Guess what? You don’t have to blog about blogging, business, fashion, or beauty, you don’t have to be a mommy blogger or a “lifestyle” blogger (whatever that is) in order to grow your audience. You don’t have to follow in anyone’s footsteps.
If you’re not sure you can turn your passions into a successful blog because your niche is too small or weird. Or you’re worried there aren’t enough people interested in the same things, take note my friend.
You CAN step outside the blogging box and create an online presence that’s exactly what YOU love and still be successful.
And to prove my point, here are 6 of my favorite bloggers doing their very own thing and doing it well!
Mia | xomia.com
Mia blogs about cosplay and geek lifestyle
How did you choose your niche?
There are lots of geeky entertainment blogs/sites out there, but very few geek lifestyle blogs. I wanted to be a voice in the geek lifestyle to showcase my positive experiences while infusing issues I care about like body positivity and feminism.
I began writing about cosplay because there are lots and lots of resources out there, but generally hard to access (i.e., wading through forum posts or DeviantArt tutorials) or not aimed at a beginner. I wanted to create a somewhat comprehensive post series introducing cosplay to a total newbie and my cosplay-related posts and videos have grown from there.
Where do you get post ideas?
I get new post ideas everywhere — I always have too many! I love answering questions my audience/friends have about a topic or write a post addressing a specific problem I see mentioned. Taking one larger topic and breaking it into more specific posts is also a great tactic that’s worked well for me.
What’s the best way you’ve found to promote your blog + get new readers?
Making friends and connections, both online and in person, has been the best way to promote my work and gain new readers (many of whom I think of as close friends now rather than simply “readers!”). Connecting with others in your niche helps uplift both of you and also cross-pollinate your audiences.
How do you stay in your niche even if it’s not what’s popular or trendy at the moment?
I struggle sticking within my niche sometimes, especially because I love so many things. But I always remind myself that the creators I enjoy most are generally focused with the occasional off-topic or more personal post. Plus, I love tons of things I have no desire to write about — vegan food, living in Austin, and marketing all come to mind. Sometimes I have to remind myself it’s possible to love and care about something without turning it into a blog post! ;)
What benefits have you seen from sticking with a small/unique niche?
Despite my relatively small following, I am sometimes promoted as an expert in situations I wouldn’t have expected. I think this is just because there aren’t a lot of people out there doing what I’m doing (and hopefully, I’m doing it well). I love being known for something specific. It also helps guide my posting strategy and figure out where my effort is most needed.
Darien | friendshipbreadkitchen.com
The Friendship Bread Kitchen is a resource for all things Amish Friendship Bread with tips, tutorials, FAQs, community and over 250 recipes you can make with 1 bag of Amish Friendship Bread starter.
How did you choose your niche?
It found me! My “day” job is as an author, and I started the Friendship Bread Kitchen on Facebook while I was writing my novel, Friendship Bread (Ballantine Books). I thought it might be an interesting platform for my book so I posted recipes and helped answer questions if people had them.
The website originally had more book info than recipe info, but that quickly changed. What happened was that the website two took different paths — my novel went down the book path and the Friendship Bread Kitchen went down the foodie blog path. For a while I tried to make the two converge but I realized after many failed attempts that, while related, they were two different animals. People who read my novel did come to the website but not everyone who came to the website wanted to read my novel–they just wanted the recipes and help in figuring out what to do with their starter.
It took me a long time to accept this, because it also meant I now had a non-related book blog on my hands and I wasn’t sure if I could manage it (I still wonder about this on most days!). I often refer to myself as an accidental food blogger. I baked a lot of Amish Friendship Bread while writing my book, and then again when I was on tour, so I’ve become somewhat of an expert.
Amish Friendship Bread is a lot of fun. It is a “culinary chain letter,” but it’s really about sharing what you have with others — each recipe yields two loaves, one to keep and one to share, and the starter grows by being passed around. Because it is so niche, interest comes and goes. There is no way to anticipate when it’s hot and when it’s not, but it does come back around so when it does, I want the Friendship Bread Kitchen to be there to help people out.
Where do you get post ideas?
About 80% of my posts are Amish Friendship Bread recipe posts. I come up with most of them, but occasionally I’ll ask other bloggers if they’d like to contribute a recipe. I’ll also find a recipe online and in that case, might reach out to the blogger to ask if I can repost it with a link back and call out to them.
The other 20% are tutorials, giveaways, announcements, etc. I’ve tried doing other stuff but the traffic is usually quite low for anything other than recipe and giveaway posts.
I know from my analytics that people gravitate towards the basics; they are not always looking for new recipes. I keep adding and improving the look of my posts because I want the experience to be visually appealing and for people to be reassured that they’ve come looking in the right place.
What’s the best way you’ve found to promote your blog + get new readers?
This is an area that I need to work on (I clearly need to be a Badass Babe)! I’ve tried collaborations, blog hops, and social media stuff, but have had little to no results with those efforts. The occasional paid ad on Facebook will bump up views to my site and email sign-ups (I haven’t done this for a long time so they’ve changed a lot as I understand it).
People do find me and I am fairly high up on Google searches (I think #2 consistently with various search terms), which is the advantage to having a niche with key words that come up over and over again. One thing I haven’t done is add video to the site. I’m video shy and I don’t really have a test kitchen to shoot in, but I think it would make a difference in traffic as food videos are gaining in popularity.
How do you stay in your niche even if it’s not what’s popular or trendy at the moment?
I’ve struggled with this a lot, but I’ve had a handful of readers who’ve stayed the course with me and always express their appreciation. That always helps whenever I feel discouraged and wonder why the heck I’m still doing this! I know from experience that Amish Friendship Bread is something that comes and goes and I have zero control over that part. What I do have control over is how the site looks and how easy it is for people to find what they want. I also know a lot about this subject so that expertise makes it easy for me to hang out in this niche and also gives me permission to back off when I’m feeling overwhelmed, because I’ve done what I can to share that knowledge on the site.
What benefits have you seen from sticking with a small/unique niche?
I didn’t do anything to move up the Google search list, nor have I invested in Google ads, but the longer you stay in your niche, your niche will dig itself into the blogosphere even more. My “competition” is from single recipe posts of Amish Friendship Bread (from allrecipes.com, marthastewart.com, some blogs), many of which are older than the Friendship Bread Kitchen. I haven’t seen another site that focuses just on Amish Friendship Bread. I also think that when you have a niche and it’s small like this one, less people are inclined to enter the space because some topics, like this one, just aren’t hot or sexy enough. I also think it could be perceived that the Friendship Bread Kitchen dominate this space, so that’s good in terms of traffic. The plus side of having a niche focus is that you can be the premier source/expert of whatever it is your blog is about, and that’s certainly been the case for me.
Jessica | pawsbuzzgo.com
Jessica blogs about pets, travel and tattoos.
(And YES, she’s combined three seemingly random things in a way that totally makes sense)
How did you choose your niche?
I wanted to focus on the things that make me the happiest. Things I will never EVER get sick of talking about. If any one of those topics are mentioned, I light up, I ramble, I swoon . . . so the choice kind of made itself. ;)
Where do you get post ideas?
Strangely enough, I find that the 3 main ideas of my site all intertwine organically on their own.. Nearly everyone has a pet, nearly everyone has a tattoo now, a lot of people have pet tattoos.. Maybe the artist is from a far off place; tons of people travel, or would like to travel more. What states have rad tattoo shops? Where will I stay? Can I bring my dog? So I get my post ideas from my own interests, my own travel questions, and then I try to answer those questions for like-minded people.
What’s the best way you’ve found to promote your blog + get new readers?
Well XO Sarah and tips have helped a lot, honestly! I definitely never would’ve messed with Pinterest, but it’s so valuable. I never had a Pinterest account before I had a blog. And quite frankly I still think Pinterest is a bit corny, but it REALLY works. Some weeks it’s the number one thing that drives traffic to my site, other weeks it’s Facebook, but Pinterest is always top 2, it’s seriously crazy.
And secondly, I’d say just having an awesome supportive extended friend group. I’m blown away by the support, shares, and kind words on Facebook, Twitter, etc. You can’t buy genuine endorsements from people. When a friend shares my link I get excited every single time.
Also side note, I entered the realm of Reddit this week, and while I did get some traffic from it, I suggest putting a helmet on because people on there are BRUTAL. Luckily I have a thick skin. So you can go ahead and try that at your own risk.
How do you stay in your niche even if it’s not what’s popular or trendy at the moment?
I think if you are writing about what you love, it has the potential to be popular at any time. Like you’ve said on your site, if people can feel your passion, they will get excited with you! So I think I just try to put a lot of myself into my posts, stay true to what I love, and people can take it or leave it.
What benefits have you seen from sticking with a small/unique niche?
First of all dog/pet/animal people are crazy. They’re obsessed. They’re Instagramming, they’re buyin’ the t-shirt AND the tiny doggie t-shirt. So I think appealing to that sector is easy. I watch 87 animal videos a day; I’m sure I’m not alone, so those are my people.
Also traveling is a passion of so many, even if they aren’t able to all the time. I love the idea that I’m planting a seed, making them add something to their bucket list. That feeling is awesome.
And the tattoo part ties in because there are a million shops throughout the world. I could write about a different shop/artist every day and probably not run out for 10 years. Most tattooed people collect from different artists, different states, on vacations, etc. So it’s cool to talk about that and point people in the right direction so they don’t get bad work done on their travels. I guess the main benefits would be people who are into these topics are VERY into these topics. And they constantly want to see more and learn more. There are diehard fans of all 3 things, so the possibilities for posts are basically endless.
Miranda | spookylittlehalloween.com
Miranda blogs about celebrating the magic of Halloween 365 days a year
How did you choose your niche?
Choosing my niche was simple: I LOVE Halloween. It’s my favorite holiday, and I found myself always wanting to talk about it or work on Halloween projects year round. After writing a music blog for five years, adding this passion as a separate project was a natural fit.
Where do you get post ideas?
My post ideas come from the every day and it’s a pretty organic process. I don’t try to force ideas – I let them come to me. I usually find one idea and in the moment end up brainstorming five more that stem from the original. I let my brain take me where it wants to go and I focus on the post ideas I get most excited about. I also make it a point to follow my readers back on social media and pay attention to what they’re posting and sharing for inspiration and ideas.
What’s the best way you’ve found to promote your blog + get new readers?
The best way I’ve found to promote my blog and gain new readers is by sharing other people’s content. It sounds crazy and against so many “rules” people preach online, but it totally works. I think we’re all content-hungry and once you’ve proven to someone you can consistently provide the content they’re looking for it’s easy to mix in your own and create a loyal reader.
How do you stay in your niche even if it’s not what’s popular or trendy at the moment?
When I started Spooky Little Halloween, I Googled like crazy to see who else was out there blogging about Halloween. There’s lots of horror blogs, a few news sites and some hobby bloggers. But there was no one doing what I had in mind – in other words, my blog was not going to start off trendy and popular. And that just made me even more excited to start it. With no one else out there doing what I wanted to do, the market was wide open. All I had to do was find my audience.
What benefits have you seen from sticking with a small/unique niche?
I label myself a writer before a blogger and as a writer you always hope your words will resonate with or excite your readers. With a small blogging niche, your readers are right in front of you. You know a lot of them on a semi-personal level, which makes that pay off of knowing your work resonates with them so much more rewarding. I wouldn’t trade my readers or the Halloween community I’ve created over the past year for anything.
Katie | heykatielee.com
Katie writes about lifestyle design. Specifically the different changes you can make to your daily life to make it more supportive of who you want to be and where you want to go.
How did you choose your niche?
It comes from my own personal life experience and natural talents. I’m obsessed with how people do life so it’s exciting and fun for me to write about it.
Where do you get post ideas?
From real life conversations, comments from my clients and experiences that I’ve recently had in my regular life.
What’s the best way you’ve found to promote your blog + get new readers?
Guest posts, being interviewed on other people’s platforms and podcasts.
How do you stay in your niche even if it’s not what’s popular or trendy at the moment?
My niche has only become popular recently, but in the beginning I just wrote what I wanted to write. I try to write with heart + reality and that seems to resonate with people despite it not always being popular in the mainstream.
What benefits have you seen from sticking with a small/unique niche?
It makes it easier for me to decide what and what not to write. People know what to expect from me and it helps build my credibility on the subject. It leads to business and long-time avid fans.
Amelia | themidheaven.com
Amelia writes about emergence of the occult in mainstream culture and spirituality. She likes to call it “magical thinking”!
How did you choose your niche?
For me, choosing a niche was about figuring out what threads tied the topics I loved together. If you’re interested in the occult, there are so many avenues you can pursue, like horoscopes, tarot cards, crystals, and more. Ultimately, what I was most interested in wasn’t the topics themselves — it was what made these things relevant to everyday life. That’s where I found my niche.
Where do you get post ideas?
Everywhere! Anything you’re really into can become a post idea if you do it right. I like making connections between unusual things; for example, figuring out the astrology behind Gucci Mane’s release from jail or Hamilton’s sweep at the Tony’s. Specifically, see what’s dominating your Twitter and Insta feeds and riff on that. If you can find an unconventional angle on a hot topic, that will definitely get eyes on your blog!
What’s the best way you’ve found to promote your blog + get new readers?
Twitter is my favorite place to connect with other bloggers. It’s fast-paced and casual, yet surprisingly intimate. Unlike other mediums, I’ve found that people are willing to have real conversations with you if you ask smart questions, politely. If your brand is more visual, choosing medium-sized hashtags on Instagram will grow your following and help you make authentic connections with people in your niche. You might even find other brands you want to buy from! (I did!)
How do you stay in your niche even if it’s not what’s popular or trendy at the moment?
You have to love what you do. Public perception of my industry is always fluctuating, so you need a thick skin for haters and skeptics. If you’re only in your niche for the likes or the income, the negativity will wear you out. But if you really want to move your field forward you’ll stick it out, and with a smile. People can sense someone who has a genuine connection to their craft, and usually it corresponds to cash in your bank account!
What benefits have you seen from sticking with a small/unique niche?
When you find a niche that’s really tiny and suits your brand, you worry less about copycats. That niche becomes so synonymous with your brand that people recognize it as “you” and it’s obvious when someone else tries to emulate your style. For me, having that assurance has made me way more generous with my ideas on social media and in posts! I used to hoard my ideas because I was afraid they’d be stolen (hey, it happens!), but now I feel pretty confident that people can spot a post from me regardless of where they find it. It’s so freeing.
See! You don’t have to do what everyone else is doing because it seems like the only way to be successful. As long as you have lots of passion and the drive to create valuable content your audience is out there!
If you want even more help growing your audience my 8 week blog-boosting e-course is just the place to do it!
Miranda, Amelia, and Mia are all part of The Badass Babes Blog Club + E-Course and I’d love to have you join us too. Enrollment is open through September 1st – you can find all the information on how to join over here!