Read any blog and somewhere deep in the archives you’ll find a post about having a niche. What is a niche? Google shows niche defined as:

“a position particularly well suited to the person who occupies it; “he found his niche in the academic world”

When you focus on a niche, you are specializing. A doctor who specializes becomes a neurosurgeon, a podiatrist, a pediatrician, or any other specialist. Why do people specialize? There are two reasons, one from the cusumer’s point of view and the other from the specialist’s point of view. The consumer wants the best. If you have a brain tumor, you wouldn’t go to just any family doctor. No, you’d want the best brain surgeon you could find! The specialist knows this; he knows that you’re going to come to him because he is the best. He knows more about his chosen field than anyone else, and as such his services don’t come cheap! Its true that people don’t need brain surgeons everyday, but when they do, they’re going to pay an arm and a leg for them!

The question I want to put to you is that do you want to have your niche, or do you want to know something about everything? Can the brain surgeon function as a general practice doctor, or is he stuck with brain surgery? Will you have the flexibility to take a step back from your niche and widen your view to something more general?

Conventional blogger wisdom says to focus on your niche. It is said that your readers come to your blog for your specific brand of knowledge on a specific subject. If you write about something other then your niche, readers become confused and leave. I disagree. While it is true that readers to go to John Chow dot Com because he knows how to make money online, he also posts about the booth babes at the recent Computex. Does he get penalized for showing booth babes? Of course not.

Its ok to talk about news, events, or new ideas other than what’s related to your niche. Just remember, you still need to have a focus on your niche. Would John Chow keep all of his readers who come to him on how to make money online if all he did was focus on booth babes? After time, I doubt it.

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