Guest Post from Victoria Philpott from Day Out in England
Like in teaching, passion can be the difference between a great blogger and an average one. You need to be super passionate about your blogging niche. You need to be able to still have something to say at least 50 blog posts later – I’ve written over 1000 on my blog VickyFlipFlopTravels in the past. Readers can absolutely tell if you’re enthusiastic or not and in a survey I once did, my readers said they loved the enthusiasm that came out in my writing.
I set up my first blog VickyFlipFlopTravels almost ten years ago and the blogging world was very different. You could get by without a niche, and just be ‘a travel blogger’. Now I think it’s really important to have a niche, both so you stand out from the crowd, and so Google can see you’re an authority.
Personally, I don’t think ‘travel’ is enough of a niche.
How to Choose a Blog Niche
I knew I wanted to set up a travel blog with a tighter niche, and so I needed to work out what I would be passionate enough about, and still have the headspace to write for my general travel site.
After first writing 9000+ words about the best day out in each of the 48 counties in England, I knew that this was the niche for me. I’d traveled the world for 10 years, was exhausted, and I was keen to come home and explore more of my homeland.
In January 2020 I set up a new site, all about days out in England, called, Day Out in England. Just a few weeks later we were on lockdown in England and a day out in England was about all we could dream of. It ended up being great timing.
It’s been amazing to see how quickly this site has ranked thanks to the tighter niche. Google knows exactly what it’s about, as do the readers, as do I. Unlike my first blog I could sum it up in a tagline – TIPS, GUIDES & ITINERARIES FOR YOUR DAY TRIPS.
And also a few sentences of a bio, which I use everywhere:
“We’re here to help you make the most of this wonderful country, and to find great days out to suit your budget. Filled with guides and itineraries to England’s best days out, and searchable by interests, counties, cities and areas – we’re definitely not just for the kids!”
I’ve never been able to do that for my general travel blog. It’s been a really interesting learning process to see the comparative growth here, with a tight niche I was passionate about.
4 Tips to Find a Niche for Your Travel Blog:
- Ask yourself what you’re doing or talking about when the time flies.
- With any potential niche idea write down 10 blog post titles, and then 10 more. Can you imagine writing all of these? Would you go out, unpaid, and get the information, do the keyword research, look into what the keyword competitors are doing, and then sit and write 1000+ words for each title? Really, would you?
- Do you know enough about the topic? Could you give a minimum 10-minute presentation on this? Are you willing to learn more?
- Will you still be interested in this in a year, in two, five, 10?
When I set up my first site I knew I just wanted a travel blog. I loved festivals, I loved traveling, I lived in London and I ended up loving blogging – so these became my four pillars of content. It worked, but there was a lot less competition then.
Importance of Choosing a Blog Niche You are Passionate About
Now, what new bloggers have to deal with competition, they make up for in access to knowledge and information. If you research anything on setting up new blogs – written by people who know what they’re talking about – they’ll tell you to niche down into something you’re passionate about. Gotta have a gimmick!
I did exactly that with Day Out in England, and within four months qualified for MediaVine. It’s been 14 months now and I’m still buzzing with blog posts, I’ve worked with my dream client (Visit England) and the site brings in a decent income every month. I’m super excited to see where the site takes me when we’re actually allowed days out in England, in England. I really feel like the possibilities and opportunities are endless.
I can definitely see myself working on my England site in years to come, as my full-time job, and having VickyFlipFlopTravels as my ‘bit on the side’ where I can express myself and not worry too much about keywords and Google rules and tricks.
I’m so glad I thought so hard about what niche to go into before setting up Day Out in England. I’m really happy with the progress so far, and the projections for the future.
Learn More about Travel Blogger, Victoria Philpott & Day Out in England
Day Out in England Launched in May of 2016 January 7th, 2020
Bio: We’re here to help you make the most of this wonderful country, and to find great days out to suit your budget. Filled with guides and itineraries to England’s best days out, and searchable by interests, counties, cities, and areas – we’re definitely not just for the kids!
What is your blogging niche? England
How long have you been a blogger? 10 years
Favorite Travel Blogger & Travel Website: Helen in Wonderlust
Favorite WordPress plugin: Rank Math – way better than Yoast as it gives you great tips and prompts!
Follow Day Out in England on social: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
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