I have been struggling with trying to create a Successful Blog for several years now. I started writing my first blog using “front page” software for my performing website. I had no idea people were making money online back than without a product for sale or a service they were selling.
Today it is a new world! Wordpress makes it easy to run a blog, affiliate sales means we don’t have to have a product to make money, and information on SEO is over abundant. Even with all these new resources it is still not easy to run a successful blog no matter how you define success.
As I am starting to see more views to this blog on a monthly basis, I have been reflecting on what has taken so long for me to find even a small audience. I have taken those hurdles and broken them down into a list of 5 things keeping me and others from having a successful blog. Those include:
- Not providing content people are interested in
- Not having a well defined niche
- Not having a well defined audience
- Not doing key word research
- Not marketing
You might want to take a look at your blog and ask yourself, “Am I doing any of these mistakes”. It isn’t always easy to figure out the best way to get more traffic, but here is a list of how I overcome these 5 issues which has helped me get more monthly views.
5 Things Keeping You From Having A Successful Blog
1 – Not providing content people are interested in
This one seems like obvious, but happens a lot. People are always interested in themselves more than others, so it is important to make sure your content is designed that way. Ask yourself:
- Would I read this if it was written by someone else?
- What do I want my readers to take away from this post and am I making that obvious?
- Am I getting to the point quickly and keeping my readers attention?
These questions during your editing process should help to keep your content on topic and allow your writing skills to improve.
2 – Your site doesn’t have a well defined niche
I personally struggle with this a lot because I have a variety of interest and get bored writing on the same topics. At the same time, I have to remember that readers subscribe to blogs for niches they are interested in. It is okay to have a personal blog that you write about whatever topic you feel like on a daily basis, but than you have to accept the fact that you have to get your readers to subscribe because they like the same things or they like you.
3 – You don’t have a well defined audience
If you can’t describe who you are writing to, than you are writing to no one. You have to image all the traits of who will read your articles in order to understand how you should be breaking down your content, what kind of theme to use, or even what to write about. You should be thinking about things such as:
- Age of your viewers
- Gender
- Hobbies
- Interests
- Goals of reading your site
- Occupation
This is just a small list of characteristics you should consider. The guys at Internet Business Mastery (Jason and Jeremy) recommend creating an imaginary person who represents your target market. They refer this person as an avatar and when you are writing a blog post it is easy to imagine them on the other end reading your words. Figuring out what that person will like helps to curve your decisions for your site and makes everything more relevant to your target audience.
4 – You are not doing Keyword search
A major problem with many first time bloggers is not doing keyword searches and implementing keyword optimization. This is something I have just started implementing, but looking for keywords that people are searching for and then putting them into blog posts has helped me get a little more recognition from the search engines.
Since I have just started implementing keywords into my blog posts I am expecting higher returns down the line. This is something that is easy to do, but takes time and effort to do correctly and successfully.
5 – Not marketing your site
I never realized during all those year that I was suppose to be promoting my blog, but it turns out marketing is important. There are a millions ways and marketing styles. The big ones I am trying to utilize right now:
- Having a social media presence
- SEO practices (#4 on this list)
- Article Marketing
- Buying online ads
- Launching a Podcast
- Linking up with other Bloggers
This is just what I am working on right now. The list of marketing channels are endless and can go from no cost to spending money on a daily basis. It depends on your site, your budget, and your schedule.
#1 REASON BLOGS FAIL
The number one reason blogs fail is because people quit. Some lose interest, others feel like they will never make, and others have just jumped on new ways they think they can make money. The truth is even if you have eliminated the “five things keeping your blog from becoming successful”, you still might never make it. I know this is true, but I also know the following is true as well:
“There are no magic wands, no hidden tricks, and no secret handshakes that can bring you immediate success, but with time, energy, and determination you can get there” – Darren Rowse ProBlogger
