Hi everyone! I'm Kelsey from Style Me Gone and Verbosity Book Reviews! Claire has so kindly agreed to let me guest post for her here at Bella's Beauty Blog today.
One thing that I love about this blog is how Claire combines both literature and fashion together. It takes a lot of guts to have more than one niche--especially on the same blog! As I write for both niches (on separate blogs, obviously) I thought it would be great to share some advice and insight for running more than one niche. Whether it's on the same blog or not.
Make a plan
Really, this should be the first thing you do if you're considering writing another niche along with what you're already doing or even if you're just now starting a blog. You have to have a plan. Think about it: Do you know what you're doing? What is the likelihood of it working? Do you have the time and patience for this? And, really, is it a topic that you're passionate enough about to write for months upon years?
Sit down and answer all these important questions before you go into this. Starting a blog is hard work. Having to consistently write for more than one niche is even harder.
Really, as a blogger for nearly two years now, I'm constantly having to plan things out. I have to-do lists and reminders floating all around my room because I think it helps me to work on paper. I've got notebooks I've used for blogging. I keep track of blog stuff on my iPod Touch (you know, because my actual phone is a dumbphone. Smartphones are so expensive. . .).
Organize
You have to stay really, really organized. Blogging calls for a lot of responsibility. You have a responsibility to be there for your readers, for the bloggers you're doing work with, brands you're doing work with, and any schedules or (bi)weekly commitments you make. It's so easy to forget these things, so it's important to stay organized.
I still make mistakes here, but not quite as many times as I did when I first started blogging. Trust me, it's a good idea to get organized earlier rather than later with blogging to save yourself from losing readers and the trust of your fellow bloggers/companies.
Not to mention the fact that you have to organize your time too. There's nothing quite like the disaster of putting all of your time in one place and running out of time in another.
Write down your ideas
You're going to want to keep all your post ideas straight and hold onto them when you have them. What good is it going to do you if you can't remember it by the time you get to your laptop or netbook or whatever it is you do your typing on? Try to keep a notebook, a cell phone, or something on you to keep your ideas together for future use.
Personally, I use the Notes app on my iPod Touch to keep them straight. This really helps when you have more than one niche going. If you can't think of any for the one you need to be writing for at that moment, you have a backup plan.
Keep your branding
This is a hard term to understand when you're new to blogging (or even fairly old). Basically, your brand is how you market yourself to your readers. What makes you different? What's your angle? What's that unique thing about you, your blog, your writing style, photography, etc? What's your brand?
Whatever it is? Keep that when you move to a new niche. It was such a struggle for me when I first started blogging about more than books. I knew I had a completely different audience and I didn't know how I was supposed to act. I started talking more sales-pitchy at first because I was scared.
But, in the end? Keep being yourself. Keep your brand across all of your niches. It's what your readers love about you already and it's obviously (hopefully?) what works for you.
However, if you don't have a brand and you're still stuck with using that awkward sales-pitchiness in all of your posts, you might really want to sit down and think about how you can be more like yourself in your blogging. I for one think it makes blogging loads easier.
Learn from the best of each
I brought this up in an old post of mine about better ways to be a book blogger, but, basically? Learn from each of your niches. The thing about blogging is that it is so diverse. It was amazing going from just running a book blog to trying something with my other interests as well.
In the blogosphere, no matter what the niche is, there are going to be similarities, but there are also these amazing differences. The greatest thing you can do when writing about more than one niche is to learn from each niche and see what you can incorporate into the other. Who knows? Maybe you'll stumble across the next big thing.
Starting another niche isn't as hard as it sounds so long as you make sure you keep these things in mind. It can be a rough start and sometimes even hard on down the road, but it's such a fun, worthwhile venture. And, hey, you get the best of both worlds, don't you?
Do you blog for more than one niche? Are you considering it? Let me know in the comments below or tweet me!
About Kelsey: Kelsey Gulick has been blogging since 2012. Passionate about writing and the business side of blogging, she is currently working towards bringing a freshness to the blogosphere as well as demonstrate her strengths in freelance blogging. She lives in Florida with her green cheeked conure, Jack, and miniature schnoodle, Dudley. A few of her pastimes include reading YA, drinking tea, and taking long walks on the beach.
