Blogging

How to Easily Stand Out As a New Blogger (In An Over-Saturated Niche and With No Confidence)

You’ve joined all the other mom bloggers and now have a blog.

Congrats! Your blog can help you make money so that you and your husband can stay home for good.

Both my husband and I work from home as bloggers! It’s amazing mamas and I want to help you too!

One of the things I hear from a lot of my subscribers is that they started a blog but it’s in a competitive or over-crowded blog niche.

They lose confidence in blogging all together and have no idea how to stand out.

What happens when the niche you decide to pick – lifestyle mom niche, make money niche, parenting niche, food niche etc.. – is over crowded and over saturated with the same topics?

Can your blog still stand out and make money?

Yes! It can.

If you haven’t yet started your mom blog, check out my free course on how to start your own mom blog that makes money!

Blogging In An Over Crowded Blog Niche

The idea of blogging in a crowded niche isn’t anything new. Many new blogs start in saturated niches. Why?

Well there are blog niches that make money. Those are very popular to people that want to make money…blogging!

The one thing to think about blogging in a popular niche is try not to follow what other bloggers are doing in the same niche as you. Instead, carve your own path by doing this one thing:

filling the empty space

Fill the Empty Space

You started your blog with the intention of making money later, so finding the right path to get your blog noticed is important. But, I’m not saying don’t listen to other bloggers!

The crux of your blogging journey is learning from others who have done it before you. You learn the strategies and tactics for success, but it’s ultimately up to you to come up with your blog plan and ideas for content and products.

And many bloggers just end up copying other bloggers. But, this won’t help you stand out.

Instead of focussing on following what other bloggers are doing, you fill the empty space by creating a new path, new ideas and new ways of presenting similar information.

For a new blogger that’s a lot to do!

Don’t feel you have to start doing this on day one – or even in the first three months of starting your blog.

But, I want to prepare you so that your blog DOES generate income for you. And for that to happen, your blog has to be memorable, trusted and liked by others.

What can you do to fill in that empty space and stand out?

1. Create Reader Centric Blog Posts

I’ve shared in other blog posts how to write a blog post that gets clicks and shares – it’s by sharing a valuable and helpful post. This is a post that helps solve a problem.

Another part to that equation is to make your blog post reader centric.

What this means is to always make sure your blog posts are directed towards the reader – and not on you.

Sure, you can tell a story about your day or about your child at the park. And sure you can share things of what you do, but you do this minimally and make the spotlight shine on your reader.

And you can do this by having the WIIFM factor.

What’s In It For Me Factor

People typically read a blog post only if it answers – what’s in it for me? Will your post help that person look better, feel better, change their view etc…

Is it okay to write about personal things on your blog? Sure! It’s your blog and it’s appropriate to write about that in the beginning if you want.

You want your blog to go live and if three of your posts are about a day in the life and your favorite books, that’s fine! As long as you have a plan towards reader centric blog posts, you don’t have to worry about the personal posts you have on your blog.

2. See What You Can Do Better or Differently

I love blogging and I love all the relationships I’ve developed over the years with other bloggers. But, we all have one common goal – to make money with our blog.

And, sometimes that means you have to see what others are doing and do it better or do it differently. I know that may seem harsh and it’s not something a lot of successful bloggers tell you, but I want YOU to be successful!

So, how does this look?

Say you’re a food blogger. Go to Pinch of Yum and Minimalist Baker – or any food blog you enjoy reading – and see how they carved a space in this crowded niche. Is it their brand, their content, their images, their writing?

Look to see how many posts do they post in a week. Maybe they post sporadically. Well, you can fill that gap by posting more.

Look at their headlines. What is enticing about their headlines and how can you use that to inspire you to write better headlines for your food blog?

Pick things that you can do better or differently to stand out. Maybe those blogs don’t use inforgraphics . You can start doing that for your food blog. Create recipe or food inforgraphics and share that on Pinterest. Here’s an example:

3. Use Your USP!

I know it may seem simple, but carving your own space means having that unique selling point – USP. This is what you show online as you – your brand overall.

That USP is made up of:

  • Your age
  • Your lifestyle
  • Your background
  • Your experience
  • Your personality
  • Your advice and knowledge of your niche

There is NO other blogger out there that is you! Yes, you will run into blogs that are almost the same as yours, but the big difference is YOU!

Define your USP early on and your blog will stand out easily!

5. Look at Trends

This is a strategy I’m trying out with Smart Mom Ideas. This blog is in a very crowded niche – the pregnancy and postpartum niche. My strategy is to make long form content and valuable posts.

But, I’m also trying to create content that’s trending. The way I find trending content by going to the DISCOVER page on Pinterest. In your search bar just type in:

“https://pinterest.com/discover/”

I can quickly see what topics in any topic – tech, kids, etc – are popular.

I wouldn’t write every blog post with a trend in mind. You want to write blog posts that are “forever” types of posts where someone can read your blog posts a year later and it still is relevant to them at that time.

But, I would write a blog post that’s popular on Pinterest once in a while as a way to build content and a strategy to grow your traffic.

For example, for the food blog niche, the Keto diet is popular, so you can incorporate recipes or ideas around that Keto diet.

4. Advanced Tip – Think About Other Forms of Content

We are now getting into advanced tactics to stand out, but I thought I could include this one as a stretch goal for you!

For your blog to stand out, you might want to start thinking about having different types of content on your blog. This might mean:

These strategies opens the doors to a whole new audience and it can quickly make you memorable if you’re the only one – or one of the few – doing this type of content in your niche.

For example, on my Elna Cain site, I know that there aren’t a lot of podcasts for freelance writers. There may be one or two, but they aren’t well known or popular.

If I wanted to, I can start a podcast for freelance writers and stand out even more in the freelance writing niche.

4 Quick Ways to Gain Confidence as a New Blogger

Okay! So hopefully you gained some confidence knowing that it is totally possible to keep on blogging in an over-crowded blog niche. But, what if you still don’t have confidence?

When you started your blog, you may have felt intimidated and overwhelmed by blogging.

Maybe you’ve been placing unnecessary pressure on yourself to succeed.

Having confidence in who you are, what you do and how you encompass that into your brand message and unique selling point is one of the hardest parts when first starting out.

It can seem like you are just another number in a sea of thousands of other bloggers.

But I want you to know that you’ve got to believe in what you can offer to the blogging world.

Trust that you have exactly what your audience needs.

Sure, in the beginning, you may not know EXACTLY what your audience wants from you, but that’s all apart of the learning process of blogging.

By keeping your head down and creating content that you feel your audience would benefit from will help you create that confidence that you need.

But, if you’re still feeling unsure about starting a blog and making it successful, here are four quick things you can do to gain confidence.

1. The Numbers Don’t Dictate How You Feel

In the beginning, you may not have a lot of social shares, repins or pageviews.

Treat this as a GREAT thing for you!

This means you can truly do what you want on your blog until you are confident in telling the world about it. Go ahead and practice writing blog posts.

Go ahead and work on your pin graphics or setting up your Pinterest boards. Take that time when no one is showing up to your blog to take action and apply them.

Get your blogging knowledge filled and when it’s time, you’ll be ready!

2. Talk to Other Bloggers

Sometimes talking to other bloggers that are doing the same thing as you who are feeling the same way as you can help you gain that confidence.

Reach out in Facebook groups or email bloggers you follow and get some tips and strategies to help you out.

3. It Takes Consistency and Hard Work

I’m not going to lie and say starting a blog that generates a readership and income is easy.

It takes two main things: consistency and hard work.

You need to show up for your blog everyday. This might mean sharing your post on Facebook or replying to a comment or coming up with blog topics or writing that outline.

Do something for your blog everyday and it will pay off later.

And that takes hard work from you. I’m here to help and encourage you through this journey, but in the end, it comes to you taking action and doing the work 🙂

4. Connect With Your Readers

Wonder why you follow some blogs and not others?

It’s because of the blogger.

Remember this: I’ve been following many plant-based blogs and even though they are all about the same topic, each one has something a little bit different that is unique to them and makes me want to follow them.

It’s the same with the friends in your life. You have many friends and some friends you go to when you need help with a problem, while other friends you do activities with and have fun.

It’s the same with people who read blogs and for those that will end up reading YOUR blog 🙂

People follow bloggers, not blogs! When you build that connection with your readers, they will remember you and like you. Eventually, they will trust you enough to buy from you.

It doesn’t have to take much to connect with your readers on a more personal level:

  • Doing a Facebook live
  • “Messing up” in a video
  • Tending to your child during a Facebook Live
  • Making spelling mistakes in your email
  • Sharing who you are before you started a blog
  • Sharing your family
  • Sharing behind the scenes of your business
  • Your income and blog traffic reports
  • Answering emails from subscribers

Those little things all add up. People will remember that you responded with helpful advice. So, as a new blogger, work on building that connection over time.

There Ya Go!

Mamas, I know starting a blog is a big thing. You put everything into this one blog and hope for the best. I get you!

Before I started blogging, my husband and I were living in a one bedroom apartment – and I was pregnant with twins too! I never thought at that time I would be a blogger or make money by working from home.

Never in a million years.

But, now look – I’m here to tell you that you can do it also.

If you need help starting a blog, earning from your blog and gaining more traffic, check out my free blogging course!

Leave a Reply

12 Comments

I learn so much from you when I read your blogs (& FB group!). Thanks for putting in all the hard work so we can benefit. 😉 Here’s to hoping we can all stand out in some way! The “doing something for my blog every day” bit seems to be what I struggle with most because I’m still working full time 12 hour shifts right now. Some days I don’t even go on my site or on Pinterest. Can’t wait to be part time (after maternity leave!!) so I can focus a little more on my blog 🙂 *day dreaming…*Reply to Jamie
Hey Jamie, I get your struggle. Even though I do this full-time there are days where I’m a full-time mom and don’t touch my computer at all! That’s why I rely on social media tools like Tailwind and Buffer to make it appear like I’m online! 🙂 It’s an investment but worth it in the long run. I’m glad you have a blog plan for when you have maternity! Enjoy the rest of your week!Reply to Elna
This was great information. I only blog for fun now, but you never know. I’m betting mid-life crisis for women would be a hot topic??. Love your writing, it’s clean and flows well. Thanks for helping others, that always will be blessed!Reply to Chandra
Hey Chandra! Sounds like a hot niche topic! I say attract those readers and bump you income from your blog mama! 🙂Reply to Elna
This is encouraging to all of us newbies 🙂 Definitely going to share to my blogging group!Reply to Sarah
Hi Sarah! Thanks for sharing this post on how to stand out in an over saturated blog niche!Reply to Elna
Great info-packed post, Elna! You’re right, you really have to carve your own path and find the “empty space” to fill.Reply to Kim
Hey Kim, Yes! It’s hard when there are soo many of the same blogs. I’m finding I’m just another blog about blogging for women…so I’m always thinking, how can I make this more valuable for my readers to stand out?Reply to Elna
First off, this blog post is very helpful and you know what they say, you learn something new every day. I love the information you give out and you’re right about the whole people follow bloggers, not blogs. I follow you for a reason, it’s because you give out great content and I feel like I can connect with you more than other bloggers in your niche. I also wanted to point out about what you mentioned on podcasts. I have been really interested in making a podcast for my blog, but the thing is, it’s very hard to pull of a solo podcast. My question for you is, if you did make a podcast for your other website, would you do it solo? Btw, if I do start a podcast, I would love to have you on it, lol.Reply to Trish
Trish!!!! Thanks so much for your wonderful comment! I’m so humbled by all of this. First of all…YES! I would love to do a podcast with you…but I do like talking about blogging and things like that…so not sure what your direction is? Email me and we can talk! [email protected] As for doing a solo podcast, it can be done. I think most solo podcaster do interviews for most of their shows!Reply to Elna
Hey Elna! I didn’t know you stayed in a one bedroom apartment before you started blogging. You’ve come such a long way, Elna. And you’re so amazing. It gives so much hope to Newbie Bloggers like us. Thank you for this post. It was certainly most helpful. I haven’t used the Trending Feature on Pinterest yet! What a great idea! 😀 I usually enter keywords (regarding topics) that I want to talk about and see the top posts using those keywords. And then I have an idea of what posts do really well on Pinterest. I’ve recently joined your Facebook group and I’m really enjoying the experience. P.S. I just bought the Genius Blogger’s Toolkit and I’m enjoying it so, so much! There is oodles and oodles to learn! I’m so overwhelmed, but in a good way. 😀 Have you bought it yet? Let me know what are your favorite courses/eBooks. I’m currently loving Carly Campbell’s course on Affiliate Marketing.Reply to Angela
Hey Angela! Thanks so much! Yup, me and my hubby had some financial struggles after we were married and had to downsize. We had to move to a 1 bedroom apartment for a few years, save money so that we could have a family! I was fortunate to have my twins (even though that had complications too – I talk about all of this on Smart Mom Ideas), but we knew we couldn’t have twins in a one-bedroom apartment. We moved in with my inlaws and they helped out soo much that first year. From there we finally found a place of our own! And during that I started blogging! We have come a long way but there is always room to keep going. I love blogging and helping others and will continue to do it as long as I can! Yes, searching on Pinterest for keywords is a great strategy to find topics! As for the GBTK, I was a part of it last year and was able to try out all the courses and read the eBooks! Yes, I do have Carly’s Affiliate marketing book and am in her FB group! She has great insight as well! I hope you enjoy the GBTK and try not to get overwhelmed!Reply to Elna