Blogging is one of the top ways for people to build an online presence, create name recognition (if needed) and make money. As an author, it is a fantastic way to build an audience.
Okay, let’s face it. Anyone can start a blog for any reason. All you need is twenty bucks and a laptop and you’re on your way. But, like I’ve said in other posts, almost all of them never exceed 500 visits a month. Here are four reasons yours might be faltering.
LACK OF FREQUENCY
A big part of me wants to make jokes about having to go pee, but I won’t. Depending on your topic, this can be a huge variable. News based blogs would have to have ten to fifteen posts a day vs. an informational blog with instructions that may only require one every week or two.
Whatever your topic and reason is, you have to determine the proper frequency for what you post. As an author, I need only post something new about once a week (that’s my sweet spot). You can’t build an audience if you don’t speak to them regularly.
Generally speaking, I can tell you that you aren’t posting often enough and increasing the amount you do it is extremely important. This will help you stay relevant and up to date with topics related to your field.
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Also, it’s important to determine the proper blog length. Posts in general should be no shorter than 300 words but google likes them around 2500 words. This is of course topic dependent and longer posts would have a diminished frequency. It’s up to you to find the right amount to do it.
LACK OF DISTRIBUTION
I am partly guilty of this one. When I first started my website, I’d write a post and then just tell some people about it on my personal Facebook page. The first couple of posts would get me forty or fifty hits. All content was rich and due to the nature of those blogs, they were very emotionally engaging. But, my stuff wouldn’t take off.
The audience you want is out there. You have to find ways to move to the front of the line so people can see you. Check out some tips on SEO to also help with visibility/distribution.
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Looking at distribution from a business standpoint, you have to do more than “tell a couple of people about it.” Your audience will not likely grow beyond your circle of friends and acquaintances.
Facebook is actually a great place to advertise because you have the option of paying ‘per click’. Spending a little personal capital to grow your audience is an important piece of the pie.
Also, there is Pinterest. Which is more of an Evergreen style advertisement for your blogs. It isn’t all rainbows and unicorns though. You still have to post regularly on Pinterest, update your pins and create compelling images to get people to look at your stuff. It’s still work.
I recommend you don’t jump the gun and start spending money on your first blog post. Take the time to build reasonable content and ensure you have lots of internal links and positive external links to trustable sources. Get your stuff out there, but make sure it’s really good stuff.
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LACK OF STRATEGY
I just wanted to write about ways to help other writers and didn’t think I needed a strategy to do it. In Field Of Dreams they said, “If you build it, they will come.” So, why isn’t anybody showing up to read all my awesome content with cool pictures and funny blurbs?
That was me a while ago. It’s still me on occasion because learning is a never ending process.
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Having a strategy to construct your SEO platform is important. You can’t just go all willy-nilly and start throwing a couple of good ideas against the giant Velcro wall of the internet hoping stuff sticks. There are important pieces to a strategy that will help grow your audience and increase traffic.
- Quality Backlinks
These are other websites linking to yours. There are several strategies to developing backlinks. The most upfront method is to get online, look at reputable websites with similar content and reach out to them for back links.
Companies or individual bloggers who understand the importance of them are likely to accept a backlink trade. You link to them and they link to you etc.
- Internal Links
This one is simple. Each blog post should have at a minimum of three internal links to other posts. Going back through blog posts and updating them is a great way to build additional internal links too.
Sometimes we forget about all the hundreds of posts written and there is already some great information on our site for a user to get to.
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LACK OF STORY
This is a bit of a goofy one. But, since I’m an author and love telling stories it happens to be right up my alley. When people read something, they want to be engaged. Having a strong voice, telling your version of anything from a unique perspective is important.
Just think of what you’re reading right now. Hopefully you can imagine a tall, goofy person wearing a helicopter beanie and underwear over his pants while typing away on a vintage APPLE 2 computer. If so, my job is done.
Trying to engage your reader/user is important. Information does not have to be boring. Sprinkle in bits of you and they will be thankful for it. Take the time to find your voice and write in a way that is organic, simple and flows easily.
If you happen to be a robot, good luck. I can’t help you. Otherwise, take the time to cultivate your writing style and use helpful tools out there to do it.
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Remember, you don’t have to be a software engineer to have a highly successful blog. My wife happens to be one, and her blog is AMAZING. It’s about food and the KETO DIET. There are thousands of amazingly successful blogs out there making tons of money.
They have done wonders for aspiring authors trying to build an audience and helped out lots of people with great information.
Find your niche, and even if other people are all over it, go for it.
