<body><script type="text/javascript"> function setAttributeOnload(object, attribute, val) { if(window.addEventListener) { window.addEventListener('load', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }, false); } else { window.attachEvent('onload', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }); } } </script> <div id="navbar-iframe-container"></div> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> gapi.load("gapi.iframes:gapi.iframes.style.bubble", function() { if (gapi.iframes && gapi.iframes.getContext) { gapi.iframes.getContext().openChild({ url: 'https://www.blogger.com/navbar.g?targetBlogID\x3d31017763\x26blogName\x3dBlogging+to+Fame!\x26publishMode\x3dPUBLISH_MODE_BLOGSPOT\x26navbarType\x3dTAN\x26layoutType\x3dCLASSIC\x26searchRoot\x3dhttps://blogandpingtutorial.blogspot.com/search\x26blogLocale\x3den_US\x26v\x3d2\x26homepageUrl\x3dhttp://blogandpingtutorial.blogspot.com/\x26vt\x3d-7727013209972282511', where: document.getElementById("navbar-iframe-container"), id: "navbar-iframe" }); } }); </script>

Choosing a Niche for your Blog- Part 1:

Sunday, February 18, 2007

With so much emphasis given in a last few posts on strategies, I also included that strategies begin the moment you decide have your own blog. One of the first things you’ll be deciding about is your blog’s niche. The most important step to head start your planning.

What is a Niche?

Niche is a small and tightly knitted segment of the market you want to cater to.

As for Blogging a Niche defines the theme of your blog. It is what your blog would talk about in general and in details, and everything related to it. Niche also defines the your target market which you’ll cater through your blog, the number and the kind of visitors it will attract. You can either choose a niche with: Large target market, High competition OR Smaller target market, Lower competition.

Your aim is to emerge as an expert in your niche. Once you have decided your target audience, your blog should be a one stop solution for them. Now if you have a smaller and more focused blog, attaining expertise is not only easier but more targeted audience will give you a higher conversion rate.

Be aware while choosing you Niche:

There is no harm if you do not want your blog be bound by limitations, or blogging about whatever you feel like from cars to music or from internet marketing to cooking. This is a casual approach, and should only be followed, if you are blogging for fun. Professional and serious bloggers, prefer sticking to one theme per blog. Whatever your approach is, you got to stick to your plan. Once you have decided the niche and started your blog it is hard to change directions. If you are not satisfied and want to shift your focus, it is like starting from scratch and building a new blog. While shifting focus, you may eventually loose your already existing audience, which obviously would not be a choice.

Chose an area, which you are passionate about, something that is not time-sensitive, which stops appealing after a few months.

A Blog is for life, well almost. Once you start achieving what goals you have set for your blog, you would not want to leave it(why not ask Problogger), and each time creating new blog will not take you anywhere. So if you are going to blog for life, your content should not run dry or boring. You need something that will develop, excite and spark enthusiasm.

Lets take an example. You might consider Business as a niche, but that would still be very broad. Business --> Marketing --> Online Marketing --> Blogging, and Business --> Marketing --> Online Marketing --> Search Engine Optimization, are two different niches you can handle with two different blogs, and still have enough to write forever because it is an upcoming and always updating field.

You also need to be knowledgeable in the niche you are choosing. You cannot afford to prove yourself a novice, if you soon want to be an A-Lister.

Reading and Writing is not all about blogging. You have to go above and beyond the level of an average surfer that is where you will add value to your blog and emerge as a master. If you are writing the same stuff as others are, you would be a part of the crowd. You need your own thoughts and knowledge about the subject. That is why it is necessary why you should blog what you are passionate about.

To be continued...

Till then, Happy Blogging
Divya Uttam

Bookmark this article:- BlinkList del.icio.us digg Furl NewsVine Netvouz Reddit Shadows YahooMyWeb

Technorati Tags:- ,

Labels: ,

posted by Divya Uttam, 10:44 AM

7 Comments:


commented by Blogger Paris David, 8:16 AM  

You're not crazy. I hope my pic is still there.

I'd better go check.

Especially if that guy uses it as his book cover.

commented by Blogger Paris David, 8:25 AM  

Very sound advice. I have several general blogs and several niche blogs. The niches seem to do so much better.
what do you think about using platforms like wordpress that offer categories, and you then publish numerous posts in specific categories more frequently than others?

commented by Anonymous Anonymous, 9:45 AM  

I totally agree with you pixelhead, that it's always much better to have different keyword specified caegories, rather than maintaining too many blogs.
But if you have broad field, which covers numerous niches in it, than I would suggest to have different blogs, under same domain. Each blog to be installed in niche specefic folders and all updates available in Homepage.
For example if you are blogging about cars, then you can have targeted niches like suv, trucks, jeeps, etc. And if you have domain like mycars.com then you have niche specefic blogs like
http://suv.mycars.com, trucks.mycars.com, buyseconds.mycars.com, etc. And then each one can have their specefic categories.

Divya

commented by Blogger Divya Uttam, 11:52 AM  

Well said Divya! My first blog was an experiment in blogging just to see if I liked the medium or daily writing. I enjoyed it but I had no niche, nor had I really considered it. Sure I wrote about the stuff that interested me but I lost my own enthusiasm for the blog. I had no direction, no goal, no specific topic. I even had a following of readers that I abandoned. It wasn't until I began my new blog with Hank the Bird about a very specific niche, that my passion for blogging emerged! Now we're having a blast!

commented by Blogger Marilla P. Alligator, 4:01 PM  

I agree with the nitch strategy and the concept of the long tail. It use to be a nitch would not be profitable but now with the low cost of the internet the rules have changed. Nice job

commented by Blogger JD, 12:50 PM  

great peace of advice.Blogging is no less than another life

commented by Anonymous Anonymous, 4:55 PM  

Add a comment