Have you ever had that gnawing feeling in your blogger gut? Feeling torn between what you want to create and what you think you’re supposed to create? I promise you’re not alone. Not only is changing your blog’s focus an option, but it might be the best thing for your blog… and you.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say (and if I’ve got fellow bloggers reading, please comment if this is the case) that most bloggers either grow into their topics or grow out of their topics.
I’ll use myself as an example. For any long time readers (hi mom), you might remember the days when In it 4 the Long Run was focused on, you guessed it, running.
I first started this blog as a training log for my runs. Like seriously that was it. Just a post every week with how many miles I ran. I picked it back up in earnest when I had an internship that gave me no work to do, so instead I learned about blogging. In hindsight, best internship ever. I loved running so I thought, naturally I should write about it.
But I got to a point where I hit a wall with running. No, not that running wall. I mean the wall of hobby versus “set your soul on fire passion.” Running was always something I used as an escape and when I began to blog about it, it lost that therapeutic quality.
One of my favorite bloggers, Regina from ByRegina.com, explained this idea so perfectly, the notion of the “100 hour topic.” What Regina meant by that is you have to ask yourself what is the one area of focus that you could talk about for a 100 hours, or at least have the passion to learn to speak 100 hours on.
For me, I saw those people who’s passion for running oozed out of them and inspired others (myself included). However, I wasn’t one of of those people and I didn’t really want to be. I wanted to run on fall mornings slowly to a podcast. And honestly I didn’t want to write about it. I didn’t have an expertise or the desire to become an expert in running.
Right about the same time, I started picking up my camera and really learning to use it. Slowly but surely my content shifted from running with a bit of food to food with a bit of running and now my blog is focused almost exclusively on food, creating a sustainable healthy lifestyle and resources for fellow bloggers. These topics excite me every day. I want to pour myself into this work and continue to learn and grow and share.
Oh and I forgot the most important part… the results. Well when I transitioned slowly from running to food, healthy lifestyle and blogging my readers and engagement increased 10 fold (if not more). Passion shows.
Ok, ok you get it. Changing is cool. But how exactly does it happen? I broke it out into 4 steps.
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Step 1: Do a Blog Audit
Are You focusing on the right Topic?
My friends, life is too short to not blog about something you’re obsessed with. Not only you, but your audience deserves to consume content that’s unique, valuable, entertaining, inspiring, and useful. If you don’t feel that way about your blog right now you have to stop and be 100% honest with yourself. Does your blog excite you or drag you down? Are you excited to sit down and create? Do you take pride in the content you publish? Could you think of 20 new posts ideas on the spot? Do you get inspired by your world around you?
No, you don’t need to be the energizer bunny every day when it comes to blogging, but if blogging feels like a chore then you’re definitely not writing about the right thing.
I would never in a million years call this easy, but I absolutely love it. It’s work that doesn’t feel like work at all.
Step 2: Identify the New Focus
Ok, so good news, you’ve already done the hard part. You’ve admitted that it might be time to change the focus of your blog.
The next step is to decide what’s next. To figure out how to create a sustainable blog that has the power to transition into something bigger you want to ask yourself 3 questions.
These questions are adapted from Jim Collin’s book: Good to Great, where he talks about the how businesses that go from good to great embrace these 3 things (I’ve adapted them to be relevant to blogging):
- What can I blog about that I am uniquely talented in?
- What topics am I passionate about?
- Is there a market or audience for this content?
It will take time to answer those questions fully and honestly, but if you can, then you have a winner.
Step 3: Is it a Focus Shift or Total Rebrand?
Ok, so you’re ready to change and now you’re confident about what your new topic is, so what’s next? You need fully understand the shift in focus and how dramatic of a pivot it is.
In my case, I was a running blogger who slowly shifted into a healthy living and recipe blogger. Much of my audience overlapped, which meant I didn’t have to rebrand at all. I may have lost followers over the year that I transitioned, but my audience was also small to begin with and didn’t grow dramatically until I made the shift.
But that’s not the case for all switches. You might be a crafting, DIY blogger who wants to switch to blogging about personal finance. They’re two very different audiences and there aren’t a lot of ways to slowly transition a focus like that. In this case, you may want to consider a rebrand. That doesn’t mean you have to ditch all your old followers. They may be interested in your new content, so don’t leave them high and dry.
But don’t be surprised when most of your niche following is ready to move on too. That’s a-ok because when you start writing about something that you’re passionate about and skilled at, it’s so much easier to build a strong audience. Plus you’ll have all that blogging knowledge from before to use in your new endeavor.
Don’t forget that you can always ask your audience questions too. I found it incredibly helpful when I had my audience do a survey. From that survey of my most loyal readers, I learned that running was the topic they were least interested in.
Step 4: Execute & Adjust
You’re ready to change, you know your new topic, you know whether it’s a shift or a rebrand which means that all there is left is just doin’ it.
If you’re looking to rebrand consider redesigning your blog or just updating your theme. You’ll need a new name, a new logo, new URL’s, new social media handles all that fun stuff. But just keep reminding yourself that this is what you’re meant to be doing. It’s scary in that “omg this is awesome” kind of way.
If you’re looking to shift focus slowly, start testing your new type of content gradually. If you get a good reaction introduce more and more. You have the option of either announcing what you’re doing all at once, or incorporating your focus shift into posts as you go. Whatever feels natural. You may want to update your imagery so it matches and maybe look for a blog friend to give you a visual audit to make sure that your new content focus matches what your blog looks like. If your audience isn’t receptive to the change you may want to consider a rebrand.
As you transition don’t be afraid to get feedback, but take it with a grain of salt. Some people will embrace change with open arms, others might leave, but like I mentioned earlier, the more intone and connected you are to your topic the more it will show through your writing and building a following when you have authentic content is so much easier.
Hopefully if you’ve been feeling that “this topic doesn’t fit me anymore” feeling that is all too familiar with so many bloggers, this will help guide you to the blog you’ve always wanted to create.
I have definitely shifted my blog topic(s). It used to be so much about fitness & food (mostly fitness), but I feel like as I’ve finally achieved that balance in my life, I talk less about fitness, and as you said, it’s not something I can speak about for 100 hours. It’s definitely a subject that requires some expertise, aka a degree or a certification of some sort, both of which I have none. Food is my PASSION I could talk about it for 500 hours! And blogging, the same. So, I am similar to you actually. I’ve realized that this blog of mine is what I make of it, and unlike many arenas of life, I choose what I talk about and I can utilize my passions. Loved this post Georgie 🙂
Thanks girl! It’s amazing that the seemingly small things you start can grow into such an important part of your life. Blogging is seriously one of the craziest, coolest endeavors and it just excites me so much to see how life will change and this blog (and others) will grow with it 😉
Great tips! I am totally in a transition right now and for the first time I am embracing the change and loving it…It takes some time and some work, but rediscovering yourself and your passions is pretty cool. I always love when you do these tutorial posts. So FUN!
Thanks so much Katie! Change is so scary but if I’ve learned anything it’s that a little scary usually means awesome is on it’s way 😉
im loving your social media and blogging posts! They are so helpful! we are in the midst of some changes on our blog so it’s always great to have some support and help to make that transition a successful one!
That’s so great to hear Rachel! So glad they’re helpful. Love chattin’ bout blogging and social media so if you ever have questions just shoot me an email 😀
Thanks for posting this Georgie – so helpful! I definitely want to change the focus of my blog mainly because after a year and a half of plugging away, I basically have no audience still – besides good old mom and have been wondering if I would be better served doing something else. The process of determining that new focus has been challenging, but I definitely want to put these tips to use once I figure out what the heck to blog about that folks will actually read. Thanks again for posting!
It might not even be about a focus change necessarily but tapping into a more narrow niche. It might sound counter intuitive but I’ve found the more specific and focused I get the better I can become known for something. Your content is fantastic, but maybe if you get hyper focused on the 1 or 2 things you absolutely love it will allow you more time and space to grow in those areas.
That’s a great piece of advice – definitely something I’m working on. I just have no idea what to narrow down to! ?
Haha in that case I’d say explore explore explore! I always get stuck when I’ve been cooped up at my comp or kitchen too long
That’s really good advice, and something I have definitely been hoping to do. I’m having a hard time narrowing things down, but I’m hoping I can get my ish together sooner rather than later!
This is such a timely post for me to read! I’ve be struggling with the decision of rebranding or just changing focus on my topic. I still love travel blogging but also wanted to incorporate helping folks planning travel, budgeting and volunteering abroad. And I totally agree with Regina’s 100 hours theory! These are topics I can write about with getting bored! I just hope my message doesn’t get confusing:-/
Travel isn’t something I super familiar with but it sounds like everything fits under the broader travel umbrella, it might be interesting to survey your audience to hear if they’d be interested in some of those new topics or post some occasionally and try to get as much feedback as possible. Thank you so much for stopping by
I’ve only had my blog for about a year now, but I’ve definitely shifted my focus from running to more food centered and healthy body image posts. Running is great but not what I want to dedicate 100% of my time too, inspiring others to cook healthy nourishing meals and gain a new respect for their bodies? That I can do. I love how you’ve shifted your focus over the years, your “how to” posts are oh so helpful and I love seeing you stoked on your passions!
Thank you so much Lacey! I really love your posts geared to 20 somethings because oh my gosh do I feel those struggles… like every day.
Georgie you are such a smarty pants and wise beyond your years!! Thank you for sharing this post. Changing your blog focus is such a tough thing to do, and I am definitely in the process of doing so right now. Your input and advice are super valuable to me
That’s so nice to hear Beverley! Let me know if you ever wanna run stuff by another set of eyes <3
I started off with a 50/50 running versus recipes focus, but now I feel like my blog is more about “lifestyle” in general. At least, over the past few months that’s what it became. I’m trying to get back into more recipes now, updating photos on old ones (I was really horrible at taking photos 5-10 months ago) and publishing new ones, because talking more about food and the way it’s part of our lifestyles no matter what restrictions we may have is what I love to do!
One of the (many) awesome parts of blogging is as you grow, so does your blog and your readers. Embrace the change it might take you somewhere you never thought you’d go but is totally amazing
This is really insightful Georgie. I’ve only been food blogging since summer, so I don’t so much need to refocus as to focus to begin with! I think much of this advice serves that purpose as well. Thanks.
Thanks Steve! Congrats on starting your food blog. Experimenting and trying different things is awesome, but once you find that sweet spot it can really help you grow to become and expert in 1 or 2 things.
Love this post! When I first started out, I was writing posts on makeup, recipes, running, clothes, you name it. Now I’m trying to narrow down to the two things I love: food and fitness (essentially a healthy balanced lifestyle). I’ll definitely be using these tips as I make this next transition. Thanks!
I feel ya! It’s so natural to want to blog about everything, but once you get in a couple months (or maybe years) you’ll find there’s that one thing you never get sick of!
As always, perfect post. I’m so new still… to the point where I feel like I am trying to feel everything out… who I want to reach, who I want to inspire, how I want to connect with people. I’m hoping in the process of doing those things, but only time will tell! Thanks so much, Georgie <3
Ashley you seriously amaze me. I would never in a million years guess that you just started your blog. There’s no right answer but I think it helps to experiment in the beginning and once you feel that sweet spot of “oh wow I really don’t get sick of this” then go hard with that topic. I say this all the time but I’m so glad we’re blogging buddies and I’m so bummed I missed your trip to Boston. <3
Georgie, it’s like you were living in my head the last few weeks 🙂 This is just what I needed to hear and you couldn’t have said it any better! Like you, I initially started my blog just writing about running and various fitness activities I participated in, however my fitness activities change overtime so I no longer wanted to blog about running. I love creating healthy delicious recipes, so I took that path, but now I’m wanting to focus more on just an overall lifestyle. I still want to incorporate healthy recipes, but I REALLY want to start blogging about fitness activities and nutrition – ways to live an overall healthy life. I guess I’ve just been scared to take that leap and nervous that people won’t want to listen what I’ve got to say. Anywho, thanks for sharing this and I’m going to take the leap soon!
Thanks for the helpful tips. This is a great list and guide! I can tell you’re really passionate about what you’re doing – it just oozes out of your posts and I love it! My readership when down pretty significantly when I left DC for Seattle (I guess the east coasters aren’t a fan of the west coast 😉 ) At first, it was a tough pill to swallow, but I eventually came to terms with it and it seems like I’m starting to recover. Thanks for sharing!
Great post, G.
I love #4 and is what I personally did to transition from a more generic everything blogger to more food with lifestyle/life thrown in. I think if you change niches purely because you think X niche is more prevelant or rewarding but don’t have the ‘passion’ for it, it seeps through. The 100-hour thing is such a relevant correlation. I reckon one fear many looking to transition have would perhaps be losing their initial audience.
Oh totally, especially if you’ve been doing thing 1 for a long time. However I still have a gut feeling that the passion you have if you do transition to what you really love will be able to draw in even more people because your content will be inherently better.
For me it’s always been hard just to narrow things down! I even started a second blog because I felt like I couldn’t talk about certain things on my first one haha. I definitely feel like I’ve moved from talking about my half marathon training to more food focused though. I feel like I need to narrow it down even further, but being put in a box gives me anxiety.
Anyways, thanks as always for your tips! Love reading what you have to say! 🙂
I can only speak from my own experience but I think it’s helpful to be really good at a couple things but that doesn’t necessarily mean you never have to post about the other stuff again. Even just getting feedback from your most engaged audience might be helpful to see which content they love the most.