Internet Marketing draws people from all over the world and all walks of life for one reason: it is seemingly easy to pick up. With the whole “all you need is a computer and Internet connection” mantra being shoved down your throat all the time, what else are you supposed to think?
Here’s the thing though: most people never make a dime with Internet Marketing. What gives? It’s not that they didn’t have the talent, or the time, or the knowledge. All of these things have either already been instilled through your upbringing or are easily attainable.
The problem is that people freeze without direction
Less than 1% of the world population possesses the perfect blend of attributes required to go it alone where others would not dare. Most of us need direction and a teacher. It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to bake a cupcake or start your first money-earning website: you need someone who has been there and done that. They have already asked the questions that you have asked and found the answers through trial and error.
Today, we’ll cover one of the most common questions, the question that most beginners get wrong (leading to their inevitable failure): should your blog focus on one topic, or should it cover a wealth of ideas?
What Does a Topic Entail, and Why Should You Care?
To understand why one option is inherently better than the other, you have to understand what is meant by a “blog topic” and why it is given so much importance in this field. Internet Marketers use the term “blogging” more than almost any other, without realizing exactly what it means. A blog in its purest form is merely an online journal. The earliest blogs are a testament to this, mostly focusing on the random thoughts of teenagers and housewives with too much time on their hands.
The topics discussed were meandering and uninteresting. No one reads those blogs, and they still don’t (outside of creepers who are stalking the author online that is). If you choose to follow the path that leads to no readers, you will make no money. It’s that simple.
A topic (referred to as a niche in this business as well), gives your blog/website a direction to follow. Think of it like a mission statement. All of the websites that you visit have a set topic and base all of their content and promotions around it. This website is focused on teaching online business. ESPN is focused on sports. Martha Stewart’s website is all about home living. Everyone knows what their niche is and they stick to it and only it.
Before you even begin thinking about buying a domain, or writing content, or choosing a page layout, you need to figure out what your topic is going to be. As stated earlier, the reason that so many wannabe marketers fail is that they are just groping in the dark and hoping to find the door to the promised land.
Be smart. Listen to someone who has done this before, OK? Good, now let’s put the big question to rest.
Why a Single Topic Blog is Always Better
There is no argument to be made for the multi-topic blog here. As a beginner, working with multiple topics will only lead to failure. You’ll confuse yourself trying to figure out what audience (if any) you’re attracting and where they’re coming from. You won’t be able to attract reputable ad buyers or product vendors because they will not want to sink their money into such a general site (at least if they’re smart. You’d be amazed how many beginners like yourself just throw money at the wall.) You’ll need to produce a lot of content to keep each separate topic relevant in the grand scheme of things, meaning you’d either have to sacrifice sleep or your entire budget to keep up. It just isn’t worth it.
A single-topic blog is safe. It is a great way to ease into the online business world, almost always with a topic you either know intimately or have an interest in learning about. That’s not the only benefit though, let’s look at three of the biggest in-depth:
It’s Easier to Monetize
Outside of the “personal journal” styled blogs that were mentioned earlier, literally every website on the Internet exists to make money for someone. Even the “Puritan” sites like Reddit have ad systems in place. Monetizing a website comes with two major roadblocks: you have to come up with content good enough to get readers there and then you have to provide them with ads or products that they care about pursuing.
If you are running a multi-topic site, you’re pretty much just shooting in the dark. It’s not like an offline business where you can offer up pop music or fast food and capture a good portion of any demographic. To build a website that attracts any real kind of traffic you’re going to have to focus on a very specific demographic. The good news is that when you have your single topic and know your demographic, advertising to them is easy.
Teaching cooking beginners? Offer them recipes and cool tools. Running a woodworking website? Create and post projects that they can try. The niches, and ways to advertise, are almost endless.
It’s Easier to Build
We just touched on the content aspect of building a website. Let’s focus on it a bit more now. As mentioned, running a multi-topic website would be a nightmare content-wise. Essentially, you’d be playing to countless different mini-demographics at the same time, hoping not to lose any of them. Each of those demographics thinks that their topic of interest is the most important. If you let it slip in favor of another topic, discontent is going to follow.
With a single-topic blog though, you can tell most of the world to go find what they want somewhere else. You know who your audience is and you know what they want to hear about. As long as you can deliver that (and by choosing a niche that you already know or at least want to know you give yourself that ability), you have half of the equation figured out.
It’s Easier to Expand
Multiple topics are bad for beginners; but if you work hard and you’re lucky you might just get to the point where that is no longer the case. By sticking to the training that is being given to you [link another article or to a product sales page here!], you’ll eventually be able to rinse and repeat the blog-building process in other niches. With that and a little automation/outsourcing, you can truly live the Internet dream.