10 reasons to stay true to your focus
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Having a clear and consistent focus is critical to your blog's success. Here are 10 reasons why.
1. It's why people subscribe.
Let's say you have a blog about web design. Readers find your blog, they like the content, so they subscribe. But then you publish several posts that have nothing to do with web design.
Why will your subscribers continue to read your blog when you're giving them content they didn't sign up for? If you publish content that people didn't subscribe for, they may unsubscribe. You might get lucky - but can you afford to take the risk?
2. It helps your search engine ranking.
In this example, we'll assume you have a blog that reviews digital cameras. You write 20 camera reviews and each post gets lots of hits from search engines. People search for cameras and find your reviews. All sounds good, right?
Now let's say you write 10 off-topic posts. The previous posts should still rank well for cameras, but your home page may start to lose ground in search engine results.
This is a big mistake. Sure, some people may reach your site via a specific post, but the home page is a way of getting people through the front door, and it's likely to be your "best presented" area with new and popular content being easy to find.
It's a no brainer really. Don't harm your search engine ranking by continually writing off-topic posts. (Ironically, this rule is broken by blogs who show you how to improve your position in search engines!)
3. It's what you know.
Regardless of your opinions on subjects that aren't really connected to your blog, don't get out of your depth. Even if you're well-versed in the subject at hand. If you really want to do that, start another blog.
4. It keeps your blog in a specific category.
An off-topic post every now and again might be acceptable to your readers, but going off-topic on a regular basis will result in your blog becoming a "mixed bag". If that's what you want, go ahead, but trying to do a lot of things well can result in you doing a lot of things badly.
I think your blog is much more likely to be found in a blog directory if you have a specific category. The catch-all categories are a bit of a mess. Then again, maybe you want to hide your blog...
5. It challenges you to be creative.
Even the broadest topic can be hard to write for sometimes. But not sticking to your focus can make you think it's OK to write about anything and everything.
When your topic no longer matters, it's all too easy to resort to pointless, useless, boring, throwaway posts. At that point, blogging becomes a bad habit rather than a productive exercise.
6. It helps to hammer home your message.
If every post is the same, it's going to get boring - but sometimes it can be useful to revisit previous topics with a fresh outlook.
Keeping to your focus allows you to reinforce the messages you first mentioned in previous posts. It also means you can put forward your arguments to those who may have missed your post the first time around. For the people who read the original post, maybe they'll like it even more this time. Make sure they do.
7. It gives a sense of continuity from one post to the next.
I'm not a huge fan of "anything and everything" blogs because they seem to lack a natural flow from one post to the next. Not every post can follow on from the last, but sometimes you have to write one post before you can write another - especially if you're writing tutorials, or a series.
Continuity allows you to write information-rich articles without having to compress everything into one uber-post. You can always split your posts into smaller posts if they get too long.
8. It makes it easier for you to link your posts together.
Even if you're not writing a series of posts to be read consecutively, you can link to earlier posts to prevent massive tangents that may detract from the topic in hand.
I think this is a good way to write blog posts that shine. But you see, if I'd written about all the other ways to write blog posts that shine, I wouldn't be staying true to the focus of this post - and I'd be missing an opportunity to write more about posts that shine in a separate post. If I hadn't already done so, of course.
9. It allows you to become an authority in your niche.
Two bloggers start writing about self-improvement. Blogger A writes a few posts every week on self-improvement, with an occasional off-topic post. Blogger B starts by writing one post every day on self-improvement before running out of ideas after three months. Then he publishes contests, news about forthcoming WordPress releases, and other assorted posts that are unrelated to self-improvement.
Assuming that both bloggers have a good writing style and promote their blogs in similar ways, who do you think is more likely to attract readers who want posts about self-improvement?
(Any similarity to bloggers living or dead is purely coincidental. Not that I'd expect anyone to be called "Blogger A" or "Blogger B".)
10. It suggests your blog will be around for some time.
Too many off-topic posts can quickly become a turn-off for readers, and drive them away. This means fewer comments, and can increasingly make you feel like you're talking to yourself. As a result, you may start to wonder if it's worth continuing to write new posts.
Blogs that publish posts with a consistent focus are much more likely to attract long-term readers. These bloggers embrace the community by writing compelling content that is both engrossing but also leaves people wanting to add their views. A strong focus that you stick to is vital to maintaining a blog for a long period of time.
Those are my reasons - can you think of any more? Do you agree or disagree with any of my points?
Comments on 10 reasons to stay true to your focus
2
My blog is about me - and I always talk about me. Does that count? I hope so..
3
Mainly #5 and #9 for me.
4
Like FeeFiFoTo I've found my blog diversified over the year or so it's been around. To keep my own interests in the topic flowing I had to branch into the other areas I deal with every day. A freelancer is not just 'the writer', they are 'the accountant', 'the administrator', 'the manager', 'the designer', etc.
Having said that I am very aware that this could be hurting my blogs reach. While it might attract a broader audience in the short term readers are less likely to subscribe since the mixture of topics mightn't suit their needs.
In a case like this perhaps another important point to remember is a need for balance. Is it better to diversify your topic so you can maintain your posting schedule or drop off to posting once in a blue moon?
5
Great points.
feefifoto, you said you'd find it boring to write about your niche all the time. If that's the case, why not try a different niche?
Becca, your site suggests it is about writing, not freelancing. Perhaps a site that focuses more on the working life of a freelance writer might work better for you.
If you can branch out and cover other topics, you may put off your existing readers, but you could bring in new ones. You may find you do better with a new focus than with your current focus! In that situation, it might be better to drop the old focus completely.
But this contradicts what I've said above. Either way, I think it's important to find a niche that works for you. Changing the niche too often can be a major problem.
In summary, if your current focus is boring, or you find it difficult to come up with content, perhaps it's time for a change.
6
Thought provoking as always. I do find that there are times when one just has to wonder out of your niche. I suppose this could be OK if something like this is the exception and not the norm.
7
When I first started blogging, I had three topics: linguistics, tech tips and humor pieces. Incidentally, that is why my blog is named The Junk Drawer (hodgepodge of topics).
I quickly found out that not only was it hard to come up with frequent, quality material for the first two topics, I enjoyed writing humor much, much more.
Finding my focus early on was key. I didn't confuse my readers with all-over-the-map topics. Further, I found my groove and knew where I was going with the blog.
I kept the name because it still seemed to fit and I liked it.
8
When diversity becomes too great perhaps it's time to branch into multiple blogs?
You mentioned changing my blog to the freelance focus rather than writing which does make sense. The trouble is, a years marketing and branding efforts have already gone into a very 'writing' biased domain. What would happen if the domain name changed (assuming I could think up a good alternative, lol)?
How do we as bloggers help our readers through a major change like that? I know it's a great question to ask you because you're in the process right now. Deciding to transform BenBarden.Com to TopTenBlogTips.Com must have been daunting. How do we make the transition one that carries most of our readers with us?
Would it make sense to break Writer's Round-About up into say, three blogs. Fiction Writing, Freelancing, and Web Tech? Then comes the challenge of needing to write content for THREE blogs instead of one. And multiplying the maintenance and administration required times three. Of course, it could also be potential to monetize three ways.
In the end, I'm left wondering if the world really needs ANOTHER blog. ;-) There are others covering the topics and doing a far better job that I could. Maybe the truth is, it's time to cut the blog completely and ship out my writing as guest posts for others instead?
Choices, choices.
9
*subscribes to comments*
10
Great tips!
I do post only health related posts... :)
Except my last one :-/
11
Kathy, from your subscriber and comment stats I'd say you've hit on a very successful formula. Your site is doing very well, there's definitely a large audience for it.
Becca, what you could try doing is starting a new blog that focuses on freelancing and keep your existing blog for topics that relate to writing. That way, you don't have to completely abandon your existing blog, but it can be more consistent with the original focus.
A lot of my readers have not yet made the transition to Top Ten Blog Tips yet. I did recently post on benbarden.com asking people to unsubscribe from there and re-subscribe at Top Ten Blog Tips, unless they wanted to read about my music, as that's where benbarden.com is going to go next. This made my subscriber count drop quite a lot, and Top Ten Blog Tips didn't go up as much as benbarden.com went down. Plus, there are still 120+ subscribers at benbarden.com.
The long and the short of it is that you have to make a call that works for both you and your readers. But it has to work for you first, otherwise there's no point. And you also have to think whether you're going to stay faithful to your long-term readers or if it's time to say right, I'm going to write about this and that's that.
There's never a good time, but if you wait three months and change things over then, you'll wish you'd done it sooner. If it's the right move for you, I think it's best just to do it as soon as possible. Yes, you will have to do some of the work again, but if your blogging experience has been anything like mine, you'll hit the ground running with your new site. When I started writing blogging tips at benbarden.com, I really didn't know much. It's still a lot of work to get a new site off the ground, but it may be easier this time.
Oh, and don't forget to post at my forums, they really do help with blogging in general. :)
12
I don't have a choice. I guess that's a good thing.
13
You've hit the nail on the head with these three key words: Continuity, Creativity and Catalogue.
14
Thanks Stephen, although I didn't actually say catalogue?
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Sigh. I know Rule 2 is simple, logical and sensible, but I can't seem to force myself to write only about my stated topic. I started my blog as a tool for promoting my retail site but I can't resist throwing my regular slip-and-fall or can-you-believe-this story. I'm sure my search engine rating would improve if I just stuck to my subject but that would be just over the edge of boring to me.