In a world where there are a million and one blogs out there and each one has it’s own take on something or falls into a certain category, sometimes it’s hard to tell them all apart.  Sometimes one lifestyle blog looks just like another lifestyle blog, or this travel blogger is giving the same advice as this travel blogger – how do we differentiate ourselves to make our own blogs stand out among the crowd?

One of the biggest things in my experience here on Land of Marvels has been to figure out what my expertise is versus someone else.  Why would someone read my blog versus another travel blogger and what information would they gain.  So if you’re just starting out blogging or if you’ve been at it for a while, I think as bloggers, we all need to stop every once in a while and think about what we’re offering the blogosphere and to do that, we need to figure out what our expertise is and what is is that we can individually offer and here’s my thoughts on how to do that.

First, ask yourself what niche your blog fits into?

I think one thing that a lot of bloggers do is try to fit into a lot of categories.  As a reader though, I prefer to know what type of blog I’m reading.  That’s not to say it can’t overlap a couple categories, but I wouldn’t suggest trying to have a lifestyle – travel – fashion – cooking blog.  Because if you do, then readers will start to wonder, are you really an expert in all of those categories.  Pick one or two and go from there.

In that niche, what makes your blog unique?

So within those categories that your blog fits into, what makes it unique?  Is it a good design or an active readership?  Figure out how to set yourself apart from the millions of other blogs out there really similar to yours.

What is your expertise?

This seems like it’s often hard for people and bloggers specifically, but the great blogs out there have a real trust with their readers that what the blogger is writing is truly their expertise.  I travel a lot, therefore, I know more about travel than the average person, so I feel comfortable sharing my travel experiences and tips with people who don’t travel a lot.  I also grew up abroad as an expat kid, so a lot of my expertise or opinions on things stem from my experience during that part of my life that other people might not have.  Take what you know a lot about and parlay that into your expertise – writing about that on your blog.

How can you add your expertise to your blog so that readers know immediately what that entails?

Going off of the expertise you came up with from above, then think about how you actually merge that with your blog.  Do your readers know your story?  If not, how can you relay it to them?  Do your posts reflect the expertise you are saying you have?  One of the ways I’ve done this on Land of Marvels is through my popular Travel Tips series.  Over the years, I’ve shared travel tips for things all over the map for readers to learn from my mistakes and pick up tidbits of knowledge along the way, sometimes that I’ve learned the hard way, saving them the hassle.  Figure out how to relay your expertise into meaningful communication with your readers and go from there!

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