lexie, Author at Maker Lex

Want to know a secret?

It took me 10 years to figure out what to blog about.

That’s right. 10 years! 10 years spent launching numerous different blogs, and all of them failed until Wondernote — the blog you’re reading right now. So what changed?

Why all my old blogs failed

Prior to Wondernote, I wanted to blog about sooo many different things. Every time I tried to pick just one topic, I would immediately think of an idea for something in a different topic to write about. Having only one topic felt limiting! After all, I had so many interests and ideas I wanted to share. Maybe you have a lot of interests or passions also. Some of mine include:

Fitness
Healthy eating
Weight loss
Shopping
Beauty
Design
Home decor
Travel
Photography

And I still love all those things, but I don’t blog about all of them on Wondernote. This blog is dedicated to the Graphic Design category, and all my articles fit as closely into my niche as possible.

In fact, once I identified a niche to write about, I didn’t feel limited. I actually felt the opposite: BLOG FREEDOM. Sounds crazy, right?

What is a niche, anyway?

A niche relates to products, services, or interests that appeal to a small, specialized section of the population, which actually means my blog is targeted at less people rather than more.

Maybe that sounds like the opposite of what you think you should do when it comes to blogging. But let me explain why identifying your niche can actually lead to more blogging success (read: a money-making blog).

Why You Need A Niche

Trends come and go in blogging, and one you may have noticed is the “Lifestyle Blog.” Although, it seems to be going by a different name now.. self-identified “Content Creators,” as seen in Instagram bio’s everywhere. First of all, there’s nothing wrong with have a lifestyle blog, and being a content creator is a great thing.

But lifestyle blog doesn’t mean a lot to search engines. And it doesn’t mean a lot to searchers themselves. Think about it. Imagine a 23 year old girl searching Google for “how to french braid your own hair.”

Imagine you have written a great tutorial on your blog about how to do this, but you also write about personal style, family-friendly recipes, and your vacation to Mexico. Imagine your competition with a nearly identical article.. a blog entirely dedicated to hair care. Who do you think will rank first in Google’s search results? Your lifestyle blog with one article about hair, or the blog with two hundred optimized articles about hair?

See what I mean? A niche of hair care blog vs lifestyle blog gives you the competitive edge when it comes to SEO, and search engine optimization is vital to increasing traffic, which in turn increases the chance of earning money from your blog.

Ok, ok.. I get it. I need a niche. But how do I figure out my blog niche?

How to Find Your Blog Niche

I knew my need of a niche long before I actually figured out what it was. All those interests, remember? It was really hard to narrow it down to just one thing to blog about. But I finally did it.

I had an Aha! Moment when an Instagram influencer I follow shared her blog post titled “Top 10 Tips for Beginner Bloggers.” The very last tip was this: LOVE TO BLOG OR GET OUT.

My first thought after reading that statement was, “Ouch!” I mean, it was a bit harsh, especially coming from someone making hundreds of thousands of dollars per year and basically living my dream life in NYC. Talk about blunt force trauma to my blogging ego.

But as I dwelt on that phrase for the next few days, something clicked for me.

I realized that if I didn’t choose a topic to blog about that I genuinely LOVED, then I wasn’t going to enjoy it..ever. And if I didn’t enjoy, I would never do it. I already do plenty of things I don’t enjoy, like my day job, so why would I add another thing I dread to the mix?

For me that meant I didn’t want to blog about fashion or share my makeup looks. I wear the same makeup everyday. It works great for me, but that’s not very interesting to others! And blogging successfully, afterall, is about OTHERS. Not about us. It’s about the value we can add to the lives of others by sharing what we do best.

For me, it was graphic design.

But it took days for me to arrive at that conclusion. I had to really sit in silence with some questions and my journal.

If you’re ready to identify what you should blog about, ask yourself these questions:

What do I truly enjoy doing?
What don’t I get tired of learning about?
What do I want to learn more about?
What skills do I have that I could teach others?
What do my friends say I’m good at?
What do my friends ask me for advice about?
What topic do I want to shout about from the rooftops?
What would I be happy doing for the rest of my life?
If I could have any career EVER– regardless of my current credentials– what would it be?
Is my passion something I can make money with?
How can I make money from my passion?

As you reflect on these questions & more, make lists. Lists of Pros & Cons.

Think. Think Harder.

For hours! Take your time. Don’t rush.

Resist the temptation to copy someone else’s formula for success. By all means, take good advice. But make your own path to success.

If you want to dig deeper, you can download my FREE Worksheet Find Your Niche here. And if you’re stuck in Lifestyle Blog limbo, you may be interested in reading my article Why Lifestyle Blogs Don’t Make Money.

& Tell Me. Have you identified your blogging niche? If so, how did you pick your niche?

If you don’t know what to blog about, read my Best Tips for Choosing a Blog Topic and Download my FREE Worksheet: Find Your Niche.

Want to learn Graphic Design using Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop? Check out my Tutorials:

why your lifestyle blog isn't making money

Confession: Only my sister reads my blog. Please tell me I’m not alone! Also, is anyone else actually making money blogging out there? Because that’s the reason I started blogging. Honest. I wish I could say it was just for the sheer fun of it, but that would be a lie. In fact, I’ve wanted to make money from my blog for a long time, but it took years- and many different blogs- for me to figure out the missing piece of the puzzle. The answer to the question: Why isn’t my blog making any money? Before Wondernote was born and before I began writing about the ins & outs of Graphic Design, I was just a Lifestyle Blogger. Are you a Lifestyle Blogger? And more importantly- have you successfully made money with your lifestyle blog? Maybe months– or years– have gone by, and you’re scratching your head, wondering when your hard blogging work will finally pay off. Why don’t you have any post views or email subscribers? Heck, just a comment would be nice! After all, you’ve sunk a lot of time and resources into this thing, but for crying out loud.. How do you actually make money with a lifestyle blog?! I like to call this phenomenon (in which lifestyle blogs don’t make money) Lifestyle Blog Limbo. Lifestyle Blog Limbo happens when we know we want to write a blog, specifically a money-earning blog, but we can’t choose only one thing to write about. Heck, we didn’t ask to be this knowledgeable about every. single. thing. It’s just the way God made us! Maybe you blog about all these topics & more:

Easy family dinner recipes
Relationship advice
Your Fitness Routine
Healthy Eating Ideas
Target Deals
Couponing
Raising Children
Outfit Ideas
Makeup Looks
Vacation & Travel
How you & your Spouse paid off 50K of debt
The best restaurants in your hometown

All the topics on this list are interesting, so what’s the problem? Why aren’t people subscribing to your Email List? Why aren’t you getting any traffic to your blog?

WHY ISN’T YOUR LIFESTYLE BLOG MAKING MONEY?

Why Your Lifestyle Blog Isn’t Making Money, Reason #1: You’re Just Not That Interesting.

I apologize in advance, because I’m about to say something not very nice about you. Ready? Your life just isn’t that interesting. And if you want to be successful as a Lifestyle Blogger, you’ll have to convince your readers that your daily life is more interesting than the reality TV show they’re binge watching instead of reading your blog. In actual reality, noone (besides your mom) is hanging on the edge of their seat to find out what healthy meal you fed your family tonight. They don’t care that you went 10 miles out of your way to photograph fancy latte art “for the ‘gram.” They don’t care that you purchased eighty five pairs of shoes at the Nordstrom sale. But wait! Don’t get mad. There’s a solution. Next, I’ll tell you what IS intriguing about you..

Why Your Lifestyle Blog Isn’t Making Money, Reason #2: Your Content is Too Broad.

Now that we have that out of the way and you know that your lifestyle blog isn’t interesting, let me explain why. Lifestyle is too broad a topic. What does the term Lifestyle mean to potential readers, anyway? What does it tell readers about you and your blog? Nothing specifically, and that’s the problem. Now. Referring back to the list of topics you blog about, here’s a topic from your list that is both specific AND interesting: the fact that you paid off $50,000 of debt in only 2 years while your husband worked and you stayed at home raising your baby. In blogging, we refer to specific topics as your niche. A niche blog topic appeals to a small, specialized section of the population, and finding your niche is the golden ticket to blogging success. Identify your niche. Live and breathe your niche. Because niches pay!

Why Your Lifestyle Blog Isn’t Making Money, Reason #3: You Don’t Know Who You’re Writing To/For.

You now know that you need a niche if you want to increase your odds of earning money from your blog. But you also need to know who you’re writing to! Your niche and your target audience are directly correlated. Most paid blog courses will encourage you to spend time creating an Avatar. An avatar is a representative of your target audience, and knowing your avatar can help you understand what information your audience wants from you. Here’s some info you’ll want to know about your Avatar:

Gender
Age
Location
Relationship Status
Education
Income
Interests
Hobbies
Where they hang out
What they spend their money on
Etc.

When you sit down to write a post, write to your avatar. Use words they understand. Make it valuable for them! Not sure where to start? Your avatar might be YOU five years ago. Before you became an expert in your niche!

Why Your Lifestyle Blog Isn’t Making Money, Reason #4: You Don’t Have Enough/New Content.

You know your niche. You know your avatar. Now how do you hold their attention? Keep them coming back for more? Convince them to Subscribe to your Email List? Cue content creation. You need to post new, quality content regularly. Let’s imagine that Suzie Q lands on your blog article titled How I Paid Off $50K Debt in 2 Years, Part 1. Since the process behind paying off your debt was too much to write in one post, you’ve broken it down into 3 parts. Suzie is also 50K in the hole with student loans, and she’s desperate to learn your strategy. She devours Part 1, and she likes what you have to say. Now she’s looking for a link to Part 2… except you haven’t written Part 2 yet. After clicking around for awhile, Suzie realizes you posted Part 1 three months ago, and frankly, she can’t wait around forever. She clicks off, and just like that– she’s gone, probably forever. She went next door to your competitor’s blog. It gave her the answers & even more smart financial tips that Suzie wasn’t searching for but finds helpful. She liked it so much she even subscribed to their email list! A smart strategy is to write 10-20 solid articles before you ever launch your blog. And don’t leave any loose ends. if you have a Part 1, make sure you have a Part 2.

Why Your Lifestyle Blog Isn’t Making Money, Reason #5: You Don’t Treat Your Blog as a Business.

Maybe you’ve done all the footwork. You’ve picked your niche, you know your audience, you even have a decent following. You’ve made a little bit of money, received some free products, but you’re nowhere near to replacing the income of your 9-5 job. How do you take your blog to the next level and start earning real money? Treat it like a business! All businesses have this in common: they engage in commerce. aka: They make money through the sale of goods or services. So what goods or services does your blog offer? How can you package your content and expertise into a product? Consider creating a paid course, subscription, or e-book, which involve little risk and little investment. And in the meantime, keep thinking and acting like a business owner:

Show up every day.
Put in the hours.
Be proud of what you do.
Share it with the world.
Invest in furthering your knowledge and education.
Know your competition.
Learn from mistakes.
Implement a marketing strategy.
Outsource when you can.
Focus on efficiency.
Focus on growth.
Develop a product to sell.
Etc, etc, etc.

If you enjoyed this article, let’s connect! Keep in touch by subscribing to my Email List. & Tell me.

How long have you been blogging?
Do you have a niche, or are you a lifestyle blogger?
Have you seen any earnings from your blog yet?
Still not sure what you should blog about? Read my post –> How to Decide What to Blog About!

I hope this article helps you to identify changes you can make today that will help you start making money with your blog. Read my Best Tips for Choosing a Blog Topic and Download my FREE Worksheet: Find Your Niche. Want to learn Graphic Design using Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop? Check out my Tutorials: