Comments on: Focus on a Niche and Be the Best You Can Be

By: Gina Cuclis

Gina Cuclis — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:37:40 +0000

I think what you are also saying is to forget the national popularity contests. The concept of “A list” bloggers tends to ignore that a perfect niche may cater to an audience in a small region. Just like the chicken restaurant. A serves one thing restaurant would never fly in California.

By: Grant Griffiths

Grant Griffiths — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:05:06 +0000

Paul – Thanks for joining the conversation. And next time you know you are going to be at Brooksville, drop me a line. I will meet you there and buy your dinner.

By: Paul Rebein

Paul Rebein — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:03:45 +0000

I agree 100% on niche blogging AND that the chicken at the Brooksville Hotel rocks! I stop in there on my trips back home to see my parents!!!

By: A.B

A.B — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:26:29 +0000

True. Very well said.

Five Characteristics of a Successful Niche Blog:
1. Laser-focused Content.
2. Small Scope.
3. Unique Material.
4. Monetization-friendly Blog Template.
5. Has an audience.

The monetization strength of a niche blog lies in its exclusive and ever deepening focus on one topic and nothing else.

Niche blogs are remarkably easy to monetize and they can be very profitable in terms of ad earnings. For example, a niche product blog will do well with product and action-orientated advertising networks.

By: Christian Russell

Christian Russell — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 02:27:47 +0000

One area where I work a lot is real estate. Realtors are so often not even interested in differentiating themselves. Selling someone on niching themselves out is tough sometimes. I think it stems from a mentality that there is only so much business to go around, and they don’t want to limit themselves. Fact is, you simply CAN’T be everything to everyone. Trying to do so doesn’t get you more business, it simply makes you less able to help ANYONE in a meaningful way, because you’re spread too thin.

By: Grant Griffiths

Grant Griffiths — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:51:53 +0000

Jackie- Thanks for your comment and you are so right. Following your own niche, take your passion and run with it. Your readers will love you for it. Thanks again!

By: Jackie Lee

Jackie Lee — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:20:20 +0000

Great post ~ it is HUGE to be able to focus on one small niche. It makes it so much easier to get traction for your blog. This is true no matter what your topic is ~ if you’re talking about mountain bikes ~ stick with bikes, don’t talk about biking clothes, or bike parts ~ just mountain bikes. If people can grok that lesson they will be well ahead of the game!

Jackie Lee

By: Grant Griffiths

Grant Griffiths — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:09:06 +0000

Richard – Great points all of them. With you blog I see no reason you could not also hit on web design in general to show you are more then just accessibility issues. Doing that would show your readers you understand and are an expert at all things about web design. From there you could come back around to the original intent of your blog, accessibility.

Funny you should mention how we in the US pronounce NICHE. I have always thought it is you UK’ers who should be a bit more harsh in how you say it. LOL Thanks again for your comment and for being part of our community.

By: Christopher G. Hill

Christopher G. Hill — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:42:33 +0000

I must admit, when I started my construction blog (almost a year ago now) I almost got discouraged. This is not a topic that will grab most people. But sticking with the niche has built a following and gotten me clients. I don’t think it would have been as effective without the targets.

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:46:25 +0000

Focusing on a niche is good advice, but it can still be difficult to decide how narrow the niche should be. My recently started blog (largely as a result of Grant’s October Kick Start series of posts, many thanks for that) is about web design with a focus on accessibility, but I’m still not sure whether I should only blog about web accessibility rather than the wider aspects of web design.
If a niche is too narrow then it may not attract those on the fringes who have a limited interest. As an analogy if the chicken restaurant didn’t serve ice-cream or offer wine and spirits then it could lose repeat customers, even though those things aren’t strictly part of the niche.
The other difficulty comes when a niche doesn’t seem to be generating enough interest (or starts to lose interest e.g. a Commodore 64 niche in the early 80′s would have been viable but now it would have limited (but still extant) appeal).
By the way, I’d like to encourage U.S readers to start pronouncing niche like leash (as we do in the U.K) rather than the somewhat harsh niche sounding like itch.