Lately I’ve been hearing a lot of bloggers needing to have a niche, you have to know where you’re blog is going, you have to stay on topic, you have to pick a subject and stay with it, don’t mix reviews and personal etc. Really?
I don’t consider myself a niche blogger. I write where my day takes me. It could be about my marriage, a crazy video of my kids, wordpress tips, recipes, everything in between. My blog is an extension of me – a complicated web of life.
And to those who don’t like reviews mixed in, I’m sorry but to me product reviews are personal. You probably can’t find a review on my blog that doesn’t have my family involved pictures, videos and all.
I mean come on now, if I picked one topic and wrote about that all the time, wouldn’t you be bored with me? Heck, I would be bored with me.
So here’s the thought, let’s just do a feedback day. I’m a big girl, in every sense of the word, and I’d love to hear what you have to say.
Do you prefer blogs that write around a specific topic or blogs that share a little bit of everything?
About Cat Davis
I am the same way. I write about whatever I feel like too. Somedays today it was craft vlog a meatloaf recipe and a review, other days its what my kid is doing or something completely random. I like blogs that share a little bit of everything because I like to know things about people not just one aspect.
Thank you Sheila, I’m in the same boat as well. When I come to a blog, I want to get to know that person, their spouse, their children, even their pets. I like seeing how a product works for their particular family dynamic as well.
A little bit of everything! Definitely!
My blog is many topics as well. But then again my blog is “my” small space on this big internet, I was also hearing about if you want your blog to go places find a topic an stick with it. Hrm being a mom is far from one topic. So yea finding one topic and sticking to it I will pass. I will blog what I want and IF I go places I do but IF not then my daughter will have something to look back on when she gets older.
I think that’s an excellent way to look at it!
Funny that you brought this up me and my friend was talking about this last night! I was asking her should I make another new blog just for a certain TOPIC AKA niche that I want to start working on and she told me no that i should just add it to my blog. So I was like but everyone says stay on ONE TOPIC! Then She was like we are moms we have many topics and you know thats true! I have been hearing all this stay on one topic till i am sick of it! I have a lot of topics i want to write about, i mean come on that would be 100 BLOGS I THINK NOT!! LOL
I split my posts up into different blogs. My family blog is just that, a place where I post about my family life (7 kids and all), and it’s there for my parents, siblings, friends etc to be able to see photos and read up on us (as we live so far away). My diet blog is about living a healthy lifestyle, complete with exercise and such. (And I’ve lost 117 pounds so far.) My writing blog is about writing, publication and topics along those lines. My photography blog is about photography. I even have a Princess blog due to my younger daughters’ love of everything having to do with princesses.
But it’s hard to keep up with them all and I doubt it’s the “right” way to do this. It just helps me stay focused on topic when I have them separate, and the topics of each are so widely varied that they didn’t seem to fit well together.
I admire you for being able to keep up on so many blogs. I’ve narrowed myself down to 2 and honestly, it’s a chore to keep them both running smoothly.
Congrats on the weight loss!
You know, the great thing about blogs is that there is no set formula for success. Heck, there’s not even a definition of success! I say, do what you makes you feel inspired and creative. If you are making this space into something that reflects your personality and your family journey,then you’re on the right track.
As for me, I try to stay positive (most of the time) with my blog and mix in funny stories when I can. Raising kids is such a roller coaster ride anyway, why not enjoy it?
- Julia at Midwest Moms
Cat,
When I started blogging, I wrote about green issues. It was fun learning about the topic, but over the course of time, I grew bored w/it. I was still promoting it, but I was more than just a person who had an interest in green living. Basically, I like to write. I decided to break my blog up into sections of my life (still including green, but also adding frugal, and natural – back to the basics) of topics that interest me. Like you said, blogs are an extension of people and that is why I read one blog vs. another. The more I “know” about the blogger, the more I can trust their words. I do like some topic specific blogs (ex: homeschooling), but am into mommy bloggers now and whether they write about a specific topic or not, it’s the writing that grabs me.
I will say that I don’t often read your reviews unless the product is something I may need at the time and rarely enter giveaways (unless it’s a green/handmade product – but still don’t often enter). I also tend to avoid blogs that are review/giveaway based and not enough writing about life, etc. You have done a good job of balancing the life (I could use a little bit more of life) and the reviews/giveaways because it seemed like you use to do more of the giveaways/reviews and I was visiting your blog a little less because of that.
Cat,
Even though I’m not into the reviews much, I really do like your approach on how you do them. I like to SEE how the product works for real people – your family – rather than you telling me about how many switches/speed controls, etc. something has. You are a pretty good reviewer. Later, if I’m looking for something you previously reviewed, I would probably come back here rather than visit the product Web site.
I like it mixed up, personal and review, don’t know how you would give us readers a truthful review if you don’t have family involved. I like the work you put into each review, showing step by step photos or mini videos.
Cat, I love your blog and love the way you mix everything in. If a blog was all reviews I probably wouldn’t read it. I like blogs that have stories and funny posts and a few reviews and giveaways thrown in.