I recently discovered a website called eMoms at Home (great for at home entrepreneurial types, moms or not) and creator Wendy Piersall’s post about re-branding her blog (which is now called Sparkplugging).
…but then it made me think about why I so quickly made my blog relishforwomen.com so obviously gender oriented? Was I too hasty? Should I broaden the name now so that I don’t go through the hard work of re-branding that Piersall is working through? I admit, I didn’t think about the long-term future of the blog I just went with my gut and did it – and I thought the name was kind of nice.
And so now I reflect.
The thing is that my hope was to find female mentors, and hopefully be one too, because female mentors are a little harder to find in the particular topic areas that I’m interested in blogging about (right now it’s entrepreneurship and outdoor fitness). So, through my blog I hope to find a community within a larger one.
My fiance calls it discriminatory. I call it a niche.
My point is that I’m not really trying to exclude men. I’d love it if men took an interest in this site and add their two cents. But I can understand the problem. Women’s content usually includes advice about hair, makeup, and women’s perspectives on relationships with men. There are certain assumptions attached to putting the words “for women” in the name.
Maybe it’s my own weird way of doing things. For example, I subscribe to a magazine that is oriented to women who are over 40, even though I’m in my 30s; and I post content on my blog oriented to mompreneurs, even though I’m not a mother. If the information is interesting, useful and good quality, I’ll read it and I’ll find ways to adapt it to better myself/my business/my life. I suppose this comes from my academic training which promotes interdisciplinarity - a way to look at the same problem or issue from a different perspective. I like to look in places where many people might not.
Anyway, for now my blog will remain as is. If it has to evolve one day it's okay by me.
What do you think? Is this foolish? Bad business? Limiting a lucrative readership?
2 comments:
It depends on your target audience. If you want to target women it's reasonable to give it the title that will do that.
KK
I disagree. If you want to brand something then you need to focus on the message you want to deliver. If it is compelling - then your audience will come to you. Specifically targeting a demographic just makes your job that much more difficult and may unnecessarily restrict the attention the brand truly deserves. Excluding people who might find your message interesting is not good marketing.
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