I’ve been obsessed with the Internet since a young age. Once I discovered the magic of exploring the web my world changed. Starting out I was a consumer, but later I became interested in creation. The need to make my own place online.

I started out making message boards for me and my friends. Later, I moved onto blogs. One being called Kairu The Otaku where I blogged about my obsession with anime and Japanese culture.

YouTube was a thing, but I never had fast enough internet to watch anything and enjoy it myself. In high school when we got better Internet in our area, I was hooked on videos.

I made a few YouTube channels over the years. Most notably is one I made with my friend called Game Kn3ghts. It was a couch Let’s Play channel in the style of Game Grumps where we hung out and played video games.

The common failure with all of these ventures was myself. Whether it got too hard, or I psyched myself out thinking the content was pointless, it was me.

If you have ever made content online then you’ve probably felt the same way. I’ve been in a deep dive about content creation and internet culture for the past week trying to figure out my own direction with all this. I’d like to share what I’ve learned.

Niche Down To Oblivion

If you’ve ever looked up tips on growing as a content creator whether on YouTube, a blog, or etc. One dirty word you hear a lot about is “niche.” I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard a content creator guru say to “niche down.”

The idea is that you choose a hobby, like health. Just writing about health isn’t good enough. Niche down philosophy says to write about health for pregnant moms as that is more specific to a certain audience. And you know what? It works.

Yes, more specific categories will bring you more search traffic to whatever content you are creating. You’ve specified your audience and algorithmically manipulated it as so.

The problem with this is when you narrow content creation down into such small terms it becomes difficult to even know what to even create. What niche is the best niche?

I found that this line of thinking led me to analysis paralysis. For a lot of people this totally works. For me though, I never could hold a specific interest long enough that made me want to create content on it. The very idea of choosing something made me feel trapped.

Another issue I have with niche down is the creation of tropes. Inside every niche is a style in which the content is made and delivered. One creator will stand out as the biggest. Then many others will try to imitate the content either blatantly or with variations to create the same success.

That in itself isn’t the problem. The real problem is the lack of originality. In a quote by advertising executive John Hegarty, “the originality of an idea depends on the obscurity of the sources.”

Being Authentic You

There is a growing trend of the phrase “Being Your Authentic You.” It’s meant to invoke the idea that you yourself are the content. The audience may come to your content for the information, but they stay because of you.

This essentially is called lifestyle content. It is about creating content out of your day to day life. The point is that while things may be mundane to you, an audience may find novel. This was a popular era for YouTube in the style of video blogging aka vlogs.

I see content creation on a pendulum that swings between two extremes niching down and lifestyle content. The last few years the pendulum has swung heavily towards niche down tactics, but I feel that we may be swinging back towards other direction.

In other words, I don’t think you should go out and make vlogs about getting Starbucks every morning but, what I am saying is that more personal authentic content is back.

Of course I myself am no guru. I’m not writing this for a audience of millions because I’ve “made it” in some sort of way. This is just something I feel in my gut from observing trends and seeing what is becoming popular. Right now, that’s real individuals being themselves.

The Kingdoms Of The Internet

This video completely changed how I saw the internet. YouTuber Gordon Cenafa summarizes a longer video that I honestly did not watch about the Internet as a whole slowly decaying.

Essentially we have boiled down the entirety of the internet into a handful of websites that you probably already know, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and the like. Most all traffic that exists online is going to a handful of websites…and that’s it.

Go check out an old blog you used to read 5 years ago. First, does it even still exist? If so, when was the last post? Dig deeper, do all the hyperlinks work? How much of the website even still works?

It’s really eye opening to see old websites you used to love gone, or abandoned. The scary thing to me is the idea that only a handful of companies/people hold the reigns of nearly the entire Internet. That in itself screams the need to questioned.

This to me creates an ever more importance on blogs and independently run websites. We live in the age of a Internet Monopoly.

Social media sites are great for finding an audience as a content creator, but I think the key is invite your audience onto your own created platforms.

Universal Tips For Growing Online

All speculation aside there are some universal ways to grow any following online. Through my rabbit hole of research on the topic of content creation I listened to Gary Vaynerchuk, Think Media, Ali Abdaal, and many other of the top gurus. These are three essential tips I’ve condensed to growing any platform online.

Be Consistent

Being consistent is crucial to growing online. It doesn’t mean doing four posts a day, or even one a week. It means to consistently be creating content. Give yourself deadlines for content and stick to them. Everything you create online is practice that pays dividends into every endeavor going forward.

This for me is the hardest as my brain has a bad habit of convincing me everything I do has to be perfect or, I shouldn’t bother trying. It’s hard. I’m working on it and you can too!

Create Content That Is Valuable

This is everything. When you publish anything online think for a moment how this is valuable to someone. Is it entertainment, educational, inspiring? That simple question will give you perspective on how to take a raw idea into actually useful piece of content.

This post here was a result of me trying to figure out what to post. I was researching content creation philosophy and tried to understand what makes good content. I decided that in of itself is valuable to someone if I can repackage it, like I’ve done here in this post.

Interact With Your Audience

No matter what type of content you make you should think about the audience that you want. Find, follow, and interact with the people that resonate with you and the type of content you want to make.

Following other people is the fastest way to get followers. Follow for follow is real. I just think there is a professional way to do it. Find an account that has the followers you want. Then, pick out a post and follow some of the accounts that interacted with that content.

My Own Direction / Conclusion

The best thing one can do as a content creator is to share what they are truly passionate about and be authentic. You do not want to be stuck creating content about stuff you don’t care about, and you don’t want to have to act like something you aren’t.

I’ve decided to wholeheartedly embrace this, and I think you should also.