Thursday, June 13, 2013

ProBlogger: Are You Defining Your Niche Properly?


I can’t emphasize how important it is to define your niche. You need to be able to know the focus of your blog inside out, what makes it so great and how it’s different from every other blog. A one word simply isn’t enough. 
Well, re-reading that quote makes me want to drop a nice [sic] after it, but the point is a good one.

In November of 2012, Charles Manfre of CodeConquest.com wrote a guest post for ProBlogger on the importance of defining your niche.

He offers some good advice I might want to take, and you might, too:

Choose an audience, not a topic

So who is my audience?  Well, other than the obvious "people who know me and are following out of a sense of obligation" (hi there!), I guess it would be "Grown-ass adults trying to figure out this whole 'adult identity' thing."

Differentiate your blog from every other

Ugh! Not the "how am I special" question! But there it is. 

I will say that two of my major blogging influences are Gretchen Rubin and Havi Brooks, who blog about happiness and mindfulness, respectively, and who are both (at least, as evidenced by their blogs) amazing, insightful women. Gretchen inspires me to keep up with my happiness posts, because what makes you happy says a lot about who you are. Havi meditates on each week and month that passes, reflecting on the good and hard things that occur -- just as I try to do each Friday. A lesser, but still important, influence is Trent Hamm, who blogs about personal finance -- and has had some amazing read-alongs.

Toss in a personal essay and a discussion of an online article, and you have my blog's week.

But that's doesn't actually answer the question, does it?

OK, I guess I explore the concept of adult identity by reading books, examining preferences, writing personal essays, engaging online content, and reflecting on the events of everyday life. 

Hey, that doesn't sound half bad, does it?

Where do you want your blog to be in a year?

Book deal.

Yeah, that's a pipe dream. Barring that? I'd love to see an active yet respectful community of commentors (I've seen it done!) who engage these topics and maybe even support each other. Being quoted on other blogs would be pretty sweet, too.

Strengthen your blog’s foundation

I'm... not really sure how to do this right now, but if any hobbyist-designers wanna talk shop, please, go for it.

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