Differences Between a Flagship and Niche Blog Explained

A Blog is a Blog is a Blog. Right?

Wrong. Each blog can have different goals and can cater to a different audience. Each blog needs to focus on different things to be optimized for success. Let’s look at the two broadest types of blogs and explain their differences.

Flagship Blog

Flagship blogs attempt to be a go-to resource on a broad topic. They attempt to educate readers on its topic and do not use very technical terms related to their topic in order to reach the widest audience.

• Traffic – Loyal readers comprise a majority of this types readership. Much traffic can also be generated from social networking or other blogs by the use of linkbait. Search Engine traffic can be had, but to a lesser degree.
• Monetization - Visitors have developed Ad Blindness. When they view a page that has some common form of advertising on it, such as Adsense, their minds blank it out. Popular solutions are to have 125×125 ads and sell monthly space on them. Another popular method is to charge for reviews. A popular service to do this is Review Me. Affiliate programs are also good monetization solutions.
• Content Goals – Posts should be frequent and should cater to the types of content that was used to get your loyal readership in the first place. Flagship blogs benefit by leveraging a blogging voice. Longer posts can also be used effectively.
• Subscription Method – Most people that are frequent visitors to flagship blogs are blog-savvy, meaning they know what RSS is and the will probably read your blog through their RSS reader.
• Requirements – To get the type of readership a flagship blog desires, the blog will have to promote itself among the blogosphere. This can be done through networking with other bloggers or generating good linkbait. Quality content is a must. Post types should also vary to ensure that the writing doesn’t get stale. Some ideas for alternate types of posts can be list-type, satirical, open-letter, photo-centric, humorous or perhaps an interview.
• Design – A typical flagship blog will consist of the following: Advertiser spots, RSS button somewhere near the top right of the site, Categories, Popular Posts, Recent Posts and some form of Search. Extra work should be put into making sure the color and layout of the blog are done well so as to making reading your blog effortless and unobtrusive.

Niche Blog

Niche blogs are focused on a specific area of a broader topic. They are experts in their topic and, depending on how narrow of a topic they choose, might be the only source available for their topic’s information

• Traffic – A large majority of traffic will come from search engines. Depending on how large of a niche has been chosen will determine if other traffic will come from related niche blogs and how effective linkbaiting will work.
• Monetization – It’s assumed that niche blog readership isn’t as influenced by ad blindness as flagship blogs are. PPC methodologies such as Adsense should work well. Another strategy is to do product reviews with links to purchase a product that will give you a portion of the sale, such as Amazon Associates.
• Content Goals – Many readers will be bounce readers, meaning visitors exit right after viewing the post. So a large emphasis should be placed on trying to convince people to visit other areas of your blog that they might find useful. That being said, most people found your blog because they asked a question to a search engine and your blog showed up, so make sure you answer their question.
• Subscription Method – RSS might be something that these readers do not understand. More emphasis should be put on letting visitors subscribe to your blog via e-mail.
• Requirements – Niche blogs need good SEO to succeed. Niche bloggers should also follow trends in their niche and try to write timely posts about breaking news in the niche.
• Design – A typical niche blog should consist of the following: Subscribe by email area, PPC areas, Related Posts, Popular Posts and an obvious search bar. The design focus should be on getting people to stay longer, so the contrast of certain blog elements should be experimented with to determine what types of content the readers most enjoy.