A generation ago, newsagents and corner shops across the US and beyond sold hundreds of magazines on every topic from cars to cooking. Today, the internet has decimated that particular market. But it has replaced it a hundredfold or more with a massive choice of blogs. Blogging is a great way to share an interest or hobby with like-minded people. Done well, it can also generate some handy side income.
Vaping is growing in popularity, which makes it a good topic for the budding blogger. The global market was valued at about $15 billion in 2020, almost half of which is in the US. It is experiencing a compound annual growth rate of just over 28 percent according to data from Grand View Research. Here, we will look at how to create a successful vaping blog, including tips on choosing your audience, getting to know the market and some more general advice on hosting an so on.
Choose the right audience
The US vaping market is segmented in an interesting way. When vapes first appeared on the scene, they were aimed at older users as a better alternative to more harmful habits they might have already formed. That’s fine, it is still a significant part of the vaping market. However, there are two factors that make them less attractive as a target audience for your vaping blog:
- They are older, typically 50+ and less likely to engage with your blog.
- For them, a vape is a functional object. It would be like pitching a car blog at people who drive but only see their car as a means from getting from A to B.
The other major segment is people who vape for vaping’s sake, not as a crutch or an alternative to some other habit. Market statistics show that one in five US adults under the age of 25 vape. As well as being more tech savvy and likely to engage with blogs, they are also more interested in what is happening in the vaping industry, new products and flavors. They can try and so on.
Understand the market – and focus
A golden rule that applies to any blog is that you have to know what you are talking about and have a genuine interest. If you don’t you will be found out sooner or later, and you’ll have a boring old journey there blogging about something that doesn’t interest you.
The vaping market is at an intriguing point, so there are plenty of potential focus areas. These include things like evolving regulation and the findings from various research projects that are ongoing regarding health and vaping. There’s plenty to talk about, but health and politics can be controversial topics, so you have to tread very carefully.
Keeping abreast of and talking about the latest vaping technology is probably a better call. It’s just as interesting to keen vapers and less likely to lead to controversy. For example, CCELL vape technology is interesting to that millennial bracket we mentioned, and there is no shortage of subject matter, from how the ceramic cells work to how they compare with other types of vape to the latest pod designs they are coming up with, which are treated almost as fashion accessories by some. In short, there is plenty to talk about, to trial and to demo.
Getting your vape blog up and running
First of all, your blog needs a name and a url. You’ve probably got some ideas of your own, so take them to a site like godaddy or a domain checker. Let’s try the latter for “jimsvapeblog.com” – the checker says it is available, and godaddy is all set to register you for three years for practically nothing.
You can also use godaddy for hosting, but there are lots of other choices out there too. Bluehost has been getting a lot of love lately due to its super low prices, while HostGator has unlimited disc space and unlimited bandwidth and is still less than four dollars per month.
Growing your vape blog – no shortcuts
Here’s the thing about a vape blog. It has tighter regulations than a blog about, say, football or baking. Using PPC to give yourself a head start is not an option. You need to use good old fashioned SEO. Produce great content and make it work for you. Do all the technical SEO stuff you read about in courses but never got around to.
It’s a hard road, but the rewards are lasting. You can’t fake it in this environment, and if you work on it diligently for a year, the potential for rewards will manifest itself, from banner ads to affiliate work to influencer marketing. There are no guarantees, but the opportunities are there if you are ready to put in the hard yards.