Niche blogging makes me feel a bit crazed which is probably why I write about it:
- You Don’t Need A Niche To Be A Successful Blogger
- You Still Don’t Need A Niche To Be A Successful Blogger
Blame it on my being someone who hates being fenced in. Lock me up in a prison and I will be the guy who never stops searching for a way to escape because limits and and I are often at odds.
The Problem With Niche Blogging
Ask me to don to my professional hat and I’ll tell you the problem with niche blogging starts with the echo chamber, content shock and the willingness to view blogging as a marathon.
If the blogosphere were real it would be like a huge swap meet or street carnival. There are endless rows of vendors and most of them look the same because they are selling the same thing.
So to get your attention everyone screams at you but that doesn’t work because you either tune them out or go running for shelter. In that real-world description if you were smart you’d find a way to steer the runners to your shop and then give them a reason to hang out.
But we are not talking about a physical world, we are talking about a virtual which means it is even easier for people to escape by clicking elsewhere.
About this time is when people start offering all sorts of suggestions for how to keep people around, improve bounce rates and or convince them to stay.
Hell, it reminds me of the time you begged someone not to break up with you because if they gave you one more chance…
The Marathon Approach
The Marathon Approach means you are the tortoise and not the hare. You recognize that you are more likely to last in blogging by adopting a slow and steady approach.
Most of us don’t have the resources to go full bore, day in and day out.
The challenge with the Marathon Approach is that we don’t all have the resources to last. It takes a commitment and there is no guarantee that you beat the people in front, behind and on the sides.
Newcomers will shoot through the blogosphere and light up the sky. Sometimes you’ll look at them and wonder why people like/love them and you’ll not be able to figure it out.
Disclosure: I like the Marathon Approach because it resembles mine. Ten years of blogging has provided me with some hard-earned benefits and advantages.
It is the sort of approach I try to apply in multiple aspects of life. I may not have as much or more talent than some but I am resourceful, tenacious and willing to do the work.
Sometimes that is all it takes to beat the “more talented.”
Labels and Niche Blogging
I confess I sometimes agonize over this. I am not a huge fan of labels and being pigeonholed.
I am a dad blogger and I was among “the first” whatever the hell that means. But because I haven’t always marketed myself that way I have missed out on a variety of opportunities that I might have otherwise had.
However, because I am more than just a dad blogger I have had other opportunities/benefits that I wouldn’t have otherwise gotten.
So how do you decide which is best?
Hell, I don’t have any hard metrics to use. I can’t tell you which one led to more money or better opportunity.
The only thing I can tell you is that I chose the one that made blogging fun for me and that is what helped me last because if you aren’t having fun then you probably won’t be around for the long haul.
What about you? What do you think?
I think the main problem for writers sticking to niche blogging is the boredom for the visitor as well as the content writer. You are basically re-writing articles on the same subject as a desperate attempt to release new content. I find it impossible to write about one subject and stay fresh.
Great post. Cheers,
Chris
I agree completely. I’m a dad blogger, but I also blog about damned near anything else that catches my eye or pisses me off–from interesting tech to excellent T.V. shows and games, to random rants about how and why people suck.
I’ve never understood the impulse to specialize, either in the real world, or in the blogging world, and I’m glad that there are others that feel the same.
Hi Sean,
The world is too big to just focus on one thing, but I admit I wish I could live to be a 1000 because there are so many things I want to do.
I think my kids will have worn me out before I hit 40, let alone 1000 🙂
I’ll be 45 in May, you’ll make it..but barely. 😉
Hmmm, I’ve created a niche hell for myself with three different blogs. One is humor, one is economics and the third is about solar power. I wish I could find a way to weave them into one.
Why can’t you just write about all three topics on one blog?
I’m thinking about it; I know I need to do it, but they all seem so disconnected. Plus, I’m not that excited about moving all the content to a new blog.
You are a good writer. I have no doubt you can find a way to incorporate them all. The hardest part is fighting inertia, once you break free of that it is just a matter of importing files.
As a beginning blogger, I found myself agreeing with many of your points. I’m afraid of being pigeonholed as a certain type of writer, and I’m also concerned about the “echo chamber” effect of being associated with just one genre.
Hi Jason,
As a reader I want to read entertaining and informative pieces, don’t necessarily have to have both in the same post but it is good if they do.
Beyond that the most important thing to me is feeling like the write is passionate about the topic.
I think niche blogging can often have that but after a while I think some people lose it. Or at least it looks that way to me.