You don’t have to blog about a topic that you like, you should blog about a topic that people are hungry for!
Have you ever heard statements like this? I know I have. Many times.
There are people out there teaching new bloggers that they should blog in niches that work even if they’re not really into those niches. You don’t need to like it, as long as it works, they say.
As long as you blog in a niche that’s popular, you can get a lot of traffic, and eventually make money with your blog and/or product that you’re selling
I remember few years ago, I read in an eBook about someone whom the writer knew. According to him, that girl had created that beautiful site in a niche that she was passionate about and the results weren’t good. The author of the eBook emphasized that the mistake she made was trying to do what “she” loved, but forgot about what “people” loved.
At the time I had much less knowledge about everything I know today, so I even bought this. Today, however, I know that statements like this are pure BS. Not only they are untrue, but if you believe and listen to them you will be more likely to fail.
Why?
Because of the few reasons that I’m about to give you on this post. So fasten your seat belt and read this before you go anywhere else!
Here is why such advice is totally wrong…
Reason #1 – What you Love and Like is Loved and Liked by Millions
One huge important thing that the writer of this eBook didn’t seem to grasp, it’s that the reason why it CAN’T be wrong to blog in a niche that you like or better even, love, it’s because million other people in this world will love and like, and need the exact same thing that you do. I don’t care if it’s golfing, cosmetics, gardening or collecting stamps – someone out there will be looking for this exactly. That’s what we call target marketing.
If you don’t believe me, just search for groups or forums about any topic under the sun, and you will find not one but several of them. So, the reason why this person failed with her site or blog wasn’t due at all to the fact that she was in a niche that she loved, it was simply that she had not mastered the ability to drive traffic. Big difference.
Reason #2 – There is a Market for Every Niche out there
OK, I’m not talking about the famous phrase of the movie Fields of Dreams “build it and they will come,” here. If you’re a blogger, you pretty much know that’s untrue for us, because if you build it you are going to have to work it as well and do the steps necessary to attract traffic to your blog.
This said, however, if you learn how to target the market of your niche, you will find your traffic, because there is a market for every niche out there.
When was the last time you came in a store like Walmart, Target or any type of department store? Did you go on every single aisle? Did you go to the fishing aisle? Did you go to the tools aisle? Did you go to baby aisle? Did you go to the toys aisle?
Most likely, if you’re not a fisher, a handy man (or woman), don’t have a baby and your kids are way past toys’ age, you haven’t gone to any of those aisles, did you? Does it mean that those stores made a mistake by carrying such items?
Of course, not.
The reason why they do carry those items and have aisles and aisles of choices in those niches it’s because there is a market for it. They know that because they’re selling those items every day.
It’s the same thing with blogging. Whatever niche you’re in there is a market for it, you just have to find it.
Reason #3 – It’s Tough to Write Week in and Week out about a Niche you don’t Like
Have you tried to write about something that doesn’t passionate you or event that you don’t particularly like? How did it go for you?
Whatever niche you are going to blog about will require that you write about it contently. At least once a week. Especially when you start.
While those smart dudes tell you to create a niche that pleases others, rather then you, you’re the one who’s going to do the writing. Don’t you ever forget that! Therefore, if you don’t like that niche personally, eventually you will find it very burdensome to write about it.
As many new blogs that are created each day on the web, there are also a good percentage of them that are dropped within the first 3 months, because the owner of the blog, while not financially able to hire someone to write for them, doesn’t have the juice necessary to stay motivated in order to keep up the writing. Simply because they’re not in love with their niche.
One thing that you need to understand, if you are reading this while still looking for your niche, is that writing takes more than just putting words together well enough to make sense. Writing takes inspiration, motivation and enjoying it. There’s no way that’s going to happen if you’re blogging only for the sake of blogging in a popular niche that you don’t care for yourself.
You will have no motivation and no inspiration to write after a short while. I’ve seen that happened so many times.
Reason #4 – A Real Life Example of what it Takes to be Motivated to Write that may Apply to you
I have a friend who wrote a book – actually he’s written several books, but one has been published so far. Now you might be under the impression that someone who has written a handful of books likes to read and write himself, right? Well, you’d be wrong.
In the case of my friend, he really doesn’t like either. Yep! I’m not making that up. It’s the truth!
What he does like, though, is passing on messages about great original ideas that he has, so he put them in the form of books. That’s the reason why as much as I’ve tried to encourage him to start a blog to promote his book, he has not done it yet, and probably never will.
He fully understands the difference between putting your genius ideas once in a book and writing on that topic every week for years and years to come. Because writing and building relationships isn’t his strong suit, he knows that he wouldn’t last a month blogging.
Don’t be fooled. There isn’t any doubt that blogging about any topic requires a strong commitment. If anything is going to hinder such commitment, it’s just not going to work.
That’s why some bloggers hire a freelance writer to take care of the writing part of their blog. Now, I’m not going to lie to you, this can be costly if you don’t have the budget for it, or if your blog/business doesn’t pay for the content yet. In such case, hiring a freelance writer is probably not for you. But if you feel like you don’t want to write for your niche/blog and do have a budget for it, you may want to investigate in having someone writing for you. I can certainly help you with that!
Reason #5 – You want to Own what you Write
Now, you see, if I write for your blog, I don’t really care if I like or not the niche, as long as your topic doesn’t bother my conscience. But if I’m going to put some content under my NAME, it better be something I truly am interested in.
I want to own my content fully, and be proud of it. And that’s not going to happen if I write about fishing and baby diapers even if it’s popular. You see what I mean?
So, give yourself a favor, and don’t listen to those people who say and write lies about blogging. The only reason they may be successful in a niche that they don’t like it’s because they don’t write their own content.
If you do have to do the work, though, don’t forget that it will take a huge part of you and our energy to keep your blog going. Knowing this, I’m sure I don’t have to convince you’re going to have to like your own niche.
So, what do you think about that? Do you think that you don’t have to like your own niche? After reading my 5 reasons why you should like your own niche, what’s your comments on that? Let me know down below!
I was really move by the key point you out line in this article and i pick up quite a few tips from there and want to say thanks for this great share 🙂
Glad you liked it David,
Try to be a bit more specific next time so people can keep on the conversation with you.
Thanks for coming.
Good Morning Slynaine! My Opinion-> You Must- Love what you do and do what you love.. Awesome Article!! Thanks for sharing.. Chery :))
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Hi Chery,
I appreciate you sharing your opinion here. I totally agree with that of course.
Thank you for coming by.
I planed to get new website but I confused to choose niche if you have any suggestions please list below.
Hi Partheepan,
Well, if you’ve read my post here, my suggestion is that you blog about something you know and like. As I mentioned in the post, if you don’t like your niche you might need someone to write for you eventually. It’s hard to keep on writing about something you don’t care for.
Also if English is not your native tongue, you are going to work on that too, so people will want to read your posts.
Hope this helped. Thank for coming.
Thanks for this post Sylviane. Some great points there. I agree that if you write for a niche you love, you’ll be more passionate about it.
I’ve been thinking about changing Miraculous Ladies because when I started blogging I didn’t have a niche. So, I wrote a post recently telling my readers that I was going to focus on entrepreneur women over 40 and write for that market. But to be honest, I’m not 100% sure I want to go down that route. That’s why I haven’t moved my blog forward.
I need to make sure I write for my readers and I don’t know if that’s where they want me to go. Anyway, your post has helped me. I’ll be doing some more thinking and sending out a survey soon, before I make a final decision.
Have a great week.
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Hi June,
Yes doing a survey should help you in making your decision, but most of all, and this is the “coach” speaking here 🙂 what do you really want to do from the inside of you? Ask yourself that question, if you haven’t yet. At times the answers come when you expect it the least, if you’re not sure what that is yet.
Also, do rush it, take your time, so one you do make that decision you’ll be more sure.
Hi Sylviane!
This is a masterpiece! I love the way you have laid out the whole thing and strongly encouraged people to do what is right not what is popular.
Thank you for sharing this because there are so many so called “gurus” who are here to confuse people, get them frustrated and probably that is what they love doing.
You are doing a great service to the blogging community through this post. I admire you for doing this.
Regards,
Kumar
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Hi Kumar,
Well, thank you so very much for your kind words. Means a lot to me.
I know, while there are some very good bloggers that you and me know who are telling the truth, there are also those dangerous gurus who are still around to confuse people.
As I was just saying to Mary, in my reply to her comment, I’ve spent so much money on those lies :)I’ve learned the hard way, I could say. Now, I’ll fix this by telling the truth every time I can.
Thanks so much for coming and have a fantastic day!
Hi Sylviane
Yes that was always the confusing part. They would tell us to put up targeted niche and the traffic will come, blah, blah, blah. Didn’t happen….even when I did write for what they suggested. Spent money all on the wrong way of doing things. Thought I could make a go of a few things I liked to do, but soon got bored with it. So by this time next month I will have only one site. I much prefer that I can write whatever pleases my mind, as our lives are always about changes. Where I go with it, I am not totally sure. Maybe as the year progresses I will have more clarity or maybe I will just keep the site for just the sheer joy of writing and connecting. Probably never would have started it, if I had known what they told us wasn’t true.
But even so if for no other reason than the wonderful journey of life that I have been on for the past 3 years of doing this blog. I have learned so much and met some wonderful people online. The education I have received has been tremendous and for that reason I am extremely grateful.
Mary
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Hi Mary,
Well, your story sounds so much like mine. They told us that it would work, but they didn’t tell us what it would really take to write every single week or more about a niche we don’t care for.
Like you I’ve spend more money then I’d like to admit to myself on stupid products that were all not worth the price of a cup of coffee, but what can do? We’ve all tried and learn at least – even if it was what I call learning the hard way 🙂
I think that bloggers nowadays can be better informed by blog posts such as this one that tells them the truth (there’s lots of posts like that now), and based on that they can make a better decision.
Thank you for sharing your experience here, Mary and have a wonderful day!
Hey Sylviane,
Oh my gosh, the mistakes we’ve made and the stuff we were taught. Some of those people I would love to go back and find only to be able to prove to them what idiots they were. Maybe that worked for them so they taught everyone else those things too.
My problem was that I wasn’t passionate about any specific thing, I was passionate about helping people. So I found that blogging was something I really enjoyed doing and as I learned, applied and got results then I got excited to share that with my readers and they got the results too which of course lead to more excitement.
I didn’t know what to write about coming into this but the ideas are always endless.
I totally agree with everything you shared here and nipped some of those lies in the butt!
Thanks Sylviane and have a wonderful week.
~Adrienne
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Hi Adrienne,
Yes, we were told lots of lies back in the days, weren’t we? I think that this kind of thing works ONLY if you don’t write in your own blog and pay someone to do it for you. Then that would be no problem, but it also means that’s not going to be OK with most newbies out there, unless they already come in with money.
In your case, you definitely found your niche and it really works for you.
Thanks for coming, Adrienne, and have a good one.
Hi Sylviane,
Boy, I couldn’t agree with you more. Getting into a niche just because it’s profitable is definitely the wrong thing to do. I can’t imagine blogging about content I don’t give two hoots about.
It’s hard enough blogging in a niche I love. 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and facts on picking a niche. It’s very honest and that’s awesome. Not too many people will speak the truth for fear of being unpopular. Great job!
Have a wonderful week.
Geri
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Hi Geri
Well, thank you for your kind words.
Ah, I’ve never been afraid to speak the truth, and to let you in a little secret people who know me, know me for this more than anything else, I should say 🙂
Back when I started, there were so many people that were telling newbies to blog where the market was, and I tried it myself, but failed at it. Yes I was making some sales here and there, but it wasn’t nearly enough to call it a success. I wasn’t enjoying blogging about what I didn’t care for myself. Same as you 🙂 And I agree, it’s tough enough to keep blogging about what you like, right?
I’m so glad you enjoyed this post and have a wonderful day!
Hi Sylviane,
Life is much more enjoyable when we engage in the things we love. I think that pertains to everything in life, not just blogging. Always do what is right for you.
It’s unfortunate that there are still many so-called ‘experts’ out there who discourage others with their BS, such as the example you first outlined.
These are all excellent points. As to your last, some new bloggers make the mistake of taking a free website or posting their content anywhere but on their own website, so it’s important to put your content on your own domain. Any dot com can fold, and there goes all your efforts.
Kind Regards,
Bill
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Hi Bill,
Yes, it is unfortunate that some so called experts give bad advice out there.
Tell me about it. I know what you mean. I’ve created a good number of Squidoo and other Hubpages articles that are no longer in existence. I do not waste my time on those places anymore. I’ve written about those instances on previous posts as well, to warn people of this too.
Thank you for adding this point. Have a fantastic rest of the week.
I love this post Sylviane!
The best message I received from it is Number One: What you Love and Like is Loved and Liked by Millions. People stress over what other people like. Now that’s the wrong way.
When we have a strong passion about something..whatever it is, we never get bored about writing it. We grow with our writing and can give the most excellent content to our readers.
When we consider the millions of people on the internet and we have a passion for one thing….we will attract others.
BRAVO!
-Donna
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Hi Donna,
Yes, if we blog about what we love we will attract other people who love the very same thing. I cannot believe that some so called experts are saying that it’s wrong to build a blog around what you love. I can that be wrong?
Hopefully these false statements will completely die off soon, and if I can help it by writing posts like this one, I sure will 🙂
I hope you had a great time, and hope to see more photos 🙂 Nice to have you back, though.
Oh gosh Sylviane!
I can’t image trying to blog about something I don’t like or I’m not passionate about! Do people actually do that? I would totally be at a loss! It’s taken me awhile to find my current niche. Thankfully, I was able to expand it. My previous blog was a dog niche and well, as you might know, it’s kind of hard to talk about girly parts, divorce, and such on a pet blog. But either way, I love and am passionate about what I did then and what I’m blogging now. I think it’s a must!
Thank you for making us aware of this! Gives us all something to really think about!
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Hi Bren,
Yes, believe it or not there are thousands of blogs out there, that are just niche blogs which owners know little about and have no personal interested in. That I know it for a fact.
I used to belong to programs full of marketers like that. The ones for whom it worked, were the ones who could order their writing, the ones who had to do it all by themselves had much more trouble and I’ve seen many of them giving up after just few months.
I’m so glad you’ve never fell into that trap, yourself, Bren.
Thanks for your input, and have a great day!
Sylviane:
I found your totally excellent blog as a direct result of reading my coach and mentor, Adrienne Smith’s blog!
And saw your intriguing headline and thought, I definitely need to read this post! I’m glad I found you site!
And judging from the looks of all the commenting and social bookmarking activity going on, I’m not the only one!
Great post! I especially like reason # three! Trying to consistently blog in a niche or area that you’re not totally in love with or truly passionate about, is like trying to work on a voluntary basis, for a cause you don’t actually believe in!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Hi Mark,
How nice that you found me at my dear friend Adrienne’s blog 🙂 I’m glad to see that my headline worked too.
This blog has decent traffic, yes, but I’m still working on that. I’m glad you seem to have enjoyed what you’ve seen/read here. I will be sure to come by your place as well, and hopefully get to know you more.
Thanks for coming.
You are very welcome! Without a doubt, I will dropping by more often and studying your proven strategies!
I absolutely look forward to studying your different categories!And without a doubt, I’ll be sharing more of your extremely valuable content all over social media as well!
Keep cranking this really good and inspirational content!
Thank you so much. By the way I was at your blog yesterday!
Hey Sylviane,
You were really preaching it on this post! I have heard some people say that you don’t have to write a blog in a niche you don’t like. I really doesn’t make any sense, because you won’t have the enthusiasm which means your content won’t be exciting and the readers will be more indifferent towards it.
You definitely want to write about a niche you’re passionate about. When you have this passion in your posts then it carries over to your readers. When this happens they’ll want to come back for more and make recommendations. This is what we all want, right! Thanks for sharing an excellent post and you have a great rest of the week!
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Hi Sherman,
I’m glad to see that you agree with this concept. If I hear one more guru that says that you don’t have to blog in the niche you like, I’ll make sure I asked them how much they pay their freelance writer to write for them 🙂 I know it’s a ridiculous statement, but yet, one that I used to believe when I was new and didn’t know any better.
Thanks for your input.
Hi Sylviane,
I’m with you 100% on this. It makes absolutely no sense to choose a niche that you have no interest in. The likelihood is that if you already have an interest in the niche then you already have at least some knowledge of it. This already gives you a head start!
But to pick a niche in which you have no interest and about which you know nothing, well you’re just making things unnecessary hard and complicated.
Not everyone loves their job and, more often than not, they are pretty much stuck with what is available at the time. But when you’re in the position to choose what niche you’re going to work/blog in, then why choose something you neither like nor know anything about?
At the end of the day, there are enough challenges when we’re in a niche that we do like, without needing to add further, unnecessary ones into the mix!
Thanks for the great post, Sylviane. I hope you’re keeping well and that you have a great weekend.
»Glenn«
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Hi Glenn,
You certainly got a point here. I agree, there are enough things that we do not choose, such as a job at times 🙂 but if I’m going to create a blog to help build my own business, it better be a niche I like. At times it’s hard enough to write about a niche we do like. At least, it’s a discipline we need to stick to, so it’s tougher if we don’t even like the thing.
Thank you very much for bringing this up, and have a great upcoming week.
Hi Sylviane,
Excellent topic and VERY powerful points! You always make your points creatively 😉
If the years of blogging taught me something, blogging what you love is the first in the list I’d say 🙂 I recall a reader once asked why I publish tutorials, and is it because Technology is a hot topic.
Sometimes I wonder if a blogger blogging ’cause he loves it (No one says they hate, right?) or just because it’s trending. I guess we can come to a conclusion through the behavior and after taking a good look at the blog. What matters most is the ultimate goal, isn’t it? Even someone passionate enough, the ultimate goal can be strengthening their income.
I know I’m slow at blogging in this point, but due to other priorities kicking in. Yet I love the experience of blogging and hanging on. What motivates me the most is bloggers who don’t even get a single comment and yet keep blogging passionately ’cause they love it. Isn’t it wonderful?
I love your last point “owning content” very much ’cause I don’t wanna have my name attached to something falsify either 🙂 I think that point itself is strong enough to convince bloggers.
Thanks for the excellent topic and points, Sylviane 🙂
You have a lovely weekend there dear!
Cheers…
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Hi Mayura,
Yes, I’ve noticed you haven’t blogged in a little while just been to your blog couple of days ago, and already read it 🙂
I’m glad that you pointed out the last point I mentioned in the post “owning your content.” At times people may be forgetting about that, but yet again that’s why you see those faceless avatars with cartoon or logo images. Those are people that don’t want to own what they put online, so it tells a lot about what they’re writing, doesn’t it?
Thank you for your input Mayura and have a great coming week.
Hi Sylviane,
It really gets my goat when I hear coaches saying ‘choose a profitable niche, you will get to like it’ utter baloney!
We all know that making it online is a marathon rather than a sprint and, as you say, if you don’t have a passion for the subject you are marketing about then there is no way you will last the test of time. Have a great day!
Hi Paul,
Yeah, right! I am not sure you can get to like what you don’t like. You could make me blog about golf, I don’t think that’s going to make me like golf 🙂 I mean, that could happen to some people at times, but they’d be few and far in between. The reality is that for the most part, they’d rather get so tired of it that they’ll drop the whole thing soon or later.
Thanks for your input and for coming.
I kind of fell into a niche with my blog Sylviane but I do need to reign it in a little more.
I love writing but I’m not always passionate about blogging or writing about it.
I do love the community aspect of it though and that’s a major thing for me when I’m home alone.
I’m changing gear a little with my blog over the next few weeks so we’ll see where that goes!
When it comes to building niche websites or blogs, I’ve actually had more success with things I don’t like but probably know too much about!
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Hi Tim,
Yes, I know that you’ve been trying some niche sites, now if you chose to do so yourself, that probably makes a huge difference. Now when newbies are told blog about whatever niche it’s easy, that’s a whole different game. They expect easy and then they see that it’s not.
Oh, so you’re not always passionate about writing on your own blog? Well, I guess that happens to all of us, but you seem to be doing great though. Keep up the good work.
Hi Sylviane!
I’m on the fence on this one. While I agree that you should write about something that you really like, there’s no harm in writing about other niches that could be profitable if you do it right.
I like that as a blogger, you are able to incorporate personal experiences when writing about stuff. It makes it more interesting and in some ways, more \”real\” to the reader. But if you’ve got what it takes, you can write about something you\’ve never experienced before and make it real to others as well.
Think about it. Emily Bronte was excellent in creating Heathcliff for Wuthering Heights. A person who has limited social interaction, much less with actual men, had fleshed out a character so brilliantly. A lot of writers have done this.
I think that there are times when someone who is not as immersed in a particular niche could give better write ups, for the sole reason that they give a fresh perspective on the topic.
I guess, in my own opinion, if you like what you do, then write about it. If you’re good, readers will come. If you write about other things, it\’s fine. You can get the help of other experts and there would be nothing wrong with it as well.
All the best,
Micah
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Hi Sylviane,
For me, I have to like the niche that I have chosen as the theme for my blog. I agree with you, it would be very difficult to write if we do not like what we write. It was very burdensome, right?
I personally suggest that we like the blog theme that we make, because it is, everything has its own market. I agree with this 🙂
Thanks for sharing this useful post, Sylviane.
Hoping you have a splendid weekend.
Nanda
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I totally agree. I think blogging about something you love or are passionate about is best. It is hard to pretend and your readers will see through your posts.