Home Blogging Tips I’ve Found My Blog’s Niche – Now What?

I’ve Found My Blog’s Niche – Now What?

November 1, 2011 By Filed Under: Blogging Tips 42 Comments

Content is the currency of the internet. We share it, we link to it, we trade it and we sell it.

Ultimately it’s what will draw people to your blog, what will bring them back to your website and it’s what will  sell them on your products and services.

It doesn’t matter what your business model is, you need content.

So what is the most profitable thing you can do once you’ve located your blog’s niche? Start creating content of course! :)

3 things you can implement right now with your content creation strategy aka blog editorial calendar

  • Make sure your blog content serves a goal – what do you want to achieve with each blog post? To sell? Establish expertise? Grab a quick click to another great blog post? Highlight a solution to a problem? Your call to action should reflect your goal.
  • Make sure you provide value to your reader  and remember that value comes in many forms.
  1. You can educate your reader.
  2. You can help them solve a problem.
  3. You can help them improve themselves.
  4. You can also entertain them.
  5. You can educate and entertain them
  • Create an editorial content plan.

Establish what you want to create; it can be audio, video, print or a combination. Also work out what the subject matter is for each blog post. Plan the goal for each piece of content along with when you’ll publish it and how it will be created. Then how your content will distributed.

The money’s in the email marketing list?

Once you have a few blog posts on your blog you will need to consider creating an email marketing strategy. Email marketing is still one of the best ways to make money from your blog. The money is not in the list but in your relationship with the list.  Each subscriber is interested in you and what you are saying. Your subscriber has expressed  an interest in your business, they will soon ready to buy if you email market to them correctly. By correctly I don’t mean bombarding them with daily emails screaming Buy! Buy! Buy!

The first step to any email marketing campaign via your blog is to consider how you’re going to motivate subscribers to give you their email address. This is most often accomplished with what is known as an ethical bribe.

Give you subscriber something they desire for free, then deliver it via email. Popular options bloggers often choose include  a free report (sometimes known as a white paper), a how-to video or ebook that teaches something to the reader.

Make sure whatever you give away is of the highest quality. You want to build a strong relationship with your subscriber and this give-away is the basis for that relationship. The item should have a value but don’t think it’s value automatically is $97… ask a sample of your audience if they would read it / watch it and then tell you what they think it’s worth.

When your ethical bribe is in place you can create an opt in form on your website or use a Pop Up email capture. Once you have subscribers, create a consistent stream of valuable, and sometimes promotional, messages to send to them on a regular basis. Each great piece of content that you create on your blog consider adding to your email marketing list, remember not everyone who subscribes to your newsletter will read every piece of content that you post. Even your most devoted fan will miss something.

Monetisation

Let’s talk about how are you going to make money via your blog. Hopefully you had this in the back of your mind when you chose your blog’s niche.

Popular choices include:

  • Selling advertising space or AdSense.
  • Selling your offline services
  • Information products – knowledge is power
  • Selling products
  • Affiliate marketing using blog review posts and advertising
  • Membership programs

You can also combine these choices: an information product may contain affiliate links, adverts may promote affiliated products.

Having a strong niche for your blog is just the first step to building a profitable blog. The biggest step is creating the content that will sell.

Share with us your tips for ethical bribes and adding value to your readers.

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About Sarah Arrow

Sarah Arrow is the managing editor of internationally renowned Birds on the Blog, listed by Forbes (3 times) as one the top websites for women in the world. In her day job she blogs about very unsexy transportation issues in her role as communications director of a same day courier company and social media marketing. Her goal is to get on the AdAge blog list. Her first love was Twitter, it's now G+. Shhhh! Don't tell Twitter she's left...

  • bloggersethics

    i make sure that my blog serves as a goal. I want to make my blog a platform where people can come and discuss real blogging stuff. It is my only aim with my blog

    • http://www.saraharrow.co.uk/ SarahArrow

      @bloggersethics That’s a great aim to have :) do you stick with it?

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting, it’s appreciated :)

  • http://www.RedHotMomentum.com/ yolandafacio

    Having an editorial plan in place is an excellent idea. I like to create what I call a content map, in mindmap form it outlines my main content topics and then branches out the subtopics. I compare potential topics to my map to make sure I’m sticking with the plan. It helps to keep me from straying.

    • http://www.saraharrow.co.uk/ SarahArrow

      @yolandafacio Mind maps, what a great way of doing the editorial calendar :)

      I love the comments here, mind maps have never been a thing for me (I don’t even know what is in my mind half the time ;) ) but I can see how powerful that could be… and now I want one…

    • http://primefit.org/ Mary C. Weaver, CSCS

      @yolandafacio Yolanda, do you use a mindmap program or a notepad? I’ve tried a few programs, but nothing has really grabbed me.

  • http://www.sendaflowercard.com/ Anita Hunt

    Interesting post Sarah, thanks for your tips. Having an editorial plan is something I have recently begun to value, and think it is an essential tool. With my anti-bullying site I could think of many ideas to ‘give away’ to my subscribers. With my other site I have in the past added blog posts that my readers may be interested in, but finding it hard to think of an item I could ‘ give away’. So I will have to get my thinking cap on :)

    • http://www.saraharrow.co.uk/ SarahArrow

      @Anita Hunt get the cap on :) what site are you thinking of? your Flower card site?

      • http://www.sendaflowercard.com/ Anita Hunt

        @SarahArrow yes my flower card site :)

  • WorkoutNirvana

    Your list of what kind of value to add is actually perfect for days when you have writer’s block. And your post is overall extremely useful… I am still getting used to the idea of the email list. I am getting closer however, thanks to your informative posts!

    • http://www.saraharrow.co.uk/ SarahArrow

      @WorkoutNirvana Thanks Suzanne, I never really wanted an email list – too much work, too much hassle and omg, I may just have to talk to people! Then I read an article about a flower shop in NY that lost a top Google listing and lost their entire prospect customer database. That shocked me into getting one, I may not ever be that busy but I can be careful.

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting

  • http://judyleedunn.com/ JudyDunn

    Love this post, Sarah. Especially the parts about the benefits of having a niche for your blog and all the opportunities for profiting from it. And I so agree that it helps greatly to have a goal in mind as you blog. In the area of monetization, the only other thing I would add from my experience is this: I tie everything I promote and sell into my niche’s topic. For example, my blog on blogging has links to affiliate products and services that only relate to blogging (blog themes, domain hosting, etc.) I also have a policy that I will not promote something I don’t have experience with (either on my own blog or on a client’s site) because my credibility and reputation are everything. Useful stuff here. : )

    • http://www.saraharrow.co.uk/ SarahArrow

      @JudyDunn I agree Judy, reputation is everything and like you I only recommend what I have used (hence my information product addiction ;) ).

      Great suggestion to tie in what you promote to what you are writing about.

  • SuzeStMaurWrites

    Very useful article Sarah – thanks for sharing!

    I have a question: how often – at what intervals – should you communicate with your email list?

    Obviously to a large extent the answer here is going to be “how long is a piece of string” – but are there any guidelines we can use to judge the right intervals for our respective lists? How do we judge what is enough to keep us in our list members’ minds without irritating them?

    • http://www.saraharrow.co.uk/ SarahArrow

      @SuzeStMaurWrites Like you Suze I have a “7 days” e-guide where I email every day, and then my autoresponder is set to send the link to a new post or something useful every week. At the moment I have 25 in the sequence, I aim to have 150+ articles really strong content so that my readers feel they are treated with respect. So far, so good.

  • http://primefit.org/ Mary C. Weaver, CSCS

    After 30 years of working as a writer, I sometimes forget really obvious points such as “Your call to action should reflect your goal.” Now that I’m writing for myself much of the time, I need to decide exactly what I want the reader to *do* with the information I’m providing.

    Thanks!

    • http://www.saraharrow.co.uk/ SarahArrow

      @Mary C. Weaver, CSCS :) thanks for sharing Mary, 30 years as a writer – wow :)

      • http://primefit.org/ Mary C. Weaver, CSCS

        I’m showing my age, aren’t I?

        :-)

        • http://dannybrown.me/ DannyBrown

          @Mary C. Weaver, CSCS Did you start writing at two? :)

        • http://www.saraharrow.co.uk/ SarahArrow

          @DannyBrown@Mary C. Weaver, CSCS I think she started writing in the womb… all this fitness malarkey pays dividends it would seem

        • http://primefit.org/ Mary C. Weaver, CSCS

          Ha! Nope. I’m just older than I look. And fine with that!

  • AmandaHamilton

    @SarahArrow Sarah, as ever, you amaze me. Everything you say makes total sense and I feel like a blogging moron by comparison. With my home in Spain for sale, my paintings and my yoga, I often find myself semi frozen in a state of panic not knowing where to start and how … I still don’t, but I always feel so comforted when I read something this clear – it makes me think “one day” I might be able to do this ….

    • http://www.saraharrow.co.uk/ SarahArrow

      @AmandaHamilton Ah but sweetie you are doing this already, it’s just mostly in your head. jackie walker uses vision boards and I think (and I say that loosely as we are celebrating this evening) that a visual might serve you far better than a written plan. Or even a mind map like @yolandafacio suggests. You are able to do this, you just don’t formalise it yet :)

      • AmandaHamilton

        I know … and having done my accounts today, maybe it’s time for me to get my bum down to your neck of the woods for a day or two and nail the ideas. I find it SO MUCH EASIER to take in these things talking in the flesh! Plus I love your company too … !! In exchange for a foot massage, painting, yoga one to one … lots of options!!!

        • http://www.saraharrow.co.uk/ SarahArrow

          @AmandaHamilton You get down here girl! foot massage is all it took… I’ll take you to see Bas Vegas and you will see such inspiring, creative uses of hair bleach, orange make-up and white stiletoes… the paintings that you’ll create after visiting Essex :)

        • AmandaHamilton

          Oh My !! It would be SO nice to come and play … 400m round trip, could offset it as training I guess … with petrol being the price it is I don’t travel far anymore!! Heck, when? @SarahArrow

        • http://www.saraharrow.co.uk/ SarahArrow

          @AmandaHamilton dunno, will email you :)

  • SarahArrow

    @livefyre thanks for sharing :)

  • scam_detectives

    Over on Scam Detectives our content is pretty much educational and tends to attract a lot of backlinks from other websites wanting to share the content for the benefit of their readership. Because I’m not really using it to sell anything at the moment, I’m not pushing for email list signups, but I’m sure it’ll come eventually.

    A few of my clients do use “ethical bribes”, including sallyormond , who offers a free e-book in return for signing up for her newsletter, which they only receive once they’ve confirmed their email address. It works well for her and her list is growing steadily.

    • http://dannybrown.me/ DannyBrown

      @scam_detectivessallyormond Scam Detectives, eh? You’d be awesome when it comes to looking into all the online influence tools doing the rounds at the minute. ;-)

      • http://www.saraharrow.co.uk/ SarahArrow

        @DannyBrown@scam_detectivessallyormond *Sarah snorts her drink through her nose laughing*

    • http://www.saraharrow.co.uk/ SarahArrow

      @scam_detectivessallyormond Hey Charles, thanks for stopping by. If it works for Sally why are you not doing it yet? Seriously, you offer great information to parents and other people about Scams and other nasty happenings online, in fact you might want to show a few of your readers what @DannyBrown mentions in his comment – http://dannybrown.me/2011/10/27/is-klout-using-our-family-to-violate-our-privacy/

      Go on and add your newsletter, it may come in handy when you do have something to promote :)

    • sallyormond

      Hiya, Yup the eBook has certainly been working well. I try and keep my newsletter fairly light in tone – marketing can, at times, be a dry old dinosaur, so it always pays to lighten it a bit. Although I give away a lot of hints and tips so my subscribers can improve their own copywriting, there are still a lot of people out there asking for my help. Frequently, it may be 12 months or more before someone has a need for me, but because they’ve been receiving my newsletter and great info, when theydo need a copywriter it’s me they turn to.

      So if you’re not doing newsletter marketing yet, you’d best get started. It adds value to customer relationships and it works.

  • http://online-english-lessons.eu/wordpress/ Angela Boothroyd

    Hi @SarahArrow I offer free English language tips with my monthly newsletter and my list has grown steadily, but quite slowly. I’m about to add a free PDF download of grammar lessons as an ‘ethical bribe’ and it’ll be interesting to see if that makes a difference.

    • http://www.saraharrow.co.uk/ SarahArrow

      @Angela Boothroyd I’d sign up for that Angela :) Let me know when you do, I’ll add a link you you like I do with @SuzeStMaurWrites into my autoresponder. The writing / language links gets a good open rate :)

  • lisawood

    Sarah, I love this:

    “The money is not in the list but in your relationship with the list.”

    So many of the big names insist that you have to have these massively-huge lists, and I believe that a smaller, targeted, high quality list will serve you just as well or better.

    Great article!

    • http://www.saraharrow.co.uk/ SarahArrow

      @lisawood thanks Lisa, great to know that you think the same way about the list as as I do. Having a small but responsive list is far more valuable than mega numbers that ignore you.

  • http://www.smallbusinesstraining.co.uk/ Linda Mattacks

    I started blogging back in 2006 – and didn’t have much of a clue! I’m still far from being as focused and disciplined as I could and should be. This is really helpful.

    BTW One thing I always get a kick out of is when someone new to me says they read/ have read and enjoy my blog(s)

    • http://www.saraharrow.co.uk/ SarahArrow

      @Linda Mattacks yeah, I still get a buzz from that :)

  • Noahevan7

    @Biebert Awesome!

  • Pingback: 3 Things Your Blog Needs From You Right Now

  • Christine Miller

    I find I have masses of content from a wide variety of areas, linked together by being connected with personal and business development – so I have a big umbrella and sometimes finding the threads to bring it all together can seem challenging.

    Thanks Sarah for the useful tips, ever helpful.