Great Blogs Find Focus in These 3 Areas: Passion, Expertise, and Unique Value
Blogs out of focus are nearly the same as being broken.
[This is part of the Developing Great Blog Content Series. Check out the other posts!]
This is one of the greatest tips that I can give any blogger who wants to go as far as they can as quick as they can with a new blog (or with one that’s been around for a while): Focus, focus, focus!
The truth is that most of you already know that and yet when I look around and visited many of your blogs I don’t see it, I don’t experience it, and I can’t find much of it at all.
In fact, it might just be the most significant roadblock for your growth as a blogger and your blog’s growth! And this isn’t a one time deal either – you’re going to have constantly re-work your content, guard against focus-creep, and re-fresh your perspective probably once every quarter (at least).
And, if I were to pinpoint one particularly strategy that can account for much of my personal journey of success as a blogger it’s the contents of this blog post that you’re reading so if I were to give you any suggestion today then read this post from end-to-end, and then go do it.
Ready? Here we go…
I wish more blogs had the passion of a Nike advertisement.
Your Blog is Your Focused Passion Manifested, Always:
You’ve heard this countless times and you already know this pretty intimately but it surprises me how many bloggers do not actually capitalize and spend the time writing about what they are truly passionate.
But here’s where the unspoken challenge is as well as the area that most people fail to actively manage: Content creep.
Content creep is where your blog begins to represent and communicate more than what you’ve implicitly or explicitly decided to write about and cover. You start writing about things that are outside your core area of passion and focus.
What is the cost of content creep when it happens? Simply a dilution of your blog, your content, your brand, and your focus. What is the cost long-term when it goes unchecked? Stifled growth, lack of engagement, and burn-out because of it.
Putting takes focus.
I have seen more blogs that had unlimited potential in the beginning turn into a graveyard as the owner dabbled with content creep and areas of content that were outside their core set of passions. I’m not sure how this happens but it happens enough to where you’ve probably experienced it yourself!
One of the most typical examples of content creep is where your blog begins to represent the entirety of your life instead of the particular passions that first started the blog in the first place! You, at one point, started that gluten-free cooking blog because you loved sharing your thoughts about how to cook well (and eating well) without gluten in your diet but now you’ve been spending just as much time blogging about your newborn child.
Is that bad? No! It’s not bad to blog about your child and certainly your child should be a passion for you but perhaps it doesn’t belong on your specific and focused blog about gluten-free cooking!
And that’s the point: Quality blogs and quality content are always focused on a singular idea and passion, always, despite the fact that you have more passions in your life.
This active management is tough! It requires intentionality and a constant re-engineering of your blog. It requires you to stand by your implicit or explicit mission statement or promise (read this post on the value of creating a “Blog Promise“) and keep to it, constantly grooming your blog, pruning it, and giving yourself an internal gut-check about what you’re writing about.
Sure, you can blog about more than one passion but perhaps they don’t need to be all on the same blog! Perhaps you need to “divide” your blog in such a way where you start another (time permitting). Or perhaps you just simply need to stop blogging about all the other passions and just focus on the meat and bones of the passion that started the blog in the first place.
Here are a few things to consider today and as often as you can:
- Am I blogging about the passion that originally started this blog?
- What else am I blogging about on that is outside of that original passion?
- How often am I blogging about my “core” passion in comparison to the other posts, per week and per month?
- Have I diluted my blog’s core passion and focus?
- Am I feeling a bit burnt out or feeling like my blog has lacked that “spark” or passion recently?
If you can answer these points honestly then you might find that you’ve dishonored your core passion and need to get back on track! Kill content creep fast, refocus your blog, and then go grow the blog just like you had originally intended!
Bobby Fischer is one of the greatest Chess Players of all time. Epitome of expertise.
Your Expertise is Your Active Content Filter:
One of the neat things is that for many people their expertise is also their passion but that isn’t a requirement for a successful blog. In fact, most people wrongly assume that they should blog about what they are an expert at!
There are an infinite number of examples but let’s go back to the gluten-free cooking example, shall we?
Let’s hypothetically say that passionate about healthy living and everything included such as diet, exercising, spending, relationship management, and so forth. But, you’ve recently found a bit of interest (and intrigue) in gluten-free cooking. You start a blog to begin sharing your growing fascination with this specific area of healthy living, sharing your attempts at cooking the right meals, finding the perfect ingredients, and the local restaurants that sure gluten-free food. You’re not an expert but you’re willingly involving your community on this journey to become an expert.
See the difference? Many of the blogs that you read are people that have simply started writing about something they want to become an expert in and it is here where the difference is so crucial.
Think 'coffee filter' ...
On the flip side you are actually a (self-proclaimed) gluten-free food chef expert (and have got the “chops” to prove it!) and you’ve got an undying interest in sharing it with the world. Great! Your passionate about it and it’s your expertise and thus you write about it!
Your challenge is slightly different but still the same: Content creep. Try not to blog about anything outside of that focused expertise. In other words, if I was subscribed to your blog because of your blog’s promise then I shouldn’t see pictures of your trip to the zoo and a blog post on the relationship between elephants and their sleeping patterns, right?
Your expertise is an active content filter for your blog and blog content to showcase the fact that you’re an expert or an expert in the making, and every time you sit down to write you filter the options and you ask yourself if this is either an area of expertise or an expertise that is growing. If it’s not then you don’t write about it! Period!
Simple, right? Easier said than done, especially when a quick survey of most blogs out there don’t capitalize on expertise at all! Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Am I really an expert or an expert in development? What’s the difference and how am I writing about it in such a way that doesn’t confuse my audience but actively engages them?
- Is my passion the same thing as my expertise? Or is my passion something foundational to my expertise instead?
- Is my expertise clearly being communicated?
- Am I too shy about what I am truly amazing at? Am I a self-victim of false humility?
- Am I being too proud about my so-called expertise and am I really an expert in the making? Do I need to be reminded that when “Everyone is an Expert then No One Is“…?
- Does my content oftentimes creep into areas that do not expand on my expertise or the areas where I want to be an expert? Am I diluting my content focus too often?
- What is this blog really about and does it showcase it well or just poorly (or not at all).
This is how I’ve grown my blogs to be what they are today. For example, TentBlogger’s promise hasn’t changed since I started:
TentBlogger is all about excellence in blogging: Strategy, tools, and how to practically execute and generate amazing blog content.
You won’t see pictures of my trip to the zoo (unless it directly applies to my aforementioned promise) and my audience has the right to expect expert and practical advice in the said promise. I filter everything I write here through that lens and if it doesn’t meet all the internal checks then I won’t write about it and my audience won’t read about it!
Done and done! Hopefully you can continue to guard against focusing your content on areas that bring a diluted focus via the filter of active expertise!
Your brain (and knowledge) is an intangible good. Use it!
Your Unique Value is Your Intangible Good to Amazing Content and Growth:
The last area of focus for your blog and your blog’s content is an intangible good that ends up being the “secret sauce” to many great blogs and this is it: A blogger’s ability to not only identify but also capitalize on their unique value as a person and writer is what propels them forward out of mediocrity and into something that is anything but mediocre.
More often than not I’ve realized that the unique value that you bring to the blogosphere is truly an intangible good insofar as you didn’t necessarily “earn” the right to have it. Let’s use the example of the gluten-free cook one final time, shall we?
So what if you’re passionate about gluten-free cooking, dieting, and lifestyle? There are a lot of people that are interested in that (and more every single day it seems). What’s really going to help you stand out besides the great content? What’s that intangible good that only you have? That unique identifier that puts you in a class all by yourself?
Here’s a hypothetical: What if you realize that you have native, relatively unknown cooking recipes from your great grandmother who was gluten-free before they even knew what gluten was? You have her old cookbooks on paper napkins that no one else has? There you go.
Maybe you were born here...?
Or, here’s another: You grew up in a remote part of the world, like off the remote islands of Papua New Guinea, where you were able to learn how to cook organic food that just so happens to be also gluten-free?
Or here’s another: You were born blind and yet have been able to recognize gluten via your taste buds and can help navigate even most difficult recipes in a way that makes them gluten-free?
Sure, the above three examples are a bit wild and off the beaten trail perhaps, but I hope it gets your mind moving about the unique ways in which classify you as you and the unique perspectives and experiences that give you that unique identifier, a unique intangible “good” that puts you a cut above the rest (or at least different).
Got it? It might take a bit of time to think about or you might instantly know what it is.
Here is some food for thought:
- Was I born with something that not many others have?
- Did I grow up in an area of the world that gives me a unique character trait and/or perspective?
- Do I have a unique skill set that most others do not?
- Do I have a really “different” family or family experience or situation that I can capitalize on?
- Do I have a skill or talent that I’ve learned to use in unconventional ways?
- Does my career path seem like an absolute maze to everyone except me?
- Have I survived something catastrophic or just simply bizarre?
- Do I have a strength or talent that I use in a unique way?
Those are just a few that have come to the top of my head and you can probably already think of many more stimulating questions (and answers!).
So What Are Some of My Unique Identifiers?
That’s a great question – so glad you asked! Here’s a few unique thing that separates me from a lot of other bloggers, some more “powerful” and unique than others (but still very useful).
Hopefully these 10 examples give you some context for who I am and how I view my blog:
- I’ve been blogging since 2001. My years of experience have put me in a bracket all by itself.
- I have a very varied work history in both the non-profit as well as the Fortune 50. Not many people have that type of privilege or experience. Not only did I work for these organizations but I also built software and blogged for them! I was trained to see both the large scale strategies surrounding social media initiatives as well as the microscopic interactions of data.
- I’m a software engineer who is capable of building blogging software, not just using it and being a “power user”.
- I have a long-standing portfolio of building WordPress Themes and Plugins. In fact, I am a part of a startup business that has a WordPress Theme (Standard Theme, the theme I’m using for TentBlogger!) as its flagship products!
- I love giving stuff away for free – not only content but also products and services. Not everyone shares this level of “free” that I do.
- I’m asian.
- I’m a full time blogger which makes me a professional blogger. *smile*
- I have two of the most beautiful daughters on the planet. Period. No contest!
- I’m a world traveler having lived in a more than a few countries.
- I have experience, empirically and scholastically, with 8 languages (English, Korea, Japanese, Spanish, French, Latin, Hebrew, Greek). If you include my “other” languages for software (HTML, CSS, Javascript, jQuery, PHP, mySQL , Actionscript, C++, Basic, etc…) then that number is even higher.
Hope that helps!
The Bottom Line: Focus!
All of these three areas of passion, expertise, and unique value all help you with one thing: Focus. By identifying what they are you will begin to see that your blogging focus takes an entirely different character and quality to them and you’ll find yourself more motivated and excited about your blog and it’s growth.
By maximizing your focus you’ll have a higher potential for rapid growth and simply better content for your readers and the search engines.
You’ll also enjoy your blog a lot more.
Practical Next Steps:
Sure, there’s a lot of practical steps you can already take from this post but I’ll be expanding a lot on this in more depth as we move forward with this current series, so please Subscribe and stay tuned!
Let me know if this helps you and what you get out of this post!
[This is part of the Developing Great Blog Content Series. Check out the other posts!]
Thanks for all you do John. You are a guide for many whether you see it or not. Tentblogger will be a great resource for many years to come!
thanks
Matthew,
Thanks for this man! I’m trying to create a personal “ultimate resource” so that I don’t ever have to write it down again…!
Wow!
Food for thought (pun was unintentional, but I like it so I’m keeping it…).
I have a good friend who gets hundreds of hits every day on his blog and he blogs on everything. “20 ways to do this…” “10 steps to finding that…”
They’re all short, Sesame Street bites. Lots of pictures. Lots of comments.
And he’s all over the map on content.
Did I say he has lots of readers and reader interaction?
As I type this, I realize that his blog is simply about being a Christian in a non-Christian world. So he more or less lives his life in front of his readers.
So maybe there’s more focus there than I realized at first blush.
I will say this, though:
I don’t visit his blog very often and I don’t subscribe any more. It just doesn’t speak to me.
I guess that’s a bottom line lesson. You have to decide who you want to reach. My friend wants to reach people who think Christians are weird (in a Non-God-Weird way) and need to see what an authentic follower of Christ looks like. When I’m finished developing my new blog on design, however, I need to keep my focus on what I’ve done already (print design) and what I’m learning (web design, specifically, blog design). Achievement and aspiration. Seasoned advice and learn-with-me-as-I-go (which parallels my discipleship blog as well).
Thank you for letting me think out loud, John. Great posts tend to make me do that!
sure thing!
i had an “Exceptions to every rule” part of this post but I deleted it because it didn’t quite fit in.
but it applies still… there are still going to be successfully high-trafficked blogs that don’t seem to have much focus… but i emphasize the “seem to not have…” here…!
Hi Charles,
What’s the address?
Your friend’s blog actually sounds quite cool
- Neil
Wow. I followed you all the way through the first read, but I’ll be reading this a couple (dozen) more times. Great stuff!
Excuse me, I have a “To Do” list to get started on…
Jen,
Cool! I think i’m going to write a follow-up to this post but it seems like you’ve already gotten started on that!
Oh, no I haven’t started a follow up! I’ve still got to get caught up to this post.
-Refine my blog promise
-Double check my topic span make sure everything fits within my blog promise
-Find my “unique identifiers”
These will keep me busy for quite a while. Especially since I have to keep doing life so I’ll have something else to blog about.
What are your thoughts on laying out your dreams & goals for your readers? Mine is very much a journey blog, but I find myself hesitant to paint a picture of where I think I want to go. I want to be authentic most of all, but I don’t want to write the end of the story first. Any ideas?
i always lean toward sharing the journey… i think that’s not only authentic but casting a vision will help you (and them) shoot for the same goals!
Thank you for spelling it out for me. It’s like I know this, but I need to get some checks in place to keep me focused.
The good news is that I have already separated out my blogs so I can post my personal stuff on a separate blog and try to keep focused on my target.
I will also be keeping this post handy just for the encouragement factor.
yeah. for sure. a lot of people know this but they need it written out. i’m like that too…!
I think I just found my problem. I think I let content creep take over my about page. I wrote that piece over and over and changed and deleted and I think it turned into something else. I need to set the vision in stone and follow it. Too many voices in my head I guess. Course correction time. Thanks again.
love it! did you see my post about “about” pages? http://tentblogger.com/about-page/
Yeah, I worked through that, I think I just lost focus of what I was trying to accomplish. I think I am good now though.
That’s a lot to think about from just one post…I wholly agree with you on the passion thing. If you want to blog long term, you have to be passionate about your subject or you’ll never make it. You will run out of topics and you’ll get bored, it will become a tedious task to write the posts. If you’re passionate, writing the posts is still work, but work that you enjoy nonetheless. At least, that’s how it is for me.
I have three blogs, one of which is personal, the other about writing and a third one about youth ministry. If I compare the last two ones, I can see all of your points. My writing blog has a focus problem, I have trouble defining my level of expertise and it’s hard to find topics to write about. I don’t have a clear blog promise either and I’ve seen some content creep already (nice word by the way, didn’t know that one yet). My youth ministry blog however is 100% focused, is about something I have a lot of experience in and that I’m extremely passionate about…and it shows. I have a list of about 100 topics I still want to write about.
The point is this long comment (sorry about that) is that I just wanted to say that I agree with your post completely, because I’ve experienced it myself. And by the way, I love how you list your unique qualities…it’s good to think of yourself in those terms every now and then.
Can;t wait to read more in this series!
love this! thanks for the great comment! I don’t care if they are long or short!
i’m going to expand a bit on sustainability but you’re dead on here!
Hey do you have a post on how you use photos or navigating copyright issues? I notice you seem to just pull them from google. Have you ever run into any trouble? Any help would be great, thanks.
jordan,
i’ve got a post queued up about that. any thoughts?
Thanks John. When I started my blog I read a lot about using the CC attribution section of Flickr as a safe bet. That’s what I’ve done for the most part since it’s free. However, it’s kind of a pain to find good stuff. I find myself spending almost the same amount of time searching for photos as I do writing. I don’t have the budget to pay for stock photos like Michael Hyatt does, but that would be nice.
Thanks for the reply. I look forward to reading your post about it! I should get disciplined and queue up posts for my blog!
i’ve already written extensively about this topic on another blog. I’m going to update it for tentblogger!
You nailed this one man. Excellent post! Gave me a lot of things to think about…
thanks adam! this might just be one of my better posts.
John I think this may be one of your best posts ever. This is one you can come back and visit several times and learn something new each time. This one will be on my mind for a while. Another exellent post from you. Your doing an awesome thing here.
joseph,
i actually was thinking that myself! i really spent some time on this one and it’s one of my biggest “secrets” (not really a secret) in terms of my success.
do this!
I agree, and you did a great job on this article. Just started a blog, and I don’t want any “content creep.”
thanks lisa! do you have a gravatar? http://tentblogger.com/gravatar/
No, but thanks for the reminder….it’s on my list of to-do’s!
Great post… It stung a little bit… but in a good way. I think I may have started to blur the focus a little on my blog, but just due to not crafting each post to a specific blog promise. I think my content all fits towards an overall passion, I have just yet to state it.
Thanks John!
sure thing dustin. this one is really important though….!
I agree about focus, John. I recently put one of my blogs on hiatus because my lack of focus was driving ME crazy, let alone the few stragglers that actually visited.
it can drive one crazy, right?
also, do you have a gravatar? http://tentblogger.com/gravatar/
This is such a strategic post – especially as I am getting ready to launch my blog in less than a week.
I have been trying to read as much of your content as possible. If I can borrow from someone else’s experience, who has gone before me, I will.
I will be taking apart this post in sections and applying it as I move forward! Thanks for the time and effort required in writing this in order to equip your community to become better bloggers!
Good luck on the blog launch Greg. Exciting!
perfect timing!
John, this is probably the biggest thing that I’ve learned from you. It’s an interesting dynamic, when a blogger sticks to their specific niche, I’m always engaged. Anytime they branch off into something random, I tend to skim or skip. I’ve also found that when you limit the focus of your blog, it stretches you to think creatively within a smaller area rather than something broad. It’s challenged my creativity and my content quality.
Thanks for the thorough post. I hope you took a nap after that one
i seriously did…! thanks david!
Hey John, I did the Gravatar thing … let’s see if it works!
sweet! works!
John, exceptional, clear, and immensely helpful. I’ve yet to start a blog and am rather inept at all things blogging (I goofed up even the WordPress process to set up a blog). At times your material is more technical than I can handle. Yet you stay true to your passion and I know what to expect from you. That’s great.
In this post, I appreciate how well you’ve presented a simple idea. Know where you’re going when you write. If you don’t know, your readers won’t either and they won’t stay along for the journey.
Since my next post will be my first post (if I ever figure out how to set up a free blogging website), I recognize I’ll be walking and falling down a lot rather than running. Ah, the fear of heights! So, I don’t know how to get where I’m going yet because I don’t know my blogging destination. In time, focus will come and your post will help. Thanks. –Tom
sure thing tom!
there’s nothing better than just taking that first step… and seeing where you land!
John,
This is perfect for me, I need this right now, am craving the next series post!! Thank you!!!
sure thing chris! thanks!
Thanks for this John. I know that my blog lacks a focus. I do not consider gbrenna.com to be the blog on which I will build my empire. I think I am still in the stage of figuring out what I’m doing with blogging and gbrenna.com has helped me there. I eventually want to launch something more focused, with a more focused URL and identity.
I am very excited about this new bog series you’ve started and I intend on gleaming as much knowledge as I can from it.
i like gbrenna.com but definitely not an optimal domain for a focused content blog…! can’t wait to see it!
Thanks friend!
of course!
excellent post, john. these words are strategic, specific, and very near-and-dear…. love it. thanks for encouraging us!
sure thing dustin!
John,
I appreciate the 10 unique identifiers that you gave as examples. Nothing helps me more than examples like that. This will definitely help me to define the future of my blogging.
Also, I can definitely attest to your content creep point. As I was reading, I was thinking, “Why couldn’t a person compartmentalize by writing multiple blogs on multiple topics?” Then I read your suggestion.
Thanks again for taking the time to share!
sure thing chad!
This is so good! I’m still working through your Launching series, but this post has stopped me in my tracks. I love the way you put it: “…that intangible good that only you have.” I’m going to take my original list of “unique values” and go through it again, this time with your questions close by. I have a feeling things are going to completely change, but only for the good. Thanks, John — this post has really made me rethink a few things.
only for the better…! yes!
Great tips, John. I think everyone is an expert in something (or can be).
I’m learning the discipline of focusing my content and seeing a lot of value in being intentional.
Passion is a “must” if you want your blog to be sustainable. I like the guiding questions you offered to make sure that you’re staying on-track with your blog’s purpose. Thanks!
great sister post on your blog too!
Great post and oh-so-timely. I’ve been thinking about this recently. I started my blog as “Plain & Simple As That” because I wanted to write about my reasons for not keeping up with the Joneses, and getting out of debt and not being worried about the latest fashion trends. I totally went down the “content creep” route for a few weeks, but tried to relate it back to my blog.
Within the last month, I changed my blog name to “Minimalish” because it better describes what I want to focus on. It keeps me from publishing randomness, although it is a pain to fix all my links!
ah… i like that word!
I recently started blogging myself. The ideas of “content creep”, expertise, uniqueness and keeping a blog focused were floating around in my head, but this post really clarifies and organizes those ideas for me…thanks!
Can’t wait to read your post on sustainable blogs
sure thing john! thanks for hanging out here!
I’ve been struggling for months with how to focus what I’ve been. I originally started a blog as a place to write. It was all wrong at the beginning and I don’t even go near the stuff I initially did! The more I learn about this world, the more I realize I’m gonna have a hard time growing. You might have to do a post on “Blowing it all up!”
ah…… i have a social media post series coming up.
This is extremely helpful John. I’m working through the process of clarifying why my blog exists. More importantly, fulfilling “The Promise” of my blog.
Part of the challenge has been narrowing in on my desire to blog about serving “the least of these,” among the other things that greatly interest me.
you have a big challenge in terms of focusing but when you find it you’re going to knock it out!
Hi Again John,
I’ve been taking a blogging workshop the last few days, hosted by you! It’s been great! What I’m doing is reading and re-reading many, many of your articles covering so many areas of blogging. You’ve helped me to focus my content, get rid of tags, clean up my slugs, narrow down my categories, and just generally sharpen up my blogs.
Thank you for sharing your expertise with us. I feel like your posts are a gold mine.
I’m going to go back and read some more and put a comment on another one or two now.
Blessings,
Donna
awesome! glad I could “host’ it for you!
Last December I moved from writing into photography. Let my readers know that come 2011 – the blog would be changing focus. I was burnt out on writing, I had lost focus, and it just wasn’t where my passion was. Changing focus and keeping focus on photography this year has reinvigorated my blogging and created a whole new community.
but here is the rub – when I look at analytics – my two biggest posts and drivers to my site are STILL things I wrote like 2 years back. so as I’m trying to brand myself as a photographer, I’m thinking I may need to pull my old posts down
but then no one will visit me. oh well! 
or, you can edit them… and redirect the content!!
Hi John:
I’m using your “The Ultimate Guide to Launching a WordPress-Powered Blog” to start my first blog. It is so helpful and I thank you for putting it up. I was reading the blog post here, and I wondering if blogging works for fiction writers. I’m not sure what I should blog about besides posting my fiction. Can a fiction writer’s blog succeed?
Thank you in advance for your opinion!
sure thing julie! appreciate you being here!