Comments on: How Broad or Narrow Should Your Blog’s Niche Be?

By: Julian Watesh

Julian Watesh — Thu, 24 Oct 2013 14:51:24 +0000

With the great competition today from so many media companies it is hard to blog about a small niche without giving up eventually.

By: Cesar Lee

Cesar Lee — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 21:36:33 +0000

I just wanted to add that Pat Flynn mentions that sometimes being very specific in your niche can be very profitable, despite the fact that it will not attract a lot of traffic. The reason is because the people who will visit the website are be sure of what they want and are potential buyers. How do you take this comment? Thanks for sharing your ideas!

By: Ali Luke

Ali Luke — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 14:51:22 +0000

@Ryan — That sounds like a sensible mix, and I agree that personal development fits well with making money online (or indeed with anything entrepreneurial).

@Emily — It sounds like you’ve got a sensible niche; “online marketing” is obviously pretty broad, but by focusing on small businesses, you’ve got a clearly defined audience. I agree the “business blogging” field is pretty saturated!

@maxwell — What an interesting topic! I don’t think I’ve ever come across a blog on amusement equipment before (I didn’t even know the term!)

There’s no reason not to talk about being visually impaired, and about your impressive weight loss, in the context of helping readers get to know you a bit more and potentially inspiring them.

You’ve obviously got a broad audience, but I suspect the “amusement equipment” blogging niche is a lot less saturated than the “business blogging” niche. 🙂

@Helene — Thanks for adding that! Of course you can weave together more than one topic, though I think the more you add in (and the more diverse they are), the harder it’ll be for your blog to be a coherent whole.

@David — I think you give excellent advice too. 🙂 Music is a great example, because people emphatically DON’T all love the same things!

@Jason — I’d make the blog about one or the other, unless there’s a sensible way to combine them. I know nothing about plant hire or designer furniture — but I’d imagine that they’d have different (if slightly overlapping) audiences?

By: David Hooper

David Hooper — Sat, 19 Oct 2013 17:09:49 +0000

Good advice! Working in the music business, I often hear “Everybody from 8-80” when I ask a band who would like the music they do. And, of course, when you try to please everybody, you please nobody. 🙂

I think when choosing a niche, you want to be somewhere where you’re not the only one, but not so general or in a market so big that you’ll be forgettable.

By: Helene Poulakou

Helene Poulakou — Sat, 19 Oct 2013 16:00:17 +0000

Another approach a blogger might consider is the following:

Why not tie our favorite topics to the core of our blog?

The example you mentioned in your post (“my blog covers travel, health, personal development, Twitter, and watercolour painting” LoL) could be well transformed into one that covers 2-3 of these topics, e.g. landscape watercolor painting with travel, as well as travel and/or painting as starting points for personal development, etc. (ok, Twitter doesn’t fit that well with these, but — who knows…)

There are many different angles from which to approach a given topic, and sometimes we can weave them together in a pretty unique way.

By: Tope Fabusola

Tope Fabusola — Sat, 19 Oct 2013 14:00:32 +0000

My earlier blog focuses on my teachings plus few lifestyle tips. In essence, I could call it a lifestyle coaching blog. When I started to see I could not contain my interest in it. I opened this new one focusing on Technology and Blogging. They are both relatively new. One is less than a month old. And I hope to see them grow. I believe!

By: Priya Talwar

Priya Talwar — Sat, 19 Oct 2013 12:55:57 +0000

According to my experience middle path is the best.You need to choose niches and keywords that get enough no. of searches(at least a couple thousands every month) but don’t have too much competition.

Another factor is how lucrative your niche is.There are some niches where you get paid several dollars per click.So you can make nice amounts of money with them even if they have low search volumes.

By: maxwell ivey

maxwell ivey — Sat, 19 Oct 2013 00:02:20 +0000

Hello; This is an important topic. Knowing how to convert what you are passionette about into the topic of a successful blog is crucial to its success. My blog is there to promote my website where i help people sell amusement equipment. I’m currently writing a series of posts about how to prepare for selling your amusement equipment online. Next, I plan a series about how to purchase equipment safely. And I am hoping to turn at least one of these in to an ebook either as a free gift or as a for profit product to be sold on my site. I am also almost totally blind and have recently lost over 240 pounds from gastric surgery, so sometimes these subjects will also be mentioned if they play into my journey towards becoming the recognized expert in the field and a success with the business. And I have had to gradually expand my target audience from carnivals, circuses, and amusement parks to include family entertainment centers, party hire companies, themed restaurants, shopping malls, and traders villages. Recently, I have even noticed that there are zoos and aquariums, city parks, county fair grounds, cruise ships, pumpkin patches, and other agri tourism businesses own a ride or two for kids to enjoy. And the baseball stadium in seattle and the toys r us in new york city both have 100 ft. tall ferris wheels on site. so I have definitely had to expand my target audience even if i started with a wide niche the worldwide amusement industry. thanks for the great post and take care, Max

By: Mert

Mert — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 21:15:43 +0000

Great post!
It sounds like what Ken Evoy says 🙂
Even some quick researches with Google keyword tool can be a good road map in terms of choosing the right blog concept.
Thanks for reminding some souvenirs.

By: Emily Hunter

Emily Hunter — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 15:31:01 +0000

I focus on taking small businesses and making their numbers boom through online marketing. There’s still (surprisingly) a lot of folks who don’t understand the full power or the range of the online world, and don’t seem to ‘get it.’ As far as niches, we focus onto online marketing and the techniques which are necessary to make businesses popular. We’ve often thought about narrowing that to ‘business blogging’ though that field is incredibly saturated. What do you think?

By: Ryan Biddulph

Ryan Biddulph — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 14:23:34 +0000

Hi Ali,

I focus on making money online, cash gifting and personal development. So far so good. Long ago I focused on cash gifting; a bit too narrow. Over the years I integrated my inspirational writings into my work because self help plays a huge part in making money online.

Get super specific, even when you branch out. Relate each category to the other in order to avoid confusing your readers. Transmit a clear, consistent message to keep your audience.

Thanks for sharing 😉

Ryan