The competition in blogging is fierce. If you want your blog to be successful, you have to be different, you have to be special. You have to have something that distinguishes you from the pack, that helps you to stand out from the crowd.
What makes your blog different and special isn’t always easy to find, or even define. It usually requires that you go looking for it, or even create it.
Have you defined what makes your blog special yet?
Do you know what makes you stand out?
When I started my blog Youth Leaders Academy, I knew there were hundreds of youth ministry blogs. Let’s face it, I’m competing with guys like Doug Fields, pretty much the guru of youth ministry. Yet one year after starting my blog, I made it to the top 25 of youth ministry blogs of 2012. I’m convinced one of the reasons for that was that I managed to set myself apart.
You see, I’m different in two ways from most youth ministry bloggers who blog in English: I’m from Europe and I’m a woman.
Almost all youth ministry bloggers are male and almost all are from the US (obviously there are tons of European bloggers in youth ministry, but they usually blog in their own language). I share the top 25 with only two other women and both are big names in youth ministry.
Those are the two ways in which I am unique, in which I am different than the rest. And before I started my blog, I did a couple of months of research and a lot of thinking and planning and I had defined these two characteristics already. From the very start, I’ve wanted to stress these two things that made me different.
Sure, being different was not the only reason I made it to that top 25. After all, the fact that I’m a woman or that I live in Germany wasn’t a factor, the ranking was purely based on stats and influence. But it did help me to position myself as different, fresh and new from the start.
If you want to succeed in your blog niche, you have to find a way to stand out from the crowd.
In what way are you different?
What makes you special?
What will people find on your blog that they won’t find anywhere else?
Take some time to define what makes you different and then position yourself accordingly. Study your niche and analyze it to see where you could offer fresh perspectives, a unique point of view, a new method or approach. Hold on to this unique selling point, as businesses would call it, and use it to your advantage.
If you’re a blogger, have you found what makes you special yet?
How would you define it?
[Editor’s Note: Be sure to read more awesome tips and tactics in the Focused Blogging series!]
[Image via Justyna Furmanczyk]
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