Why I can’t be a successful blogger
Nowadays there is a lot of talking about how to be a successful blogger. There are advice and tips everywhere. The most common advice is that you have to choose a niche.
What’s a niche?
A niche is, simply put, a specific subject or area. Or as Wikipedia puts it;
A niche market is a focused, targetable portion (subset) of a market sector. [..] A niche market may be thought of as a narrowly defined group of potential customers.
The advice that is given is that you should choose a subject that you are really interested of, but it also has to be somewhat popular, you have to have and share quite a lot of information about the subject and of course - unique. But of course, there are many successful blogs out there that doesn’t really have a specific niche.
Why I can’t be a successful blogger
I have a problem there. If I would like to be a so called successful blogger, I would fail before even starting. I don’t really have an interest or hobby that I know a lot about. Some would stop me there and say: “It’s webdesign!”. But it’s not. Sure it’s fun, interesting and challenging, but I don’t know enough to actually dive in the business. So not even DoshDosh three-step method could help me there.
Does this mean that I’m a failure?
It may seem so in the world of monetized blogs and all the money making and successful blogs talking-sphere. But I think it’s important to remember how it all started. You know, the old online diary writing back in the days.
I think you should feel successful if you can feel satisfied with what you write on your blog, that it has given you something. No need of hundreds of visitors every day, no need to monetize or go link whoring. Words are valuable, if they speak your mind, whatever it might be…
But of course, it’s a big plus if you can earn a buck or two on it! :P
I think it just depends on how you choose to define success.
If you like what you’re doing, are having fun with it and have met some great people along the way then I think you’ve been a success :)
I’ve met a ton of interesting people and built some pretty nice friendships thanks to blogging. To me that’s been my biggest reward.
Posted on June 20th, 2007 at 1:15 am
I don’t think I have a niche as such either. I write a little about this and that. I like my blog better since I quit the monetizing on Monomuse and moved it elsewhere though. I was getting greedy.
Posted on June 20th, 2007 at 2:30 am
Agreed. As long as you personally enjoy writing your blog, and you have people who read it, you’re a success. :)
Posted on June 20th, 2007 at 3:13 am
So, no niche here either, but I’ve not aimed to be a success from the beginning. It has changed a bit the last year, now I’m struggling more to get readers. Not to get paid though. I have no ads on my page, som affiliate somewhere but very few and just beacause I really liked the products.
I might land later on the niche Travel. I’ve a lot of that subject going on for the moment with the cyber cruise I started to explore the world :-)
To exchange Technorati Faves was one step. BTW: I just Technorati Faved YOU :-)
To get readers, it’s important with links. Some say people never click on links in blogroll - I don’t agree with that. I’ve found many readers that way and they found me.
There is never just one method, all is done with a lot of effort put into it, jsut like relationships ;-)
Posted on June 20th, 2007 at 4:19 am
Exactly. Right on, Malin. I love you for this blog entry! :D
It gets tiring reading about “Making Money Online” on ALL the blogs I visit. I rarely see good personal content nowadays. It seems like some people feel lacking if they don’t earn through their blogs. Nonsense. Sighs. Tsk tsk tsk.
Posted on June 20th, 2007 at 11:26 am
I suppose if I had to have a niche it would be fashion but… I have so many other interests besides that I would never want to limit myself. I like diverse blogs and I’ve never really seen this fascination with finding your ‘niche’.
Posted on June 20th, 2007 at 11:36 am
Wow! I didn’t know that! I didn’t even realize that picture was out there! Thanks for reminding me of a wonderful day!
I didn’t set out to be successful. I’m not sure that I am. I didn’t name my blog. In fact I edited the name to include bloggers besides me, because Successful Blog seemed . . . well sort of . . . not who I am.
I don’t think I have a niche. I don’t walk in a straight-enough line for that. My blog has been about so many kinds of ideas.
You have a beautiful blog, a writing voice that is strong, and a sense of who you are. Gosh that’s so much. And you have people who read what you have to say and talk back. That’s communication success in my book. :)
Liz
Posted on June 20th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
“…writing back in the days”
I came and went in blogging when everyone resorted to straight/flat HTML. It’s great we’ve got tools now we didn’t back then, but blogging has turned so much into the search for the holy dollar, yen, whatever.
I’ll agree it’s cool some folks can make a dollar or living off of genuine and hard worked content, but the rest…I see so many sites that are strictly billboards, paid reviews in wait, etc.
While I enjoy doing site reviews as a hobby for one online community, I’ve made it a rule when finding blogs as a result of a search engine query that if I see the page about monetizing or review pay/post badges in any entry, ALT F4 with no hesitation.
When you come across a 13 year old’s site…3 blog entries…and the site is about PowerBlogging and Making Money Online…it’s creepy sometimes.
Posted on June 24th, 2007 at 1:18 am
Same for me. The only thing I could “niche blog” about is Ragnarok Online. And there are so many others out there, it would be useless to even try. Cause someone is always gonna be better then me, but that’s how I see it. So I just blog about whatever, like you do.
Posted on June 27th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
I wholeheartedly agree with this.
I find that with enough time, your blog will end up in its own niche. No need to worry about it, just go with the flow.
Posted on June 27th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
Lifecruiser: Thanks for adding me on Technorati. I’ll do the same in return :)
Shari: Yes it’s horrible that also personal blogs are getting more and more in to money making, and then I’m not talking about paid post, I’m talking about the subject making money overall.
Liz Strauss: Thanks for your nice comments Liz! I really appreciate it :)
Johnc: Yeah it’s pretty scary. I hope the trend will turn around…
Gally: Yes, that’s probably the best thing to do actually, if you don’t have any expertise in any area…
My niche will be… ME! ;P
Posted on June 28th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Hi,
It is indeed so hard to be a successful blogger..
specially you already got the right niche and right content
but what is hard is traffic to your blog.
Well, I am here because of my experiment in posting a comment
in a dofollow sites. They said it will boost you page rank and traffic.
Hope it is true.
Anyway I found your site in the list of No follow I follow do follow
member community in Bumpzee.com which I am also a member.
Thanks and goodluck..
Johnny
Posted on June 29th, 2007 at 11:26 am
Hey
I was surfing the web and i saw this site, pretty cool.
Currently im running and adult site:Reachton
k, just want to say hi :)
Can i link you from my site? im looking for quality content like yours. If no let me know if i can add u in exchange for a montly fee or something.
Posted on August 3rd, 2007 at 5:29 pm
Great points! This is why I waited until I really felt comfortable with what I was blogging before I decided to put advertising up… I wanted to stay true to myself and goals that I had set.
Posted on August 31st, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Amen. I have a niche blog and it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. That’s why I started a personal blog for all the other crap and it’s slowly gaining momentum.
Posted on September 12th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
[...] Why I can’t be a successful blogger - By Malin (Cheer up Malin you are a great blogger!) [...]
Posted on September 15th, 2007 at 6:53 am
Stephanie over at Random Encounters of We has as her blog slogan, “Random is my Niche” and that certainly fits my blog too!
Being nicheless isn’t necessarily a bad thing - it just may make it a bit harder to find an audience and/or build a loyal reader base.
However, I’ve certainly seen the power of niche with my wife’s Russian Adoption Journal blog. Although her blog is much newer and has less frequent posts, it sometimes rivals the traffic that our main 2Dolphins blog gets
In certain niches - in her case, international adoption - the community spirit is tremendous and can bring a steady stream of very supportive visitors to your site.
Posted on September 16th, 2007 at 6:17 am
Thanks for your optimistic input Rob :)
Posted on September 27th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
On OpTempo I’m taking the news/variety show approach. I may talk about news, including making money, but I’m also going to talk about entertainment and other things as well.
Posted on November 3rd, 2007 at 5:47 pm
I think some people are born lucky and successful so they already have it made, and then there’s a large percentage of people who become successful through constant learning and hard work. There should be an audience for most topics though, as there are millions of users of the internet, there’s sure to be many interested in what certain authors have to say.
Posted on November 4th, 2007 at 11:55 am
I think your post has a lot of a good points, but it’s a little discouraging for someone who does want to make a living with blogging. I want to do something that I am interested in, but I also want to earn money. So how do I do this? Any thoughts are welcome since I’m new at this.
Posted on November 9th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
I do what Frank does and just enjoy it. I have friends and some die-hard readers now, and I just post the things I find interesting in entertainment and pop culture news, plus some other things like technology or online tools, anything I think my readers will enjoy.
I don’t think I will ever be successful, because I doubt I will ever put the time needed to do things like Vic and Grizz do.
I love to write, I like to write about what I like and that’s about it…
Posted on December 19th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
Jon Cardoza, go read bloggerunleashed.com and learn how to make money.
Posted on December 19th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
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