A Non-Competitive Niche.Good or Bad? A Dying Niche?
Feel free to ignore. Writing out my thoughts because I process everything better that way.
When I first started my training, I was pretty sure I wanted to go in the "eco" direction with my niche because it was what I was interested in and I thought it would be a great way to challenge myself to learn more about things I could be doing a little better in my life. As I thought more and more, I realized cloth diapers would be a perfect niche for me. I had 5 years of experience using cloth diapers and had a vast amount of knowledge. It is a topic I get excited about and I love to help others with it (though I admit I don't know many others personally who do it!)
I was able to get my website up and running pretty quickly. I wrote a wealth of articles related to cloth diapers, and I even made an Amazon cloth diaper sale just shy of my 3-month mark. I think that's pretty good! It thought it showed me there was viability in my niche.
I've also expanded my niche a little bit to include reducing waste in general, not just diaper waste. I also write about eco-friendly cleaning products. It's definitely not my main niche, but I've got a few articles under that topic.
I was watching one of Jay's webinars the other night and got the brilliant idea to reach out to other cloth diaper sites and see if they would allow me to guest post. I did a search and realized there weren't many opportunities...and the one true cloth diaper advocacy organization I found that had a "write for us!" option also happened to shut down end of 2017.
There were other more general sites, either for parenting or eco-friendly general topics, that did look like they accepted cloth diaper posts from guest bloggers, so I'm still holding out hope for those.
Then the other day I was doing some competition research because I want to create my own product this year--I was thinking a "Cloth Diapering 101" course with videos and all sorts of goodies. I wanted to see what other cloth diaper bloggers were doing and how much they were charging.
All of the top cloth diaper sites I found in the first couple pages of Google search haven't been updated in years.
I don't know if this is good or bad--is it a huge opportunity for me, or is there a reason bloggers in this very small specialty niche aren't as active in present days?
If the cloth diaper niche IS dying, why are we increasingly worried about plastic and trying to reduce the amount of plastic we use on a daily basis, going crazy for glass Tupperware and beeswax wraps because Saran Wrap is the devil now, but we are completely overlooking the fact that the outer lining on a disposable diaper is made from polyethelene...which is the same plastic that plastic food wrap is made of?
I can't figure out why we (or "green people") are so personally convicted about throwing out pieces of Saran Wrap that might be, what, 1 piece a day on the high end for people who use it a lot, or a couple times a week otherwise....but throwing out 7-10 disposable diapers a day....no big deal. Apparently we are a society that's on board with reducing waste when it looks cute, but if it involves a little bit of extra laundry, then we stick our heads in the sands over it. (I'm saying this with no judgement even though it sounds very judgmental...I promise! LOL)
The statistics don't lie--I read a local article (Twin Cities) the other day that said even though we have increased recycling measures and incinerating garbage, our landfills are filling 30% faster than they were a decade ago, and our local landfills are rapidly running out of space.
I'm just trying to figure out where the disconnect is so I can address it...or if there even is a disconnect! Maybe I'm sounding judgmental for no reason and this really isn't the case.
I just know I need to figure out how to brand myself now for longevity.
But maybe I'm worried for nothing. I KNOW people still use cloth diapers and it seems that more and more people are using them all the time. I'm in many cloth diaper Facebook groups as an active participant, and I'm seeing them grow and grow. 5 years ago I got a lot of my info from forums, and nowadays there are TONS of cloth diaper groups on Facebook. It seems like it's growing (though I don't have hard stats)...so where are the bloggers?
Are these big cloth diaper bloggers just silent simply because their kids have grown and are no longer in diapers, so they're less interested? And they branded themselves in a way that made it hard to continue when they were out of that stage in life?
Or did they quit because there was no money to be made? Or they're satisfied enough with the amount of passive income they're receiving and not looking to grow right now?
I'll never know I guess. I just have to hope I didn't pick a dead end myself.
There are other active blogs that have cloth diaper articles, but their overall niche is much more general (like "mommy blogs").
While I'm never giving up on my diaper site, it makes me wonder if I should start looking at a second site.
Hmm. Lots to ponder. Don't mind me. Hah!
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Ponder away. I am sure you will figure it out. If you're like me you have learned so much here, and if you do decide to set up another website you will be way ahead of when you started the first one...