Some ‘experts’ will tell you to choose a niche. You have to have a niche to succeed on the internet, Get a niche and and dominate it. I’m here to challenge that!
First lets look at the arguement for Niches. Below is an arguement I had with a guy in the pub I was talking too about my idea for TheInfoPreneur. Lets call him… Jeter Pones
Jeter Pones; By choosing to have a site that focuses on helping people make money (like TheInfoPreneur) your never going to make any money because there are sites that are already established and have cornered the market.
TheInfoPreneur; Can’t tell you how many times I hear this. I also say its like not owning a burger van purely because there is a McDonalds a couple of miles away. Billions of people surf the net everyday and what do they do …. They look at sites, plural, they don’t click one link or type one url and stay on that site till the end of time. They visit site after site after site, just like you and me.
Jeter Pones; You would have a lot more success if you became the biggest fish in your pond, maybe not reaching as many visitors, but by controlling the ones you do have your going to create money which is substainable.
TheInfoPreneur; Why be the big fish in the pond, when you could be a killer whale in the ocean? By having a small niche your limiting your growth which is crazy.. Why would you only want contact a small number of people, you may as well put blocks on your site that restricts everyone outside your city!
Jeter Pones; James I hear what your saying but you will never ever, in a million years be able to compete with the biggest sites out there that have been going for years and already have hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
TheInfoPreneur; I’ll take that bet! Granted I know its not going to be easy, I know it will take every waking minute to build the site up to a point in which I can compete, But I have a plan.
Jeter Pones; Orrr well if you have a plan then thats alright then (I sensed a hint of sarcasm in his voice!)
TheInfoPreneur; YES A PLAN! I plan to build the sites content up over the next year, by adding at least one post a day, sometimes more. Combining this with the same effort going into my social networking and this time next year, I will have a solid foundation for my readers.
Jeter Pones; So your telling me, that someone who starts a website talking about how to make money online, can make real money, whens there’s thousands of sites doing it already who are making so much money they can buy visitors?…
TheInfoPreneur; You’ve answered your own question.. Yes, to quote you ‘when theres thousands of sites doing it already making so much money’ I’ll accept if I was trying to set up another Twitter or Google then I would run into problems, But I’m not, I’m going to try and help people carve out their own little piece of the internet.
It was at this point a mate of mine came over to join us and it stopped there. But go over what I said. At no point did I say I was going to make a fortune. I said I wanted to help people, the rest will come in time. To be fair making money online is a niche. If you hear anyone telling you not to blog or be an InfoPreneur about making money online, then point them to me, I’ll set them straight.
What does everyone think?
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Awsome!
Hey Thanks, Hopefully it illustrates the point !
u have a great blog, and excellent articules !! this is one of them, greetings, Dahara ( twitter )
Thanks Dahara, Loving your website
As to having a niche market, that works particularly well with selling what you know. My Uncle Charly used to tell me, “Stick with what you know.” At the same time, as opportunity comes along, and you learn new business skills, broadening your “niche” is a wise choice.
I would say, no matter which niche you choose, eventually with hard work and passion, and not giving up after 6-8 months, you’ll succeed. And you’ll succeed without any professional SEO treatment on your blog.
Even more I think it doesn’t mean if the niche is small or big. In some cases very,very tiny niche can bring you a lot of money.
So as in the real world, if you want to succeed in the Internet world you have to be creative, hardworking, persistent and to have some social skills.
Cheers
I will in multiple streams of income and target high traffic.
Ugh, I liked! So clear and positively.
Have a nice day
Truden
My question is: Is an engaging, and entertaining writing style enough? Can a blog succeed with a multitude of topics just on the strength of the writing style of the blogger?
If those topics are all in demand and your writing style is good, you’re half way there. The rest comes down to how well you market it.
I think it all comes down to voice. Sure, the content matters and there are //tons// of sites out there with similar content, no matter what niche we’re talking about. But the wonderful thing about blogging is that the writer matters just as much as content. Market yourself and have a unique voice and vantage point, and you’re set.
It took me a while to realize that, but it’s true. I’m my own best selling point–a geek professor who loves pop culture. Very rare to find that perspective. So I try to exploit that.
.-= Professor Beej´s last blog ..Writing my Novel: John Scalzi Just Gave Me a Swift Kick in the Butt =-.
James this is pretty good. I like how you mentioned, “Why be the big fish in the pond, when you could be a killer whale in the ocean? By having a small niche your limiting your growth which is crazy.. Why would you only want contact a small number of people, you may as well put blocks on your site that restricts everyone outside your city!”
This is so true. Be someone who lets everyone come in and welcomes all. Don’t just target one thing and cause everyone else to feel as if they’re not wanted. There’s always a way to go about it and you’re doing it daily!
Nice post!
.-= Eric´s last blog ..Lets Help Each Other =-.
thanks brother, let’s get out there and smash it
This is exactly the argument I had with a potential site designer. She keeps saying choose a niche and stick to it and I keep saying I want a blog that delivers multiple things for multiple needs. By all means have a marketing angle or theme, but keep it wide and deep.
Great stuff!
Hey Tom,
Thanks brother keep doing it the way you want to, everything else will fall into place
When Twitter launched everyone said it wouldn’t catch on. But it did. Sometimes a niche product grows into a mainstream one.
.-= Matthew Needham´s last blog ..Become a Fan =-.