General vs. Niche
Now that you have thought about and hopefully decided to run a blog by yourself or with the help of a few people, it’s time to consider another important question: is your blog going to be general or will it cover a specific topic?
It’s the old conundrum of choosing between being a generalist or a specialist, something that many developers have to deal with at some point in their careers, only this time it’s applied to blogging.
This is an important question because your choice truly defines the type of content you’ll typically include, as well as affecting other vital aspects of running a blog, such as promotion and monetization.
The choice you make has a lot to do with your personality and interests. If programming in Python is your pride and joy, you may opt for a niche (i.e., a topic that is somewhat narrow in scope) blog on that subject. If you have a thousand interests within the grand scope of programming, as I do, you may find a general blog gives you more room to express your thoughts.
Remember that the distinction between general and niche blogs has to do with the expectations your readers have. People who subscribe to your Python blog expect you to speak about Python-related subjects. That’s their main interest and the reason why they subscribed in the first place. You risk disappointing your readers if you start publishing rants about Apple and HOWTOs on developing apps for Android in Kotlin. The occasional off-topic article might be okay, but don’t make it a habit if your blog is a niche one.
| Recipe 2 | Don’t betray your readers’ expectations. |
If you feel that you’re the kind of person who needs to express your thoughts on a multitude of subjects, then publishing a general blog is the safer choice. You can still post mostly about Python on John’s thoughts on programming, for example, but then you’re not restricted to that niche.
I experienced the restriction of a niche blog myself when I started my current programming blog. It was originally called Zen and the Art of Ruby Programming. Despite its success as a Ruby blog, I simply couldn’t stand not talking about other programming languages, frameworks, and even more generic tech topics. As a result, I renamed it Programming Zen and I now cover programming and technology within a broader scope.[7]
It may be tempting to assume that a larger scope of subjects necessarily correlates to, or even implies, a larger readership that’s easier to attract. After all, if you’re posting about Ruby, Python, C#, Apple, and Arduino, you’ll definitely attract the attention of multiple communities, right? Wrong. The truth is that it’s much harder to succeed with a general blog than it is with a niche one. Let’s see why this counterintuitive notion applies.
Imagine that Alice, a passionate Rust programmer, discovers a link to an interesting article on a blog called Rusty Adventures. It may be very tempting for her to subscribe to that blog if she likes what she reads.
Now imagine the same article on John’s thoughts on programming. Alice doesn’t know John, nor does she have any reason to trust him as an authority on the subject of Rust. Why would she subscribe to John’s personal blog? Sure, the article was good, but John also seems to talk about Python and Swift, which Alice is not interested in. In the end, Alice is far more likely to subscribe to and continue following the niche blog.
| Recipe 3 | Do one thing, but do it well. |
Niche blogs tend to make why a visitor should subscribe more obvious, but there are other reasons why it’s easier to succeed with a niche blog. For one, there’s less competition. Performing SEO (search engine optimization) is easier when your blog’s name, domain name, and most of its content already contain popular keywords you’re targeting (we’ll talk more about SEO throughout the book). Blog aggregators and other bloggers are more prone to link to you if you cover their specific niche (and establishing relationships with them is also more likely).
Niche blogging makes you part of a community, and if you play your cards right, it can make you rather famous within such a community. It’s not just easier to promote your blog and actually succeed when you opt to go this route; a niche blog can also simplify the process of reaping the benefits of your blogging efforts.
I can think of very few ways to better establish yourself as an expert on a given topic than by running an excellent, informative niche blog on that subject. It doesn’t hurt either that such a targeted audience is gold if you decide to directly monetize your blog.
For all these reasons, I recommend you start a niche blog rather than a general one that spans a whole industry—unless you really feel compelled to write about a large variety of topics that can’t be contained in a well-defined niche. For an example of an excellent (fairly large) niche blog, check out Real Python.[8]
| Recipe 4 | Niche blogs are more likely to become successful. |
If you see yourself as a polymath, opting for a general blog may still be a worthwhile trade-off if that will make you feel less constrained, more satisfied with your writing, and less likely to abandon your blog.