The popular opinion out there for freelancers is that you need to niche. Be more specific, create a very focused offer, target your marketing to your niche. I’m going against this perceived wisdom I’m De-Niching.
This all makes it easier to sell your services and is good advice but, it’s not working for me. Neil the contrarian will tell you why.
I niched about a year ago, and decided I would only offer WooCommerce services to new clients, I like working with eCommerce sites and I thought it was the type of work I wanted to offer.
Look back at that paragraph, what’s wrong? I, I, I, no mention of my client’s and their needs.
Why I’m De-Niching
So why am I going against the popularly held opinion that you need to niche, well there are a number of reasons.
My Client List
I’ve been working as a freelance WordPress developer since 2008. I have a large client list, many of the people on that list do no need WooCommerce service. I’m doing those people a disservice by not catering for their needs.
The word “client” comes from the Latin word cliens. This word is a variant of the word cluens. It means “hear or obey”
We need to listen to our client’s needs. My niching has estranged me from a large number of my long term clients. My marketing and blog posts were focused around WooCommerce, a lot of that hard work marketing was falling on deaf ears.
I had client’s coming to me asking “Are you still only working with WooCommerce stores?”, that was never my intention, I always wanted to work with my existing clients, my plan was to attract new clients who were interested in Woo.
I need to get back to serving my best resource, my existing list.
It’s Boring
The beauty of working in a more generic way is the breadth of different types of projects I get to work on.
Doing the same thing over and over again has no appeal to me, I was thinking about a very specific, high value offer (that’s what the courses tell you to do) but the idea of doing that over and over again does not appeal to me.
Writing about the very small niche in blog posts becomes dull as dishwater very quickly.
I love the idea that I don’t know what the next project will entail.
It’s Not Working
I was NOT getting a huge amount of WooCommerce work, the work that was coming to me from existing clients was generally not Woo, the referrals I was getting again, no Woo.
The projects I was getting for WooCommerce was coming from sources like Upwork, generally not the best place to find projects, they are a race to the bottom on price.
You Can Still Niche In A Way
I’m using a new way to niche without turning my back on my existing clients, I call it what I’m working on right now.
I’m really into integrating WordPress and Chat GPT, I can offer this to my clients and get the benefits of the I, I, I niching whilst still offering general development services
When I need a change and I’m enjoying working on the next shiny thing I can change the what I’m working on now section of my site.
Check out the “WHAT I’M WORKING ON RIGHT NOW!” section on my home page.
So What Am I Now?
I’m am what I have always been. I’m a freelance WordPress developer, I’m not a WooCommerce developer, I’m not a WordPress consultant (my client’s need a developer not a consultant) just a common all garden WordPress developer who is really good at his job, see my testimonials.
Wrap Up – I’m De-Niching
So if you need ANY help with you WordPress site, not just WooCommerce I’m available.
Hop over to the de-niched work with me page and let me know how I can hear or obey you (I’ll listen but I cannot promise to obey that’s a step too far).
Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash seo dance I’m De-Niching.