencing existing content, so it’s not the best for ffinding unique angles.
What if two ideas are fighting for dominance?
Sometimes they do. When the stress test and the content matrix still leave you stuck, these are the tiebreaker questions:
Which one are you more likely to still be writing about in 18 months? Not which one excites you most right now — which one has staying power? First-blog excitement fades around month four or five. What you’re left with is the niche itself, so it needs to be something you’re gonna still be into. Have a look at your YouTube subscription list if you’re not sure. You want something you’ll return to after a hiatus.
Which one has the bigger gap in the existing content? Competition isn’t the enemy — generic competition is. If one of your ideas has a clear angle that nobody’s covering, that’s a meaningful advantage over an idea where the space is already well-served.
Which one do you think about unprompted? Not when you’re brainstorming — when you’re in the shower, or on a walk, or watching something unrelated. The niche that shows up in your head uninvited is telling you something. That’s why this content exists — it’s me beating myself up about what I should have done differently.
I WON’T LET IT BE YOU IF I CAN HELP IT!
Usually, once you ask these questions honestly, one idea wins fairly clearly. If it still doesn’t, just pick the one with the better 60-article list and start. Starting is the only way to find out.
You can always have a couple of of blogs, or a blog and Substack etc.
What to do with the ideas you don’t choose
They don’t get deleted. They get filed.
Create a document — Notion, Google Drive, the back of a notebook, wherever suits you — and write them all down with any notes you’ve made.
(Ever since I discovered I could connect Claude to Notion it’s become my go to. I previously discounted it as too hard to learn and therefore another thing to add to the list of Ways I Waste My Time BUT using AI for idea organisation is a gamechanger).
Some of them will turn into article angles within your chosen niche. Some will become email content once you’ve built a list. Some will become a second site one day, once the first one is established.
The pothos site is an example of this in practice. It came after Planet Houseplant was up and running, not instead of it. A tighter, more deliberate idea that I could pursue properly because the first site had given me the experience to build it well.
The ideas you don’t use now aren’t lost. They’re just waiting for the right time.
Pick one. Start.
That’s the whole point of this article, and I’m not going to pad it out.
You have enough information to make a decision. You have the 60-article test, the profitability question (every time I skim this article I keep reading it as profanity for some reason), the angle question, and the tiebreakers. If you’ve run through all of those and you still can’t decide — just pick the one you keep coming back to and start writing.
The first draft of your first article will teach you more about whether this niche is right for you than any amount of pre-decision analysis. Done beats perfect. Starting beats optimising.
The ideas you didn’t choose will still be there when you come up for air.
Write one blog until you get bored. Then switch to another. Consistency isn’t what you think it is when it comes to blogging. As long as you keep producing content, it doesn’t matter that you leave one blog to sit for a year whilst you work on another.
Ready to go deeper on the niche you’ve chosen? Article #5: How to Pick a Niche for Your Blog covers the full selection process — or Article #7: How to Niche Down Without Feeling Boxed In will help you find the right level of specificity once you’ve made your choice.