If it was about ten or more years ago now that success stories about bloggers peaked then one would justifiably guess that that particular niche would be saturated by now. How many more blogs have since come into being and died? I mean even if you pose this question taking into account a specific niche within the overall blogging niche, like perhaps the health & fitness niche, the numbers make for some scary reading when you consider just how many other bloggers in the same niche you’ll effectively be competing with.
How saturated is it?
In terms of numbers the answer to the question of whether or not the blogging niche is saturated is a resounding yes, but if you look at it from the point of view of someone who doesn’t only consider the numbers you’ll realise that there is still so much opportunity to harness. It’s far from being saturated if you can look beyond the numbers.
Just for an idea of how saturated the blogging niche is by way of your specific topic and the associated numbers, a simple Google search will do and you’d have to work with the numbers as they’re spat out by the results because you won’t only be coming up against other bloggers. You’re up against all content production channels addressing your specific niche or topic.
Handy hint: when researching keywords or key phrases you want to specifically target, type them into the Google search bar in inverted commas, then you’ll only get results which match the phrase exactly.
Blog monetisation channels
Just to briefly go over the traditional blog monetisation channels, naturally the ultimate aim is generating an income through advertising and there are all manner of different types of advertising suited to blog monetisation. Content sponsorship is perhaps the best in that you’d effectively be getting paid to discuss the sponsor’s product, service or whatever topic they desire, perhaps with a link to their sales page or a feature of their marketing material, but bloggers aim to take this a step further and perhaps get themselves a sample of those products or services they’re effectively advertising for their sponsors.
If you’re a travel blogger for example, wouldn’t it be nice if you were paid $300 to publish a post about a specific airline in addition to perhaps getting yourself a complimentary return ticket to an exotic destination from that same airline?
Passion first
Now getting into how you can beat the apparent saturation – it’s going to come across as a cliché, but it’s every bit as true. You need to blog about a topic you’re passionate about because there will be times when you’ll need to keep producing content without any whiff of any impending financial rewards.
Look, there are some exceptions to the rule in the form of fast-tracked success stories, but for you to finally see some success as a blogger you have to pay your dues by way of time and effort. It takes a while for your content to be indexed for organic traffic for example and for you to build up the kind of following which can be monetised in a number of different ways.