Niche or Generic – The Blog Dilemma That Plagues Every Blogger and How to Deal With It

You are ready to take the plunge in to blogosphere, raring to go with oodles of enthusiasm and lots of ideas? You know you have a lot to offer your readers and are about to launch your blog but with so much competition out there you still don’t know which route to take: niche or generic. Here’s my take on this common bloggers dilemma and how you can deal with it…

Niche or Generic

“Riches lie in Niches” said Philip Kotler, the Father of Marketing and the man certainly knew what he was talking about when he said that.

If you are thinking of launching a blog with the objective of either making money out of it or growing readership going niche is the best alternative. This is because there are already way too many generic blogs scrambling for attention.

Keeping away from generic topics t build your blog on means eliminating competition from other generic blogs that may have been around for much longer than you have. Not to forget having covered the same topics that you may now want to.

Unless you are ready to compete with some big bloggers who run well established blogs going niche makes a lot of sense.

Readers are Market Segments

The basis for market segmentation by companies is the one you need to understand readership for your blog. Like consumers readers belong to different age groups, income levels, gender, strata of society, have different information needs, aspirations, interests and concerns.

You need to think about your niche and which group of readers it will service. For instance launching a blog that caters to women entrepreneurs might sound like a great idea but there are already a number of blogs catering to that kind of audience. Unless you have something unique like Kimberly Ben’s The Working Muslimah you can’t stand out in the crowd.

Don’t treat all blog readers as one homogeneous unit. Instead recognize their differences and identify the segment you want to service or can service with your blog content.

Steer Clear of Intense Competition

If you are thinking of launching a blog and your objective is to make money from it then going niche is really the way ahead. There are just too many well established bloggers who are already catering to a large audience.

Let’s say you want to run a blog on parenting tips then launching one for single moms or single parents might be a better proposition. Similarly, running a travel blog versus running a travel blog that promotes frugal travel or backpacking tips is really a choice between generic (too much competition) and niche (little or no competition).

My point is, blogging is also about positioning, a battle for the reader’s mind so going niche means eliminating competition right at the beginning.

Be a Specialist not a Generalist

I follow a lot of work done by Robin Sharma, renowned motivational speaker and bestselling author who has written books like “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari”, “Who Will Cry When You Die?” among others and I love something that he recently said in one of his emails…”Mastery Matters”.

In blogging as with anything else in life, being good at what you do matters. If you are a nutritionist who works with mothers, mothers to be and young children, blog about that; don’t try to blog about weight loss issues or dietary problems in general and expect people to follow you religiously. That slice of blogosphere is already taken. Be a specialist not a generalist!

Find a Niche and Service It

In the end I would say, begin your blogging journey with a quest for a niche. Relationships, finance, travel, health are big money spinners for a blog that aims to deliver content and sell information products. You need to find your areas of expertise and see how you can create a place in blogosphere.

Some niches that are worth exploring…teaching your kids about money, coping with depression, being more productive at work, dealing with bad bosses and colleagues, dealing with a break up, how to excel at examinations or interviews.

When I plunged in to blogosphere I chose to write a blog about customized products and services. My blog was, is and will always be about just that. I’ve found my niche and it is just one of the reasons why I was able to go from PR0 to PR 3 in just under four months. I don’t think I would have been able to do that with just a business blog that gave small business tips.

Going niche has worked for me as a blogger and I would recommend that every blogger who wants to stand out in the crowd should go niche!