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Blogging Without a Niche

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Blogging Without a Niche – Magical Mystical MiMi Saves The Day

Blogging without a niche is also called blogging for fun. For fun ? What’s that? It’s what Magical Mystical MiMi does and it’s made me think I should be less MeMe and more MiMi!

This is SO exciting! A new Face book page who blog about random stuff.

And there was me starving my own blog of content because it is nicheless (I just made that word up).

Blogging without a niche, in a world where blogging gurus will tell you that niche matters, has been lonely.

At times, I’ve sat watching the tumbleweed blow through my blog, feeling as if I’d let it down for not being more specific.

But the big mistake I made was listening to other people who set themselves up as experts on blogging.

Back in the olden days (2014) I allowed myself to be lead down a path that took me away from the fun of simply writing as  I was pointed towards the chore of getting followers, comments and likes.

It was, it seemed, all about your stats.

Well in the words of Pink Floyd’s Not Now John

– f*%k all that!

blogging without a niche

Well yes maybe she did👀 – you can blame MiMi – she gave me the courage to be MeMe!

Do I cuss (or swear if you are British) in real life? Yes I do – like a soldier – which is fine because MiMi says she cusses like a sailor

So why not on here? Who knows (shrugs shoulders).

And I’ve always loved MiMi’s posts because she uses cuss words so eloquently as she tells it like it is.

There is even a message on her blog that warns people it contains opinions that may offend – but I have never been offended by anything I’ve read – just amused to the point of hysterics at times.

She clearly never was seduced by the notion of keeping readers happy to get followers.

Unlike MiMi, my best blogs have never been written because I didn’t want to offend anyone – I played it pretty safe and kept the real me in check.

And gradually, I wandered away from my nicheless blog to create www.funcraftstodoathome.com

and my YouTube channel Rainbow Lane both firmly in the craft niche.

And so my days of blogging without a niche were over.

I came back here occasionally, like visiting an old friend that I liked but who I neglected.

My last post was connected to my other blog in an effort to stop this one feeling left out (yes really 🙄)

And then came the invitation to The Old School Bloggers – The Originals and I saw the light!

I should never in a million years been swayed by the niche promoters.

Looking back, it was ironic,  that many of the blogging gurus had niches that were in…blogging.

So lots of what they were saying was probably completely true…if you were blogging about blogging – you could get thousands of followers quite easily by having that as your niche.

Us newbie bloggers would lap up anything written by ‘experts’ because we had no idea, really, what we were doing.

blogging without a niche

So someone who was a few months ahead of you in their blogging journey seemed like an expert.

And they probably were, in blogging about blogging.

So naturally, they would say you needed a niche because they had become successful having a niche.

Don’t get me wrong – I love my craft website and YouTube channel.

They are my real work and connected to all the ways I make my living now. It’s been much easier to get followers on my YouTube channel than any other platform and it’s been easier to make money on there too.

So today when I heard from MiMi about the new Old School blogging group – it hit me like a ton of bricks – this can be where I write exactly what I want – cussin’ ‘n all if I feel like it!

It always was just that. It was the place where I learned how to create a blog and everything that went with it so I could go on to create a niche blog elsewhere.

This blog is my old friend – the place where I can unwind, be real and say what I like.

Thank you so much MiMi for reminding me where we all started out.

I love you!

Blogging without a niche is OK – and I’m not the only one who thinks so – check out this blog and see me back here next time for a more irreverent look at my world.

22 thoughts on “Blogging Without a Niche”

  1. This is really interesting, I think there’s been a change recently of bloggers going back to writing what they want and not being so focused on numbers. I think it may be since Instagram started. Have you noticed any difference?

    1. Hi Lorraine, thanks for your visit here, not sure why there has been this shift back to were we all began and I don’t really use Instagram that much myself, so I don’t know if it has affected it. Maybe people just gradually realised that if we want to write, we’ve just got to get on and do it and not worry about numbers. If I look back to 2014 when I first started,I allowed myself, through ignorance of the blogging world, to get swept along by blogging ‘experts’ who made it seem as if stats were the be all and end all of writing.But of course, that all depends purely on your reasons for blogging. For so many of us it is just having a place to show up and write. For me, it’s that AND having somewhere to send people when they ask if I have a website but I mainly use my craft website for that. This older blog is the old friend that taught me the ropes – so glad I still have it. Thanks again.

  2. I love it. I used to do the same thing and then 2014 my Dad died and my youngest attempted suicide and I started blogging more about my life good, bad, and ugly. I lost followers and comments but I am now okay with it. My blog is me and maybe the way we blog who knows may help or entertain someone else very much like me. By the way I just live Mimi. She stood by me and gives me much laughter by reading her posts. I just learned not to read it at work because typically I laugh so hard at them.

    1. Hi Jolene – sorry to hear about the difficult times you’ve had. You are right, it’s better to be real when we write, even if the audience is smaller. And I’m sure readers do get comfort from knowing they are not alone with the darker aspects of life when we write more serious stuff. Thanks for your visit Jolene – and yes Mimi is lovely and it’s wonderful that she has stood by you through the difficult times. I know what you mean, her posts are very much laugh out loud material and you don’t want to get fired for laughing!

  3. I would love to sail over and have a cuppa with you, but our boat is too small for that kind of trip.

    Have a fabulous day and weekend. ♥

  4. I hated it when my daughter talked me into being an Amazon affiliate. I felt like a loser, cuz I never had enough sales to make any money. Not enough followers, blah blah.
    I want to be free to be me!! Not to make sure I mention something every post that is on sale on amazon!!
    I will go see MiMi.
    I love your youtube channel, btw!

    1. Hi Melinda! How are you? So good to see you Hope to see you over at Mimi’s new group – am now heading over and if you aren’t there yet will send an invitation. Hope all is well with you and your new home. Thanks for your comment – I did do a shout out to PP but I think it was probably in the middle of your move. See you soon!

  5. I don’t have a niche either, and have always felt a little ‘less than’ those confident niche bloggers. The only niche I can claim is humor, and I don’t even like to be boxed in by that. If I want to write a serious essay, I will do it! I love this, Gilly, as it gives us nicheless writers some support and validation. I’m going to check out MiMi’s blog!

    1. Hi Molly! Lovely to see you here – thanks so much for taking the time. I know I’m a very bad, sporadic visitor to you but you do make me laugh so I would say humor is your niche with a bit of serious thrown in – which is a good thing – a bit like the shock ending to the Black Adder Goes Forth series. We’d laughed our way through a sit com about being in the trenches in the First World War with all these loveable characters who were always waiting for the call to go over the top. But the call never came and we were lulled into believing the characters we loved would all go home after the war. And then that final scene which wasn’t funny. It was a massive thump in the guts. It still makes me cry when I think of it because it was about reality. The writer was so clever in the way he drew us all in and then said here – take that – THIS is what it was REALLY like.

      So in a way, humor writers have quite a bit of power. When they suddenly write something serious – we listen.

      The stupid thing is, at the start, I wanted my blog to be a humor one really but I was never brave enough to let my acerbic wit loose on the world. I am happy writing humor anonymously but because so much of my humor is based very darkly on my interactions with others around me – I would have no friends left if I wrote about how I perceive the world!

      Hopefully, that will gradually change as I get braver Yes – hop on over to Mimi – join the group and then I can be sure of not missing anything you do! Thanks Molly xxx

  6. Nice to meet you, Gilly! 🙂 I prefer the term “niche-free”, but “nicheless” works too and I’ve been doing it all along; about 10 years now. Glad to know there are more of us. Kudos to Mimi (one of my favourite bloggers and not the least bit offensive) for bringing the spark back!

    1. Hi Debbie! Lovely to meet you too. Actually – niche-free sounds more classy – maybe I’ll do a re-write Wow – 10 years is pretty impressive – it’s almost 5 for me and it’s been a huge learning curve that will never stop. Yes – It’s fantastic that Mimi has brought us together like this and definitely brought the spark back. Thanks so much for hopping over – I’ll be over to you very shortly.

      1. I can’t take credit for “niche-free” as another blogger coined it (can’t remember who – senior moment! 😛 ). Agree about the considerable learning curve, especially since switching to self-hosted in 2013. Your site looks great, btw! Thanks for stopping by The Den and sharing your thoughts. Karen (Mimi) has started something wonderful with this initiative. 🙂

        1. Oh yes – those lovely senior moments! It’s only because we are full up with knowledge – it takes longer to sift through the hard drives. Well that’s my excuse Thank you Debbie – looking forward to more bloggy interaction to come!

  7. I needed to read this post. I stopped blogging for all of the reasons you mention – I’m nicheless and my blog doesn’t make money. I began to see little value in what I was doing because I didn’t have masses amounts of followers, even though I personally wasn’t interested in that. I started blogging because I needed to write, to write about my life, about issues that were important to me and to connect, or at least feel like I was connecting on some level. But in June 2017 I stopped writing on my blog. It wasn’t overly conscious, I just told myself that because my blog had no purpose, I didn’t need to add to the noise that is the blogging world today. And to be honest, I felt heart sore. It felt like walking away from a dear friend, and I felt sad I had nowhere to put my thoughts. But reading your blog made me realise that I need to read more blogs and perhaps start writing again. So thank you for this. Hope you have a great day Gilly xo

    1. Hi Sarah! Oh my goodness this is like a reunion! Mimi has worked some magic out there in the ether. Are you in the new FB group yet? If not I hope you will join – we all need to support each other as we get our new Mojo on. Yes, I do remember when you walked away but totally got it – there was so much pressure out there from certain quarters it was all about stats and it clouded everything else for some of us – I think even Mimi might have stopped at one point but maybe I’m remembering that wrong. Youtube was much more successful for me in terms of followers and engagement but oh my goodness it’s very hard work and relentless when you get monetised. So coming back here with renewed enthusiasm is wonderful – like a place to chill out with no pressure. Like you say, our original blogs are old friends. I cut my teeth on putting myself ‘out there’ with this blog and I felt quite guilty for hardly paying any attention to it when I went off to do other things on the internet – but we’re back and Mimi is a genius for instigating it! Here’s to our second wind!

  8. Yay! I’m so happy that you’re feeling the freedom and I’m happy that you found my blog and OUR group helpful. Blogging just needs to be fun again and real again and my favorite is connecting with such wonderful people, such as you. 🙂 Thank you, Gilly. Thank you for this post and most importantly your across the pond friendship. Keep it real and have fun! And PS – Cussing is always a good idea. – Love to you. <3

    1. Thank you so much Mimi for bringing us all together again – it was a genius move and I’m so excited. That feeling of freedom is priceless and I look forward to visiting everyone to see what we’re all doing. So much has happened in my life since we all started and I’m sure it’s the same for every one of us – our blogs have just been sitting there waiting (well mine has and it’s been very patient!) Thank you for your kind words too – our transatlantic friendship is a good example of the upside of the internet – and who knows – maybe a USA blogging conference will be next! Or A UK one – or both! lots of love to you Mimi and I look forward to helping build the new group.

    1. Hi Sandee, Yes, she is – she’s been a real tonic for me at times when a good laugh is what I needed. I always leave her posts feeling like I can conquer anything. Her humour has strength in it. Here’s to building together. Have a great day!

    1. Hi from England Tomi! Well here we all are again – how wonderful. This time round it’s going to be so much better with the new group Mimi has formed – have you joined yet? So lovely to hear from you and I am looking forward to reading and writing again with a feeling of freedom this time instead of worrying about growing.

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