Stake Your Claim on Your Blog Niche

It seems like everyone is trying to find their niche on the social web, particularly when it comes to blogging.  In simplest terms, a niche is a very specific area of focus, and a niche blog is one that is tightly focused on one specific subject.

The web has become a very cluttered place, and it’s hard to compete for traffic for broad keywords (such as parenting or business) against larger, well-established sites with deep pockets.  However, you can stand out from the noise by choosing a niche and offering authoritative, reliable, and shareworthy content and conversations related to that niche on your blog.

The first step is to define your niche by asking yourself the following questions:

1. What subject can write about frequently?

Define your area of expertise that you want to use as the core of your online reputation.  Your niche should be a subject that you can write about a lot and that you actually have something worthwhile to discuss.  Once you identify the subjects that you can write about extensively, then break that topic up into smaller, more focused subjects.  In other words, define the niches within that broader topic.

2. Is my niche viable today?

Take some time to learn who else is publishing content related to your possible niches, and make sure there is an active and engaged audience already seeking information about and talking about your potential niches.  Also, use a tool like the free Google AdWords Traffic Estimator to get an idea of the traffic a niche blog might attract.

3. What keywords should I target?

Do some keyword research to further research the potential audiences niche topics could generate to your blog, and ensure your content is optimized for search engine referrals and effectively attracts your target audience using tools like Wordtracker, Keyword Discovery, or the free Google AdWords Keywords Tool.

4. How can I differentiate my content and make it valuable?

Niche blogs are highly focused, therefore, it’s important that you learn who else is publishing content related to your niche to ensure you add value to the online conversation.  You don’t want to simply republish the same kind of information that other bloggers are already publishing.  Take the time to create amazing, shareworthy content related to your niche to fully leverage the compounding effect of blogging.

5. Can I make this niche work for the long term?

While it’s important that your niche is viable today, you also need to make sure that you set your business blog up for long term success.  Make sure you can create enough content for your niche blog for years to come while remaining passionate about your subject matter.  Also, don’t choose a trend niche that is hot today but is likely to fade into oblivion in the not too distant future.  For example, writing a blog about a popular television show might sound like a great idea today, but if you want your blog to be successful indefinitely, then a television show that could be canceled in a year or two might not be the best niche topic for your blog.  Make sure your niche topic matches your short and long-term blogging goals.

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3 Great Marketing Strategies for Bloggers With Limited Time

If you’re anything like me, you don’t have much free time to blog. Many of us just don’t have the time to spend four hours a day blogging. We’ve got the day job, family, social life, and other things taking up our time. So anything that can really help improve our blog without spending too much time is a good thing.

In this post, I’ll share the top three methods in my experience that provide the best results in the least amount of time. One disclaimer before we start. Just because these methods don’t take a lot of time doesn’t mean you won’t be working hard to implement them. The methods are based on creating something of value and doing that requires a little bit of determination, focus, and effort.

With that in mind, let’s go to the first strategy.

1. Keyword-Based Posts

One thing I’ve found is that if you’re intentional with using keywords in your posts, you’ll get a lot more traffic than simply writing whatever comes to mind. I’ve checked out many of the popular blogs in my niche and they don’t use keywords well. These blogs have many more links than me but I outrank them for key search terms because I do keyword research and insert the keywords in my posts.

You don’t have to spend months learning SEO to use this tactic. The process is simple.

First, do some keyword research.

Check out your keyword logs and see what keywords are driving traffic to your site. You can usually find keyword patterns that you can capitalize on. For example, let’s say you have a pet blog. You check your logs and see that you have a bunch of traffic for the keyword labrador retriever training tips. With this in mind, you can be sure to get traffic by targeting similar keywords by just substituting the name of the dog breed. Create posts that go after keywords like dachshund training tips and german shepherd training tips.

Also, think of some common search terms in your niche and then enter them in Google’s keyword tool. The tool will give you a lot of related keywords that you can use.

Then, simply include the keywords in the title tags of your posts.

That’s all there is too it. Yet, many bloggers don’t take use this strategy and they end up missing out on a lot of traffic.

2. Flagship Posts

I got the term “flagship” from Chris Garrett’s great ebook, Killer Flagship Content. Definitely check it out for more information. Flagship posts are posts that have a ton of value. They are comprehensive and longer than your average post. They are the type of posts that people bookmark and send to their friends.

You won’t be writing these posts in less than an hour, but they are great for your blog. Most posts are just not very good. This is sad to say but if you look at the average blog, their posts are not memorable at all. Flagship posts are therefore great at setting yourself apart and helping readers remember your blog.

For example, one of the blogs in my niche has really grown to be very popular. They’ve only been around for less than a year and they don’t post very often – around two posts a week. But each post is very good. They average about 1200 words per post and they routinely go over the 1600 word mark. Each post has relevant pictures and they use formatting wisely with headings and paragraphs so the posts look organized and are attractive to the eye. Their posts are so meaty that they only show 2 posts on their front page.

You can tell they put a lot of effort into their posts. As a result, they have a big audience with many repeat visitors that regularly comment on their posts.

This strategy may need a little promotional push especially if you have a new blog and don’t have an existing audience to spread the word about your blog. That brings me to the third strategy.

3. Guest Posting on Popular Blogs

Sending a guest post to a top blog and then having them publish it brings many dividends. You get your blog exposed to a big readership base and you connect yourself to a top blogger. Also, you brand yourself as an authority figure since you were able to get published on a reputable site.

The quality of your guest post is important. Most top blogs won’t take any post. They are looking for something of high quality. As such, I would treat these posts just like flagship posts from the previous strategy. Also, the better your post is, the more likely people will visit your blog and become a regular reader.

If you can’t seem to get published on the top blogs, then a publishing on popular forum can be an alternative. However, it shouldn’t be too hard to get a guest post on top blogs as long as you have a really good post for them. Therefore, don’t be afraid to send them quality guest posts. Blogs are always looking for fresh content so you have a great chance of being published.

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