This is part 3 in our continuing series on blogging. First, I shared why writers should blog, and then I gave the four elements of a post. Today’s topic is the one key thing we must do before our first post: develop a blogging theme.
For my first blog Musings, I wrote about anything and everything, whatever came to mind. One day I’d blog about family and the next, politics. Following that might be a post about my yard and then, sports. I wrote about nature and weather, about geeky things and spiritual things; sometimes I’d be funny and other times, serious. Other topics included entertainment, travel, holidays, business, animals, writing, the seasons, and more. I was all over the place, and at one time, my tagline was “the musings of a meandering mind.”
My blog failed to find an audience; even the family eventually gave up. I needed focus. Though my original blog is still there and receives an occasional update, I’ve started two other blogs to address specific topics I’m passionate about.
My primary blog addresses biblical spirituality, where I post multiple times a week. This is my other blog and covers writing; I post each Saturday. For both, their respective themes focus my writing and present readers with consistency.
It took time to find my theme. First, I listed topics I was passionate about and what I enjoyed covering. Then, I eliminated those I didn’t want to regularly write about and those where I didn’t have much to say. Of the five remaining items, I asked, “If I had to pick only one, what would it be?” The answer was biblical spirituality. (Writing was second, so I do this blog for fun and variety.)
If your blog doesn’t have a theme or focus, it will likely flounder as mine did for years, but when you follow a theme, you will build an audience.
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Peter Lyle DeHaan is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book Successful Author FAQs for insider tips and insights.
9 replies on “Why Every Blog Needs a Theme”
Friends. Family. Faith. And, of course, fairy tales, create the overall theme of my blog. Sticking to these topics definitely helps to keep my blogging focused. Great post, Peter!
Excellent! (Great alliteration!)
Jennifer, fairy tales are awesome! 🙂
This is great food for thought! I couldn’t think of a specific theme, so I just started blogging randomly (and the title of my blog leaves plenty of room for any subject as well). However, as I write, I am starting to see some themes emerge.
That’s great that you see themes. They will narrow your focus. Happy blogging!
Mercy – a journey away from cynicism, although I think I am losing steam on that one. My other blog is about autism (under a pen name), which continues to draw a regular audience.
I understand that narrower topics are better: there’s less competing voices, and followers are more loyal. So autism seems like the better topic.
I absolutely get what you’re saying, Peter. My blog is focused on Acoustic Neuroma brain tumor issues and my book Smiling Again – and I’m trying to keep that as the focus. I want to have a more fun blog, which I’ll be launching soon under sallystap.com. I haven’t quite decided what that theme should be since “fun” is a bit vague.
That sounds like “fun!”
(BTW, great picture on . Did you take it?)