fedorqui has a working solution but there is another way to do the same thing.
Chock if a variable is set
#!/bin/bash
amIEmpty='Hello'
# This will be true if the variable has a value
if [ $amIEmpty ]; then
echo 'No, I am not!';
fi
Or to verify that a variable is empty
#!/bin/bash
amIEmpty=''
# This will be true if the variable is empty
if [ ! $amIEmpty ]; then
echo 'Yes I am!';
fi
tldp.org has good documentation about if in bash:
http://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-Guide/html/sect_07_01.html