Calvin’s Hub

Blogs are becoming powerful these days even in a small country like ours and they will become more popular in the future being another medium for companies and ad agencies to promote their products and campaigns.

If you are serious in blogging then maybe it’s time to think of giving more focus to your blog. Take care of it, establish connections, foster a healthy community and you will find it to be rewarding not just the AdSense way.

For casual blogs, forget about AdSense income but try to see the things beyond it. Ok if you want AdSense income then go do a boring, financial blog. But if you want to have fun maintaining your blog and get something out of it as well, check out these popular blog niches and what kind of perks they entail.

1. Food Blog

Food blogs can be a nice side blog. Recipes, restaurants and food are the topics and the nice thing about it is you don’t have to maintain it daily. And what do PR agencies ask of you? Just promote the place or food or write about a promo. Easy peasy.

Perks: If you somehow become part of a regular foodie blog group, expect to get invited to taste tests in different restaurants. Yep, food establishments are now connecting to bloggers especially those who have a healthy following.

You can check out Blogalag and maybe ask her how to get in touch with a foodie blogger’s group.

2. Travel Blog

It’s not as easy to write about travel guides especially if you want to be as OC as me but you also don’t have to write on it regularly. Unless you travel a lot that is.

Perks: If you’re a respected travel blog, expect some free accommodations, free travel tours in and out of the country and even try out gadgets related to traveling. Tourism board really loves the travel bloggers out there.

This is more difficult to write but competition is not yet high here in our country. And IMHO having a good travel blog is the most rewarding. I really enjoy reading comments about people thanking me for posting my guides. I’m not a travel blog though, hehehe. Not yet anyway.

Check out Let’s Go Sago and ask him how to be included in a travel network.

3. Entertainment Blog

Probably the most difficult blog to maintain. You would be competing with Pep.ph, Starmometer and other showbiz blogs. You need to have a different twist in order to succeed and be updated as much as possible.

Perks: All-access to a lot of exclusive events, concerts and brush shoulders with celebrities. Simply bragging rights for Facebook really.

Not my cup of tea with all those social parties and cocktails. But if you want to be the local Perez Hilton then go cover some showbiz events. Here’s a tip, always bring a DSLR and celebrities wouldn’t mind posing for you.

Go Azrael. Bug this guy if you want to learn the secrets of getting something out of your entertainment blog. Who says you can’t have a successful blog with blogspot?

4. Technology Blog

Ahh. Here’s where I’m at home. For me this is the most lucrative niche blog out there but it requires a lot of dedication to your craft and a bit of technical know-how in a lot of tech stuff.

Perks: Laptops, cameras, mobile phones and other gadgets for review. Lots of events with good food and a chance to win in raffles. Travel out of town or out of the country for a junket or a launch event. It’s like combining the perks of all the niches I just talked about. You get to own a LOT of USB drives too. Hehehe.

If you want to be a good tech blog, you need to cover a lot of areas in the tech world. Read other tech blogs to get the feel of what’s new. The important thing here is to sound knowledgeable in whatever the topic you are writing.

Ask TechPinas how he got an invite from Nokia to go to Singapore for an expo.

5. Lifestyle Blog

The ultimate blog. You can get away with everything. It’s the new personal blog according to Yugatech. It’s not really a niche because you can write about fashion, sports, tech, travel… everything really.

Perks: A little bit of everything depending on your focus once you gain status and connections. Gadgets, events, travel, movie tix, discounts. It’s a real treat having a successful lifestyle blog.

This may sound the best deal out there but it’s also the hardest niche to invade. There’ are just a lot of personal/lifestyle blogs out there already and you will be vying for their traffic. What you need here is to be sociable.

FlairCandy is a good example of a lifestyle blog that has gone a long way. Ask her to share her connections. Hehehe.

Conclusion

So what’s your blog’s niche? Blogging is really a very good hobby for students and professionals alike. It’s not a waste of time. You may not earn a lot but you can optimize your blog to get something in return aside from personal satisfaction.

Watch out for a blogger’s events and contests and join that and make the most out of it. Mingle with other bloggers and trade links.

The important things that advertisers and PR agencies look for is the traffic, the influence and relevance to the niche and the active discussions found in a blog. Get those and start making connections.

You may also want to check out The 3 C’s of a Successful Blog.

You might also be interested in:

• How attached are you with your blog?
• How was your blog the past year?
• A blogger’s journey earning through his blog
• The 3 C’s of a Successful Blog

Filed under: Blogging Experience