Excuse me, Are you in the Right Class?

July 12, 2010 - Last Modified: July 12, 2010 by Melinda

Finding your place as a niche blog

I write a niche blog about home organization, so my posts include how-to tips for keeping a home running smoothly and efficiently. As a mother of three kids and a fanatical organizer, I’m just trying to avoid stepping on a pointy Barbie shoe with a hot cup of coffee in hand.

I did things backwards in that I wrote a book on organizing first and then decided a blog would be a great place to sell it and share more ideas. Full of naivety and enthusiasm, I dived head-first into the blogosphere in January of 2010.

Identity crisis

The obstacles facing a niche blogger become strikingly clear the moment you begin registering on blog lists and discover that 70% of the time you don’t fit into any category. I was thrilled when there was a “Family” or “Home & Garden” category from which to choose, but that was rare.

Forced to select “Technology” since there was no “Other” option, I hoped fighting with my vacuum cleaner and coffee maker made it applicable.

The community classroom

I was joining communities, learning some great blogging tips, and meeting some fantastic people, but the communities were full of bloggers who blog about blogging. I was interested in their information, but my blog just didn’t fit in the group.

My uniqueness became amusingly clear while commenting on a CommentLuv-enabled blog. Looking over all the latest posts of the people before me, I saw “Passion Blogging”, “Are You Your Own Social Media Brand?”, and then mine… “Scared of your child’s room?”. Hmmm…

I looked around and realized…I am different. I’m wearing a blue shirt in a class full of people in red. What am I doing here? I think I’m in the wrong class.

Find communities that include your audience

Are you spending your time in the wrong place? I certainly was. After months of trying to build traffic to my site unsuccessfully, I realized I had to find the blue class even though the red one was really fun.

Step back and reevaluate where you spend your time. Being in the right class is important for niche bloggers since we fill a specific need.

In which community is your target audience hanging out? That is where you need to be.

Who are you writing for?

My target audience is made up of busy parents who are juggling kids, work, and a home on a day-to-day basis. I went on a search for the frazzled Mom who is re-vacuuming a floor due to a popcorn spill and who has a mound of paperwork cluttering her counter. The parenting community is my classroom. There I could meet, help, and learn from people like me who want to survive parenting with the house intact, some sanity, and a sense of humor.

A happy ending, and a new beginning

Once I found the first parenting community, I was excited to discover there were lots of them. Why did it take me so long to find them?

Finding your way in the blogosphere as a niche blog takes some patience and some good old-fashioned detective work to find your spot within it. I still enjoy the occasional visit to the red class to see some great blogging friends, but I’m finally where I belong.

Look around. Are you in the right class?

About Melinda

Follow @simplehomeorg

I create websites for small businesses in addition to writing my blog Simple Home Organization. Having a sense of humor is my secret for sanity while juggling three kids, a dog, and work.

{ 59 Responses }

Trung Nguyen says:

I never find communities that include your audience, that's my mistake and I've to chance it right now, I also love your last point, who are you writing for, someone doesn't define that thing, and they couldn't build a successful blog and still don't know why?
TheRedheadRiter says:

Great analogy and message. I think it takes a while to find where you fit and feel comfortable. Perseverance, determination and patience all play a vital role.
Samantha says:

My first few blogs (hehee) were all over the place. I think that's how everyone first gets into this game. They launch a little site, and just ramble to their hearts content... much like a baby's first steps in life. But yes, as I created (and watched several sites fail for whatever reasons), indeed I found the few targeted blogs that I was most interested in succeed from the most. Anything that motivates you for the long haul, and is aims at a small piece of pie... will attract it's fair share in the big picture. It just takes a little while to find your feet.
jigar doshi says:

another post asking me to stick to a particular "niche" and keep blogging about it. umm, since mine is a personal blog and i write as a hobby, i post about various things. relationships, moral stories, things i notice(d), being some of the topics. apart from that, interesting read. :)
Michele says:

Short yet powerful message Melinda! I was in the same boat as you not too long ago. My traffic has been increasing which is great, but I'm still left with, are they my target market? And unfortunately, some of them were, but MOST were not. So I've really had to take a hard, long look at who they where and how to reach them. The question I asked to myself was: If I were having this issue, where will I go to find help? That pretty much summed it all up for me! Thanks for sharing this great article!
- Melinda says:
  
  That is a great way to put it..."If I were having this issue, where will I go to find help?" I think sometimes we forget to step back and look at it that way. It doesn't hurt to do that every few months and see if you can discover a new source for your target market. Thanks for the comments :).
Chadrack says:

You've just presented what many of us has gone and are going through in their blogging career. A greater percentage of bloggers are mostly interested on blog topics. I've noticed a re-occuring decimal on my blog. Whenever I post on some blogging tip the responses are torrential. But once I return to the core theme of my blog, the silence is deafening! Many a time I've been tempted to just change gear and continue with blogging subjects. Your post has given me some push to find my self and keep to it.
- Melinda says:
  
  I'm glad to hear it isn't just me. I find it amusing which posts of mine get comments and which don't. I know what you mean about the deafening silence. You want to shout out.."Hello? Is anyone there?" but are afraid it will just echo back. :) You have a very nice blog. I looked :) I say hang in there and search for some relevant communities. However with the topics you have, I don't see why you can't occasionally blog about blogging, too. I think it still fits in with your topics well.
Kristi Hines says:

Sometimes niche bloggers' best chance is to find niche networks for their sites. For example, you may not find a lot of "pet" categories on other sites, but if you go to Petster.com you will find an entire community that loves nothing more than pets and finds your blog exceptional. So definitely don't spend too much time on a "popular" community if it does not cater to your niche - spend it in places where you will find the right people for your site. If there aren't social networks (which seems unlikely now-a-days), don't forget about forums. Niche forums have a lot of regular, loyal members, and if you can fit in with them, you will find a great reader base for your blog!
- Melinda says:
  
  That's good advice for any niche blog. I haven't ventured out to look for forums yet, but I will certainly do that.
Tia says:

Melinda - Perfect post! I think so many bloggers end up gravitating into the technology or "blogs about blogging" communities because they are so visible and on the front line. It seems natural. But I'm happy you found your way to the right community. Yes, the parenting/family blogging community and so is personal development, and organization fits in there, too. Those communities are massive and you will do very well there. Cheers, Tia
- Melinda says:
  
  Thanks Tia! Your blog is one I subscribe to and read often. New bloggers, like me, are basically lost in the chaos of all that is out there and need the advice those blogs offer so I think it is a natural attraction to want to stay and absorb information.
Dennis Edell says:

First hand experience tells me this is spot on! Looong story short, my primary audience is those in direct sales. Unfortunately I came to realize just about any beginner with a website of any kind could use my help. Problem 1: That is so NOT niched. Problem 2: I have to essentially start over looking for specific communities for direct sellers.
- Melinda says:
  
  I think communicating with the wider audience, since many would be interested in addition to pinpointing a specific target would have its advantages. It is like me. Who doesn't want an organized house, so you would think my target audience is everyone, but it really isn't. It is finding the people looking for that specific information. That is where it seems to get tricky sometimes.
Julius Kuhn-Regnier says:

Nice article Melinda. Even though I have never been in such a situation I agree that you need to carefully select the community that also includes your audience. Like you mentioned it won't help you to get loyal readers that much if you comment on blogs that are all about Internet marketing while yours is about family related stuff.
- Melinda says:
  
  I agree. I'm interested in what those blogs have to say and like to comment from that point of view, but that has nothing to do with my blog.
Colleen says:

"My target audience is made up of busy parents who are juggling kids, work, and a home on a day-to-day basis. " Wave hand! :) Very nice article Melinda!
- Melinda says:
  
  Hee hee..thanks Colleen. I have seen your blog a few times. You have a great example of how you can use a blog for business.
  - Colleen says:
    
    Smiles! You are being too kind Melinda. Real estate blogging is the dearth of the earth, so 'seeing our blog' is very complimentary. Thanks!
Daniel Sharkov says:

Definitely finding the community where you belong is an important factor. In order to get the most out of your blog and articles, you need to get relevant traffic, which might require spending time on some research on blogs and forums sharing your interests, but it is well worth it. Being somewhat different on the other hand might also prove beneficial as there's not much competition and that certainly can make things easier.
- Melinda says:
  
  I agree in the long run it is an advantage being different. It does take a lot of research time to get going.
element321 says:

Great article Melinda and thanks for sharing your information. When I first started about 2 years ago, I mostly commented in my niche but I found, I got tired of commenting on their stuff since, it was always the same. I started moving out my niche and found the traffic slowly going away. I eventually stopped working on that blog and just update it ever couple of months or so. I plan to start working on that blog or on another blog in the same niche once my current blogs are and running with a steady flow of traffic. As for my current project, I spent most of my time commenting on How to Blog sites, because I was spending all of my time doing this, my traffic wasn't that great. As soon as I started moving into my design niche my traffic started building. I still spend a lot of time in the how to blog community since my blog is a generalized New Media blog covering different topics. I found that I have to market my blogs by the topic of my article.
- Melinda says:
  
  I do see how it can get boring commenting on the same topic over and over. I think that's when it is a good time to visit some other types of blogs for a break. Traffic certainly does seem to fluctuate based on where I am hanging out at the time.
Melissa Korta says:

Melinda your such a wealth of information and are always freely giving! With your steering I hope to find my "niche" and become a successful blogger! Really enjoyed the article!
- Melinda says:
  
  Thanks Melissa!! << That's my good friend who took my new picture. :) She is a brilliant photographer!
Dr Joe says:

Melinda, I enjoyed your post. From what I see in this big funky blogsphere it's not little clusters of birds-of-a-feather huddling off in tiny corners... It's these diverse people sharing and exploring new ideas and directions. I'm only saying that because i can't find other blogging dentists... (insert gentle sobs here)
- Melinda says:
  
  Well I guess you are the only cool blogging dentist around. I think that deserves an award of some sort. :) I do love the diversity...it is why I can't seem to stay in my classroom and tend to skip class a lot. ha ha
- Melinda says:
  
  OK I had to go see what the blogging dentist blogs about. I love it! What an entertaining site. I feel compelled to tweet about it.
The Bad Blogger says:

Seriously after reading this, I have no ideal if I'm in the right class, since I love blogging, internet marketing and copywriting so much, I'm probably wearing a three color shirt knowing tons of people in different type of class, although is overwhelming sometime, but the ideals and information was just great. I'm not sure about you, but when I first start out in blogging I wrote about sexual stuff, which actually is a large topic to talk about even other niche blogger are interested in what I wrote. It seems to me, if your topic or niche covers large ground, well... most probably you had a much better chance of gaining huge amount of audience, but of course you must know how....
- Melinda says:
  
  I don't think there is anything wrong with the triple colored shirt. :) I do think we all prefer to travel around to different types of communities since each offers something a bit different. I think you learn from some communities, teach in others, and in some you do both. Finding the right balance for your particular blog/niche is what matters, and it's different for each person.
Aaron says:

I agree Melinda.. Sometimes it is good to find a niche, but I also like to really find a micro niche to start out with. I can always grow out from there, but with a really fine tuned micro niche, you can get some very dedicated followers.
- Melinda says:
  
  That is a good idea! Then you can slowly expand as you see fit.
Kimi says:

Hi Melinda, Your point #1, about identity crisis reminds me of my blog. At first i wanted to create only wordpress posts, but then i tried with another topic like adsense, technology and those posts generate me traffic, susprisingly. So I would say, go for it, if you really passionate and will enjoy writing those posts.
- Melinda says:
  
  I think you do need a clear direction. All your topics do go together nicely. It is ok to add in topics if it still fits under the main idea of the blog without going too far out.
Stacey Cavanagh says:

I think one of the best things about Blogging is, as you mentioned, finding communities of similar bloggers. There's a real community spirit within the blogosphere... and it's a surprisingly small world!
- Melinda says:
  
  That is something I started to realize when I kept running into the same bloggers in different communities. It is a small world sometimes. The community spirit really is inspiring. I wish more of the world worked that way.
Sam Sall says:

Hi Melinda Thank you so much for taking about this ,it's quit common problem with lots of bloggers most of us went throughout this identity crisis when they started to blog ...but it shouldn't last for long as it will bring the blogger and his/her blog the the end... I think we should look back in our blog ,and inside our self and ask do I belong in this class? Thanks Melinda,you'r brilliant
- Melinda says:
  
  Thanks Sam! I think it is just a learning curve we all go through.
- Hesham says:
  
  Melinda have done a great job by reminding us with that! And oh! yeah... I want to say Hi to my friend Sam Sall ;)
Mitchell Allen says:

Not only am I in the wrong class, I'm not even on the right campus! I started blogging in late 2005, around Thanksgiving. For better or worse, I joined a community because of Google AdSense. I say better or worse because the good thing was that I learned a lot about how not to do internet market. In addition, I made some friends with whom I still communicate today. The worst part was that I approached blogging the way I approached English 101 - do this assignment and we'll be off on another topic next week. I thought "niche" was where you put those little pedestals with busts of famous dead people on them. I've learned that I have a little to say about a lot of things - and not a lot to say about anything in particular. Teachers hate that, don't they? I know Google does. Cheers, Mitch
- Melinda says:
  
  OK your comment cracked me up! That is a great way to word it. It is hard to stay on one topic on a blog. Sometimes I so badly want to post about something that isn't related to my blog, but I can't because it doesn't fit. I think that is why bloggers tend to have more than one blog.
ashok says:

My experience - and I suspect there are more who have gone through something similar - is that even if you have a defined niche and are like everyone else there, who supports you and who becomes your audience is still something you can't predict. I think John over at Potpolitics noted indirectly that who sticks with you when you blog can be a really unpredictable thing. I'm not saying niches don't matter. Especially for keywords, they do. But finding that core group of people that is concerned for your success - that's a tough one, and you do need them.
- Melinda says:
  
  You can't beat the communities of bloggers who support each other and truly want to see each other succeed. I have found that to be one of the most positive experiences as a new blogger. The blogging community as a whole is an amazing group of people, and we can all learn from each other. I believe in paying it forward...help the next new blogger along as others helped you. You just have to remember to spend quality time where your target market is, too. Like I said..it is hard to leave the red classroom because it is so much fun. :) But it is possible to do both.
Hesham says:

It seems that your story will help so many bloggers to find their blog niche or at least point them to take a decision and make a step!! I remember when I started my first blog, I called it "My Life Thinking", at that time I was not sure "what is blogging" lol so there is no chance to know that "blog niche" exists ;) I was not sure about the topic, and what to blog about, and probably this is why I keep it wide open as "My Life Thinking" and I can say that this worked for me -from my place- some how, I even earned most of my blogging income from that blog because I was able to blog about ANYTHING comes into my mind, and today that blog has a stable amount of monthly search engines organic traffic, from 200-300 daily visits even when I don't blog on it for months! Sounds crazy, and I know that there is no specific niche for that blog, so.. I am trying to find the time to rebuild and redesign it, and try to locate a niche for it to start over, maybe some local news or something like that could increase it's traffic and allow me to earn more from it! Thank you so much Melinda for sharing your own experience with us, this is my favorite kind of topics that I want to see on FB!
- Melinda says:
  
  It had been a long six month road of learning. I really had no idea what I was getting myself into and whether or not there was even water in the pool I jumped into. Thanks so much for allowing me the opportunity to guest post on FB, Hesham. This site is so full of helpful information, I think we are all constantly learning and evolving.
  - Hesham says:
    
    You are always welcome dear, and I apologize for taking time to publish, it's all because of our bloody blogging contest ;) Never hesitate to share your ideas, tips and opinions with us in the future!
    - Melinda says:
      
      I completely understand. The contest posts needed to be out first. :)
Linda says:

Great title! I'm always in the wrong class, or tardy, or truant, or late to register! Thanks for the reminder to pay attention to organization, and finding the right peeps. Linda
- Melinda says:
  
  Sometimes it is more fun to be a little rebellious and we need a push back to where we are suppose to be. :P
Ryan Biddulph says:

Hi Melinda, I can relate with you. I write about cash gifting - a little known work at home activity - while also sharing my personal development insight. I finally find the proper niche but it took months of trial and error and an experience similar to yours to discover the right class. Thanks for sharing your insight. Ryan Biddulph
- Melinda says:
  
  I bet you had some fun with category selection, too. :)
Jakes says:

I agree that its hard for a niche blogger to find his/her class. Often such bloggers require more effort to make their blog success. But the irony is that niche blogs like yours is rare in the blogosphere, so once you get the right audience you can turn successful as your blog is DIFFERENT.
- Melinda says:
  
  I agree. It is just a matter of finding an audience that is interested in what you write. That sounds so simple, but I think any beginner blogger is so overwhelmed at first with information overload, it takes getting through the learning curve before the clouds clear and you can see what works for you. Trial and error. Sites like famousbloggers.net is full of valuable information I wish I had discovered earlier.
  - Jakes says:
    
    Hi Melinda, Ya you are definitely right about the case of beginner blogger. I had maintained a wordpress.com blog earlier. Last week, I moved to a self-hosted blog. Now I am overwhelmed of not only information overload. I am overwhelmed with thousands of wordpress themes and plugins available. I haven't even been able to decide upon on what I should I write. Yes, am turning to clear the clouds ;)

Excuse me, Are you in the Right Class?

Identity crisis

The community classroom

Find communities that include your audience

Who are you writing for?

A happy ending, and a new beginning

About Melinda

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Identity crisis

The community classroom

Find communities that include your audience

Who are you writing for?

A happy ending, and a new beginning

About Melinda

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