Or, how to make it in a crowded niche.

I was checking out my feeds this morning when I saw Maki’s article about his blog Dosh Dosh being attacked with false accusations. If you haven’t seen this post yet, it’s a long and detailed rebuttal to an accusation by another blogger who believes that Maki stole his content. I have to say that from my own experience with him, I know Maki to be a very sober and professional blogger who knows well enough not to steal other’s content and really has no reason to do so.

With that said, this whole phenomenon brings up some interesting issues. I’m sure you’ve heard it said that there is nothing new under the sun. In many ways this is true and especially in the make money blogging niche. This type of controversy is bound to happen in such an overcrowded niche and is one of the problems faced by a number of both new and experienced bloggers.

Given that every topic has usually been addressed already, what do you spend your time blogging about then? The easiest answer is to find another niche to blog in, preferably one that suits your own passions and also is under served by other bloggers. If your only real passion is blogging for money, though, what do you do?

When I think about writing something on the topic of blogging for money, there is very little that hasn’t been already done and done much better and in more detail than I could come up with. That’s one of the big reasons I started the 5 Minute How To series. There are many long, in-depth articles on how to make money blogging, for instance, and there are a few giants in this field, Maki at Dosh Dosh being one of them, that totally dominate. This isn’t an area where I would choose to compete. My only way of providing any value in this area is to write relatively short articles that help newer bloggers get started or get past some of those initial humps.

I’ve mentioned many times before how your unique voice sets you apart more than the exact content that you provide. This is still true. However, if you’re just parroting the same things that the A-Listers have all written about and continue to write about, you’re not going to attract much attention to your blog. Your unique voice can only get you so far. There must be value in your posts for your readers. They have to come away from reading your blog being more informed or feeling better or more motivated than they did before they read your post.

In the case of SEOPosition versus Dosh Dosh, I read Maki’s post and never saw the other one until I read the post about the controversy. I found the post on Dosh Dosh to be interesting and enlightening and unique in that all of these paid blogging sites were listed in one post and with at least a brief commentary on each one. I’ve seen posts before that discussed one or a few of them, but never so many all together. This made the post much more useful than another one that might have just rehashed the same old stuff about a couple of paid blogging sites.

This is the type of thing that makes Dosh Dosh unique and keeps readers coming back and other bloggers linking. Maki is a master of providing in-depth reviews and case studies that provide useful information about blogging for money. Among a multitude of sites that claim to do the same thing, this one is well worth taking the time to carefully study.

So, take a minute to think about this if you’re a blogger. Are your posts just rehashing old information or even just pointing to other stories of the day? Or are they providing something really unique?