Standard blogging advice encourages bloggers to tailor their content to a pretty tight niche. I recently worked through a blogging e-course that (once again) gave this advice. The course included several lessons that were focused on finding your niche and developing content related to that single topic.
Not for the first time, I fell for this advice. I decided that my blog would be built around the topic of intentionality. I changed my blog header. I started a list of possible blog posts related to this topic. I threw out any and all ideas that didn’t have a connection to intentionality.
And then things began to fall apart.
My blogging momentum slowed and then stopped. Everything that I came up with felt like it was forcing me to step away from my natural writing and inherent interests. Writing about a specific niche topic was also pushing me into being an expert, which is something that I've taken strides to avoid.
After a couple weeks of this, I came to my senses. Yes, I am very interested in intentionality, but I’m not passionate enough about it to write about it day in and day out.
I started thinking about the kinds of blogs and the kinds of posts that I most enjoy reading. I considered which topics I was excited to write about and which types of posts fly off of my fingertips. I looked back through my archives and considered which posts made me proud.
It didn’t take long for me to realize/remember that I am a lifestyle blogger.
I love documenting my life and the life of my family. I am motivated by goal setting and strive to live an intentional and joyful life. Instagram is my social media love. Pinterest is pretty great, too. I live for making pretty things and making things pretty. I am intrigued by blogging and blogging as part of a small business. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to stay home with my kiddos. Brainstorming and making lists make me happy. I have a thing for spreadsheets and a long-held interest in personal finance. I thrive on successfully doing things in my own way. I love my hubby, my sweet little boys and the life we are building together.
These are the things I write about.
My blog may not have strong search engine optimization. It may not appeal to someone looking for in depth information on a specific topic. But it’s mine.
So in the end, my focused niche is me. All potential blog topics are filtered by their relevance to me and my life. They are further filtered by my willingness to share and my enthusiasm about the topic. If I sit down to write something and the words don’t flow, it probably isn’t a good fit and it probably won’t be showing up in your RSS feed.
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