It’s probably safe to say that if you’re a blogger; you’re likely aware that understanding your site’s niche is key for creating content you’re excited about and that resonates with your readers. But what if you’re struggling to figure it all out?
Simply put, a blogging niche represents the topics, products or assistance that your content specializes in. It can involve any number of subjects and themes from lifestyle to travel to parenting and advocacy, etc. It’s a way to share your expertise or passions; and can undoubtedly support what you want your writing to reflect.
Do You Need A Niche To Start Blogging?
To put it succinctly, the answer to this is … no. If you’re establishing a site related to a business; your niche is selling your brand, merchandise or services. But if you’re starting out blogging to share content based on what interests you then you don’t necessarily have to find your niche right away.
It’s relatively commonplace to start blog writing with a general idea about how you want to develop your site to then change direction and niche down; after discovering other concepts that motivate and interest you. I’ve gone through a few iterations during my twelve years of blogging; it happens to us all at some point. It’s perfectly normal to re-evaluate what you’re focusing on or even test things out because you’re uncertain of the direction your blog should take.
How Do You Discover Your Blogging Niche?
While it isn’t initially the most pressing aspect of personal blogging when you first start out, finding your niche/s (yes, you can have more than one for your site) does provide some significant benefits. It also becomes more relevant once you’ve decided exactly what it represents for you. It evolves into a whole new role; it’s gone from something you take your time discovering to something that drives everything blog-related.
One of the foremost ways to discover the best niche/s for blogging on your site is to start with what stimulates your inspiration to write. People respond favourably to authenticity, and enjoyment represents an ideal communicator of this. It enables your blog visitors to make a connection with you, but you need to encourage them to keep coming back. After you’ve shared a number of posts within your interest subset, take a look at which ones resonated with your readers. Seeing what is most popular may help solidify the direction you wish to take.
A niche ultimately means you condense down and become more specialized in what you write about. This clearly distinguishes what your readers can expect from you, etc. If they want to find out some specific information; or an informed opinion on something they’re looking to explore; recognizing you provide this type of content can help secure a return to your site to read, share and interact with your work.
What Are The Benefits Of Having A Blog Niche?
Even if your site is an attraction channel (every post is used to advertise/promote or sell something) a niche helps people search out the product they’re looking for. It’s even more fundamental if you run a personal brand or blog; as it helps drive traffic to your page through familiarity with what you offer/write about. If there’s a Home Page that presents a scattered array of subject matter; it may be challenging for visitors to determine if your blog offers what they require.
A niche also helps create a clear site identity that enables you to market your content more effectively. If your focus is to monetize; potential advertisers and companies need to be able to understand how you fit within their brand; and be reassured that their customers will recognize and respond to relevant and enticing content that’s a potential selling point.
Are There Any Negatives To Establishing A Niche?
There is a certain amount of frustration when you’ve discovered your blogging niche; while it can unlock your creativity and support themed concentration, if it’s too narrow it can lead to niche fatigue. This is when you become stuck and can’t think of new ideas or motivation wanes because of boredom and repetition. Having multiple topics to cover, like this site, may be an alternative that will work in your favour.
If you find your niche/s initially inspire creativity but become more difficult to remain enthusiastic about or produce fresh content for; this can either mean it needs a little tweaking or a comprehensive overhaul. Which if you’ve ever decided to re-design your site, including what anchors your writing, you know how time consuming and stressful that can be — but necessary, also.
Should I Be Worried If I’ve Been Blogging For A While And I Still Don’t Have A Niche?
It’s more urgent to provide a niche for your readers if your site is a business or attraction channel; preferably clearly outlined early on to optimize sales, etc. For most other types of blogs it can involve trial, error and time to do properly. There’s no standard stage within blogging life where you need to have everything sorted out and working flawlessly; it will come together with consistency and commitment.
Be kind to yourself if you’re working out your niche/s, it’s worth aiming for genuineness over generality. Your readers are looking to make a connection with you and if that’s being done without a concrete niche in place for a while, that is enough.
How did you discover your blogging niche/s? Have you ever revamped it, if so, how did that go? What tips do you have for bloggers trying to figure out what their niche is?
Further Info:
How To Be An Authentic Blogger: 5 Tips For Standing Out In A Saturated Niche – The Side Blogger
transatlantic | notes 
I don’t have a niche at the moment. That said, I thought that this post was really informative!
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And that is perfectly okay — it takes a while sometimes to really land on something that fits well. I’m glad this post was useful!
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It took me a while to figure out specifically what my blogging niche was but now that I have it’s easy for me to determine what content I wanted to provide. Your post affirms this for me and will certainly help others as well. Thanks for sharing.
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I think finding a niche (in my opinion) should take a little while as you have to see if what you write about resonates with yourself and your readers so it’s great you took your time.
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I knew two basic ones I’d start with. The rest I had in mine but added with time. These days people are handling more than one blog with many niches. Liked the insights. Thanks for sharing. Xx
Isa A. Blogger
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I have seen a number of people mention they have several blogs; which I’m in awe of because I couldn’t manage that right now. I think if seperating niches into individual blogs is needed then I can see how that may be beneficial from a focus point of view. Thanks for reading!
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Thanks for sharing, I’ve never really had a niche but have always tried to focus my blog around half a dozen topics. I like dabbling this way as it’s helped me find my writers voice, and apply some of my personal experiences within this.
Recently I’ve focused it down looking at topics that really interest me like confidence and assertiveness, though still do enjoy occasionally going into other topics.
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I would say that whatever topics you’re covering are your niche — and that’s completely okay. I don’t personally see a niche being restricted to one thing (although that can help some) so it sounds like what you’re covering is perfect for your site. I cover a range of topics too but have focused more on certain areas to create my own niche. Finding your writers voice is so important, it’s a great thing for bloggers to do!
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I find it hard to describe the niche for The Plain Simple Life. For my travel blog, it’s easy as everyone knows about travel but for this one, while everything ties in together – minimalism, decluttering, sustainability – I’m not sure how to describe it. Maybe ‘simple living’ niche?
I really enjoyed reading your post 🙂
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I would say a simple living niche is perfect for your site. I cover a number of subjects too and just settled on ‘the things that connect us’ (advocacy, politics, mental health, food, etc). I think as long as you know what you’re sticking to that’s great for your site as your readers know what to expect.
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Thanks for sharing
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You’re welcome!
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I’m still Fairly new to blogging and your tips and knowledge are very helpful. Thanks for sharing!
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No problem — I am glad this was useful!
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Your point on niche blogging becoming boring as well as the risk of running out of ideas is exactly why I chose to start a multi-niche blog over a single niche one. I did not want to limit my blog to only one topic. Wonderful post as always though. Thank you for sharing!
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I used to have a really niche-specific blog when I started but I personally felt so constrained. Then as my life changed and other things became important to me my site evolved over a number of years into a multi-niche blog too — although I use the “umbrella” niche of ‘things that connect us all’. I definitely agree it helps with keeping things fresh and interesting! Thanks so much for reading!
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This was super helpful. I don’t feel like I have a particular niche but I do try to focus my posts around a set number of topics!
Thanks for sharing.
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That’s pretty much what I do and basically that’s my niche — I think it’s important to make if it want you will and what resonates most with you. Thanks so much for stopping by!
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I’ve read on other niche-related posts that niche-fatigue can also be caused by external, non-blogging related factors, and that simply breaking out of your niche for a couple posts can spice things up for both you and your readers. WHat do you think about the rigidity of niche-blogging versus allowing some exploration to happen naturally or as a cure for niche-fatigue?
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Really great question … I think niche fatigue can be a real problem when it comes to maintaining creativity and motivation. If a site is very specific/rigid and follows a tight niche there is an increased risk that things become repetitive, which isn’t so good from a writing or reading point of view; that’s not to say it can’t work, as some people manage it. I think exploring posts outside the niche is fine but if there is a concern that this may alienate the audience then a very niche-specific site can switch up the type of posts they do. If, for example, there is a European travel blog that is experiencing fatigue (they purely post about visiting different countries, places, etc) then some variety is needed. The blogger could do travel playlists, share travel-themed quotes, poetry, art or book reviews (even travel guide reviews) and recipes of the food they encounter, etc. I think that a niche can make content creators think they have to do the same style of post and so switching it up can be fun. Natural exploration of other topics outside a niche is also a good idea if things are really stuck as it will help combat niche-fatigue, it’s definitely sometimes needed (and is totally okay to do).
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It does take time to figure things out and that is ok. For me, I always knew I wanted to write about travel but recently I started writing other blog posts related to blogging and design. I see people who are successful with a very specific niche and people who write about everything so I think it depends on the situation.
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I agree — it all comes down to what works for you because if you’re writing about things you enjoy and that motivate and resonate with you then you’re audience will find you. Thanks so much for reading!
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This was such an informative post! I went straight into the book niche but when I was first considering blogging I wanted to have a travel one – I just didn’t get out enough! I completely agree that having a niche isn’t the be all and end all, and it’s also so important to make sure your content stays fresh and isn’t too repetitive (which I think is one of the things I struggle with with a book blog). Thanks for sharing!
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Exactly — it’s quite common for bloggers to assume a niche is something that a site can’t be successful without. There’s no doubt that a niche is beneficial but it works against you if you don’t enjoy what you’re writing about. Thanks so much for commenting!
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This is really helpful. Thank you for sharing this information.
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You are very welcome!
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We have a multi-niche website. We were advised against it, but at the same time, we want it to be our space as much as possible so we have stuck to it and it’s going pretty well! This post was very informative and it will be quite helpful to someone who is about to start a blog!
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I think a niche definitely does not have to be one thing, and multi-topic sites (like I have too) offer something of interest for many people to engage with. I think new bloggers often stress about finding a niche and sometimes it’s okay to just figure it out as you go (I remember what it was like, haha)!
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I’ve learned about niche’s a few years back, it is really beneficial for you but most importantly to your readers. These tips are very useful thank you! ✨
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Thanks so much for stopping by and reading!
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😁😬😉
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Great post and a lot of helpful information, especially for new bloggers. There are pros to having a niche and not having a niche for sure. I used to have a niche when I first started and I ended up resenting it, so I moved into lifestyle and started talking about everything and that’s when my blog really went off and I was able to turn it into a career. I’ve scaled down a little since then but I have a very broad niche/s! x
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I think any niche that is too restrictive blocks creativity and will cause resentment (I experienced that too at the beginning). Lifestyle is a great umbrella niche and it keeps things open and interesting as a creator!
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I’ve been blogging since before it was a “thing” but don’t think I’ve ever really had a niche… I’ve certainly never been able to stick to one anyway! I did book blogging for a while, but even then I was sneaking the odd other subject post in. I just can’t help it! 😀
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Then that’s your niche, haha! I tend to view it as whatever works for you and if you post within that consistently then it becomes a niche by default. If readers resonate with your content and identify you/your site with what they are looking for or want to read about then that is what’s important. Thanks so much for reading!
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Great post! I’ve been staying a little from my niche and although it’s been fun, I think I want to go back a little to my roots. Thank you for sharing!
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Exploration and trying things out is a great idea as you never know what will click for you and your readers. It’s good to expand our niche sometimes. Thanks so much for reading!
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Great post, Molly! I love how you broke down the pros/cons/benefits of having/not having a niche. I have a niche but I also am not afraid to stray away from it a little once in a while! This is great information for new bloggers! I can’t believe you’ve been blogging for 12 years! AMAZING!! xx
Lynn |
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I can’t quite believe it’s been so long, haha! I hope new bloggers trying to figure it all out will find something useful here as it can feel really overwhelming if at first a niche is not so obvious, etc. Thanks so much for reading!
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I love this, Molly. So many bloggers throw in the towel because the stress of ‘finding their niche’ becomes overwhelming to them all by itself. Nevermind all the other necessary tasks that help create a ‘successful’ blog. Like you said, it’s important to know if you’re simply writing as a hobby you enjoy or looking to monetize for future income replacement/supplement.
I love what you said about not being afraid to cover a couple of different topics as well. It’s very easy to get in that content rut you mentioned. When it happens, it’s tempting to just give up on the blog. I’ve seen many bloggers decide to revamp their theme or other aspect of the blog and end up finding the creativity again. Sometimes we just need to take that step back, breathe, and go one step at a time in the general direction we think we’d like to be. Then, we can figure it out as we go along. Putting too much pressure on ourselves only serves to remove the joy from the job!
The thoughtful, compassionate way you’ve approached this subject of finding the niche is going to be refreshing for a lot of bloggers – new and old alike. Thanks for sharing! ❤️
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Thank you for this amazing comment! I had hoped this post would come across as encouraging to new bloggers (or ones that have been doing it a while and still not sure of their niche/s).
I think the unique thing about blogging is that it’s often a labour of love that builds connections with our readers, and vice versa — so sometimes a niche can just be joy and connection to start with. I firmly believe as we grow, evolve and spend more time blogging that’s when we get to figure it all out (if we’re not a business with a blog for sales, etc).
I really appreciate what you’ve shared here as I am sure anyone reading your comment will fee equally motivated and supported!
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