Narrowing Niches

Narrow Your Niche Topic? Split off a Sub-Niche?

Most of us have heard we need to "niche-down" or keep our niche narrow and focused. And it's true. Just as WA teaches, it's easier to get a good footing for our sites if they are a specific niche, rather than all over a major topic.

For instance, if your niche is about pets, you might consider a niche about one specific type of pet, such as cats. You might even niche down a bit more to one breed, such as Birman Cats. Or perhaps you want to choose "cat accessories" or "training your pet cat".

I recently discovered that one of my sites had a sub-niche that needed to be it's own site. I toyed with the idea of just keeping it on the main site. After all, I already had the audience building and the site was over 2 years old. But eventually I realized it really needed to be on its own.

And this actually happened on two of my aged sites. Yes, two new sites from sub-niches.

Yes, another 2 sites became necessary. I don't mind having another site--I run several. But it does require some time to build your audience and even time for Google to notice you.

Thankfully, I have some help with the sites.

I certainly could not run all alone. Even with AI writing, having help when you expand makes life much more manageable, in my experience.

Other Possible Route?

Could I have chosen a different way to handle the sub-niche and kept it on the main site? Yes, I have done that before. And it can work. For instance, with the cat example I had before. You could start with one breed, then add a related breed. You can keep adding breeds.

Or, with the cat example, you can add sub-niches like "toys for your Birman" and "how to train your Birman". Sub-niches can certainly work, if they relate to your niche.

That way, you keep your audience and continue with an already aged site. It has benefits.

In the case of my 2 sites that I added, one definitely was far enough from the intended focus that it needed to be it's own site, even though it started on the original. The other could have stayed as a sub-niche on the other site, but I wanted to really drive in the focus of the new sub-niche. It seemed best to split it, even though the audience needs to be built.

To do that, I will certainly invite people on the original site to check out it's new sister-site. That has worked for me before, so hoping again!

Your Experience with Splitting?

Have you ever found a need to split your existing site into two (or more!) sites? I'd like to hear about your experiences. Please comment below.