Do you need a blogging niche to be successful?
Hundreds, if not thousands of people start blogs every day. All of these new bloggers want to build a successful blog, they want traffic, they want to build a loyal audience and a chunk of them would also like to monetise their blogs.
They spend hours designing a logo, they pick their colour schemes, start creating great content, but then tumbleweed….
Things are just not gaining traction. No momentum is being built and apart from a handful of readers; their blog is like a ghost town. They wonder what’s going on. They think they’ve done everything right. Their blogs look professional and are filled with personality, but still things have definitely not taken off as they would have hoped.
There’s a disconnect somewhere.. Usually when this happens it’s because the blogger stayed too general in the topics they write about. They didn’t focus down on a particular blogging niche.
What’s a blogging niche?
A niche is the topic you write about. The overriding theme of your blog and all of the posts in it. So many people think they will be narrowing their potential traffic committing to a niche. However, the opposite is true. By going niche and really developing that niche you stand a better chance of becoming an authority in that one area. You then also have a chance to attract focused traffic; lots of people who specifically want your content.
Your blogging niche will be the thing that people always ask you about. It will be the thing that you answer questions about on a daily basis. The thing that people know you for. You might write a parenting blog, but what do you answer the majority of questions about? What is it that people come to you for? What are you on authority in? That’s your perfect blogging niche.
I really believe that most people, if not all people, have a niche; they just haven’t found it yet. Most of us have something we can sell and something that we can give advice on or even an area in which we can create and sell products. Whether you’re a brilliant designer and could sell beautiful downloads or maybe you’re really good at giving people advice and have been through a lot in your life, in which case maybe a self health help e-book would be the product for you. There’s a product in all of us.
Now it might take you a while to figure out what your product should be, what is your skill and the specifics of your niche. You might be able to do this on your own or you might need some guidance. Either way when you figure out the answers to these questions, you will have a clear picture of which area you should be focusing on.
The fact is that writing about a variety of topics, while occasionally it can be done well and successfully. More often it leads to confusion on the part of the reader, weaker SEO and potentially less scope for monetisation.
Do you really want to narrow your blogging niche?
Let’s think of the Poundshop and Pandora. The Pound shop sell a bit of everything. They have personal hygiene stuff, baby products, stationery, car supplies, food and so many other product lines. They are trying to appeal to the masses and in order to do so, their price point needs to be low. They’re not going to sell on the quality of their items, so they need to compete on price.
Then, let’s think about Pandora. They sell jewellery, that’s it, nothing else.
So, you might think that the Poundshop will have more customers and that’s true, but these won’t be loyal customers. They are there purely to get a good deal. Pandora customers are fewer, but way more loyal and will spend more too.
When you clarify and reduce your products/services to only those that closely match your business goals, you will be in a far better position to attract your ideal client. Not only that, often you will be able to command more for these products/services.
What does this have to do with you? Everything.
As a blogger, you need to be totally clear about who you’re going to serve and how you will serve them? If you simply create a heady mix of products without clear direction, you won’t gain a loyal following. You’ll be like that first shop, always chasing after new customers, because the old ones keep wandering away in search of a bargain.
Are your products all in keeping with your brand? Do they instantly tell a new visitor exactly what you do? Are they priced appropriately for your market? Don’t be afraid to take a hard look at your current products/services and get rid of those low-priced, fringe products that are confusing your audience and diluting your brand. Focus on the core products and services, and work to make them better and more valuable, and before you know it, your brand will have a loyal following.
It’s time to stop being the Pound shop!
If you want to join my mailing list and get access to my epic Blogger’s Resource vault of cheatsheets and downloads (find your niche worksheets included!) as a welcome gift, you can do that here.
Having a niche blog has a number of benefits:
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A niche keeps you focused
Bloggers can end up being like magpies; constantly chasing after the shiny things. Spreading themselves to thin and writing about everything under the sun. It can be difficult to keep the quality and consistency up when you have so many areas of focus. When you’ve decided to work on one specific area, you are totally focused and this will result in more quality content.
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You can fast track to expert status
As you will be deep diving into your specific niche, you will get to know your topic area really well. You will be able to write with authority. Your social media accounts will be reflecting this authority in this particular niche and you will become known for being the go to expert in the niche.
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Can help your monetisation efforts
A strong niche means focused readers who are viewing you as an authority. This is not only appealing to brands in that niche but also means you will be well positions to create your own products relevant to your ideal readers pain points.
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Helps you grow an audience faster
As you will be creating this quality content and will start to become known as a reputable source of information. Your audience will be getting their needs met. So they will spend longer on your site, perhaps reading another post and will return regularly too. They are more likely to share your content as it will be helping them and people like to share things that could help others.
How do you find your niche?
- What could love talk about for hours?
- What are your passions?
- What skills do you have?
- What do people always ask you about?
- What makes you happy?
How do you choose the right blogging niche for you?
While there are ways to monetise and be successful in almost any niche, it’s better to find a niche which you are passionate and knowledgable about, but also one which has good monetisation prospects. This means there will be people in that area who have specific issues. Then your content and products can help them alleviate their problems.
1. Do you love it?
You don’t want to create your own business doing something you dislike. So you need to be passionate about the topic you choose; hopefully you’ll be blogging about that topic for years to come.
2. Do you have the knowledge?
You don’t have to have vast knowledge right from the start and you can certainly learn as you go. However, you do need a passion to learn everything you can about your niche.
3. Is there money in your chosen blogging niche?
Not all niches have the same scope for profitability.
If the niche is too narrow then you might have a very small pool of people to eventually sell to. A good gauge is to investigate the potential market and see if other people are making money there? If so then there’s no reason you couldn’t too.
What can you do that’s different?
How are you going to stand out? What is going to make your blog stand out?
Need more ideas on choosing a blogging niche?
Step one: Who do you like to help? Young mums? Older women who have an empty nest?
Step two: What are their biggest problem? Not enough time for self care or feeling stressed, for example.
Step three: What do you love to talk about, learn more about; what is your passion? Healthy eating, Fitness, Essential Oils, for example.
When you have this information you can fit the the pieces together to find your niche. For example, you might Pick young mums + no time for self-care + fitness and come up with a ‘Fast Fitness’ niche where you focus on exercises that get maximum benefit for minimum time invested. Or you focus on older women + feeling stressed + essential oils and then focus your content around ‘Stress relief using essential oils for menopausal women, for example.
Then you can test your niche before you go all in. Use Facebook groups to test your idea, research on Amazon book store and read reviews of similar books. What was missing? What were the negative points? What did people like? Then when you’re confident you can go all in on your blogging niche.
Do you have your blogging niche all nailed down? What do you struggle with when it comes to getting focused on your blogging niche?
If you want to join my mailing list and get access to my epic Blogger’s Resource vault of cheatsheets and downloads (find your niche worksheets included!) as a welcome gift, you can do that here.
Comments 31
This is such an interesting post. I am struggling with my blog at the moment and I wonder if a part of that is because I feel like I don’t have a niche. Hmm. Food for thought.
I definitely need to work on my email list. I’ve had an idea for boosting it but haven’t actually gotten round to finalising it all yet (my bad). I don’t feel like I have a niche yet, but then I’m still only a few months in. I know what sorts of posts are the most popular, which I guess is the first step. You’ve got me thinking! #TheList
I think I need to work on my email list. Thanks for this post Aby. Good to ask questions and think about where you are and where youvwNt to go. Thanks for hosting #thelist
At ProBlogger there was a Nicheless Niche networking table ha ha! I really go between niching down and not bothering. I feel like it doesn’t really matter unless you are trying to sell a very specific message or product, which I’m not. I suppose I’ll remain nicheless for now 🙂 I find it very hard to make decisions about anything these days ha ha! x x
As quite a new blogger I really enjoy your blogging posts, they give me a focus and make me think about what I need to do to improve. This has been no exception, lots of food for thought. Thank you.
I feel completely nicheless at the moment and very unsure as to what direction my blog needs to go in. I’m not even sure if I need a niche but sometimes I feel if I can develop one then it may do my blog some good. I have lots of ideas but very little time to invest in it, which drives me MAD. Kids ay! I am hoping it develops over time xxx #TheListLinky
Thanks for this – really useful. I am just starting out really (on this blog anyway!) and was wondering if I need a more specific focus. Will have a ponder… #TheList
I think a niche is important you need to resonate with your readers. But I agree if your looking longterm then maybe a better idea to try a broader angle for your blog.I blog mainly about my boys but lately I have also included posts about blogging. I dont think its a problem to include a variety of content. #thelist
Just popping back again. I meant to say that since I have taken your tips on board I have grown my email list. So thank you for that 🙂 #thelist
Great post. I’m struggling a bit with my blog at the moment, as I feel I should have a specific niche, but I don’t. I write about many different things!
Hmm, you’ve got my mind bubbling alright. I’m still undecided when it comes to finding a niche. At the moment I’m still trying to learn how to do all the things, all the time and it just seems never ending! Ideally I’d want my niche to be organic and something I’m passionate about obviously so hopefully as my blog grows this will happen. I’m still too scared to go self-hosted so I really need to decide what to do (and how the heck to do it!) first. So much to think about. #TheListLinky
Oh well now my mind is off and running. I’m not 100% on what my niche is, but I have a fair idea that its something under the parenting catagory. Possibly under the diabetes umbrella too. I’m still new to this so I’m sure my niche will come! #thelistlinky
I definitely have a niche – but it’s not to monetise the blog it’s to raise awareness about the benefits of mindfuless. I suppose it all depends on your objectives…. Very thought-provoking as ever. #thelist
The whole point of my blog is that I talk about parenting in lists of ten. I don’t know if this is a niche but I think I’m probably too sweary to make money form my blog anyway but it helps me focus my writing. #thelistlinky
As always Aby a great post. I have a niche but then sometimes wonder if it’s too tight of a niche as I pass up a lot of opportunities as they don’t fit. Food for thought as always. #thelistlinky
An interesting post! My mummy is a graphic designer in her full time job but never thought about applying the skill to our blog, maybe because it’s still a hobby she hasn’t thought about it too much xx #TheList
Great post! I’m not sure I really have a niche, but do have the same bits and bobs that I blog about. So maybe that’s my niche! Thanks for giving me something to think about! x
I didn’t think I had a niche, but as I was categorising my posts and looking at my most popular posts, I realised that I do. Next step is to focus on scheduling more regular content on my niche. Although it won’t stop me writing about other stuff too – I have to stay true to myself as well as my readers. #thelist
I haven’t quite found my niche yet as I’m still in the early days and exploring all possibilities and discovering what I want to write about, but I would like to narrow down my focus in the future.
#TheList
Interesting read – always one I am thinking about, so very handy. Thanks for writing! #thelistlinky
There’s some great tips here Aby, and I’m pleased that generally you don’t need a niche. I don’t have a specific speciality on my normal blog, but that’s why I split out my dance blog separately so I could be more specific on that
This is very interesting and thought provoking.
I have been considering what my niche within the parenting blog is and from the response I’ve had it seems either my PND journey or our attempts at keeping a relationship going now were parents.
Thanks for the read!
#thelistlinky
I think you are right, it is important to have a focus but I find I blog about parenting and lifestyle, it covers a lot!
A very useful post, as ever. I suppose I do have a niche – the whole expat/ bilingual angle – but I don’t think it’s a very helpful niche in terms of monetising. Maybe I just have to investigate the possibilities in more depth. #TheListLinky
Fab advice and i have now also signed up for a mailing list #thelistlinky
I am working on this! I’ve already made a few changes 🙂 xx
A really interesting post – lots of food for thought! #thelistlinky
Great advice and thanks so much for reminding me about my email list. A weekly updates is something I need to give to my readers!
Niche is really important in terms of reader goals – a lot of stuff out there is about hits! hits! hits! …but if (for example like my blog) your niche is family in a certain geographical location, then you’re better off going for fewer hits from people in the right place. Thirty thousand hits from Australia won’t return to a things-to-do-in-London post.
I do find it frustrating that there is relatively little stuff out there for us ‘deliberately more exclusive’ blogs, as everything is maxed out on raw numbers not return visits etc.
Thank you for the tips!
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