Niche Blogging definitely has its benefits. Unless you’re using a weblog as a diary alone and don’t care about monetisation, you’ll want to pick a niche.
A mistake a lot of people make is to start a blog with the intention of monetising it and then not choosing a niche. Some people create a generic blog and then add affiliate links, banners, and contextual advertising and then just sit and wait for the money to roll in.
While you can make money this way, you’re probably not going to earn a lot of money and you probably won’t develop a following. In order for people to want to subscribe to your RSS feeds or opt in to your newsletter, they’ll want to know what it is that they can expect to get. Niche Blogging helps to establish that.
Be A Specialist In Your Niche
Being a specialist has its advantages. The search engines look at your overall site to try to categorise it and if they don’t see patterns, they won’t send you very much traffic. It needs to be glaringly obvious by your tags, your keywords, your alt tags, and the links pointing to and from your site, what it is that you do. Niche Blogging makes it happen naturally because you’ll be easy to classify.
From a person advantage, people who want to know about something will look to an expert and if your site has a single blog post about the topic they’re searching for and various posts on a dozen other topics, you might not appear to be much of an authority on the subject.
If you establish yourself for your niche market, both on your site as well as off your blog, you’ll make it clear to anyone who lands on your blog that you are an authority. This will increase the chances of people subscribing and buying something from you.
Exceptions To The Rule
An exception to the niche rule might be a product review blog. This might be an option for you if you don’t want too narrow of a niche but if you do try to stick to a common theme, at least in the broad sense, you’ll have a better chance of bringing in organic traffic.
By choosing to define what it is that your blog is about, advertisers will find you, search engines will index you, and people who are interested in your niche topic will naturally gravitate toward you.
See you at the top of Google!
Sean Rasmussen
SEO Australia Pacific
AussieSEO.com © 2007 - 2010
Hi Sean,
I still have a lot to learn when it comes to choosing a niche. I’m still using too broad a market and trying to be a niche blogger.
So, given that my blog is not niche enough, how can I fix it? Do I just re-think the keywords I’m writing my posts for and make my keywords more niche specific?
I’ve chosen the wrong domain name. It’s just too broad. So, there’s a good chance that anyone searching for the term won’t be looking for what I’m offering. Will changing my keywords and maybe a PPC campaign be enough to fix my problem?
.-= Jazz Salinger´s last blog ..Learn and Earn Competition – This is It =-.
Although a domain name is important Jazz, its not everything. If you look at my SR.com blog, you will notice that I can rank on many different topics that the domain name has nothing to do with.. something to think about
Hi Sean
I can see the great benefits for niche blogging and it is important to find and define your niche before you start to build your blog.
I started with that intention in mind and realise now that I can develop micro niches within my niche. I liken it to being a specialist rather than a general doctor. People will be looking for a specific area of expertise when they are searching on the web. I will need to take care not to ‘micro’ myself down too much and therefore put myself under the radar.
I need to change some of the categories in my blog as they are too broad and don’t fit snugly with my niche. Thanks for this information Sean.
.-= Elly Wilson´s last blog .. =-.
Niche blogging is certainly the way to go. However, I find that choosing a niche can be the most difficult step in Internet Marketing. There are tools available, such as Market Samurai, to help you research potential niches and research is essential at this step of the game. Without the proper niche you will find yourself expend a lot of effort for little gain.
.-= Don White´s last blog ..You Cant Throw That Out- =-.
Hello Sean,
Blogging is fun, and I so love to blog. But I really like how you point out that “Niche Blogging” is where the money comes from. It has taken me awhile to find my “Niche” here on the internet (I am a slow learner!!) but now that I know where I want to go with my blogs I can see how it will all come together.
The idea of a “Prodcut Review” is really good….I love reading and being a huge book worm I have been trying to think how to tie my passion into a blog…..Book Reviews would be so fun to blog about, all I need to do is research the keywords and subjects to blog about!!!
Another idea to the growing list
Cheers
Lisa
.-= lisa wood´s last blog ..Follow Your Heart =-.
Hi Sean,
It makes sense to stick to one topic. I think I started out a bit, all over the place, with different topics to blog about. I have a niche topic however now I need a product that suits the topic. I’d like to have a related product to sell on my blog.
If I continue to blog on the topic, possibly a related product may appear at a later date….and then I can sit and wait for the money to roll in. [smile]
.-= Jill Brown´s last blog ..Couples Marry at Common Law =-.
If I had started niche blogging when I first started I feel I may have been further along then what I am. I now blog about similiar topics but feel I could narrow it down even further. Your followers need to know what you are about and sticking to a niche will help create a reputable online presence.
.-= Jackie Stenhouse´s last blog ..Anxiety Separation in Children =-.