It’s standard professional blogging wisdom that to succeed in blogging, you need to choose a niche. This is a point that I’ve made many times, and it’s advice I still stand by.
That said, there are many, many bloggers out there with multi-topic blogs who aren’t about to “niche down” any time soon. They love their blogs, topics, and readers too much to narrow their focus. Take, for example, Dooce. It’s not just a multi-topic blog, it’s a personal blog too—and one that’s monetized. Also, it’s just one of millions.
So there are plenty of bloggers out there who thoroughly enjoy multi-topic blogging, and many are making a living from it.
This weekend is designed for them: we have a weekend project that will help all the multi-topic bloggers out there get their blogs in order, help them focus on those topics they love, and assist them to gain more readers and followers through more creative, strategic thinking.
Though it seems like this weekend project is just for multi-topic bloggers, I have the feeling it’ll help any blogger who has more than one content category on their site. Like me, you might have been running your focused blog for a few years, and you might be finding that a topic spring-clean and strategic re-focus might help.
In that case, this weekend project is also perfect for you.
Today’s article, the first part in the series walks you through the process of conducting a topic inventory, and working out where your passions lie, who your readers are, who you are, and how you should focus your efforts.
Tomorrow’s article, the second part, looks at the way multi-topic blogs can really excel on certain platforms. Author and blogger Natalie Webb will profile five multi-topic blogs that are making the most out of Pinterest (as well as other social platforms). It’s an intriguing case study even for those with the most niche-specific blogs.
I think you’ll find this a really intriguing project. And if you have—or have ever had—a multi-topic blog, we’d love to hear about it in the comments. What’s your blog about? How long has it been going and where’s it heading? Share your stories with us in preparation for the first post, which will publish later today.
