#Monday Matters - How did that happen?
...and the art of successful blogging
When I was encouraged to begin this blog about 7 years ago, it was suggested that I use it to promote my current novels. Focus on blog posts about the writing of my contemporary mysteries, was the advice at the time - but I knew that wasn't going to work for me. My first two published novels were contemporary mysteries, but less than a month after the second of those was launched I had a third novel being published by a different publisher, which was a historical romantic adventure.
Though new to writing fiction, I enjoyed the variety of the different approaches needed for writing in different genres. I barely had the energy (and time) to write one blog, so having two different 'genre' blogs was not to be contemplated. My blog was going to end up being a bit of a mishmash, but I decided going with the flow was definitely for me, regardless of what worked for some other authors. I love the mixture that is this blog and don't really see that changing anytime soon.
Today, I'm joined by Debbie from @myrandommusings blog who is a versatile blogger, as well as being a successful author. She's here to share her ideas of what running a successful blog might entail.
 |
| Debbie (Deborah A Stansil ) |
Welcome, Debbie! It's lovely to have you pop in. Your suggestions for what makes blogging enjoyable and successful are very enticing....
Why
You Don’t Have to Have a Niche Blog to Have a Successful Blog
Have you ever read anywhere
that every blogger should have a niche that they write within and don’t deviate
much from? That this niche is the key to being successful as a blogger? I’m
sure you have – it seems to be the advice every experienced blogger gives.
But is it true? I’m going to go
against the trend here and say no, absolutely not.
Now don’t get me wrong. Having
a tight niche will put you on a faster track to getting good page views,
engaged readers and ultimately making income from your blog as an affiliate,
through sponsored posts or from selling your products and services.
You will attract readers who
care about the subject you’re talking about and want to learn more about it,
that’s for sure. You might be able to establish your blog pretty quickly,
especially if you really drill down into your niche and focus on one area of
it.
And that’s great if that’s what
you want to do. In fact, if someone told me they wanted to make a living from
blogging, that’s exactly what I’d tell them to do.
But here’s the thing that
always makes me question this advice. You’re not one dimensional – and neither
are your readers. Personally, I’d get bored writing about the same thing every
day, even if it’s something I’m passionate about. And if I get bored of writing
it, surely my readers will get bored of reading it. And when that happens,
they’ll look elsewhere for something different. If you provided something
different, chances are they’d stick with you – they already know they like your
writing style and trust your opinions or they wouldn’t be readers of you at
all.
Let’s take an example. Imagine
you are a blogger who wants to write about blogging. You can write guides to a
whole host of things, social media tips, the works. But take a minute to think
about a blogger as a person. They are so much more than just a blogger. Maybe
they’re parents, maybe they have full time jobs, maybe they love reading, cake
baking, cooking, photography, pets; the list is endless.
So why wouldn’t they be
interested in reading a recipe or a book review? Here’s the thing – they would.
How can I be sure? Well my blog
is over three years old. I say my niche is motivation and inspiration for women
who want to follow their dreams and live the life they love. And it is – but
it’s much more than that. I also talk about books and TV shows I love. I post
cocktail recipes and share my opinion on topical things. I talk about writing,
blogging and I post interviews with other bloggers and authors.
And you know what? My posts get
views. All of them. No matter whether they are niche posts or not. I mean the
very name of my blog, My Random Musings, tells people to expect a range of
subjects – and still, they come.
So how did I discover this
instead of falling straight into a niche and never considering all of the other
things I wanted to talk about? I’ll be honest. It was a total accident.
When I first started blogging,
I knew nothing at all about it. I don’t think I’d even read a blog. I knew I
wanted to be a writer, but it had been years since I’d written anything, so I
decided to start a blog. I figured writing something, even if it wasn’t
fiction, would help me find my voice again and get back into the habit of
writing. I knew a journal wouldn’t cut it – if there was no chance of someone
reading it, then it didn’t matter whether I did it or not.
I began writing my thoughts
about various things and posting them. I planned to do it for a week or two
until I felt like I was back into writing and then close it down. But something
happened. I found I was loving blogging, and I decided to keep doing it. I
joined Twitter and actually started to get a decent amount of people coming to
my blog.
After about four or five months
of serious blogging, I first came across the idea that I “needed” a niche. I
began pondering the idea, trying to think of anything I could choose that could
hold my attention every single day over the long term. Of course I couldn’t
think of anything. I worried I was doing the blogging thing all wrong, but I
still kept posting and trying to think up a niche.
And that’s when it hit me. I
didn’t need to find a niche to make my blog grow because it was already
growing. I didn’t need to find a niche to make money from blogging because I
was already doing that. And I didn’t need to find a niche to sell products
because I was already doing that too.
In short, I didn’t need a
niche, because I was the niche. And that’s the secret. The moment you start
writing a blog, you’ve found your niche. Your niche is you. Your thoughts, your
opinions and your words.
If I’d heard about needing a
niche to be successful before I started, I’d either have a blog that bores me,
or I wouldn’t have a blog at all. If you’re just starting out, by all means
soak up all the advice you can get from people who’ve been where you are, but
keep in mind that no matter how successful someone is, their opinion is just
that – an opinion. And just because they couldn’t make something work doesn’t
mean you can’t.
Blogging should be fun. It
should showcase the real you. And that’s all that really matters. Readers want
to make a genuine connection with a real person, not a niche. If you’re in this
for the long haul and you don’t want to restrict yourself, then don’t. You
might take a bit longer to grow, but you can still grow a blog without a niche.
Take it from someone who has done it.
About Debbie:
Born in 1982 in North East
England, I knew from an early age I wanted to be a writer. Life got in the way,
and the dream was put on the back burner, although never forgotten. I am now a
full time author and freelance writer and I write my own blog, My Random
Musings.
I have published four novels,
three short story collections, three non-fiction books and a collection of
funny poems.
Find Debbie at the following places:
Thank you for sharing your excellent suggestions with us today, Debbie. Best wishes with all of your writing projects, current and future!
Thank you for sharing my post :)
ReplyDeleteDebbie
An excellent post from Debbie - I frequently found myself nodding in agreement. I'm a book blogger (so I guess that's my niche), and have never sought to monetise what I do - but wholeheartedly agree that blogging should be fun, and the real me will always feature in my posts. Thanks ladies - enjoyed that one!
ReplyDelete