Defining Niches and Scrapbooking

The first day of the 30DC. And there is a remarkable synchonicity with the teachings from Blog Mastermind, and my thoughts of late. Day 1 at 30DC deals with the pattern of finding a niche and being successful within it.

1. Market Research
2. Traffic
3. Conversion
4. Product - and only in that order.
   

Which brings me back to this blog. What exactly is the niche here (in my own mind, that is)? When looking at this when I first started out blogging, it was about scrapbooking. But it quickly became about creating, crafting and then digital scrapbooking. Laterly, it’s also become about writing.

There are thousands of people out there in the 30DC world, no - hundreds of thousands in the IM (internet marketing) world looking for that next big niche. I even joined up to a website today which promises daily niche ideas. That frightens me a little, to suggest that so many people are looking at the same areas I may be.

Nancy Nally has an interesting post up on her Scrapbook Update blog today, towards a new sketch blog, Pink Sketches, which has just opened, and has a design team call to produce quite a bit of work for the blog - for the fun of it. Nancy sounds skeptical, and so am I. Not towards the success of such a blog - but for me - I’ve long seen almost the entire scrapbooking internet business side run by volunteers, who work for no money. In fact, if you were to ask an honest person out there, whether they would be prepared to pay for any information on the industry when you can just go off to another site out there, and get that information completely for free (more often than not given to you from people working for nothing but the fun of a team membership) also - then you know the polite but honest answer you’re going to get.

This blog - in it’s heyday - gave out a lot of information for free also. And yes, it continues to be fun for me to do so. Many others in the scrapbooking world continue to do so - from sketch blogs, to CT blogs, to scrapbook pick blogs, to - and they would shiver to hear me suggest it - the smack blogs, to private blogs of celebrities (who noticably do a lot more niche-targetted marketing of their latest idea book, affiliate’s book or conference or products they’ve designed than the more normal scrapper).

But we’ve also watched as blog after blog, website after website, community after community, even retailer after retailer has shut down within this industry. We’ve also watched, internationally, as magazine after magazine supporting the craft has gone under - and really popular magazines at that. Remember Paperkuts, anyone? 

Should I discount scrapbooking as any kind of niche for me? Given the evidence, perhaps so. The 30DC Day One videos also suggest that once you’ve got the traffic that niche will suggest the actual product you should be coming out with. And importantly, many people start the other way around - with a product first (whether a newsletter or ebook, or actual product to sell).

Now, as a writer wannabe, that whole thing goes against the grain a little. I want to write, and am already writing those ebooks anyway - for my own sake. And for the limited traffic that does travel this-a-ways, you’ve got to understand - no one’s telling me what kind of product they might like from here. Because at the moment it’s free, and who can beat that - and if it’s not available here, there are a thousand people out there who started off blogging in the scrapbooking domain after I did - most have gone, but some persist, still dishing out that good ol’ free information.

I’ve long been thinking that that market just isn’t one, not for me - why should it be, it’s barely a market for anyone else. The industry has developed in a remarkably interesting way. But I am after a slightly larger niche than that, because my own loves and hopes sit around the larger creativity area. I’m not suggesting it’s all doom and gloom out there in scrapbooking land, but it is a unique market, and one which operates in a way which I want to be involved in, but not solely in. I want to grow my own niches (or interests) for my own sake and knowledge. Learning is good.

The 30DC videos today also show us a couple of methods for researching our niches, including Google searches read into a feed reader. I’d already been doing that for several years, on certain key strings such as digital scrapbooking. It would be fair to say that over the last two years, those Google news feeds on those search terms have dwindled hugely. There are people out there like the esteemed Angie Pedersen who writes copy for scrapbooking businesses, and hopefully is making a business out of this. However, it’s been quite daunting looking at the dwindling amounts of hits that Google has found on such terms lately. Not helped, I’m sure, by the lack of financial means for many of us as this credit crunch hits harshly. Our extra pennies of disposable income, previously spent towards our hobbies, are becoming what keeps us in milk and bread, while we worry about the big things like gas and fuel bills hitting the roof.

But I am going to stick to something Ed Dale said regarding niches. I did make a list a couple of weeks back, when everyone on the forums at 30DC was suggesting I needed about ten of them (I managed eight) and most of mine were around the same area, with one off-the-field one which is not logically do-able for something very very local to where I live. Ed went through Amazon and chose crochet for an example - I wouldn’t recommend it. There’s a lot of free crochet blogs out there also, and communities for the thread-lovers. But he did say to choose niches which you’re interested in, because you will be providing content on them for quite some time.

I realise I have to broaden my niche ideas here, and a lot. But I’m still sticking to my guns regarding publishing those ebooks, for both the writing and creating side of me. If I were to define me - it would be towards creativity, not that I’m suggesting I’m an awesome artist or anything. But the ideal of creativity - now that’s something that I not only feel as my niche, but I feel grounded in. 

And if I were to define this blog as it exists today, it would be something towards writing (which is blogging by another name) and networking. Through Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed and other social services, my network has gotten larger, and it’s filled with many interesting people - some of which are internet marketers, but others are digiscrappers like me, or writers, or simply interested in the same things I may be. And part of the 30DC and Blog Mastermind challenges is towards that - establishing that relationship, and those thought loops. And part of the whole creativity thing is towards surrounding yourself with interesting people and their viewpoints. The whole thing seems to be melding for me, but it also becomes something I struggle against. It is, afterall, called a challenge for a reason.

And I still need that niche, lol.

Update on Friday, August 1, 2008 at 04:57PM by Michelle@Scrapability

Some of those Celebrity Scrappers are doing okay, though. Look at Donna Downey’s Inspired. Creativity workshop event. Over $500 to attend, according to the Inspired website. Donna’s got a lot of talent, so I’m sure that event would be extremely Inspirational, if not inspired.

Comments

[Sally Swift]

I signed up for 30DC but I can't seem to get the first video lesson. I signed up for Twitter but can't find out how to join a group. I have a scrapbooking Blog and receive your Feedblitz which I enjoy. I feel very frustrated right now and perceive that you have felt the same with 30DC.

[Michelle@Scrapability]

Dear Sally

I think persistance is the name of the trait I've found I need for 30DC. For all the preseason videos, there are some which I never managed to download at all. And today on Day 3, I couldn't download either the HD or SD versions for ages - I put this down to traffic on the server at 30DC's end, and my timing. As I'm in the UK, I've been waiting until 3pm, 4pm sometimes for the load of the next day, and this is during our highest traffic times, particularly on the weekends. And of course - thousands of anxious 30DChallengers are downloading and watching at the same time. There are quite a few people on the technical forums who have similar problems from time to time.

So, always go back. Or watch them via the straight link which opens the videos into YouTube for you. And to help out, as I'm a good reader, I would suggest you also look at downloading the transcripts which are a small download in PDF form.

If you're on Twitter, then I'll be able to find you and help you out also. But finding a group for support is going to be difficult. I joined the antisocial group (search on Facebook) and they are a very supportive non-competitive bunch (and very big group) just looking to learn and share.

Which is what I'm getting to. I've learnt a great lot about using tools like Twitter effectively, and it's been a real kick to do so. Although Day 2 (with the Market Sumarai keyword tool) was really intense, I found Day 3's training on SEO and competitors incredibly interesting. If you're after a scrapbooking niche and to increase your blog readership then using these auto-tools with some thinking will be incredible for you.

I'm sorry I can't help you anymore than that. But I am currently about to log that I am off on holidays for 8 days, so will be out of contact. Otherwise I would have given you all the tips I can to get you through, and learning all you can.