Do Counsellors Need a Niche to Start Blogging?

Now, you've probably been told that you need to have a niche before you can start blogging, but is that really true or is it just one of those things that sounds smart, but keeps you stuck? Let's explore this together.

Well, welcome to the Grow Your Private Practice podcast. I'm Jane Travis and I help counsellors and therapists to grow their practices with calm, consistent marketing, especially through blogging.

So if you are ready to show up with more ease and less pressure, you are in the right place.

Well, hello, hello, hello and welcome back and if this is your first visit, welcome aboard. It's great to have you here. Now, today we're gonna tackle a very fancy sounding form of procrastination that stops so many brilliant, thoughtful counselors from ever starting their blog.

And that is that you have to have a niche before you can start blogging. And listen, I get where this comes from, but if you've been frozen at your keyboard waiting for lightning to strike and hand you the perfect niche tied up in a neat little bow, well, this episode is for you. So let's bust that myth and get you blogging niche or not. Now you've probably told yourself one of these things. Maybe you've said, once I figure out my niche, then I'll start to blog. Or if I don't have a niche, then I'm gonna attract all the wrong people, or people are gonna think that I just don't know what I'm doing 'cause it would be too random.

And while all of that feels logical, it's actually keeping you stuck in research mode forever. So you'll be forever tweaking, forever preparing, but never actually publishing. So it's like the saying, I'll start a workout once I'm already in shape. And spoiler alert, that day obviously never comes.

So where has this pressure to niche come from? Well, let me be really, really clear here. I am a massive believer in niching. It's a hill that I will die on. Having a clear niche is one of the best things that you can do for your marketing, for your marketing, for your referrals, and for your confidence.

I've seen it help counselors to connect with their dream clients and grow faster than they expected. So yes, without a doubt, niching is powerful, but you don't need to wait for it to be perfect before you can start blogging, because that's the part that trips people up. You know, you'll hear people say you need a niche, and interpret that as you are not allowed to write anything until you've got a PhD in Nicheology or something like that. And then the months go by and you keep fiddling with your website and you'll rewrite your Instagram. Bio 47 times, but your blog still hasn't been started.

So yes, do niche, but don't let the absence of a niche stop you from getting out there and helping people right now. Now, when I first started, I didn't have a niche, I think so often. That's , just the way that it is. So I can remember it was just a case of blogging helps you practice, so I tried it and as much as I really liked writing, I was immediately overwhelmed 'cause I didn't know what to write and who I was writing for.

So, you know, should I write about anxiety or self-esteem or breakups or panic attacks or existential, I can never say existential. Do you struggle with that? I had a friend who was an existential phenomenologist, and I couldn't say it.

It was, anyway, I'm digressing, but, yeah, so when you are just starting out blogging, it's like, well, what do people even want from me? What do they need to hear from me? And it was a little bit like standing in a library and trying to choose just one book to read, but every book is blank and you're supposed to write it yourself.

You know? It's impossible. Now once I found my niche, though, blogging got so much easier. I knew how, who I was writing to, I knew what mattered to them, and I had a direction. But I wouldn't have found that clarity if I hadn't started writing and blogging first. So, let's be honest. The idea that your niche must come first, well, that's, that's just fear. Fear. That's wearing a really convincing business blazer because blogging is a skill and like anything else, you get better by doing it, not by thinking about it. And if you're stuck in planning mode, and I want to say this with love.

That's not professionalism, that's perfectionism in a fancy hat, and that's just gonna stop you. Because every blog post that you write teaches you something. It'll teach you what it is that lights you up, what it is that your clients respond to, and what actually brings people to your contact page. And you can't learn any of that by over researching. You learn that by writing. And if you are listening to this thinking, well, that's okay, but how do I actually start blogging without spiraling into an existential crisis every time I open a blank document?

Well, look, I've got you, because that's exactly why I created Framework First, to give you blog writing support that's going to be simple and structured and built specifically for counsellors. There's no fluff, there's no faffing about you just get a monthly framework that's gonna help you to write a blog, but a blog that sounds like you.

And that's gonna actually get found. And guess what? Full disclosure, I used this month's framework to write today's episode, the blog post version, and the podcast. It's come straight from a framework first prompt. So if this episode has felt helpful or focused. Well, that's why. So I'll pop this link in the show notes and tell you more about it at the end. But for now, let's get back into it. Now, the thing is that blogging will actually help you to find your niche because the more you blog, the more patterns are gonna show up.

So maybe you naturally start writing a lot about boundaries, or about burnout or about anxiety. Maybe your posts on grief get the most replies. That's not random, that's direction. Your voice, your interests, your audience's response, all of that helps you to discover who you are most meant to serve. And in the meantime, you can still be writing about all the things that people are already Googling.

Things like anxiety and relationships and people pleasing and am I broken stuff? You know the classics. So even without a niche, you can be helpful. You're gonna be building trust, and you're going to be getting found. Because waiting's not gonna build confident. Taking action does. So let's get real. No blog will ever be perfect. Not a blog of mine or a blog of yours. And clarity doesn't come from waiting around for confidence. It comes from taking action even when you don't feel totally ready, because every blog that you publish builds your skills, your visibility, and your voice, and it's how you figure out what works and what doesn't.

So if you are stuck. The next best step isn't another worksheet or branding exercise. It's writing. It's getting stuck in there and getting started because your clients, they're already looking for you. Don't make them wait until you feel a hundred percent ready. So do counselors need a niche to start blogging? No. Will having one help you? Absolutely. Yes. But if you are waiting to figure it all out before you start, you are missing the gold that comes from doing the thing.

Your voice is needed and your words matter, and your clients won't care if you've got a polished niche statement. They care that you sound like somebody that they can talk to. So your challenge this week is to pick a topic, to write a blog, and to hit publish, even if it's a bit messy, even if your niche is still to to be determined, because the only way to find your voice is to use it.

And if you want a little bit of structure to make it easier, check out framework first. Like I say, every month you get a brand new blog framework, and it's built just for counsellors, so it makes writing far easier and more effective. There's no more second guessing, there's no more blank pages, just simple, clear support to help you to get found.

So if you head on over to janetravis.co.uk/framework-first, I'll see you in there. Or if you go ahead for the show notes, I'll put all the details there as well. So look, thank you so much for spending this time with me today. I really appreciate you listening, and I know that you're busy and I know that the fact that you've chosen to be here in your busy day, it really does mean a lot.

Now, my hope is always that you leave each episode feeling a little bit more supported, a little bit more inspired, and a little bit more confident to take that next step, whatever that looks like for you. And if this episode has given you something to think about or helped you feel less alone or even just made you nod along a bit, I'd love it if you follow the podcast so you don't miss the future episodes.

So that's it from me today, and I look forward to seeing you again next time. Take care and have a good week.