I was reading a few posts over at Digitalpoint Webmaster forums and came across a post asking if a niche was necessary for a blog. The person asking this question had asked the same question only a few weeks ago, but seemed to be unconvinced.

If You’re Blogging for Money, You Must Have a Niche.

If You’re Blogging for Fun, Do What You Want!

I, like other serious bloggers, use feed readers to keep up with all of the blogs that I subscribe to and read. In order to speed my way through the list of around 100 blogs (reduced from several hundred - it was simply too much), I categorize them by topic. Some of the categories I use include: real estate investing, seo, blogging, technology, politics, and entrepreneurship.

I don’t have the time to play around on unprofessional, unfocused blogs. I want to find informative articles or newsworthy posts and I want to do so quickly and easily. If I go to Problogger or DoshDosh, I know I’m going to read about blogging; if I go to AsktheVC, I’ll read about venture capital; at the Instigator Blog, I’ll read about startup company advice. You want your blog to be predictable so people can come to rely on it as a source of information about whatever niche you cover.

But . . . TimeforBlogging isn’t Completely Focused

This site does cover a variety of topics, but I actually do it for fun, not for money. I am too busy with my other sites to truly focus on this one . . . it serves more as a diary of my experiences, infused wit some helpful tips for others. If I wanted to truly monetize this blog, I’d operate it in a completely different manner than I currently do. I would keep it focused to either blogging, entrepreneurship, my personal politics, or something else.

What do you think? Is it absolutely necessary for a blogger to focus on a niche to be successful?