Should you pick a niche or write whatever you want? I think the answer is: don’t do any of these. Let me explain.
If you clicked on this, it means you are interested in more than one thing. (You are like me. I love literature, politics, history, sports, video games and so on.)
You want to write online and build an audience. But you can’t decide what to write about. After all, all the gurus say one thing: niche down.
The problem with niching down.
The first problem with niching down is that you will get bored. I don’t care how passionate you are about a topic. You’ll find boredom knocking on your gate if you keep doing the same thing.
Secondly, writing about a specific niche will get you less followers. The broader your niche is, the more followers you will get. And vice versa. Remember, it’s better to be a small fish in a big pond, than to be a big fish in a small pond.
The problem with writing about several things.
If you write about fitness one day and politics the next, your audience will get confused. Those who follow you for fitness will ignore all your content except fitness. The same thing with people who follow you for politics.
It’ll result in less engagement and destroy your brand’s image.
Remember, what I just told you isn’t set in stone. There are people who have succeeded by niching down, or talking about several things. For example, there are YouTubers who are known only for lucid dreaming, or law of attraction.
Meanwhile, Penguinz0 is a YouTuber who doesn’t have any niche. One day he reacts to a video, while other days he reviews films.
There are cases for both instances.
The alternative.
Instead of telling you what you should do, why don’t I tell you about my plan? If it seems reasonable to you, you can do the same. Cool?
My main topic is writing, but I am also interested in other topics. Here’s what I will do:
I’ll draw interesting stories and analogies from my interests to prove my point about writing. For example, I recently wrote a post about Nazi Germany and how Hitler used his persuasion skills to win over the Germans.
The main point was that Hitler created enemies for the Germans, like the Jews and the Soviets. By doing this, he positioned himself as the savior of the Germans. That’s how he gained massive support.
I tied this example to building a brand online. I said if you want to build a huge following, create an enemy. If you’re in fitness, your enemy could be the big pharma or the conventional health advice.
If you’re in writing, your enemy could be the traditional way writers make a living.
You see how I took my knowledge in history and mashed it together with my main topic? This works because…
The world is full of patterns.
I define intelligence as noticing patterns. When a caveman sees a tiger’s footprints leading to a clump of bushes, he knows to avoid the bushes at all cost.
When a cockroach sees the light turning on, it scurries beneath a table. Why? Because it associates light with humans. We learn through patterns.
There’s a reason why stories are a great way to teach something. A story is a pattern. Someone climbed a steep mountain and died.
Steep mountains = death.
Patterns are everywhere. I’m sure you could learn fitness lessons by studying ants. You could learn about finance by thinking about the process of making bread. Of course, it requires some creativity.
But you could spot patterns between two totally unrelated topics. That’s how I aim to write about several things.
I will take lessons from history, literature, sports, politics, and gaming to illustrate my points about writing and making content. This way, I will make my content much more interesting while avoiding boredom.
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Your friend,
Ali