I was reading a post about Choosing a Niche over at Green Llama that really got me thinking about the topic. I had never really given the topic much thought until earlier today. The author of this article, guest blogger Adam from Rotten Bananas, points towards the importance of having a specified niche and thus, a target audience, in order to maintain a steady flow of traffic. He makes some really good points and some thoughts of my own came to mind.
Now keep in mind this is my personal opinion… but, I’m not really a fan of “niche blogs”. 99% of the blogs I visit on a daily basis aren’t niche based; they are open-topic blogs. IMO, a blog is just that - random bits of information from the author; something that gives you a look into their life, who they are, what they like/dislike.
Face it, humans are, by nature, very curious… you could even say nosy. People like to know what goes on in other peoples lives. This is exactly why tabloids sell like hotcakes. As long as you update your blog a few times per day, you should have no problems creating a “following” of loyal readers. As the saying goes, “If you build it, they will come”.
Not to bash niche blogs, but for me, they just don’t work. Why? Well here are a few examples. If I want to learn about the latest and greatest tech gadgets, I simply visit a dedicated tech “website”. The same goes for, say, cars. Motor Trend is where I would go, not an “automotive blog”. Why?
Well for one, I would trust the info. I get from a website more than I would a blog. The material would more likely be fact based, not the authors opinion. This very post is a great example. This is all my opinion, not fact based!
From a blog standpoint, sometimes a niche can hurt you… because there may be other things you want to talk about, but now they don’t fit into the blog and would totally be out of place. With an “open niche” blog, you are free to talk about whatever you want. I think readers appreciate that and you will get a more diverse group of readers.
