Niche blogging v/s Generic blogging
Ajith | Mar 2009 | Blogging Tips, Miscellaneous
For the past two-three weeks my health has not been at its best and needless to say, good health (physical and mental) is vital to anything that you do online or offline. When it comes to blogging, though, this time around I realized how important it is to have (i) a good number of scheduled posts (not just drafts as in my case) and how (ii) generic blogging can be of help in terms of blogging without interruption as compared to niche blogging.
What is niche blogging?
Wikipedia defines niche blogging as follows:
Niche blogging is the act of creating a blog with the intent of using it to market to a particular niche market
The following are some of traits of niche blogs.
- A niche blog usually dedicates itself to a single focused topic – e.g. Photography, Search Engine Optimization, Parenting
- Mostly a niche blog will have a domain name that reflects the niche – e.g. DailySEOBlog.com, EarnestParenting.com
- Niche blogs usually are branded and SEO Optimized well that they attract a good amount of search traffic
- Niche sites have a loyal audience
- Niche bloggers can easily network with bloggers of similar attitude and interests
- Niche blogs are powered by passive income generators such as PPC programs, affiliate links etc
From the above statements it’s clear that when you go for niche blogging you have several advantages. At the same time, the following are some of the minus points of having niche blogs.
- Scope is too small sometimes that the blog’s continuity is challenged i.e. generating continuous stream of topics depends on the niche itself
- Niche blogging can restrict the author from writing about other things that he/she likes. Sometimes, this may force bloggers to launch multiple niche blogs
- Affiliate programs and ads promoted via niche blogs have restricted scope
- Basic blog marketing needs such as link exchanges (and even commenting), getting authority etc have restricted scope
Is DollarShower a niche blog?
Well, I am caught in between. In fact, when I registered this domain name, my intention was to write about topics related to making money online. But when I started writing about making money out of blogs, I had to explain how blogs can be created and optimized. I had to talk about marketing the blogs then and it went on to add blogging tips as one of the key topics here. Further more, the traffic generation tips resulted in more SEO topics. So I could probably call it a MMO-Blogging Tips-SEO Tips niche blog.
The reason for explaining niche blogging was to highlight some of the merits of taking that route as well as limitations. For example, if I had a generic blog like JohnChow.com I had the opportunity to write about where I had dinner last night, how bad it was to blog from the hospital bed, dot com pills etc. Generic blogging can be of tremendous help when you are totally out of creativity or time (No offence intended)
Over to you…
When you picked a domain name did you know what topics you wanted to write about? Are you feeling handicapped about not being able to write about certain topics that you always liked?
Happy Blogging! (niche or otherwise)
Ajit,
This was some thing different from your old posts.By the way is it really necessary to classify as one’s blog is generic or niche?
BTW when I registered my domain thought of writing about cars and bikes, more or less I could do the same.
George’s last blog post… VW Launches Beetle Pink On Barbie’s Birth Day
Ajith,
I Hope you get well soon
When i started TechZoomIn, my plan was to put everything about internet and blogging and money making obviously. But after a month or so its been diverted to only blogging,seo and money making and wordpress stuff.
I found its going with this stuff and don’t want to experiment anymore. Good article and question you asked
Techpp was my first domain registration and the title I chose was – Technically Personal.
This was basically to make sure I don’t get branded as a Tech blogger (which actually happened later on). When talking about niche, one should realize there are sub-niches under it. When I say Technology niche, it has smaller niches like Internet, Blogging, Computers, Software etc. Considering them, technology won’t be a niche by itself. But you are very true in saying having a niche blog helps you in aspects like SERP, affiliate marketing etc, but restricts your creative instincts and interests in a way.
When i started blogging i didn’t know the meaning of the word niche
After few weeks/months, i came to know. I personally don’t like to be in single niche. I better be in all that i am good at. Cricket, Software, Technology, Wordpress tips, etc.,
Nihar’s last blog post… Muziic – New Music Player for YouTube
When i picked 2ask.ws i had never thought that i would blog on it. I wanted to have a nice generic domain name.
2ask.ws’s last blog post… Posting after long time.
When I started blogging I want to concentrate on Windows tips ,now I am covering security,troubleshooting,freeware,internet concepts ,technology and all other stuff.
venkat’s last blog post… 2 Ways to Find Shared Folders in Your Computer
Actually, niche blogging is one of the best ways to make money online. I currently have 5 niche blogs and counting. I will probably have like 10 when summer hits. The true benefit of niche blogging is Google traffic that converts. You can update them every few months and it doesn’t matter because their main purpose is to get targeted traffic that converts either into adsense clicks or sales. I mean someone can start a blog on a niche such as panties. And if you get it to rank it converts into a click o rama on adsense. That is the whole idea of making money blogging. Rule of thumb: forget about fame and becoming a celebrity good things come like money. Want to make money with niche blogs? Here is a hint: specific medical equipment, specific type of clothes ect. STAIR LIFTS! Oopps sorry. Just check how much a stair lift click is worth.
Archie Pennies’s last blog post… Do Follow Comments, Page Rank and SEO
Hi Ajith, you have managed to write some rocking posts these days, despite your illness.
On topic, I myself run a domain name specific blog, which can be seen as niche blogging. I like niche blogging since my audience is targeted, and my post research is limited to domain names.
Richael Neet’s last blog post… Registering a Domain Name
The Niche blog will have a constant reader base of people who just want to read articles of same type and some subscribe to a blog to know more on a specified topic.
So If we post on different topics, won’t it affect those readers?
I started the domain Island Crisis to blog personally about my country small bits and personal stuffs…finally I landed as a news source for the country with even dating tips series and other funny series.
I can say I dont really follow a niche…however when it comes to reading other blogs am more to read seo, mmo and blogging tips niche blogs
Kurt Avish’s last blog post… My God! PETA Gonna Make A George Clooney Flavored Tofu Now!
Mine actually went the other way, but that’s a “fault” of my own promotion…it still works well.
DirectSalesWebmarketing.com was/is a beginner tips blog for direct sellers looking to take their offline business, online. I currently have way more internet marketers on board, but again, that’s from my promotion….now I can have the best of both worlds as it’s all relevant anyway.
Actually i knew the meaning of niche blogging only after few months of my blogging career. But what to do i am forced to continue with this type of blogging. I thought of creating new blogs for generic blogging but couldnt keep up with it.
Narendra.s.v’s last blog post… Simple Rules & Abbreviations Of Instant Messaging
Obviously my blog was more like a generic personal blog (look at my domainname)..It just happened I have an experience with internet marketing way before I started melvinblog so i just shared it..
Melvin’s last blog post… Blogosphere News And Some Announcements
@George, it’s not at all necessary to distinguish. But there are pros and cons of having both… Also niche blogs have high passive monetization potential. Your blog is more or less a niche blog
@Lax, thanks for your concern
Things are very bad wrt the family health index man… Unable to get out of bed for almost five days now. But I cannot completely keep my hands off my laptop so 
.
I guess your blog and its domain name has a bit adaptable outlook. I think anything from technology, gadgets, internet, news, SEO etc goes with it.
@Raju, Technically personal was a bit confusing branding for me initially
Now I understand the motives behind it. Although, it’s not completely niche blogging you have good enough traffic and if it gets converted well, why not?
@Nihar, since your blog is named after you, anything goes well man. And I am glad to note that cricket as the traffic generator is working very well for you and it’s well complimented by software and blogging tips.
@2ask, you definitely have a generic and easy to remember short domain name. Any reason why you went for .ws TLD?
@venkat, thanks for explaining your rationale behind the name chosen. Since you are on the blogger platform, the advantage is that you can tweak your subdomain name anytime
@Luis, long time
You said it man… Niche blogs are cash cows, you can keep milking them forever without much investment. Look at Garry Conn. He has 40 or 50 niche blogs and the AdSense income itself was 4000+ dollars in January. The affiliate/private ad sales will be even more. That explains the power of niche blogging.
Good to learn that you are planning for many more niche blogs and thanks for the clues
@Richael, thanks ma’m
And your domain name is marvelous and it really highlights the niche! And the content really matches the domain name. In fact, if you continue from your last post in a logical way, it can actually create a lot of affiliate income in the domain registration, hosting space.
@PC, Niche blogs are about a single niche usually but very focussed and to its finer details. Once you market it as a niche blog, it wouldn’t make sense to write about generic stuff and it can affect readership.
@Kurt, your blog is very much mauritian
and I like it… That is one of my dream vacation places that I want to visit sometime before I retire. Coming back to your domain name, I did not quite understand why the ‘Crisis’ part in the domain name…
And you bring in a very important point about reading habits. Even I tend to read mostly on MMO, Blogging, SEO etc on top of some technology, cricket and political stuff.
@Dennis, your domain name is a typical Niche blog name. You are right on the promotion and the stuff that you are writing probably changed that focus a little bit. But if readers like what you have, why not? By the way, how was your experience with the original niche of online marketing for offliners?
@Narendra, you have a lot of opporunity to catch up with some niche blogging while keeping your generic blogs. Try to pick a niche that’s hot at the same time doesn’t require too frequent updating.
@Melvin, your is a very much self branded blog and hence you can have mix and match content… It’s very much along rajaie and huessein’s blogs
Thanks everybody for visiting and commenting…
Awesome thanks.
It’s still my primary niche, I just need to get back to promoting in the right areas.
Dennis Edell’s last blog post… Do You Charge For Blog Reviews?
I believe Niche blogging is better than generic blogging..My niche is on Software Testing and Im getting huge visitors now
Its actually a lot easier to make money from a niche blog. Of course depends on the niche you can blog mostly around anything out there for example here are more clues for niche blogging: selling diamonds, selling gold, gardening supplies, kitchen remodeling, used classic cars, DTV converter boxes, hdtv tuners for pc and bla bla bla. Such niches are adsense gold mines. I spend most of my time now finding links and checking for niches that is why I rarely post on someextrapennies.com. Right now I am constructing a lot of blogs and finding anchored links to them. After you have a nice arsenal of niche blogs that are somehow related you can start to interlink some of them with moderation. In a way that you do not piss google off. Actually google says that you should not interlink more than 8 sites. But from 8 sites you can get a lot of targeted site wides with they keywords that you want and rank for terms that are not as competitive and make some money fast and consistently. So this is what I am doing. I am writing 2 articles a day then i decide if an article goes to a niche blog of to a directory for links. If you do this for a month you have a minimum of 40 articles a month if you took weekends for you and your family. You can have 10 of those submitted to directories and the other 30 to be posted periodically to you niche blogs until they have at least 15 posts. Then I leave them alone and post on them only one a month. If you follow this strategy you will have a bunch of sites with good content in no time. As for writing content re-writing PLR articles is effective. You can rewrite this articles for your site in under 45 minutes each and write original articles for directories until you get familiar with the niche and you can write longer post on your own. In other words more than 600 words so you can insert a lot of long tails and get ranked for them.
Archie Pennies’s last blog post… Do Follow Comments, Page Rank and SEO
@Yoginder, definitely a quality and software testing niche will be always hot.
@Luis, thanks again for the ‘hints’… It will definitely help me and the community here… I should try some of the niches that you mentioned
Some niches pay more than others look around you and you will find tons of good niches. That is what I am doing. For example electrical appliances like vacuums and ceiling fans. there is no limit just think of stuff people buy and focus on the mini niche and not the big market .The MMO niche is the worst when it comes to conversions but others do very well. Just find a niche that would keep social media traffic and webmasters away and watch how your clicks go up. I learned that the hard way.
Archie Pennies’s last blog post… Do Follow Comments, Page Rank and SEO
Hope you’re feeling better, Ajit. Sometimes taking a break is needed to recharge and refocus. I feel that whilst determining and aiming at a specific niche has got huge merit, one should also offer a bit extra that will pull traffic you won’t usually attract. So I really see nothing wrong with occasional off-topic posts to spice things up a little bit.
I have to admit, Ajith, that when I started this particular blog, I didn’t have a clue as to what I wanted to write about. The name just popped into my mind one night, and I decided to go for it and bought the domain. It morphed into mainly talking about internet and online topics more than other stuff, but I still break the mold whenever I feel like I have something else to say.
Hmmn, Hope you are alright now, I’ll Pray for you to get well soon, take care, I like Dollarshower being a Generic blog
just wondered how you were getting on in general in making money online?? an insight would be good?
That’s why, when I choose my domain name for my blog, I don’t usually disclosed its name so that I can cover related topics to my blog which would be helpful to my readers.
- Felix Albutra