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I have to admit that I have struggled in the area of finding a niche. Every well intentioned instructor and successful blogger speaks about having a tight niche to build your platform upon. I could never think of one subject that I wanted to write on exclusively. I am a mish-mash of cooking, creativity, blogging, interior design, organizing… on second thought, I sound like a mom. hmmm….
Being a mom isn’t a tight niche though. I mean, there are thousands of mom bloggers out there. What would make me different?
I bet you have asked yourself the same thing.
Because I am a mom, a couple of my favorite shows are Next Design Star and Next Food Network Star. Can I tell you that I’ve learned a lot more from those shows than how to hang curtains and use a pressure cooker? You can hear the judges week after week saying, “I like this. It is nice but it doesn’t tell me who you are.” With other contestants you can find them running from the places they came from and it shows in their work. The judges keep repeating, “Where are your roots? Work with what you know. Learn new things to grow but they must be rooted.”
Be who you are. It really is that simple.
Whether you are an educated businessman who wants to blog about all the latest gadgets or fantasy sports or if you’re an empty nester who wants to blog about cooking for two or the grand kids: let your writing reveal who you are.
So who are you? A New York socialite with an affinity for cottage decor? A football lovin’ dad from the south? Maybe you are newly wed and traveling across the country with your military spouse. Whoever you are, blog that. I don’t mean blog about your roots unless of course you want to. Instead, blog from your roots. That is your niche.
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I like it! This has always been a hard subject for me. “what’s my niche?”
This is a great way to look at it!
Haha…I’ve been “Mom” 18+ years now and my previous life (art teacher) has sort of drifted off in the past, but my next act is just warming up. I started writing my blog “Living Above the Laundry Pile” last year. I’ve also had a few articles published and each one so far has come directly from that blog, regardless of the other efforts I have made. Basically, I write the blog a lot like I used to journal on my own, but a bit “neater.” It is cool to see how God uses the words He whispers to me to bless others out there in cyberspace.
When you have no roots, what do you do? Just kidding. By roots, you mean WHO YOU ARE. Some people have never really dug down to see who they are, so they struggle with blogging identity too.
I think that you can find a niche also by looking at who you WANT to be. So your blogging is a discovery as you walk towards something. I think of A Slob Comes Clean where she is striving to be a better homemaker. I started my blog in a journey to being a Charlotte Mason styled homeschooler. I am still learning and walking towards that. It is a foundation of most of my posts.
This is exactly what my husband keeps saying to me
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I am puzzled still about how to write my “Welcome” and my “About” page, but I do write from who I am.
It’s the only not totally exhausting way to do it.
Thanks!