Niche Blogs—or Not
Blogs should have topics or niches, say the gurus of the Internet. They should focus on cooking or fitness or parenting or home décor or fashion or music or technology or an aspect of business. If your blog takes the Pepys diary form, you might still garner a strong readership, lots of traffic from search engines, and high levels of interactivity from readers—provided that your life truly fascinates.
Otherwise, no one will read your blog regularly, because they won’t know what to expect. If you frequently switch gears, you’ll turn off readers who enjoyed one type of topic when you never revisit the subject. You won’t attract targeted readers, either.
So much for that.
Over the nearly two years I’ve written this blog, I’ve hewed closest to the Montaigne essay form—and the topics of my posts have perhaps ranged even further than his.
Sure, I cover business topics—but not one specific business topic. Same goes for my posts on writing, health, relationships, and things I love. Many posts are so far flung I can categorize them as nothing other than “musings.” In truth, all my blog posts could fall under this category.
The theme for my blog: Musings.
Not good enough? Hm. I just don’t think I could write too much on just one topic. This blog would bore me. I’d dread coming to the keyboard regularly to address the same theme, week in and week out. I’d feel like each post rehashed an old topic. (And sometimes, I already feel that way.)
What say you?
Should blogs confirm to a specific niche?