I’d say no. There are quite a many posts all over the internet about needing to have a niche in order to be a successful blogger. All of these posts and articles talk about identifying with a specific niche in order to have an audience. These articles also mention the need to speak to that audience only and to keep the blog centered. I’m not sure this is the best advice and here’s why.
Reason #1:
Life isn’t ever a niche. Life is life. There’s no specific audience surrounding life. All the players that make up one’s life are dynamic and shape the events, emotions, and experiences. Without those different elements there’s really not much ‘life’ to speak of. But even if the daily repetitiveness of certain elements in life (jobs, caring for a child, cooking food, eating food, driving) seem on their surface to be mundane and uninteresting, just looking around you’re bound to find something that’s interesting. It could be a thought or a sequence of events, it could be something you see or hear, it could even be a scent or taste. Turning that experience, whatever it is, into words is (almost) as simple as telling someone in your life about it. Your specific spin is important to the story, maybe you’re really pretty funny, or detail-specific, or use great descriptive words. No matter what, telling your story your way also makes it different.
Reason #2:
Quite a few bloggers who are seen as successful and/or popular, I’d say, don’t really have a niche. They write their life story in their way, they’ve developed a tribe. Maybe they’ve written a book, maybe their blogging led them into writing a book, maybe they started a foundation, or maybe they just plugged away at it until it struck a specific chord with a specific person and their blog took off. Don’t get me wrong, there are bloggers who are successful and/or popular that do have a niche. My point is that it doesn’t have to be that way. Although, if it’s more comfortable for you to have a specific topic (or that’s why you want to blog) then by all means go for it.
Reason #3:
As a blogger, or even just a blog reader, you’re likely to read many different ‘genres’ of bloggers. If you’re feeling specifically artistic you may look at more artistic bloggers. If you’re feeling torn down by life, you’re likely to read someone that’s uplifting. If you want or need to feel connected to someone or something, you’ll see those blogs. If you want questions answered, you’ll look for those blogs too. A blogger that’s niche-less may have some or all of those elements and you’ll find yourself repeatedly reading (or writing) that blog. The goal here is to write (or read) what’s important to you. Your needs change, they always will. Nothing in life remains more constant than living. Besides, wouldn’t it be easier to maintain only one blog, covering whatever you’d like it to cover, than many blogs covering various topics?
This is simply my take on things. I see myself as a niche-less blogger. I like it that way. I don’t know if I have a ‘tribe’ yet, I’m not sure if I really want one. I do know that I write what’s important and meaningful to me. That is exactly my purpose in being a blogger, to write what’s important and meaningful to me. I’m always happy when others are reading my posts and commenting, but I’m not blogging just for stats. I don’t plan to ever blog specifically for stats, I don’t know if I ever will. I do know that to have my words read and to share a shared, albeit different, experience in living life with someone is just like talking about it in person to another.
All in all, pick a niche if you choose, or don’t. It’s not as important as you’ve been told. Just don’t pick something for the sake of picking it though, ensure it has meaning for you. Ensure that you’re even willing (or able) to go all in with the topic. Or if blogging isn’t something you’re fully ready to do or you don’t want to flounder before you’ve gotten it ‘all figured out’, it’s ok to wait. Although I have to tell you, floundering a bit at first might be just what you need to do. Only you know this, deep in your heart. Do what works for you and don’t worry so much about categorizing yourself, unless you want to.
About the Author: Despite my expensive education, I now stay at home. I go on forest and driving adventures with Hun and Baby Boy. I take pictures. I taught myself to crochet. I’m learning more about natural remedies and products to keep us healthy and well. I organize things. I research and discover non-mainstream living ideas.
Here, in this space, I write about these things and more.
My struggles, progress, happiness, joy, fulfillment, confusion, heartache, understanding, and choices are here to (hopefully) help make the everyday life in our world a little more manageable. Being a new mother, changing my career, and staying at home are more challenging than I thought. Sometimes that challenge really hits me hard and being alone with it was more difficult than putting it out in the blogosphere, so here I am: Life. Breath. Present.