How to Own Your Blog Niche – And Much, Much More.

You hear it everywhere on the blogosphere. “Find a niche, and then dominate it.”

It’s great advice – especially when your livelihood is tied to your blog.

I’ve long wanted to write a post on this topic, and when Michael Stelzner published his White Paper Industry Report, I knew I had my hook.

You see, Michael’s Writing White Papers blog feeds at the top of the white paper food chain, and his blog is a case study in niche domination (though he’d tell you a white paper is a better vehicle for conveying that domination).

How does he stay on top?

  • His blog has a laser focus

  • He produces useful content (much of it customer facing)

  • He’s created an expansive, blog-centric Web presence

  • He creates thought leadership publications like his Writing White Papers book

  • He outright defines his niche with a just-released “White Paper Writer Industry Report”

The last two are the steps that most of us don’t take, and his book and report can’t help but pay off professionally.

Certainly, a blog can dominate its niche without a niche-defining report or book, but both expand the boundaries of a niche (and offer benefits to a writer beyond the blogosphere).

What have you done to dominate your niche lately? For that matter, what have I done? (Answer: not enough.)

[tags]blogging, blog[/tags]

4 Comment(s)

  1. Wow!

    Thanks Tom.

    I have tried real hard to stay ultra focused on my blog.

    Don’t let anyone fool you.

    It is VERY hard work :)

    Some day I will need to do a little case study on some of the outcomes of such an effort.

    Mike

    Michael A. Stelzner | Apr 12, 2007 | Reply

  2. It would be interesting to quantify the long-term benefits of blogging on a small business. Lots of anecdotal evidence (Carson called his blog a “work magnet”), but that’s hardly unbiased.

    Tom Chandler | Apr 12, 2007 | Reply

  3. Hey Tom - Interestingly, I think in the long term most bloggers drop out of blogging. - Mike

    Michael A. Stelzner | Apr 13, 2007 | Reply

  4. Gotta wonder what’s going to happen for those who stick with it. Even micro-businesses like ours…

    Tom Chandler | Apr 13, 2007 | Reply

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