Google+ Mars Travel: Find a Niche and Establish Yourself in the Space Community

Find a Niche and Establish Yourself in the Space Community

A few days ago I wrote a post called You Can Use Social Media to Inspire Others to Take an Interest in Space. I've heard from a few people that they really want to help increase interest in space and are going to start using social and new media to do so. But the question has arisen, how does someone find a niche in the space community and then establish themselves?

Creating a space related blog is the perfect way to help inspire others to take an interest in space. The idea of creating a space blog can be overwhelming. Space encompasses everything in the universe and you can't possibly cover all of it by yourself. There are already numerous sites that have news on everything related to space, so if you want to make an impact you will want to narrow your scope and focus on one or two aspects of space. This will give you an audience that wants to read more about one particular aspect of space. For example, Mars Travel concentrates a lot on Mars, so the readers are generally going to be people more interested in Mars.

Below are some steps you can take to find your niche:

  • Determine what interests you most about space
    •  Is there already an established website dedicated to that aspect of space?
      • If there is that shouldn't stop you, but it can make it harder for your site to get off the ground and produce unique content.
    • Is there enough information related to this area of space to create regular content? 
      • If not maybe you should combine it with one or two other aspects of space.
    • Is this a topic that you can make interesting?
      • Some things will be hard to get people interested in, but ultimately if you are a good enough writer you can make anything interesting.
  • Determine how you can use your skills and experience to provide a unique perspective
    • Do you have experience in a field unrelated to space? If so, you can use your knowledge to help relate space to that field. This will give otherwise disinterested people a reason to take an interest in space.
      • For example, if you work in the entertainment agency you could have a blog that uses references to films to explain different space missions, phenomena, etc.
      • For example, if you work with computer software you could write about the different programs used in the orbiters, rovers, probes, etc. 
  • Find a way to create interesting and unique content.
    • Find something that hasn't been done before then do it. 
      • This is what I did with my Mars Photo of the Day posts. I noticed that no one had ever showcased images of Mars on a regular basis and that it was difficult to find images of different features on Mars. 
    • You want to give people a reason to come to your site over one of the bigger space sites, so you want to offer them something that they can't get anywhere else.

Once you find your niche there are some critical steps you must take to ensure you get people interested in what you have to say:

  • Use social media to spread your articles/posts. You won't be able to stand out if people are never introduced to your content.
    • I'll write a whole different article on this later, but for now just know that half of blogging nowadays involves using social media to connect with your audience. 
  • Write often
    • If you only update your blog sparingly its going to take a while for you to get a foothold, but if you have new content all the time there is more for people to be interested in. You could write this great article once a month, but if people aren't continuously going to your site for new content they would never see it. 
  • Accept all feedback, negative and positive, because it is only through feedback that you can improve your content and its appeal. 
  • Don't get frustrated with a lack of readers, especially at the beginning.
    • You have to consistently create quality content before you can expect a spike in readers (unless you're a celebrity or something). 
    • Creating a good blog takes a lot of patience and perseverance; most blogs fail because their author's just give up.
      • It's not going to be an overnight success and it will take hard work. You have to build a relationship with people over a long period of time. 


If you follow the steps above and keep working at it you will find your niche and be able to do your part to inspire others to take an interest in space. And who knows, maybe one of the big space sites will like your content and ask you to contribute to their sites!

0 comments:

Post a Comment