Over the weekend I was reading through The Blogger's Guide to Online Marketing, and working through some of the action items - applying them to the new niche blog I started a few months ago.
One of the things that caught my attention while reading was the different types of bloggers outlined on Page 14, and how knowing which of those three roles you play in the market influences how you relate to them - or them to you.
It can be easy to assume the wrong role, or one that's less natural for you, making it more difficult to find your place within the niche...
The three types of bloggers discussed were:
- Inspiration
- Expert
- Support
Again, that section is on Page 14 if you have a copy of the guide.
An inspirational blogger is someone you can relate to, and someone that is achieving or doing the thing that you want to achieve yourself. You can learn from their mistakes, get new ideas from them, and even be inspired seeing what to expect as you work toward the same goals.
An expert blogger is someone that is successful and has helped others achieve the same success - in any given niche, or on any topic. It might be someone that is a skydiving instructor sharing tips and advice, and making recommendations from professional experience for example.
A supportive blogger is one that encourages and motivates you. It's someone you respect and trust, and someone that is there with ideas and support as you work toward something. An example might be a weight loss blogger that hosts a weekly weigh-in, and blogs on topics that take away all your excuses.
All of these roles are important in the blogosphere. Consider the variety of blogs you read yourself. A blogger can even assume more than one of these roles, and in some cases all three.
The key is in knowing WHICH type of blogger you are, as it affects so many aspects of your online business. Not knowing, or assuming the wrong role, can cause conflict - and make it difficult for you and your market to relate well to each other.
Just some food for thought. 😀
I found this insightful and thought-provoking myself, even after blogging full time for more than 8 years now. The entire guide is chock full of ideas and action items that I am giving a lot of consideration.
Speaking of, those who own the guide are meeting online this Wednesday (Sept 14th, 8pm Eastern) for a live Q&A with Darren Rowse (aka Problogger), Chris Garrett and "The Ninja" (a key member of the Problogger team).
The live call is free to those who have the guide - which is more of a kit, actually. And it's still 50% off. I believe this is the last week for the sale.
You can order it here if you're interested in blog marketing, and in attending the live call - or getting the recording - as part of the package (no cost for the brainstorming call).
I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this. Are you confident in your role, or combination of roles, or are you still trying to find your place in your market? What role do you feel I take here at ClickNewz, versus the role I take on my niche blog at TravelingLowCarb.com?
Best,
About Lynn Terry
I like to think I'm a combination of all three types. As a CHL instructor, I fill multiple roles; instructor (expert), coach (support), cheerleader (inspiration). I try to tie my classes into ordinary-life lessons as much as possible, as in my blog post this morning: http://chl-tx.com/2011/09/commuting-as-a-competitive-sport/
I would say that you are the inspiration and the expert here at Clicknewz. You clearly show that you know what you're doing and share the information about how you got it done. I think a lot of people want to be the expert, but they aren't willing to share key pieces of the information, leaving their audience disappointed.
But, you're also the inspiration because you have a story, a powerful and inspiring story. You're also the inspiration because you aren't afraid to admit when you make a mistake online and you share that information too. We're all learning and growing together.
Good points. And I like what you said about the audience being disappointed. This often happens when you assume the wrong role, or one that's not more natural for you.
On my low carb blog for example, I don't claim to be an expert or speak like one. I simply share my personal experiences. If I tried to compete with the experts in the niche, it would be more difficult for me to write - making my content less natural and less appealing...
What a thought provoking post/topic. In my Parenting My Teen role I can clearly see that I would fall under the "Expert" blogger since the site is 100% designed to provide tips and advice all about the topic of parenting pre teens and teenagers. For my Life coaching site however, I am not sure if it would fall under Inspiration or Support. I wonder if a blog could be a mix of 2 categories?
I think I am very confident in my roll on my sites and Lynn, you here at ClickNewz definately take up the Expert category but also the Support one too. So, I suppose you can mix 2 of the 3 types of bloggers on one site.
You can certainly assume more than one role on any site or in any niche, and even all three in some cases. When you add in my private forum with accountability groups & monthly challenges - I fall into all three roles here at ClickNewz.
On my low carb blog, it would be just one: Inspiration. The guide defines it in more detail than I did here, but basically it's a blogger that is on the same path you are (or want to be) and sharing finds & experiences along the way. As well as results - which is where the inspiration comes in.
I like to see myself as the type of blogger that is inspirational and supportive. I started my blog to point people to resources that would help them in their journey to entrepreneurship. I know there are people that have more expertise than I do. I just want to be the one that gets my reader to the person that can help them the post.
Great article, Lynn, as usually. I'm not sure so far which kind of blogger I am, I think you need to find your voice with time or you are simply a mix of these types. I love the idea of discussing different parts of the book here, makes it more enjoyable, I´m also just reading through it and wondering if I should develop different users. I'm pretty sure it will help me. Today I decided, while writing a review, that I´m going to take the 31 days to build a better blog challenge (on my own). I will go through each task and share my ideas on the blog. Maybe it encourages others to join me and share their experiences (which would be GREAT) but at least this way I make a comitment to my readers that I go through all 31 days. Fun so far! I guess I could do as well with the Marketing guide which is really great so far!
I'm enjoying the guide too, and it's fun to discuss specific bits from it here. 🙂 I am reading back through it slowly and taking action on each task item, and giving more thought to the concepts brought out in each chapter. It's great to take a guide like this and spread it out into a series or a public challenge - have fun with it!
I agree too that you find your voice as you go most often. I did not start out with a specific "title" on my low carb blog for example. Though in hindsight I wish I had this guide in hand when I started that niche site. It's very useful to consider these things upfront!
The same case with ClickNewz too. I simply started talking to empty space and documenting things I was doing/reading/etc. It took me years to find my voice and my place in the market (as a blogger).
This guide can really fast forward the whole process though, and I highly recommend it as a guideline for starting in a new niche. 😉
I would say we fall under the expert/support categories. But I guess if you provide good enough support and expert advice it can morph into an inspirational post because everything is laid out in a way that anyone can do it. Here's hoping we are all fall into the inspiration category!
The inspirational blogger is a non-expert. It's simply an individual sharing their personal story. It might be a guy that gets into building and flying RC helicopters and shares all the details along the way. Then other people that want to get into that enjoy following along and learning from his mistakes & such. Make sense?
Hi Lynn, the three types of bloggers is interesting. Personally, I'd prefer to be an expert blogger but if I'm going to be honest with myself I'd have to say I'm a supportive blogger. I can't see it paying as well but I can see moving toward an expert blogger.
I love your weight loss niche blog BTW.
Thank you 🙂 Actually, all three roles have great profit potential. People mistakenly assume it's only the experts that are making the money - but that's not always true.
My blog tends to fall in the support/expert type category.
I would like to be a supper blogger: support + expert + inspiration 🙂
i guess i am somewhere between inspirational and expert. I guess i lead by example (or inspire by example, in this case :P:)
Is it possible to be a different kind of blogger across different niches? I've worked on a few blogs off and on over the years, but for the latest one I've been focusing on, I'd like to think of myself as coming across as an "expert" to those who are just learning about wine, but there's MUCH more work to be done!
Absolutely. I assume different roles on different blogs myself. 😉
Hi Lynn,
Its clear that spending time finding your audience isn't wasted, and it makes complete sense to identify the role your blog takes in order to offer up 'value' to them. Knowing those two criteria makes blogging much easier than staring at a blanck page and wondering what your going to talk about next.
Mark
I think I'm the inspirational type. Whenever I make a site or a blog I always make it a point to have fun and basically enjoy what I really love to do instead of making it a business.
You are definitely an expert blogger.
I don't think it's possible to be more than one with one blog. Should you want to break into the other two then I guess you could start another blog. I've got tons of blogs but I don't think any of them are in the support category for some reason.
It actually *is* possible. I cover all three roles here at ClickNewz - with my personal story, my 14+ years of professional experience, and my private brainstorming group. Combined, it covers them all.
Not the case on my low carb blog though. I stick to the Inspirational role, and really enjoy that on that particular blog. 😀
Lynn: This comment is not related to the discussion. I read on ClickNewz
several days ago (somewhere!) your comment about having several websites that you built several yrs. ago that still earn but you no longer do anything to them. Have you written about this model on ClickNewz and can you point me in the right direction?
Great question! I just answered it here:
http://www.clicknewz.com/3121/passive-income-with-seo/
😀
I have found that the owner of this blog is very supportive and create motivation in her readers.The blogger is popular among the folks because of caring attitude towards readers.I think she know the soul of blogging.
The one who is good at speaking out his heart is the one who generally proves to be quite successful in the market. Readers obviously would want someone who takes them through the inside out of the story. Generally, these are the ones who are termed under the category of Inspirational or Supportive blogger. While the expert ones only give us theoretical knowledge and are good in selling of their products easily.
Being a mature-aged non-techie newbie, I never gave a thought to what sort of blogger I would be.
For my first (and only) site, so far, I opted for a self help blog.
It's a work in progress, and the site lacks "bells and whistles", but I like to think it fits at least the inspiration and support categories.
I am thinking about starting a blog. This is good resource now I can choose what kind of blogger I want to be.
Thanks.
-Rosie
I will not be able to judge myself on the basis of these 3 points because I am a blogger of fluctuating mind. So sometimes I become very emotional while writing my blog, sometimes I can be called as an expert while sometimes as a support. Actually it depends on the topic on which I write. I don’t have a great fan following but yes no matter how many readers I have on my blog I still make it a point that I keep updating it.
Support bloggers I think are essential in that way you can assist others as well are highly sought blogs for people, I personally prefer these types of blogs, but it is good to test with the three kinds of bloggers.
Hey that’s a nice way of bifurcation. Bifurcating between the bloggers will actually make the blogger realize under which category they exactly fall. Also looking at their rating some of the bloggers might even like to improvise on their skill set and also would like to work hard in the other two categories in which they cannot include themselves.
A mixture of all three categories would be called as a creative Blogger. You need to keep changing your views and opinions with the change in topic. It’s not a mandate that every time you get the topics on which you like to write. At times there may be blogs related to the technical field, electronics, science, arts and many other categories. You need to be prepared for every topic and should have a good knowledge of all.
I am not a blogger neither am I a writer but yes if I were to rate some of the bloggers I would surely do the honors of rating all of the well known bloggers. For instance, I would group Joyce under the category of an inspirational blogger whereas Edwin and John Dilbeck would be grouped under the category of experts.
In my opinion differentiating between bloggers would not be a good idea as this may make them feel that they excel in only one of the above mentioned categories. This might de-motivate them while for some other bloggers it would be a factor which would encourage them to try getting into the other categories as well. I am not a blogger but I still understand the concept of blogging well.
I think a blogger may not like categorizing himself under these three groups. It’s only the readers who can rate their favorite bloggers accordingly and group them. Bloggers have a creative mind and can write on any topic provided they have set their mind for that particular topic. My readers have a poll that I am a mixed personality as I keep writing on whatever topic I feel like. So may it be technical, personal or an inspirational blog.
Hey that’s a good idea of identifying the category in which you fall. I think I fall under the category of an expert blogger since I think I am not an inspirational or a supportive blogger. I cannot influence people by my words I can just share my knowledge in terms of the latest updates or anything related to the computer. I can be called a techie.
You being a blogger yourself will not be able to determine whether under which category you fall. The only way of knowing your self is through your visitors. For instance you can mail a feedback form to your regular visitors and ask them to give you a true feedback also ask them to rate you under these 3 categories. This idea will help you to determine yourself.
If I was a blogger and I would have asked my visitors to give me a feedback as to how well am I with blogging and also under which category do I fit, than I am very sure that my readers would rate me under the category of an Emotional and an Inspirational blogger. Yes I agree that I am too emotional.
Hey good to see such a concept of bifurcating the bloggers in the above mentioned 3 categories. I have seen some bloggers who are very particular about how they present their blogs. Some of them are even those who only like to write on the topics related to the technical part or even some of them are keen on just updating their visitors on the topics that happen in day to day life i.e. The latest updates.
Among all the above mentioned 3 bloggers I think if I were to group myself I would have rated myself under the category of an expert blogger. I am a computer engineer handling the technical department of my company. I don’t have any idea regarding the personal life of people so I think I can be grouped only under the expert category.
Defining a blogger is a difficult task because you never know what kind of a mood is a blogger at the spur of the moment and so depending upon his thinking and interest at that given point of time, he may choose anything that he wishes to write on. So I think rating a blogger from the above mentioned groups can only be done considering one or two of his articles or blogs and not all of them.