Realising I hadn’t scheduled in a post for this week’s Blogging about Blogging, I asked on my Facebook page if anyone had any blogging questions they wanted answered.
Tracey responded with…
“The only thing bugging me about blogging is direction. So many blogs seem to have direction yet my mind hops & skips all over the place. Is there a secret to choosing a theme or direction for your blog when you have so many ideas?“
I don’t know if there is a secret as such, but I DO know that if you choose a theme (or niche) for your blog, you need to be VERY passionate about it and not choose such a narrow theme that eventually you will run out of things to say.
Note to self – the snow globe blog, think it through a bit more.
I have been blogging for over 6 years now and I STILL haven’t got this niche thing down. If you’ve been a TGDM reader for a while, you’ll see that I blog about a wide variety of topics. I even mentioned it on my about page that I blog about anything that catches my attention. Luckily, personal blogging is a niche, so I can get away with it 
But if you have been blogging for a while and want to work out which direction you should take
- have a look at your categories – what topic(s) do you blog about the most? What topics do you enjoy writing about more? Maybe you post more about cooking and recipes?
- ask your readers – every once in a while, I might run a poll here or on my Facebook page, asking my readers which topics they like the most on TGDM.
That said, if you’re a personal blogger, I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with blogging about a variety of topics, as long as you do so in a way to make it easy for your readers to navigate your site.
Bloggers, care to add your thoughts? How did you decide what your blog was going to be about?
::
Do you have a question about blogging that you would like answered? Feel free to leave a comment below or email me @ tinagray.me@gmail.com
.jpg)
{ 18 comments }
For me I just say Lifestyle and Beauty which I think covers everything- a tricky question Tina
Amanda from Amanda's Mummy Jeans xoxoxo
That's what I say too – it does cover a lot of areas.
My recent post Birthday Botox??
I use personal or lifestyle. Depending on who I'm trying to describe my blog to.
The broad premise of my blog is about a city wife trying out the country life, but the reality is that I blog about what ever gets in my head, and about our life in general. I consider my blog to be a personal blog, so I feel free to blog about what ever.
If I had to say I had a niche, it’s be personal/mummy blogger I guess. I blog about whatever is going through my head at the time. Usually that has to do with Husband or my Kids.
It's tough. I tend to blog parenting stuff on Monday's, crazy vlog type stuff on Fridays, something lighthearted that's happened in my life on Sundays, and Tuesdays is usually the post I need to write, cause that's when I get most traffic.
So maybe I'm allow the place, but it works for me.
One of my goals this year was to have words for the year, and my word for blogging was 'inspire.' I find this has helped me define what I write about. Am I just writing for the sake of writing, or is th some meaning? And is the meaning as simple as giving everyone a laugh, and sending them on their way feeling a little better, cars that's important too.
Oh and snow globe blog? Awesome!
I've tried to do blogging for my business, but because I'm fairly new at what I do (only 2 years in the industry), it was nigh on impossible to find things to write about. Personal blogging is great because I can write about whatever I want as long as it's in my usual voice. If I started getting all ranty and talking politics, it just wouldn't fit, because that's not me, in real life or on my blog.
Why do we need a niches anyway ,why can't we all just be content with the randomness that comes from not having a niche ? I for one get easily bored with some blogs that are all about one thing ,people need to stop trying to fit themselves into a groups,categories and boxes sometimes it's like trying to bang a sqaure peg into a circle holenitnjust doesn't work
Great post! I was wondering about my own direction and I think my direction is just me with beauty, lifestyle and style thrown in.
My recent post Birthday Botox??
Hehe, I so get that question – me too! But now I'm just twiddling my bloggy thumbs until I become a Aussie-mum-in-Japan blogger
I have thought and thought about this and came to the conclusion that I am my blog, my story is my niche. People come to my blog to find out what I've been up to. I had briefly considered going down one particular path, but I realised quickly that I did not have much to say about that topic.
I am a multi-faceted person and so is my blog. I think that I do have particular views and opinions that are reflected in my posts, but they are not things I specifically focus on all the time.
I decided pretty easily since I set myself a goal to be a millionaire by 30 so was posting about that. I have always had a passion for finances.
I keep a separate blog for random stuff too, since I love blogging. I don't really expect that blog to go anywhere, but it is fun and helps me have an outlet to just do something outside my niche, if that makes sense.
Just wanted to add I think the focus on having a niche is a bit much. If you really want to make money from your blog a niche helps, but if you want to blog for fun then enjoy the randomness!
http://kylieofiu.com
Mine is a personal blog so I just post whatever pops into my head. Sometimes I'll have enough ideas floating around to do several scheduled posts, but mostly not.
My recent post how many muscles are in the human body?
I used to have direction. My weekly feature used to be great, but then I ran out of 'stories' and people stopped submitting. Then I went away for a lil while, and now I'm back blogging randomly about nothing in particular. I need to get my groove back.
And Hi! by the way, haven't talked to you in months
My recent post The *New* Body Shape
I like to write about a variety of subjects too. I’ve been struggling with my niche in recent months as well, but have realised that I mostly blog about family, motherhood, self-discovery and crafting. That doesn’t mean I’m going to limit myself to those topics only. I always write from the heart and my readers respond to that, no matter the topic.
LisaW recently posted..A school bag nook for a small space
I think that random blogging is ok. Your blog needs to be for whatever interests you, not others neccesarily, otherwise it wont keep you motivated.
Alissa
I only started my blog last week, so this is a great post to read. I know what you mean about not being too niche / themed. I guess my blog does have a central theme, which is the reason for it in the first place, but that's not the only thing in my life so I'd also say it falls into the personal/mum blogger categories. Will be interesting to see how it pans out over the coming months.