A Blog Without a Niche

Hello, hi, and welcome! I have been working on my blog for several months and after a lot of design and re-design I think it is finally ready to share. You may have stumbled across it when you found the link in one of my social media profiles, curiously wondering, “Well, well, well, what do we have here?” Or you may be one of my Twitter followers who saw a few tweets when I was testing Bitly and their short links. I’m sure you have already bookmarked my blog and are refreshing daily, eager to hear the latest update on my life. If I am describing you, I am sorry. You have probably been disappointed at my lack of content, disappearing content, and ever changing look. It’s been tough. Starting a blog without a specific vision is hard. I knew I wanted my blog to be a space for me to write about my life but beyond that, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to include or what I wanted it to look like. If your favorite version was the third one I updated seven days ago, again, I’m sorry. I had to keep refining it until I got it right. And I think I finally have, for now at least. In some ways, I’m still not exactly sure what all will make up this blog and that’s okay. I designed it so it has room to grow and evolve with me.
 
My first iteration was very minimalist and after looking at it every day I realized it wasn’t welcoming enough. I want my blog to be easy to navigate but also a place you want to come back to. The minimalist design wasn’t cozy enough for me. Yes, I believe a blog can be cozy! So, I set about making it as cozy as possible. You know, grab a blanket, a cup of coffee, and your favorite furry friend, kind of cozy.  Well, my attempt at cozy turned my blog design into a lot of borders, fancy script writing, and way too much blue. (Yes, I will admit it is possible to have too much blue but just this once.) Somehow, my blog had become too informal, too busy, and just didn’t feel like me. What you see today is the final result after a lot of compromising with myself. I wanted full-width images on my blog posts but they just didn’t look right. I wanted more blue accents but I finally had to accept that less is more. At times I found myself trying to force my blog to be something that it wasn’t ready to be. Over time I know it will change and that is good. There is a time and place in life for my blog to have full-width featured images and now is not that time. (It took me forever to get that code right so they were a tough thing to give up.) 
 
As I fine tuned the design I also worked on content. It is an ongoing process for me to understand what I want to say. I wanted my blog to fit in and have a real niche and well, it doesn’t. It’s niche-less. It simply does not fall into the lifestyle blog niche, which tends to focus on fashion, home design, recipes, etc. It’s certainly not an inspirational blog but don’t count out some amazing life advice I could share down the road. It’s definitely not a “mommy blog,” because well, you know. For now, I’m calling courtneycasto.com a “personal blog about a little bit of everything.” I can write about my favorite recipe, share what I’m reading, or just ramble out a stream of consciousness post if that’s what I need. I don’t want to feel obligated to write about a specific topic just so I can label my blog a certain way. I can accept that I won’t be invited to join a blogger group focused on a particular niche. Not forcing my blog into a niche will allow me the freedom to explore what I really want to say and how I want to say it. In the end, it is better to let courtneycasto.com find its niche naturally. I know that’s what I’m trying to do in life so my blog will just have to be along for the ride.

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2 Comments

  1. Lo Kent on June 28, 2017 at 10:45 am

    I like that you’re almost trying to incorporate Hygge into your blog – a cozy place to some sounds like a swell place to me!

    Lo
    http://www.themixtures.com

    • Courtney A. Casto on June 28, 2017 at 2:08 pm

      Thanks Lo! I wasn’t familiar with the word Hygge but after some googling I like it! Cozy is always good. Thanks for reading!

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