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Thousands of blogs over the years have told you to stay laser-focused with your content. It makes sense because many blogs suffer an “identity crisis” when it comes to determining who they are and what they represent. Plus, you stand a better chance of multiple blog posts coming up for more than one key word or keyword phrase.
I’ll admit. I’m not a fan of personal blogs or blogs that write about any and every topic under the sun. (Who wants to go through months and months of archives to find something interesting anyway?)
Well, recently I went against the popular consensus and started writing about business development and Human Resources (HR) and something really bizarre happened.
Due to these recent turn of events, I’m starting to reanalyze expanding my blog’s topics. Should you?
What’s So Great About Expanding My Blog’s Content?
For one thing, it opens the door to a whole new category to write about. (So much for ‘Writer’s Block!’)
Inspiration often comes from personal situations and recently, a lot of entrepreneurial events have made quite an impression on me. When this occured, I felt compelled to write about it! Does this ever happen to you? I also feel the quality of my material improves when it’s…personal.
Now, do I think that Source Blogger’s base of readers will want to be exposed to articles about business development and HR? I’m not sure — but traffic levels have tripled in just the last two weeks!
So, traffic has increased, but my Alexa Rank has decreased. Should I be concerned? I’ve dedicated the greater majority of Source Blogger’s content toward the “Alexa Crowd”.
I’m beginning to feel that Alexa Rank has been a poor determinant for my blog’s success. What are your thoughts on Alexa Rank as a strategy?
What’s So Bad About Expanding My Blog’s Content?
You may alienate your blog’s community to some extent. But, truthfully, does anyone just read the same subject matter all day? And to be honest, I’m not sure if I have enough off-topic content to create a whole new blog.
Although, I can see when you expand your blog’s content, that you do run the risk of decreasing your pageviews. “Meta Blogging” (blogging about blogging) is already a vast topic as it is.
I did ponder whether I am selling out to the search engines though? But, noticed there are other blogs like Source Blogger that do discuss matters of business beyond simply the realm of blogging.
So, why can’t I?
The bottom line is that my niche/category is very competitive. And many of these blogs are super-optimized for search engines.
While this little foray has been successful, I do not wish to go too far off the beaten path. My true passion still remains to be blogging, SEO, internet marketing, social media marketing, and making money online.
But, I also can’t help but be encouraged by these recent results of going more “mainstream”. I’ve seen a small spike in Networked Blogs & Facebook followers, Twitter followers, and subscribers. I’m hoping I can tap into a new vein of readers.
What do you think?
7 Comments
why alexa rank become poor factor? i think if we have more traffics we can do anythink in our blog such as marketing , SEO link and others. But i agree to expand your blog in such social media moreover in same niche .
What I know maybe people just read the first pharagraph of your blog, if they are interested they may continue reading until the bottom.
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Hi Source Blogger,
I think it’s fine to expand your blog’s topic. It opens your blog up to others who would have never found you. Plus, you have said that you traffic increased by doing this. If you enjoy writing about the HR topics, I don’t see anything wrong with throwing a few in from time to time.
I enjoy reading topics about business, because that is also one of my interests. I also agree that people don’t read the same things everyday. Some of us, like me, like variety. That’s what I try to do on my blog and as a result, people will stop by and comment who wouldn’t usually do so, because my topic for that day is of interest to them.
I really don’t know what to think about Alexa. I don’t think that is a big factor when it comes to success. I also have to keep in mind, that not everyone who visits my blog has Alexa tool bar installed. I think that good content is what matters most. The Alexa number will get better…just keep pumping out fresh content. That’s how I see it.
Take care,
Evelyn
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Evelyn,
Thanks for the encouragement.
The thing is… when I do write about business, it is not of the “you can be a millionaire in your pajamas” variety or even the “blogging your way to world domination” sort of thing… It’s real business!
That was really my concern. Some bloggers seem to do a better job of “selling the dream”. I’m a little more practical…and realistic…and I think readers are starting to see through the online/internet marketing BS anyway…which is why I won’t insult their intelligence here on Source Blogger.
Love the thorough, concise comment, Evelyn!
You’ve always been a good supportive friend to Source Blogger.
And I appreciate you for that.
JeffreyB.
Jeffrey Baril recently posted..Does Expanding Your Blog’s Topics Mean You’re Abandoning Your Reader Base
this topic is really interesting.. i would say one should diversify the topics in a blog.. i think you have summed up in everything in just one line at the end ‘I’m hoping I can tap into a new vein of readers.’
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Interesting post and food for thought…
First off, The Alexa rank is indeed a very poor determinant of a blog’s success, even for a blog about blogging, simply because it is so easy to manipulate, and it doesn’t take very much effort to do it either.
Anyway, back to the topic of this post, I don’t think expanding your blog’s scope is abandoning your reader base. On the contrary, not only will you expand your own reader base, you may also expand the horizons of your reader base, making it a win-win. For most of your readers, that is. Some will undoubtedly turn their backs on you, since you don’t have anything to offer to them, but that’s how business works. Some customers will follow your new ideas, some won’t.
Expanding your blog’s topic is a good thing in terms of always finding something to write about, you’re absolutely right there. Over the time my own blog has existed, the topic has been expanded into new territories several times, although on occasion I have found it hard to connect the new topic to my old posts. That’s my own rule: If I do expand, fine, but then it must connect to what I have written before. As long as you do that, I think there’s nothing wrong with opening up your blog to new topics.
Besides, writing about something new prevents you from going in circles, again and again. After all, there’s a limit to how often you can write about the same thing, no matter how passionate you are about it. And a blog that repeats itself, without passion, now that is a dead blog that will turn your readers away for sure.
In general, all you did is get less visitors with Alexa toolbar. But more visitors is better, right
And if you are expanding one category at the time, people will get used to it. Although core readers are something you don’t want to lose. Maybe asking them about what they would like to see more or less on the blog would work great?
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I think one option is to reframe or maybe broaden the theme of your blog. In some cases it’s not too difficult. For example, “Blog and Business Development” isn’t as much of a stretch as, say, “Blog Development and Health Tips.”
My blog is about life in Japan and Japanese language study. Within that niche, there’s a pretty wide variety of content. Personally I might be better off focusing on one thing, like “Engrish” or “Japanese study” or “Japanese anime,” but it would limit my creativity, and frankly I think it would become boring after a while.
It’s an important question…honestly been asking myself recently if I should focus a little more, as opposed to branching out a little as I have been doing.
Anyway, good luck!
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