I may have know everything or almost everything about blogging but i have refused to delve into it because of its complexities. I believe what is what doing is what doing well. I may not be an expert web developer BUT i can boast that i am very good with wordpress. People wake up and set up a webhosting business and i laugh cos at the end i use just 2 hosting companies in Nigeria (the rest are crap...forgive me). I have watched and observed how so many Nigerians wake up in the morning and decide to start a blog then end up doing copy-paste which is not a good beginning. People often talk about using a super niche when blogging which has less competition and projects your interests. While this is true, i find myself refuting this belief system.

Reasons why i want to go into blogging;
Recently i discovered that i am obsessed with something... and even though i dont fancy it as an "interest", i see it as a founding REASON to set up a blog. I do research day and night and the end result of my research is either i save details in notepad or i save in my head which usually fades away with time...this is no good. SO i need to be documenting my research and help whoever mighty find it useful.
Secondly, i have found a great niche and that niche is .....NO NICHE!! I dont believe that cra.p that says you must base your blog on a particular niche in order to succeed. I conduct research basically on every subject area and streamlining myself to a particular niche means limiting myself and that is not my target.
Thirdly, i hope to add it to my source of incomes .... why, everybody needs money and i believe with a successful blog i will have an added source of income. People say dont blog for money...hmmm but my belief system is kinda different.

I will be blogging with a no-niche and for money...wish me luck guys!

Seriously? So you wanna talk about football and health on same blog? Goodluck!

Thats exactly the mistake most bloggers make at the beginning, lemme give you some advice. I my years of blogging, i have learnt one thing that hard way. If you are coming into blogging for the money then you better use your time for something else because the money dont just come, you must work hard for it and it takes the following;
TIME
PASSIONS
PERSISTENCE
CONSISTENCY
RESOURCES...and so many more.
Blogging can really become a good source of income if only you know what it takes to be successful in it, many new bloggers end up dumping blogging after their first years hosting expires. You need to know exactly what to expect so you'll come prepared.

If you think writing is easy then you must have come from another world, except you are coming to do copy and paste thingy as most bloggers do, but if you can choose a niche you know much about, a niche you can never run outta ideas on, then you have just one of the things it takes to come into blogging.

The SEO side of blogging is quite challenging and changes always, so you must keep abreast with Google's TOS so as not to fall on their wrong side. So my friend if you wanna come into blogging, be sure to love to read alot and also learn alot.

I aint saying these to discourage you but to let you know exactly what to expect. Come prepared.

Thanks for the tip but like i said your strategy in setting up a blog can be quite different from mine. Seriously, i know alot about blogging, SEO and stuff. I am a good writer and like i said earlier, my perspective is this: Create a blog to stash up your research and make some bucks on the long run.

The reason why many fail is because they listen ALOT to so-called gurus. The truth is, if i stick to a niche, i will get bored. I have tried that before and it isn't my style. Recently i did a research on holiday spots in Korea and what i got was amazing....now, that research was not documented cos i had other stuff to do and am kinda tired of storing these stuff in my laptop.

Now who says its WRONG to talk about football and health in the same blog??..So-called Gurus??...Com'mon.

And who says its also WRONG to set up a blog with monetary gains at the back of your mind?.....com'mon again!!

The success of your blog depends on the style you chose to run it and my style is NO NICHE. And if you are conversant with bloggers around the world you will notice that most of them have no specific niche.

You can read these articles to have an overview of my idea;
http://www.thejackb.com/2013/01/04/you-still-dont-need-a-niche-to-be-a-successful-blogger/

http://richwp.com/niche-blogging/

http://jessicalawlor.com/2013/03/niche-blogging-vs-general-blogging/

http://mycyberhouserules.com/2012/05/29/my-blog-is-nicheless-most-likely-because-i-am-without-a-niche-myself/

http://www.dailyblogtips.com/choosing-a-blog-niche/

Lets say niche-less blogging is something new which is yet to be embraced. Why do i need to capture the attention of soccer lovers only when there are music lovers roaming the net looking for content? Whats so wrong if i get all the attention? With a niche-less blog, i am so free to write about ANYTHING i find interesting, if you are not interested in reading it someone else would....my 2cents.

What is the essence of blogging when you do not care about your fellowship or audience? Except you want to build a blog for some random surfers then you can build a niche-less blog, but if you care about a targeted audience who only want to follow your blog because of its niche and because of their interest in that niche, then you have to reconsider your position again.

All the same goodluck...and when you start blogging, let me know so i can read your blog and follow it as well to see how it goes.

@OP, I love your type, very courageous and not afraid to fail even if seems the chances of survival is very slim.
One of your point I do agree with "Blogging for the Money"; yes , to me you're dam right.

The Guru says "Blog for the Passion" , I tell you the truth. Passion alone will not build a successful blog. You need to blog for the money, if not time will come your passion will get lost and fade out.

Tell me, those who advocate "Blogging for passion", what happen after blogging for years and still nothing to show for it? You will hear them complaining in forums and bloggers communities, begging other smart bloggers to please show them how their blog can generate money.

you can read this post to learn more why "Blogging for the Money" is the rule in our 21th century. http://www.cybernaira.com/2013/do-you-make-money-from-your-blog/

And again read Darren Rwose' "secret to blogging your way to six figure income" and tell me if Darren had not make money from his blog has agreed by his wife and him, if passion would have keep the blog alive?

Op, your other point "nichless Blogging"; well, I won't say much about it for now. In as much as I see no break through in that.

Please, I would personally love it if you can let me know about your nicheless blog when you're up and doing with it. I love to read it and see how effective you will be capable of managing it.

PS : "Word of advice" Managing a niche blog is not easy. You're about to start something harder, think deeply if you can finish it.

Just my 2kobo.

akintayo1: @OP, I love your type, very courageous and not afraid to fail even if seems the chances of survival is very slim.
One of your point I do agree with "Blogging for the Money"; yes , to me you're dam right.

The Guru says "Blog for the Passion" , I tell you the truth. Passion alone will not build a successful blog. You need to blog for the money, if not time will come your passion will get lost and fade out.

Tell me, those who advocate "Blogging for passion", what happen after blogging for years and still nothing to show for it? You will hear them complaining in forums and bloggers communities, begging other smart bloggers to please show them how their blog can generate money.

you can read this post to learn more why "Blogging for the Money" is the rule in our 21th century. http://www.cybernaira.com/2013/do-you-make-money-from-your-blog/

And again read Darren Rwose' "secret to blogging your way to six figure income" and tell me if Darren had not make money from his blog has agreed by his wife and him, if passion would have keep the blog alive?

Op, your other point "nichless Blogging"; well, I won't say much about it for now. In as much as I see no break through in that.

Please, I would personally love it if you can let me know about your nicheless blog when you're up and doing with it. I love to read it and see how effective you will be capable of managing it.

PS : "Word of advice" Managing a niche blog is not easy. You're about to start something harder, think deeply if you can finish it.

Just my 2kobo.

Thanks for your insight. First of all, niched blogging is more difficult to manage. Example, i write about phones only..now even though its my passion some day i will get bored! And when that boredom comes, then i lose interest. On the other hand, when i blog about anything i like, i wont run out of ideas and the blog gets to be alive for a longer time. If i watch a new movie, i can do a little review about that movie (cos am already fired up with the movie as its pretty interesting) and even put a download link!

We truly have missed the purpose of a blog. Its more or less like a personal diary where you are free to write and document ANYTHING you like about your daily occurrences. Presently we have turned it into a business and i see nothing wrong with keeping to same old tradition of writing about ANYTHING you like.

Now my blog though a personal project, its still open to all! I am gong to be having guest authors and contributors so who says am going to be dong all the writings? If you send in your article and i verify its free of plagiarism, what stops me from publishing it? I have some friends right now who are interested in guest-blogging and believe me you will find the blog interesting!

PASSION OR MONEY?
First, you dont blog for money. You blog for the passion and then your persistent passion will produce the money. Check history, greatest technologies or innovations we have witnessed never started by the founders to get some bucks. Think of google. Think of facebook. First, they had an idea fueled by passion. Now, the money is coming in. Someone said here that if you blog for passion, what happens when the passion fades out? Good question. Now, blogging for money is actually a passion in itself. And it will fade sooner than blogging for the purpose of contributing to the life and career of your readers. The thought alone that your readers are been blessed by your contents gives you even more passion to give them your best. With persistence and consistency, you will gain big followership which will yield the money for you. How do you make money from these teeming readers?
a. Placing an ad
b. Producing an e-product they can buy and download.
c. Starting membership only tutorials.
d. Affiliate marketing.

NICHE OR NO NICHE?
There is nothing wrong in blogging generally. But the most powerful blogging is niche blogging. There are blogs that specifically address a particular niche. For instance, as a web developer, if I want some authoritative information on a particular topic related to the web, I know where to go. It's either Smashing Magazine or Alist Apart. I can't go to a general blog site and start searching for the topic I want when the author has over 1000 topics in 800 different niches. Whereas at the sites above, I will get 1000 topics in one niche. Generality is never celebrated in any field of human endeavour. That is why medical doctors after spending about six years in the medical school, will still specialize on a particular branch of medicine. If you want to be an authority in the blogging industry, you must choose a niche. But if you want to just have a diary where people can check occasionally to see if you have written anything that interest them, then general blogging is the way to go. Someone like me cannot bookmark such blog. For instance, if i see a blog topic on sports, i dont even try reading a single line of it. Why? I have complete zero interest in sports. So i will not fancy a blog that will write about sports today, health tomorrow, cooking next tomorrow and web design the other tomorrow. No. I want a situation, if I want topics in let's say about love and relationship, I will know where to go and get what I want. Not where i will go and as the page is loading, I will not know what to expect. And when the page has finished loading, I will see a Chelsea vs Manchester ranting. I will just hit the close button. And thereby increasing your blog bounce rate.

Having said all these, you can still blog for the money and not for impacting your readers.
You can still blog generally. You will still gain some followership.
Goodluck.

-_-

GraphicsPlus:

NICHE OR NO NICHE?
There is nothing wrong in blogging generally. But the most powerful blogging is niche blogging. There are blogs that specifically address a particular niche. For instance, as a web developer, if I want some authoritative information on a particular topic related to the web, I know where to go. It's either Smashing Magazine or Alist Apart. I can't go to a general blog site and start searching for the topic I want when the author has over 1000 topics in 800 different niches. Whereas at the sites above, I will get 1000 topics in one niche. Generality is never celebrated in any field of human endeavour. That is why medical doctors after spending about six years in the medical school, will still specialize on a particular branch of medicine. If you want to be an authority in the blogging industry, you must choose a niche. But if you want to just have a diary where people can check occasionally to see if you have written anything that interest them, then general blogging is the way to go. Someone like me cannot bookmark such blog. For instance, if i see a blog topic on sports, i dont even try reading a single line of it. Why? I have complete zero interest in sports. So i will not fancy a blog that will write about sports today, health tomorrow, cooking next tomorrow and web design the other tomorrow. No. I want a situation, if I want topics in let's say about love and relationship, I will know where to go and get what I want. Not where i will go and as the page is loading, I will not know what to expect. And when the page has finished loading, I will see a Chelsea vs Manchester ranting. I will just hit the close button. And thereby increasing your blog bounce rate.
Goodluck.

In blogs there is what they call "categories". If you need info on relationships, the category is there for you. If yo need gist on sports, the category is there for you too. It isnt going to be so mixed up as you emphasized. Blogging is all about writing stories and articles.

visit www.allafrica.com and tell me what you observe. Its totally niche-less! You may call it a news website but i call it a blog..they are all one and the same thing.

I am enjoying all these because it seems this is really very new in this country. I am a versatile person and i have to represent that trait in my blog. If you dont like sports, you would like other categories and leave the sports category for sports lovers. Mr A might be on my blog reading about sports, yawa-ti-de will also be in another section reading about joomla, dual core might also be in another section browsing through contact details of fine chicks looking for boyfriend, etc...that's why its called general blogging or a niche-less blog. I get all the followers with different interests. I believe i am more convinced to proceed because with all these criticisms, what i see is success and more followers. Jaurshub.com is basically about career and mentorship.....but i see alot of sports and political analysis....it seems someone is diversifying.

@Koboheights, thanks for the tips.

databoy247:

In blogs there is what they call "categories". If you need info on relationships, the category is there for you. If yo need gist on sports, the category is there for you too. It isnt going to be so mixed up as you emphasized. Blogging is all about writing stories and articles.

visit www.allafrica.com and tell me what you observe. Its totally niche-less! You may call it a news website but i call it a blog..they are all one and the same thing.

I am enjoying all these because it seems this is really very new in this country. I am a versatile person and i have to represent that trait in my blog. If you dont like sports, you would like other categories and leave the sports category for sports lovers. Mr A might be on my blog reading about sports, yawa-ti-de will also be in another section reading about joomla, dual core might also be in another section browsing through contact details of fine chicks looking for boyfriend, etc...that's why its called general blogging or a niche-less blog. I get all the followers with different interests. I believe i am more convinced to proceed because with all these criticisms, what i see is success and more followers. Jaurshub.com is basically about career and mentorship.....but i see alot of sports and political analysis....it seems someone is diversifying.

@Koboheights, thanks for the tips.

databoy you are right, please carry on with your nicheless blog, there nothing wrong in general blogging

You are just funny. allafrica.com is just a news website that collects news from different websites. For instance, I hovered on multimedia, i chose website hoping to see tips, articles or tutorials on website design, i just saw a collection of news from all kinds of websites.

Look, general blogging is waste of time. If you want to blog, you must have to build on a niche. Unless you want to blog like Linda Ikeji that writes all kinds of things especially frivolous stuff.
There is no well known blog world wide that is not based on a particular niche. If there is, tell me.

Blogs like: HuffingtonPost, TMZ, BusinessInsider, engadget, PerezHilton, Gizmodo, Mashable(10 million monthly visitor), TechCrunch(7.5million monthly visitor), Gawker, lifehacker, The Daily Beast, SmashingMagazine, FailBlog, Kotaku, boingboing.

These are among the world top blogging sites. And yet, none of them is a general blogging site.

GraphicsPlus: You are just funny. allafrica.com is just a news website that collects news from different websites. For instance, I hovered on multimedia, i chose website hoping to see tips, articles or tutorials on website design, i just saw a collection of news from all kinds of websites.

Look, general blogging is waste of time. If you want to blog, you must have to build on a niche. Unless you want to blog like Linda Ikeji that writes all kinds of things especially frivolous stuff.
There is no well known blog world wide that is not based on a particular niche. If there is, tell me.

Blogs like: HuffingtonPost, TMZ, BusinessInsider, engadget, PerezHilton, Gizmodo, Mashable(10 million monthly visitor), TechCrunch(7.5million monthly visitor), Gawker, lifehacker, The Daily Beast, SmashingMagazine, FailBlog, Kotaku, boingboing.

These are among the world top blogging sites. And yet, none of them is a general blogging site.

Success in an internet business is when you do something different. My target audience is global and not just Nigeria. This whole idea of mine might seem strange and baseless but trust me, i know you and a host of others are dying to see what i would come out with. Am doing this at the very professional level.
I dont have to outline my strategy here but currently i am doing recruitment online for writers and authors (and believe me, i have a monthly budget for all). I am gong to employ writers from India, US, London, Philipines, and maybe NONE from Nigeria. I would check for originality and plagiarism before publishing. Then when i have the time, i would write my own catchy stories and articles.

GraphicsPlus: Blogs like: HuffingtonPost, TMZ, BusinessInsider, engadget, PerezHilton, Gizmodo, Mashable(10 million monthly visitor), TechCrunch(7.5million monthly visitor), Gawker, lifehacker, The Daily Beast, SmashingMagazine, FailBlog, Kotaku, boingboing.

Thanks for siting these but i dont want to be like them. The internet is big enough for different concepts and ideas, and i have been in the game long enough to decide for myself and not stick to some so-called guru's advice. Who knows, i might end up bigger than them cos i am niche-less.

Just tell us one well known blog that is a general blog site. You talked about listening to gurus, but u ar the to post about 5 blog links here with topics that supports what u ar going into. did u believe one is a guru only when he believes what u believe? And those links u posted, all of them are niche blog sites. look, am not against what u want to go into. No sensible person wil be against it. am just tell u that ur blog will not be a force to be reckon with. every company in this world base their business in a particular niche. google cannot start manufacturing hospital equipments. but google can develop a technology, an app for hospitals' use. i encourage u to do what u want to do. we learn by doing.

GraphicsPlus: Just tell us one well known blog that is a general blog site.

Mine will be the first. There is a first time for everything.

Niche blogging will always be better than general blogging, especially if you want to establish yourself as a credible expert in the community and potentially create a source of revenue from your blog.

Once you find your niche and dedicate your time to dominating it, you can end up having a highly successful blog.

And most bloggers who remain generalists don’t last very long.

People want to know what you are about, what you stand for, and what to expect. Few blogs will make it to the winner’s circle of someone’s daily bookmark. A blog that is purely a landing spot for both everything and nothing at the same time, won’t achieve that coveted reward. At least not my bookmark.

Sites like ESPN who cover a number of sports are still targeting the same “type” of audience. Sports enthusiasts.

Now if ESPN starts posting articles about “how to plant flowers”, then there is a problem.