Online Interior Design School by Alycia Wicker

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How To Blog About Lifestyle & Interior Design

You're not a one-trick pony and you want to share everything that you're excited about on this planet. You know, how you like to travel, that new essential oil you got, the smoothie you made that didn't taste like it actually had spinach in it and throw in some design stuff too. 

But how in the world do you combine all of those things? 

While I usually encourage my clients to focus on design and decorating, I do have a handful of clients that want to combine their other hobbies into one blog. If that's you, you're in the right place because I'm going to share how to do that without driving yourself crazy.

What's the common thread?

You may be blogging about decor and travel and smoothies. How do those topics tie together for your reader? 

Maybe it's that you're inspired by travel and want to show how to use travel to inspire decor AS WELL AS share your favorite destinations and travel tips. Distill that into a message of like decor and travel tips to satisfy your wanderlust.

Or if you're focused on everything holistic then you could simplify that message into something like about living a holistic lifestyle (which could totally talk about decor, health, travel spots that are off the beaten path, etc).

Know the reader

The people who are going to read your blog need to be a certain kind of person. You can't write for a mom with kids and in the same blog also write about how to turn a bachelor pad into a chick magnet. Bachelors don't want babies right now and moms could give two shits about a bachelor pad or the hottest restaurant in town. Pick a reader and get to know what they really care about.

Be the go-to guru

Whatever topics you're going to write about you need to know what you're talking about. If you're an expert traveler and you also can design a room like nobody's business, then go for it. If you pick a topic because you think people would be interested in it, but you don't actually know that much about it, you probably won't come up with content for it. 

How will this help?

Your blog, whether it is focused on one topic or many, must aim to help the reader. If you know HOW you can help your reader because you'll provide tips, tutorials and inspiration then fabulous. Otherwise, you'll need to rethink why you're doing all this, to begin with.

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Starting Your Multi-Topic Blog

1. Define who your reader is

Decide who you are creating this content for. Moms, millennials, bachelors, cat ladies... whatever. Beyond that, what is it that they are seeking to add to their life that you can help them with?

What are their hobbies? Occupation? Favorite TV shows? Income? Age (10-year span)? Tastes and preferences? Education? Their purpose?

Then answer these questions for yourself... I bet you will find that there's a lot in common and you can combine everything into ONE ideal reader.

2. What is the purpose

Firstly, are you blogging to have fun or to use it as a way to earn money? This is a key consideration. As I discuss a bit later, it's difficult to build a multi-niche blog from scratch.

Secondly, your core purpose will help you to tie all of the topics together. If you wanna blog for moms you can share tips on how to organize the playroom and what wine goes with Mac N Cheese. It's focused on the mom. Of course, figure out if this a new mom or a mom with a snarky ass teenager, like me. I don't have the same concerns that a new mom has.  

3. Pick your topics

Get out your pen and paper, writing down the topics you want to cover. Then come up with ideas for each of those topics until you run out of ideas for this first brainstorm. You'll quickly see that some topics are perfect while others just aren't as big of a deal for you right now. 

4. Schedule your ass

Consistency is key. When your blog only has one focus, you could batch write posts and schedule them to come out weekly for the next month. When you're blogging about 3 to 5 topics, that consistency is even more important. Your readers want to hear about all of those things you've promised to cover, so an editorial calendar is a must to keep you on track pumping out content regularly.

5. SEO still matters

As with your design blog, if you're going to blog about other topics you need to make sure your content is found. Pick the right keywords and make your content valuable.

Also, keep in mind that it may take quite a while for your multi-niche blog to rank in Google. You'll be competing with single niche blogs that Google already knows have a ton of keywords focused on that one topic while you're trying to rank for white bedrooms and peppermint essential oil.

If this is your first attempt at blogging, a multi-topic blog may not be the best way to begin your blogging adventure. That's not to say you won't have success but to let you know that you need to be all in to get great results, whatever those are for you.

A great blog, no matter how many topics are covered, comes back to having excellent content. If you can give that to your readers, then you should have tons of success!

Hola! I'm Alycia Wicker and I help online interior designers grow their business.

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