How To Start A Blog Without A Niche

If you want to blog without a niche, I’m a firm believer that it is possible.

After a strong response on my 7 Successful Bloggers Who Blog Without a Niche article, I realized there were a lot of people who wanted to blog without a niche, but weren’t really sure how.

And guess what? For more than a year, this was me.

I struggled so hard with defining my blog’s niche to the point where it sent me into blogging paralysis. I would spend the majority of my time trying to define my blog to the point where I wasn’t actually creating any content.

If you’re dealing with a similar situation, and you want to blog without a niche, I have the solution for you.

My blog without a niche strategy won’t be for everyone, but it has really helped me grow my blog to the point where I can finally see it progressing (what a relief!)

Okay, enough chat. Let me share with you how I started a blog without a niche.

My Approach For A Blog Without a Niche

There are different ways to approach a blog without a niche.

I went over this in my 7 Successful Bloggers Who Blog With a Niche article, but just so we’re all on the same page, I’m going to briefly summarize it here.

In my opinion, there are two ways to blog without a niche.

1. You can blog without a niche by following the INFLUENCER route.

or

2. You can blog without a niche by following the MARKETING route.

With the INFLUENCER route, you’re the star of your content. You write about your particular lifestyle and hook people by getting them interested in your life. You likely have a strong social media presence, and you probably have a dynamic personality that people gravitate towards. You can write about multiple topics because it is YOU that people are interested in. What you’re interested in, they’re interested in.

With the MARKETING route, the content is less about you, and it’s more about serving up articles that people are looking for. Your focus is on coming up with ideas to promote your content so more people can find the solutions to their problems. With this route you don’t need a niche if you’re picking topics people are searching for/are interested in.

Disclaimer: This post does contain affiliate links, meaning if you make a purchase using one of my links, I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

How To Start A Blog Without a Niche in 4 Steps

Step #1: Jumpstart setup

I know in a lot of these “how to start a blog” posts, the trend is to walk you through setting up your blog by chatting about the more technical side of things (i.e. hosting and domain).

I’m not going to do this because there are about a billion articles on the internet that already do that, and most of them are just there to make an affiliate sale

There’s nothing wrong with that, but I want to go beyond the technical stuff, and give you the advice that will actually help push you through on starting your blog without a niche.

So first, let me give you a super important piece of blogging advice that you’ll rarely hear: START YOUR BLOG AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.

Sorry for yelling, but this is something that I know from personal experience is very hard to hear. You want to have the perfect domain name, with a beautiful logo, and a stunning website with this very specific aesthetic.

Trust me, I get it, those things can be super fun to work on, but with my strategy, they’re not actually what’s important.

What’s important is creating the content.

And that means setting up your blog as soon as possible so you have a platform to host the content on.

Give yourself a weekend to set everything up.

Get your domain, set up your host, pick a theme (you can always change it), customize the theme a bit (you can do more later)…

That’s it. DON’T OVERTHINK IT. Like I said, I know everyone tells you branding and aesthetics are important (and they are), but they’re only important once you start gaining some traction with your blog.

Don’t burn yourself out by spending weeks setting up your blog when nobody is going to see it right away anyway. JUST START.

Step #2: Come up with article topics

You have a blog now. Congrats.

It might not be perfect or exactly what you envisioned, but like I’ve said, don’t worry about that too much (you can tweak as you go).

Instead, focus on creating content through blog articles.

And when I say focus on it, I mean really focus on it to the point where you’re pumping out multiple articles per week.

In fact, I want you to try writing as many articles as you can, while still maintaining quality. 

Scary when everyone is telling you quality over quantity, right?

Well remember: By no means am I saying to throw up 10 super short articles that have no value.

What I am saying is that the more articles you can write that actually solve a problem and are reader focused, the more doors you’re opening up to people coming to your blog (we’ll talk about how to get people to your blog in a sec).

Okay, if you’re still with me and that didn’t scare you away, here’s some criteria to help you come up with topics.

Consider these three criteria when coming up with your blog topics:

1) Are people searching for this topic?

You want to write about things that people are actually searching for on the internet.

Unless we’re talking about friends or family who are checking out your blog, the chances of someone just stumbling across your blog are very slim.

With my approach for a blog without a niche, people are going to come across your blog because you’re providing an article that offers a solution to a problem (i.e. something they’re googling or looking up on Pinterest).

So write articles that people are looking for.

How do you know what people are searching for, though?

There are a lot of more technical ways you can do this, and perhaps one day I will have a more advanced understanding of SEO, but for now…

Here are three basic ways to figure out what people are searching for:

1. Think about things that you’ve searched for, whether it be on Google or on Pinterest, and then write your own article that solves that problem.
2. Go on some of your favorite websites and see what kinds of articles they are writing about. Personally, I’m a big fan of The Everygirl, and I know if they’re covering certain topics, there’s likely a large audience for it (use BuzzSumo to tell you what articles on a specific site have been shared the most. This is often a good indicator of what topics are popular and worth writing about).
3. Think about what performs well on Pinterest, and do your own Pinterest searches to help you see what other people are writing about. I’m going to talk more about Pinterest soon, but my strategy has a large Pinterest component, and if you write content that performs well on Pinterest, you have a better chance of making blogging without a niche work.

2) Can I solve a problem with this topic?

Having said all that, just because you come up with something that you think people are searching for doesn’t mean that you can write a good article on it.

For example, I know personal finance solutions are something a lot of people search for, especially amongst millennials, but I know absolutely nothing about personal finance, and the chances of me writing a quality on that topic are very slim. And so, I don’t cover it on my block.

In addition, with my method to blogging without a niche, we’re focusing on creating a large volume of high-quality content. If you’re picking topics that you don’t know anything about, and they are taking you days to write, this isn’t going to work.

You need to pick articles that you have at least some knowledge on, so that you can focus on solving the problem, while also ensuring it doesn’t take you days to actually produce the article.

3) Is this topic relatively audience specific? 

Even when you have a blog without a niche, you should still have some idea of your general audience.

In other words, even though you’re writing about multiple topics, the topics should all generally appeal to the same kind of person.

For example, don’t write an article about the best hockey equipment one day, and then the next day write about gardening tips. It’s going to be hard to increase your pageviews if none of your content appeals to the same person (they’ll come and go without checking out any of your other content).

On the other hand, gardening hacks could appeal to moms, so maybe doing a post on healthy recipes for dinner would make more sense. Or even beauty hacks could get thrown in there. You don’t have to be super strict with this, but generally speaking, keep it audience specific so you can send traffic around your blog by linking to articles within your own content.

Step 3: Start writing

Okay, so you’ve brainstormed some topics, and you’re excited to start writing.

Awesome!

Now you actually have to do it.

Set yourself a schedule and aim to write a certain number of articles/week (yes, ideally you’ll write multiple articles per week).

There’s no exact number to write, but honestly, I would just as write as much as you can.

Maybe there’s some points where that’s only once a week, and maybe you have other weeks where you can do three. With my particular strategy for a blog without a niche, it’s less about having a rigid “content calendar,” and instead, it’s simply about writing as much as you can to get more eyes on your blog.

Also, keep in mind, not every article you write will be a hit. That’s another reason why it’s so important to continually write, so you maximize the opportunities you have to hit on something people are looking for.

For this step, really, that it!

Just write.

Pro Tip

As much as I’m saying to just write as much as possible, also be sure to keep your eyes on your Google Analytics to see what articles are performing well.

Look for things like pageviews, of course, but also look at things like the average duration on the page and the bounce rate.

A lower bounce rate and a longer time on page means people are really reading the article and care about what you have to say (you want this!).

Knowing these things will help you come up with more targeted article topics that people are interested in as you continue to blog.

Step 4: Start promoting

And last but not least, you need to make sure you have a promotion strategy in place to ensure that people are going to be able to find your content.

With my method to blogging without a niche that promotion strategy largely focuses on using Pinterest to drive traffic.

Why?

Well, because in my experience, Pinterest is one of the fastest and easiest ways to drive traffic to your blog, especially if you’re writing articles that tend to perform well on Pinterest (i.e. home decor, organization hacks, recipes, healthy living, fashion, etc.).

How to use Pinterest to promote your blog

This really is a whole article itself, so I’m going to keep it very simple.

To promote your blog using Pinterest, you need to create click-worthy pins (I use a free software like Canva) that lead to your blog posts.

You should have multiple pins/post (remember: you’re trying to open up as many doors to your blog as possible, and more pins means more doors). Here’s an example of how I’ve created multiple pins, all for the same post:

You should also ensure that you’re pinning multiple times per day, with a mixture of both your own content and other people’s content.

In addition, in my experience, it’s also been helpful being part of group boards, so that I can pin my content into other people’s boards and expose my content to a wider audience.

Now, if you’re not familiar with Pinterest for blog traffic, you’re likely overwhelmed and might not even understand some of the terms I’m using.

Unfortunately if I try to explain everything, this post is going to get too lengthy, so I suggest checking out these two Pinterest related posts I’ve written:

How I Reached 1.2 Million Pinterest Viewers in 3 Months 

How Pinterest Increased My Blog Traffic by 200 Percent 

How to come up with a Pinterest strategy

However, if you are familiar with Pinterest and you’re still struggling with how to utilize it for traffic, I will quickly mention that this ebook completely changed Pinterest for me.

And more importantly, it got me the blog traffic that I had been desperately searching for.

Again, this post will get too lengthy if I go over all the reasons why I love Making Pinterest Possible, but I will say it’s definitely one of the most comprehensive Pinterest ebooks out there, and for $35, I know you’re going to find a lot of valuable Pinterest information in it.

I still have a lot of room for growth, but I closed out 2018 with a 200% increase in my blog traffic, and I know for certain that is due to purchasing this ebook and developing a Pinterest strategy based on the teachings from the ebook.

Here’s the proof:

Also, keep in mind, I’m not someone who buys a lot of courses/ebooks (I prefer to learn things slower and figure them out for myself), but this is one of those purchases that I know was absolutely worth it to help me get over my Pinterest plateau.

You can learn more about Making Pinterest Possible and what it includes by clicking here.

FAQ about starting a blog without a niche

Really blogging without a niche isn’t as hard as everyone makes it sound: consistently create content that people are searching for. Easy.

At the same time, though, I understand that when you’re first thinking about blogging without a niche, you might have some questions.

Here are some answers to some of the strongest objections/questions people have as it relates to starting a blog without a niche:

1. Do I still need an email list if I have a blog without a niche?

If you’ve spent any time at all researching blogging, then you’ve likely heard a lot of talk about emails and their importance.

So are they important when you’re blogging without a niche?

The answer is both yes and no.

In my opinion, you should definitely have an email list, but I don’t think when you’re first starting your blog without a niche, it should be a priority.

I won’t go too much into detail here since this post is getting super lengthy, but my approach to having an email list is to to pick one area of interest to cultivate my email list around.

In other words, my email list does have a niche.

I only have one opt-in on my website, plus a pop that asks people to join. I don’t focus too much on this, but I still get people joining my email list every week.

Bottom line: when you’re just starting, simply focus on creating content. As your blog gets traction, consider starting a niche specific email list.

2. How do I monetize my blog without a niche?

Ah this is always the big question.

When it comes to blog monetization, there are about a BILLION ways to monetize, and everyone is going to tell you their way is the best.

I don’t believe in that. Different monetization strategies suit different people.

However, if you are blogging without a niche, I think the first step to monetization is through ads.

I know ads can have a bad reputation, but if you’re carefully placing them and not littering your whole blog with them, they are a great way to monetize your site in a passive way.

Think of it this way: Vogue puts ads in their magazines, so why you can’t you put them within your content too?

Once you’re able to get traffic and start making some income passively, you can expand your monetization strategy to include things like affiliates and even your own products.

But honestly, I would try just focusing on the one monetization strategy to begin with, and then expanding as you start to see success.

Don’t overwhelm yourself by adding in too many monetization strategies or you probably won’t see success with any of them.

3. Should I rely entirely on Pinterest for my promotion strategy?

The short and simple answer to this is NO.

When you’re relying on a third party platform like Pinterest to drive traffic for you, you’re putting all your eggs in one basket.

Algorithms can change, and who knows, what if Pinterest completely disappeared tomorrow?

This would be pretty awful if all your traffic is coming through Pinterest.

That’s why it’s also important to pay attention to things like SEO.

I’ll admit that I’m still trying to learn about SEO, because I’ve only just got a handle on my Pinterest strategy, so my advice is this: I would start by trying to learn as much as you can about Pinterest (Making Pinterest Possible is a great resource for this), while keeping SEO in the back of your mind. Once you feel like your Pinterest strategy is in place, start taking steps to learn about SEO so you can diversify your traffic streams.

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I think this is the longest post I’ve ever written, so I’m going to cut it off here.

I know this approach to blogging without a niche might not be the most popular method, but I truly think it’s a viable option for those who aren’t necessarily looking to become influencers.

Just remember: quality is still important. I’m not suggesting just throwing up poorly written articles you can make ad revenue on.

I’m simply suggesting putting time and energy into writing content that can help people solve their problems, while you build your own digital content platform.

Does that make sense?

I hope so!

If you have questions about staring a blog without a niche, feel free to leave them down below in the comments.

Also, if you found these tips helpful, feel free to sign up for my newsletter. I focus exclusively on blogging and business content on my newsletter. I email once a week (on Wednesday), and if you want to see a preview of the kind of content I send before signing up, you can check out one of my emails here.

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