Chapter 8. Finding Your Niche
In This Chapter
Discovering blog genres
Creating appealing blog posts
Making connections with other bloggers
Chances are good that if you're blogging only for your friends and family, you have a captive audience that stays interested no matter what you choose to blog about on any given day. (Though, even your mom might get a little tired of hearing about what time you got up and what you had for lunch!)
For most bloggers, however, being successful is defined as attracting, keeping, and growing an audience of interested readers who can't wait for the next pearl of wisdom to leave your fingertips …preferably an audience that leaves comments and interacts with you and with other readers.
This is no small challenge: You're in competition with every other source of news, information, and entertainment in your audience members' lives (not to mention your own if you find it hard to find time for blogging).
The key here is to find a niche and exploit it fully. I have no way of knowing exactly what your niche is — that's something for you to figure out. I give you some ideas and suggestions to help you start turning your mental gears, but then you're on your own. After you've chosen a niche, though, the rest of this chapter helps you find out who your competitors are, what they're doing right, and how you can make the most of your subject.
Deciding What Belongs on Your Blog
Picking a niche and sticking with it can be tough to do. Fortunately, you get a lot of leeway ...
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