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That is, when you're trying to pick a topic, don't look for a topic that hasn't been written about. Look for a topic that you want to write about. Write about that.
Yeah, try to say something different than what everybody else has said. Yeah, try to say it different than everybody else has said it. But mainly, if you don't care about the topic, don't bother writing about it.
I'd rather see an article describing, in detail and with passion, your particular [esoteric computer configuration], than the most requested topic in this thread. If you don't want to write about X, then no matter how desired or profitable it would be to do so, it's probably not going to be a great article.
My advice would be to write what enthuses and interests you. And if nothing in that domain is something you feel should be written, then maybe consider finding a different outlet for your creative energy. Nobody's forcing you to start a tech blog :)
The best inspiration comes from the development work you are doing for work or a hobby project. When you start something new or run in to an issue doing something create an article. Detail what you are doing and what documentation your are following. Outline the steps, pitfalls/potential pitfalls and how to overcome them. Almost everything we do whether something new or doing something new detailing the steps and pro…
If your blog is the first place where a reader runs into a particular information or insight, they will find it valuable, even if chronologically, someone else wrote about it first.
There are like three people in the world who have original ideas (the only example I can think of right now is Robin Hanson), but the number of people with successful blogs is much higher.
Once you've gotten into the habit of writing, you can move toward whatever interests you most.
Spark is a niche technology and there isn't a lot of competition. I rank #1 on Google searches for common searches like "spark null", "testing spark", and "spark udf". I haven't done any SEO - I just write what I need to teach my coworkers and Google has picked up my articles.
I'd look for a rapidly growing technology that's relatively new. That'll give you good opportunities to write blogs that rank #1 on Google without doing any SEO.
I am writing all my new posts on a new domain (https://www.mungingdata.com/) and it's harder to get traffic. So Medium might be a good place for you to start.
Blogging should be less about immediately building an audience and more about gaining a greater individual understanding for the topics you blog about. You might also find that with each post, you learn something new about writing, style, etc and will grow embarrassed about your original posts. You will learn how to communicate better, write better and gain a greater understanding of your own opinions by blogging eve…
Further, read up popular questions on Stack Overflow within your area of competence and offer your perspective. This will do two things a)- give you confidence that you're writing something for which audience exists b)- improve your understanding of issues as well as you write.
Please take this with a grain of salt since I'm not a good writer myself nor have a popular blog :)
Also: if you want to be more original, pick more original topics. Write about newer products, current tech-relevant events (any event is tech-relevant if you can see the relevance). Go to meetups and write about them. Do something (it'll be unique enough just because you're doing it) then write about that experience.