Blog Tipz

Let’s forget all the complexities of starting a blog.  Anyone can start a blog as long as they have the resources on hand to begin.  The core aspect of every blog is the path - the direction and main focus point of the blog.  Without this, every blog will remain stagnant in growth until visitors are able to understand the blog’s purpose.

You want to be able to create a blog that is both marketable and continues to grow in the long-term, while still being able to enjoy yourself while writing on the blog each day.  Some people who lose interest in their blog find it difficult to generate new content each day, letting their blog become another desolate piece of the blogosphere.

The Great Invention

A prime example of how to begin your blog (at least in respect to its topic and focus) is to imaging that you are creating a new product, or have come up with the idea of something that will revolutionize how people conduct their daily business.  It is so new that people are unwilling to adapt to the new technology, much like people who first began using electronics felt.

This new product, you believe, will take off as soon as it is released.  You’ve spent thousands of dollars to design, build, and further refine the product, until you think it is “nearly perfect.”  On the day of release to the public, you fail to launch your product with the “big bang” that you had hoped and lose a ton of money as a result – you’ve only received one sale.

Situations like this arise everyday, around the world, in which the designer/creator of a new product fail to reach their target audience.  There are some steps to ensure that your product (in this case, your blog) reaches the audience that you have carefully selected – all by choosing a topic that is of sincere interest to you.

Marketing and Administering Your Blog

As in the example above, you can’t simply launch a new product without first promoting, or telling people about your new, marvelous creation.  With little notice and information about something entering a whole class of its own, few media outlets, or even people, will spread word about the product.

In my honest opinion, personal or miscellaneous blogs are the hardest to promote for the simple reason that there are so many out there.  Millions of people share their thoughts each day with the world, but only a few have been able to establish their blog’s focus as delivering “cutting edge” thoughts and posts abut what is happening in their life/world – something that people want to read.

Taking a Look at the Most Crowded Topics/Niches

People that read blogs every day are generally more in-tune with the Internet, which makes up a larger percentage of their day versus someone who “only goes on to check their email.”  While this may be one of the main reasons niches have developed the way they have, to be crowded masses where it is significantly harder to become recognized amongst people who have built their reputation up over the past three or more years.

In general, the following areas are the most crowded, thus being the hardest to promote (in many cases).

• Technology - This niche includes everything from gadgets down to specific areas, specializing in sub-niches and other target groups.  May also include science and environment (other forms of technology).
• Design, Coding, and “Other” - Everyone’s site, even if it is text only, has some kind of coding behind it, making this a niche that many enter to help build their own skills/knowledge, as well as help other people at the same time.
• News and Celebrities - Deriving from the traditional/old media formats, this group even spreads out to sites that used to focus primarily on newspapers and print media, now harnessing the power of Internet readers.
• Personal and Lifestyle Blogs - People writing on “personal” blogs share their thoughts with readers on what is happening in the world and their lives.

A large percentage of blog owners can place their blog into one of these four main categories, some of the most populated niches in the blogosphere.  There are several reasons why your blog will never reach the levels that you want it to:

• Many blogs can’t stick to the one main category, and any sub-categories that they want to blog about.
• There are so many blogs in each area, that it will take years before you are able to reap enough traffic to be deemed “successful.”
• Information overload often comes into play – there is simply so much to write about, even for personal bloggers – you become inundated each day with new content to publish, that much of what you should be writing about simply has to pushed to the side.
• Readers tend to have a short attention span, especially if they are coming from search results pages.  For this reason, it is essential that you blog on a subject you know others can relate to (or enjoy reading).

Final Thoughts

Despite the fact that this post may call out specific groups (making you feel like you shouldn’t blog in these niches), the main purpose is to help you clearly define what separates you form others; an area that I have been stressing in recent times.  

You need to be aware that there is a growing level of people online searching for content on blogs, but you have to align yourself in a position that allows you to grasp the traffic that is out there – growing the community around your blog at the same time.