The #lbloggers chat is amazing. If you’ve not heard of it before, it’s a place for lifestyle bloggers to mingle online. Held every Sunday evening from 7-8pm, the host and topic changes every week and there’s always something, or someone, new to be discovered. For a while, I wrote a post with a round up of the chat (check out the archives here) but putting them together became so time consuming that I didn’t have much time to write about other stuff! It might come back in a slightly different format when I’m on maternity leave.
Anyhoo, way back in August (yes, I’ve been sitting on this post that long!), I had the pleasure of hosting a chat on niche blogging. I had been agonising over whether or not my blog was too broad or if I would be alienating existing readers by focusing more on the Cornish angle. Now that I’m weeks away from becoming a mother, I can’t help but wonder if readers will lose interest now that I’ve added in the baby side of things. So, what did I learn from hosting the chat?
1. There will always be people wondering the same things as you
2. You’ll meet like-minded souls
3. It’s ok to go off on a tangent and have conversations with individual bloggers, while still contributing to the chat over all
4. You’re bound to discover new blogs and bloggers – some of whom might even become new favourites
New favourite blogs
Jasmin Charlotte
Cat Crawford
Top With Cinnamon
Scarphelia
Hannah Gale
5. If you’re finding new favourites, there are bound to be other people checking out your blog too
6. Your Twitter stats and engagements will go up enormously
| Impressions | Engagement | Link clicks | Retweets | Favourites | Replies | |
| Week before chat | 1,200 | 0.8% | 1 | 8 | 36 | 19 |
| Week of chat | 18,900 | 3.3% | 48 | 23 | 116 | 180 |
| Week after chat | 4,500 | 1.5% | 23 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
7. If you play your cards right, your blog stats will increase – and hopefully for more than just the week!
8. People are lovely!
Here’s a little rundown of how the chat went…
Q1: As a blogger, do you blog about one particular theme or a variety of topics? #lbloggers
I totally agree with Michelle. My favourite lifestyle blogs are those where I care about the person and their life, rather than certain aspects of it. Even if they were to write a random post I couldn’t necessarily relate to, I’d still find it interesting. Lifestyle blogging, to me, is about all aspects of your life, whether it’s about your favourite DIYs, new recipes you’ve tried, day trips, tales of your pregnancy, etc. Hopefully my regular readers will continue to find this blog interesting as I delve into new areas.
Q2: What do you prefer as a reader – follow a range of blogs or a few with the same taste as you who cover everything? #lbloggers
As a blog reader, I barely even look at most of the film blogs I followed back in the day. That being said, I do follow a bit of a mix – food, DIY, comics, blogging/tech stuff… but then I think if those bloggers were more broadly ‘lifestyle’ rather than just that ‘niche’ area, I’d still read them. On the other hand, I tend not to read travel blogs but don’t mind when a lifestyle bloggers includes some travel posts – mainly because I can’t relate to them. As much as I’d like to travel, I don’t see anything of myself in them. And isn’t that what we want as a reader, at least a little bit?
Q3: With so many blogs out there, what makes you decide to click follow or unfollow? #lbloggers
It seems people really do judge books by their covers! If you want to attract new readers, keep your blog clean, attractive and easy to navigate. And take decent pictures! And as your blog grows, remember to keep interacting with your readers (they’re the ones that helped get you there!) and keep your content interesting, rather than full of sponsored posts.
Q4: Which bloggers do you think are particularly good at writing about a niche topic & which are great masters of all trades? #lbloggers
Y’all should know by now who my faves are but these kind of questions are always great for recommendations. As the #lbloggers chat gets near its end, people are quick to share their own links to get new readers rather than thinking about sharing the love. What’s great about the blogging community is when bloggers are quick to praise their peers. Check them out!
And on the topic of Cornish lifestyle blogs…
Have you hosted the chat before? Did you find it beneficial? I highly recommend it.
A Cornish Geek 
I’ve never taken part in a chat but I think is should definitely join in :)
I really can’t recommend it enough :)