Was Creating A Dedicated Niche Blog A Bad Idea?

25 May 2020 | ~4 minute read

A couple of weeks ago, I launched The Meta Blog, but now I'm having second thoughts. This post goes through some of my thoughts and concerns about making a second niche blog.

The Problem

So The Meta Blog is a blog about blogging. I've enjoyed blogging for quite a few years and I thought it would be a good idea to have a dedicated blog on the subject.

I have tonnes of ideas for the blog, but since launching I've been having bouts of imposter syndrome, and concerns about how sustainable it is to run multiple blogs.

Advantages Of A Niche Blog

The main advantage of creating an additional blog is that I can focus on a single subject, and attract a dedicated audience that is interested entirely in that subject.

By having a blog that isn't “branded” with my name, it gives me more freedom to do things like have guest posters (hopefully).

I also intend to setup affiliate agreements and a newsletter to help grow the audience, and maybe even make a little money on the side.

Disadvantages Of A Niche Blog

There are three major disadvantages as I see it:

1. The amount of time it takes to run a blog.
2. Having to start from scratch.
3. Imposter syndrome.

My Time

I'm a busy guy. I have a full time job, a family and this blog. I probably spend around 10-15 hours per week maintaining this site and adding content.

It's a hobby and I enjoy it. But add that to an average 50 hour working week, a dog to walk and a family/household to look after and my days are pretty chock-full.

I'm not complaining! I'm very fortunate and I love my life. But adding another blog to that mix - which will take a lot more than the 10-15 hours I put into this blog because it's fledgling - and I'm running the risk of becoming overworked.

That's why I sold my previous blog a few years ago.

Starting From Scratch

As I alluded to above, The Meta Blog is fledgling, and they take a lot more work than an established blog.

No one knows about a new blog. It has no real search rankings, so organically getting traffic is very difficult.

The way to grow initially is using platforms like social media to raise the profile of a new blog. The problem with that is that I loath a lot of social media sites and I just want to write.

I have zero interest in playing the blog marketing game to grow my traffic. Problem is, to do it organically takes way longer. If I have less traffic, no one will want to come and guest post, and affiliate networks won't be interested.

Ipso facto if I want to grow The Meta Blog quickly, I'm going to have to play the marketing game.

I did that with my previous blog and it worked, but I hated it. I felt like a marketing shill and it didn't sit well with me from a moral perspective.

Imposter Syndrome

This has been a big problem for me. I'm not an expert in blogging, but I like to think I'm pretty good at it. I've also been doing this since 2011 and have learned a lot in that time.

However, the meta blogging space (blogs about blogging) is saturated with extremely clever people running very successful blogs.

I've never made a 6 figure salary from a blog, and I probably never will. But I do know about the technology behind blogs and what makes a good blog tick.

That being said, when I compare my knowledge of blogging to someone like Darren Rowse of ProBlogger, I'm not even in the same galaxy, let alone ballpark.

So how can I have the audacity to teach people about blogging?

Conclusion

So my options are twofold:

1. Keep The Meta Blog and work toward making it grow.
2. Take it down and write about blogging on this blog.

Honestly, I really don't know what to do. I was hoping that working through my thoughts in a blog post would help me make a decision, but I'm none the wiser.

What would you do? I'm open to advice here, folks. If you have some, please reply on your own blog; this blog is IndieWeb enabled, so I should get a Webmention if you are too. If you're not, you can get in touch by more traditional means.

• Blogging