Why does your blog only need ONE subject?
Our host today is Micke Hasselqvist. If you're interested in getting in front of the readers of Site Sketch 101, check out our guest posting invitation here.
So you’re just starting up a blog. You set the system up, you do a little bit of research (perhaps even from this very site?). You read the advice of others and you begin writing your first posts.
Well, that is all fine and well. Probloggers often have a lot of to say, most of their advice are really, really good tips.
However, I would actually argue against the most common advice out there, an advice that’s even featured as a blog article here on SiteSketch101 – to have your one and only niche!
Hmm, that sounds odd. Why is that such a bad advice?
Oh, don’t get me wrong. Having your own niche does provide for a stability that’s important, especially in the beginning when you’re trying to establish yourself in the blogosphere. To get readers to come back, it’s important to have articles that your targeted audience will find interesting.
On my own blog, my niche is simple and easy: web design. Articles about design, programming and social networks. A designer that stumbles upon my blog and subscribes knows exactly what he’s going to get.
But there is also a fine line between stability and predictability. My blog actually has a second niche – music! Occasionally I want to talk about my second favorite subject, which I am just as passionate about as web design.
Allow Your Readers to Rest With A Nice Intermission
Do you know what one of my readers called those articles? Intermissions. And that is a GREAT way to describe it! It breaks up the flow a little, allowing the reader some restroom from the usual slaughter of nerdy computer stuff.
You can even expand on this a little bit more, perhaps by making unexpected cross-posts. One good example of this is when I wrote a post about how you can use music effectively while working.
Finding your audience and your niche is important. But don’t feel like you have to be restricted to just that, especially if you’re struggling to find topics to talk about. Branch out a little! I’m sure you have other interests. And perhaps you might even haul in a bigger fish – like music nerds with an interest in programming.
Kathy said:
The cool things about blogs is that they are very personal. If you really want to talk about more than one area of interest, then that is your prerogative.
The question is whether or not it is going to help you expand your audience? It might. Will it turn off existing readers who thought your blog was about something else and do not care about your other interest? It might.
Maybe you only want readers who share both interests together. The choice is yours.
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Micke Hasselqvist said:
Yes, I believe that this might both help or hinder you, depending on how you go about doing it. But remember the word I chose to use – intermission. Treat that other subject like that and I think you’re fine.
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Harriet said:
I agree with everything you’ve said in the above post. I don’t have my own blog (yet – working on it!) but when I read other peoples blogs and they have 5 or 6 different sections for very contrasting subjects, it gets really confusing!
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Micke Hasselqvist said:
Oh yes, I’m not saying you should have THAT many subjects! Find your niche, and stick with it. But if you’re interested and have knowledges in other areas, then by all means – expand!
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Mandeep said:
I would agree with what you have to say but, also it depends on how professional you are trying to be. A professional blog will try to focus its attention toward a certain topic. Also, having a certain topic will also help you with the design of your website. An article I wrote earlier this past week (Desin with a purpose in mind) actually talks a bit more about this. Anyways, interesting post!
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Micke Hasselqvist said:
Thanks for your kind comments. But I kind of disagree.
I wouldn’t mind if Smashing Magazine or A List Apart did some off-topic every once in a while, as long as it’s interesting and well written.
(Well, maybe not A List Apart, since they don’t update very often.
)
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Daniel Sumner said:
Hey Mike,
I like the Intermission idea, it gives your audience time to get to know the person behind the blog. A little transparency is always a good thing in my opinion as it proves who you are and allows a bond of trust between you and your audience.
On the negative side, a post which is a little off topic is good from time to time, but you do need to be careful not to lose readers. You may just lose some of the guys who read your blog for its primary niche.
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Micke Hasselqvist said:
I agree, I think it’s important not to go overboard with your “side subject”. But getting to know the blogger is yet another reason why this is a good idea, one that I should perhaps have brought up in the article itself.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Mike, this is a terrific concept and although I don’t usually stray outside of my niche here at Site Sketch 101, I have found great success with some articles that I would consider intermissions in their own right. For example, I’ve posted an article called “The Top 10 Ugliest Bloggers” where I picked on some of my blogging friends which in my opinion is a break from the usual.
I think that mixing it up a little bit is a terrific way to grab the attention of your audience and draw people back in to your site to enjoy it more.
P.S. Thanks for the terrific guest post. I sure hope that you’ll consider sharing more great ideas like this with us here at Site Sketch 101. I think that you mentioned that this is your first guest post so congrats on really hitting it out of the ballpark on this!
Micke Hasselqvist said:
Wow, thank you for your kind comments.
Yes, I am kind of new to the blogosphere and I’m picking up new things to learn all the time, several of them from you. 
I do believe it’s good to mix up once in a while, yes. You just have to be careful not to go overboard with it.
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Blog Angel a.k.a. Joella said:
Micke, you make some excellent points. Of course some niche blogs are more tightly focused than others.
I’m one of those bloggers that is lucky enough to have choosen a topic with a wide diversity of sub-topics. That way there are lots of things I can cover.
But in a tightly focused micro-niche your advice is definitely sound. A little intermission now and then is refreshing.
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Micke Hasselqvist said:
I would actually argue that intermissions are a nice break even in a blog that has a really wide topic that allows for many type of posts. The intermissions aren’t a life-saver to be used when you can’t think of something to write about – they’re a nice break from the usual flow. At least that’s the way I look at it.
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Dean Saliba said:
That was the problem with my first blog. It was my personal blog but I also posted about football, wrestling, music, movies, tv shows, making money online, WordPress improvements and pretty much everything else.
Now I have split it into four blogs (personal blog, football blog, wrestling blog & MMO blog) things seems a lot better.
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Micke Hasselqvist said:
Yeah, too much diversion will prove tiresome for the reader. You need to find the right balance if you want to have a “side subject” as I like to call it.
Sounds good that you split up your blog like that. It will probably make it easier finding an audience for each of your blog.
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Nasrul Hanis said:
Agree! Having a niche is important (or sometimes essential) for a blog however being too rigid will make the blog looks too formal.
Have a side-element or what you called as ‘intermission’ could bring a wider perspective as well as let the readers make a relation between your personality and your articles.
Derek said:
Interesting article, I just started blogging with a friend we’ve been debating whether or not to add content outside of our niche and this really helped push for the idea, Thanks.
Mark Johnson said:
I often struggle with this, but I agree that it is good advice. I write mainly about blogging, but my blog is about making a passive income online and about freeing yourself from the restrains of location dependant income.
I am basically writing posts for people who want to use the internet to free up their lives either in a big way or just to make small changes.
So most of the time I will talk about SEO, blogging and traffic building type stuff. But I also occasionally take an “intermission” and talk about travel and breaking free. I think it works well as a side niche.
I think it is these things that help set our blogs apart. It is hard to find a totally new niche, but you can certainly add a new twist by combing two niches that compliment each other nicely.
Great post, I totally agree with your points.
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Jasmine Henry from J Station X said:
Great advice Micke! I agree with you that having a second niche can me a good idea. While having a second niche is not something I have on my site, I think that by targeting to specific niches, you’re more likely to reach an ‘untapped’ market of readers who haven’t found the right blog for them.
There’s less competition when your blog is so specific so you may find it easier to get readers.
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Michael @ Email marketing software said:
Good point – I’m all for niches, because you’re more likely to get readers that are specifically interested, rather than say, writing a broad ‘tech’ site with no techie niche. That said, my personal blog’s varied and not really niche at all, because I like to talk about lots of things – essentially what I do in life, etc, which is a bit more varied. For a commercial site where I’d be more worried about hits though, you’re right – it is key.
Interesting point about linking music and the web. It’d never have occurred to me to link the two.
By the way, some text (“Well, that is all fine and well…”) was covered with a google feefo ad
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Ron Leyba said:
I do agree with your point Micke. Effective blogs, most of the time do only have one subject but they can effectively insert other niche or subject in their blogging journey in such effective way. I mean, they manage to integrate that other subject with their very own niche in such good manner.
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Reza Winandar said:
Specific niche is the most profitable thing if you want some good cash
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Melody said:
I totally agree that a blog needs just one subject. I know it is definitely possible to wear people out on one topic too – Your tweets sound monotonous if you just tweet your blog posts. Nonetheless, I am sticking to just one topic for my blog, and I haven’t found a great secondary sub-topic for my blog. That is a challenge to balance that!
Someone already has made the comment that it is more expected that a personal blog will have a variety of topics, and a business blog is more likely to be narrow. So true. Just seems to be what works.