I was originally going to title this post “Why would you box yourself into a niche?” For the life of me, I can’t understand why anyone would do that. Let me clarify, I’m talking about graphic and website designers. If you are a cardiovascular surgeon, yes, then you are boxed into a niche and rightfully so.

While discussing my frustration with a friend about everyone telling me I need to find my niche the other day, I made the statement, “I really enjoy doing one-page websites.” Her response was “That’s your niche.” Okay, that may be niche, but that’s not the only market I want to chase.

Further, that’s not what niche means to me, and why I am so frustrated with the word.

Having listened to a plethora of online courses on how to increase this or that, I keep hearing the same thing over and over, “Find your niche.” But, when they were discussing niche, it was always followed with, “Do you like working with florists? Then that’s the market you should go after. Become the expert in the floral industry, that you are the one they have to use.”

To this line of thinking here are a few questions I have:

1. How many florists are out there looking for someone to design a website?
2. How many different ways to set one apart from another can you design?
3. How are you going to find all of these florists looking for a website?
4. How are they going to find you?

A huge problem for me and the word “niche” is, I have the attention span of a gnat. Designing for the same industry day in and day out frightens me. This is where the question comes into play, “Why if you are looking to build your business and/or portfolio, would you want to box yourself into a niche.” Actually, even if you have years of experience, I still don’t understand this philosophy.

Industries, I’ve designed for over the years, have included lawyers, plant nurseries, florists, musicians, restaurants, professionals, artists, landscapers, and others I can’t remember. I’ve always enjoyed the challenge that each different industry has brought.

Over the years, I’ve approached different people about designing or redesigning a website for them and have heard the following,

“Oh, we are going to use, or are using Company A because they are experts in our field.”

“Really what makes them an expert?” I ask.

“They told us there are special ways to design a website in our industry so people could find us on Google.”

Thankfully, over the years, I’ve finally gotten it down to where I don’t fall on the floor laughing in hysterics with this response.

Truth be known, there are no special ways to design a website for a particular industry. The principals for designing a great website are the same whether it’s a website for a florist or a veterinarian. Here are a few of them:

1. Great content.
2. Great photography. That saying still holds true, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
3. Great content.
4. Great organization to the site.
5. Great content.

Yes, what sets one website apart from any other is great content and it is what Google is looking for. Not a company who has designed your website with a niche in your industry.

Folks www stands for, “World Wide Web” and it’s a very big world out there. That being said, I have one question, “Why would you want to box yourself into a particular niche?”