if you dont... then... well put it this way, all these people i see are making informative websites about stuff like DENTAL PLANS NATURAL MEDICINES SLEEPING PILLS and god knows what. surely they cant be experts on these subjects? WHats the crack?
If you don't know anything about a subject, then your blog/site is probably not going to have any insightful, new information. You can just grab articles off of free article sites and throw a site together. Chances are it won't stand out though.
Yes, you need to know throughly on what are you doing to talk (or blog) about. If you are not at all knowledgable in subject, it will show up in your blog (to the readers) and eventually you will end up with poor reputation (I mean your domain/site/blog)
That's a good question... I don't think that you do necessarily, but it will show eventually. If you know how to research your topic and write good articles/sales copy, you could easily be knowledgeable about that topic. I don't think that a niche is as important as good marketing and business savvy. One thing that people fail to take into account is that the smaller the niche, the smaller the market. If you drill down into a tiny niche, the searches for that topic will be meager. Sometimes it is okay to target a big market and use your creativity and web sense to launch your site above the competition. I hope that my ramblings made sense! T. Ziebro www.hip-edge.com www.energyrefuge.com
There are a couple of startegies actually. You can use the "Authority" which you claim to know something about the topic. (Example: problogger.net) Then you Can also be the "Average Joe" which is basically like saying, hey, I am not an expert but I have an interest and I am researching it and am going to write about what I find. (example: larrylim.net) I think both strategies are fine and can be successful as long as you are clear about what you are doing and honest with your audience.
If you don't know your niche inside and out, you could always hire someone who does. But you're better with something you really know, because you'll stay more passionate about it anyway. Jenn