Make Money Creating Content You Actually Love No.02
It’s not you, it’s me is a traditional way of breaking up with someone, pre-internet days. I’m pretty sure it’s a line that is used still to this day amongst us 40-something folk. Ha! Regardless, it’s true for branding as well. Let me explain.
I highly recommend striving to make money creating content you actually love. or at least have a fair amount of interest in, considering your needs first before identifying your target audience.
Long-term strategic creation requires having something you’ll want to keep pursuing, even through the boredom and ghost-town phases.
I’m talking to the creator who wants a personal brand and something that will stick with them for some time. This is not an article for the creator who wants to only build a business with the intention of selling.
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Do I have to choose a niche?
You may have heard over and over, time and time again, that you have to choose ONE niche, ONE passion, ONE topic as a content creator.
But what if I told you that you didn’t have to choose just ONE niche, but instead choose ONE MESSAGE that ties all your passions together?
Intrigued? Keep reading, new friend!How Do I choose the right niche?
Instead of narrowing in on a niche, how about we think more about how to make money creating content you actually love? After all, when you’re genuinely passionate about a topic or many topics, WHY box yourself in? Especially when there’s a proven way to structure a lifestyle brand that meets your needs as a creator, but also provides value to your target audience.
The secret to being a successful creator with many passions is to have a common message for a target audience. This will tie everything together in a way that makes sense and allows you to grow your brand without limitation.
how to find a common message with lifestyle niche?
So how do you sift through all the ideas in your brain and your heart in order to even start building a lifestyle brand? You must break all the ideas down to find a commonality.
A common message meant for a more targeted audience can prove to be incredibly powerful and profitable!
13 ways to Create A lifestyle blogging niche (with many topics)
Being genuine in your mission to provide value is the key to success, along with finding a target audience to create content for. So keep this in mind as you navigate these next 13 ways to create a thriving lifestyle brand or lifestyle blog.
- Start by identifying your target audience and the topics that you and they are interested in. Think of this as a mutual relationship. Y’all are both into it!
- Research all the topics that come to mind and narrow it down to 5 or 6 final topics that you’d love to grow into a profitable business.
- Find ways to make your content stand out from the crowd. Having a more niched target audience (vs a targeted topic niche) could serve you well here! For instance, Girl planted is a lifestyle blog written for 40 year old women, by me, a 40 year old woman.
- Unless you want to be a silent creator (like me) utilizing social media to engage with your audience and promote your content is a great idea. If you’d like to learn more about silent content creation, click here to submit a question and I’ll write up a blog post soon for you.
- Create a blog series within each of your chosen topics that follows a common theme or message to your target audience. I’m doing that very thing with the article you’re reading now. It is a part of my How To Build A Brand series.
- Develop relationships with other lifestyle bloggers in your niche. Guest write for their blog and invite them to guest write for yours! This is actually an incredible way to rank higher in search inquiries (aka backlinks).
- Reach out to social media micro-influencers that fall within your lifestyle blog topics AND are genuine in their relationship with their followers. Really do your research. Despite what you may think, it’s not about the high number of followers someone has. I know this from personal experience and have worked with many brands and influencers, of all sizes.
- Incorporate amazing visual elements into your content to make it more engaging. Visual elements that compliment your brand’s vibes could get you noticed quicker (especially on an image/video search engine like Pinterest).
- Use keywords and SEO techniques to increase the visibility of your content. This is a beast of a subject!
- Connect with your audience on a personal level by telling stories and providing helpful advice. Don’t just be or use an AI robot to write your articles. Do some storytelling and connect personally. This is more vital now than ever before, with AI being marketed everywhere right now.
- Promote your content to relevant forums and discussion boards. Facebook groups, Reddit, Pinterest are great places to start. The trick here is to join and be helpful first. Always go into your marketing efforts with others being served before yourself and that good karma will pay ya back, fully.
- Participate in online and offline events related to your niche! If you have identified a target audience based on location (which is a fantastic idea!) networking with local businesses could be the marketing partnerships of your dreams!
- Monitor your analytics to see how your content is performing and make changes as needed. My motto is to LAUNCH then tweak as ya go.
How Can I Narrow Down My Lifestyle Topics?
Are you having trouble choosing just 5 or 6? Which honestly, is quite a few topics in a lifestyle brand anyway. But I totally get it.
I’m a multi-passionate creator myself and have SO many interests, ideas and passions, I drive myself crazy.
So I came up with something I think is really cool and effective. I call it “The Brand Breakdown.”
The Brand Breakdown
Make Money Creating Content You Actually Love by breaking down ALL your ideas until everything makes sense! In other words, gain brand clarity, my friend!
Your lifestyle brand can be ANYTHING you want it to be. This is my EXACT method for breaking down any new idea I have for my own brands.
It’s also what I use during consults with my Biz BFF’s who need a little help finding a common message that ties all ideas together AND directly helps you take action (getting from point A to point B).
Again, this is a fantastic way to gain brand clarity.
free Printable
To save this free printable worksheet, just click on the image, save to your device and print out as many times as you need.
Do you have Procreate or another PDF digital program on your phone or tablet? Save this file and open it in the program of your choice. Make a duplicate copy, then digitally write down all your ideas and save in one place.
Please note that I carry the copyright for this worksheet and you are allowed to utilize it for personal use only. You may not claim this as your own or copy any of the content. All rights reserved ©️ Bri Alli and GirlPlanted.com
Final Thoughts
I was having trouble connecting everything I loved doing or making as a content creator, with a common message, so nothing really made sense. I was just throwing content out there and seeing very little growth. Ultimately I lacked a strategy.
Once I found a way to connect all my passions with a common message that felt really damn good, that I could commit to AND be consistent with, my brand came together in a magical way. And I started making money with multiple, active income streams.
I truly believe the brand you dream up, build and launch should fill your soul with warm fuzzies and glitter. It should also be strategic and profitable.
Missed lesson 1?
ALL ARTICLES IN THE HOW TO BUILD A BRAND IN 7 DAYS SERIES
- LESSON ONE: What Is Branding Anyway
- LESSON TWO: Make Money Creating Content You Actually Love
- LESSON THREE: How To Figure Out Who You're Talking To
- LESSON FOUR: Create A Killer Mission Statement
- LESSON FIVE: Get Your Mood Board On
- LESSON SIX: DIY Branding With Canva
- LESSON SEVEN: Create A Blogging Business Plan
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