You want to start a blog, something new and fresh that will keep you inspired to write it and bring in lots of people to read it. I still see a lot of people starting to blog and covering the same old road-weary topics like blogging and marketing and combinations of those. It's a mistake. Few people have enough real credentials to claim to be experts in either blogging or online marketing, both are still too new and change too quickly. (Yes, there are some experts and authorities and those who get fresh ideas, but most are regurgitating content shamelessly). Why put yourself in that pack when you can choose something far more interesting that really suits you!

Go for a niche blog in the real spirit of a niche blog. Start by evaluating your interests. Write a list of things you love, things you like and things you have been doing or thinking about lately.

I did this and came up with:

• Holidays/ events, traditions with recipes, crafts, etc.
• Pagan/ Wiccan/ spiritual topics.
• Green living compared to old pioneer and etc. ideas.
• Armageddon, science fiction ideas.
• Urban and rural exploration.
• Women in history.
• Canadian history.
• Folk tales, fairy tales and the paranormal.
• Old things, vintage, antiques.
• Arts and crafts from the past.
• Local history and societies/ groups.
• Survivalist theories.
• Living off the grid.
• Old words and phrases.

Then I narrowed it down to three topics from those: Holidays, Spirituality and Environmental. I didn't really want to blog about any of those three, each seemed to be a topic I would like short term but then feel boxed in by later on.

When I looked at my list again I realized that everything on my list connected with history in some way. I love history, think it is one of the very under rated things we have. There are some blogs about history, the history of an area or a selection of people. But, they seem kind of stuck in a rut and are only of interest to a limited readership. I wanted a wider appeal while staying true to myself and feeling I have a free range of ideas and inspiration to write about.

So, I came up with the Green Living History blog. It is live now but still being poked and prodded along. I still need to add tags and categories for instance, maintenance work before much posting and promoting can really begin.

Anyway, if you try this you can find a niche of your own. Not a limited niche like history for a certain area or a blog about knitting or a blog about some other smaller, limited niche. Try to expand and find a themed niche rather than a topical niche.

If you love knitting consider more than just knitting. What are other things knitters like: holidays, history, vintage patterns... yes, those are kind of easy to guess. If you are a knitter you know more in depth interests and niche topics from your own list of interests and experiences. You can have a blog which started with the idea of knitting and ends up being a themed niche which appeals to knitters and a lot of others who fit into the niche but may not actually knit themselves.

I don't know if my idea for theme niches versus topical niches is clear. I hope so. I think this is something that can really grow. A theme niche has room to grow, to expand and evolve. A theme niche blogger will need to keep a good list of topical niche blogs for ideas and resources, they are your resource. But, a theme niche blogger goes that bit farther, into offshoots, side trips and even the odd daydream.

Let me know if you start a theme niche blog. I'd like to see what others come up with once they start making a list of everything and then sort it down to one niche. I once wrote for a site called BackWash where the tagline was "The Internet by Personality". I think this was an idea that should have worked. But, it can work for you, with some planning, some thought and some invention.

I want to know everything. Knowing I'm not immortal to see the future, or able to create a time machine to look at the past and the future... bothers me. How can I ever be satisfied when there is so much I don't know! 

Of course, the more I find out about the more I want to know. Knowledge is bottomless, endless and I will run out of time long before I run out of viable brain matter, and that bugs me.

The future is out there. I can see some of it, imagine more of it. I look at what we have and try to deduce what will come. Without immorality or a time machine, that's the best I can do. History is alive in our words, our traditions, our beliefs and our lifestyle.

Green Living History is about retro science, utopias, spirituality, traditions, the pioneering spirit, the paranormal, science fiction, survivalist theories, folk tales and vintage ideas.

I enjoy history. But, so many people think it is dull when you present it as a topic of conversation. I think they are assuming history is all about long winded tomes in the library under attack by dust bunnies and cobwebs. History is right now, each second passes into history. History is how we can see into the future.

Why are you adding an image/ graphic/ photo to your blog post? Because someone said to do it that way? Because people are visual and need the extra stimulus? Because the print magazines (or some popular blog you read) does it that way?

Rethink that plan. The images added to blog posts for the sake of adding images to blog posts are over done. Unless they really add something, like instructions, or some other practical purpose, they just add to the general clutter. Blog readers are becoming both ad blind and image blind due to the overload of useless stuff thrown at them.

• Your words can (should be able to) stand on their own. If not, rewrite, rather than illustrating something that isn't there.
• Your blog does not need an image just for the sake of having an image.  Is adding an image worth a slower load time, a cluttered layout? How many times do you read a blog and see images that fail to load?
• What does the image really add to your post? What does a random image stuck into your post say about you? Does it say you are creative, crafting a well thought out post, or just another blogger following the pack mentality?
• If you are not creating your own images you are giving a lot of time and space to promoting the work of someone else. You also risk having the original artist objecting to the use of the image, or the way it has been used.

So, what do you do to keep your blog visually orientated and appealing? Don't be afraid to get creative, it doesn't have to be a great work of art, it just needs to be something meaningful, interesting and relevant to the post you are making.

• Use your own work. Make your photos, graphics or images a feature, worthy of having their own post.
• Start your own weekly/ monthly web comic. Stick to a schedule that suits you.
• Doodle something. Use your own hand drawn illustration, it will always be uniquely you.
• Take a look at text art. Use your keywords in a new way. Just don't go crazy with it. Moderation in all things.
• ASCII art is a retro text art and takes time to work on. Don't steal the ASCII art you find online any more than you would another image.
• Add an image of yourself, the real person behing the blog to illustrate the posts you write. This is, at least, sincere content and gives readers a real connection to you.
• Go back to basics, give the odd post it's own unique background. Don't over use this either. Think of it as a highlighter pen for your best post of the week/ month.
• Use subheaders to break up the text. Bold a sentence that sums up your post. You don't have to stick to basic black.
• If your blog looks bland to you and you want to add colour change your font colours, try out some jewel tones in blue, green, or red.
• Add a graphic file with your signature to the bottom of your posts instead of using an image at the top of the post.
• Skip images. Christmas is special because it comes once a year. Why not use that theory for images you add as well. Make them something unusual by not using them everyday.

Keep it simple, you only have 160 characters to work with. Not enough space to explain a lot about yourself. Yet, it needs to be kept uncomplicated.  Look up shorter, more direct words in a thesaurus, as needed.

Add some personality but keep out anything you don't want your Mother, boss, children, etc to read. If it's too personal, save it for your personal blog where you can post and show off your greatest Twitter bio created but never used. It should only be read by those who understand your sense of humour.

Don't turn your bio into a sales pitch. Twitter is social, personal on some level. This isn't the time to shamelessly self promote. Save that for your tweets, sparingly I hope.

Narrow down your focus, especially if you want to advertise your business or services or goods for sale. Stick everything in one sentence. Not an endless sentence. Leave space to add something that shows your personality or unique interests/ hobbies.

Use complete sentences, punctuation and grammar to the best of your ability. Spellcheck is your friend.

If you have more than one Twitter account make a note that this is your professional account or that this account is for personal tweeting only. Save people the confusion if they want to follow you for your professional tweets or personal.

If you use a tagline, add that too. Especially if it describes you in some way, this will do double duty as branding you and describing you in your bio. (Limited space makes you think about every character you can pack into it).

Just because you have 160 characters to work with does not mean you should use them all. A sparse, simple bio is more likely to be read and get noticed than something longer. Ironic, when they are all short, but true. (I do it myself when I am reading Twitter bios).

Think about the followers you would most like to find you. Write your Twitter bio to them, as if you were offering a comment about yourself as an introduction.

People talk about the importance of keywords for SEO but the real importance of keywords is for the people who read them. What catches your interest when you read someone's Twitter bio? Usually it is something you have in common with them. So don't be afraid to describe the basic things about who you are: a Mother, a Dad, or an alien from another planet. (You never know!)

Of course, I don't follow all of my own rules, but most of them:

Laura Brown @thatgrrl Ontario, Canada “Adorable, in a wicked, modest way that only the ego- maniacal can pull off”, says Gracie. Freewriting niche blogger likes hand drawn stuff & derelict houses. http://thatgrrl.ca

Kirsten is taking up the cause of the Personal Blogger. I find it hard to stick to writing about blogging, publishing or writing from the personal perspective. Somewhere along the way it dips into getting comments, traffic and readers and then you find yourself in the land of the SEO gurus who want to sell you their e-books about blogging. It is all a circle.