Why I am expanding my blogging niche beyond blogging

Most blogging gurus will tell you that the only way to be a successful blogger and to make money blogging is to have a well defined niche.  They will suggest that you should really narrow in and get ultra- focused.  That may be a good strategy for some blogs like ProBlogger and DailyBlogTips but I have decided to buck the trend.  Over the past 18 months or so I have zeroed in on a pretty focused niche; finding myself in the Blogs about Blogging category.  I love the blogging tips niche and I love the bloggers that are a part of the blogging tips community but I have decided it is time to broaden my scope and expand the topics that I will focus on.

The mission of this blog is evolving from:

“Blogging Tips on How to Promote Your Blog and Make Money Blogging”

to:

“Helping Small Businesses leverage social media to grow their business and their brand.”

Of course, a major component of this includes blogging, so I will still be writing a lot on the topic.  In addition to blogging and social networking, I will focus in on entrepreneurialism, marketing and branding, and other methods of  increasing revenue. I am also devoting a category that will include business reviews (both sponsored and not sponsored).

Why I am expanding my blogging niche?

There is not one specific reason but more of a combination of reasons that have lead me to this decision, including:

• Expand Audience – One of the factors is that I feel I will be able to grow my audience and my brand if I am able to move beyond the blogging niche.
• Establish and Expand my Business- By catering to small business types, I will be able to directly target the end user that I am selling to.  I am working on a new sales page that will introduce my service offerings to small business owners.
• Keep things Exciting- This one is for me.  Sometimes the blogging tips niche seems like an echo chamber, everyone saying the same things over and over again. I really want the opportunity to explore other topics.
• Had success using this model in the past – I have actually done this before on my career blog.  When I started, I was focusing on a very narrow topic of resume writing.  I really saw my blog traffic and community take off when I broadened the focus to include general career advice and tips.

Let me close by reiterating that I am thankful for the awesome blogging friends that I have met in the blogging tips niche.  I will continue to be a part of this community, I will just be adding additional content to this blog along the way.

What do you think of this plan?  I am interested in hearing about your stories about either expanding or narrowing the focus of your blog..Please share in the comments section.

One Response to “Why I am expanding my blogging niche beyond blogging”

1. Aj says:

   July 22, 2010 at 2:07 pm

   It's not a bad move really. My blog is about the kind of topics you are handling as well and I am slowly moving towards adding more categories before I get stuck lol.

   One thing to worry about though is that there are 1000s of blogging tips, seo, make money, internet marketing related blogs out there..
   My recent post How to Diversify your Blog Income Streams and De-risk your Online Business