When thinking about your blog, you have to start at the beginning. Let’s get real…a pretty blog is nice but you will be spinning your wheels if you don’t have an identity.
Your blog’s identity is your foundation.
Let me give you an example: You pin one of your popular blog posts on Pinterest and it’s about non-sandwich lunches for your children. You get lots of traction on Pinterest and can see that people are re-pinning your pin and clicking over to your blog to read the post. AWESOME!!
You get a reader to your blog, excited to read the blog post about non-sandwich lunches. When they are done reading the blog post, they might take a look around your blog looking for more. But then they see that you also blog about makeup, crafts, and how your weekend was. So they click away.
That reader came to your blog for a reason, they wanted to read about food ideas for their children. But then you didn’t keep them engaged with other food related posts for children.
Now imagine if that reader came to your blog to read about non-sandwich lunches, but also found posts on toddler food portions and healthy snacks on the go for children. The reader would be engaged and interested in hearing more about your blog.
When you narrow your blog’s identity, you become a resource, a hub of knowledge on a topic, and you get an audience who will continue to come back to your blog for updates on your posts because they are a fan.
Becoming a trusted resource for readers on a specific topic is crucial to your blog identity.
Ask yourself – “What do you want to be known for?”
If someone came to your blog, could you tell them what you blog about? If you say “lifestyle”, that is not specific enough. One of my favorite blog posts from The Wonder Forest is “Why you can’t get blog traffic“. This post rings true because you can’t throw someone into your life and expect them to be interested.
That’s okay if you want to be considered a lifestyle blog, but it will be harder for you to find your audience. I would suggest focusing on specific topics that you are passionate about within the lifestyle category. Look back at your analytics and find the 10 most popular posts. Trust me, you will start to see a pattern. If your popular posts fall into two categories, great! See where you can write more on those topics.
Recap:
Your blog’s identity is your foundation. When you focus on 1-2 topics that you are passionate about, you will find your audience. If you have a hard time thinking about a whole audience, think about writing to one specific person. What would this person want to hear from me? What can I offer this reader?
To learn more about finding your blog identity, download my free worksheet. Inside I am going to show you how to narrow your focus and write topics your audience will love.
