These days, creating a blog is one of the easiest things to do online, though running a successful blog with loyal readership is quite a different story. Blogs are the often the beating heart of a company’s content marketing strategy, so it pays well to research the best practices for managing them.
If you’ve noticed your current readership is dwindling, or your blog just can’t seem to draw new visitors in, there’s a number of things that could have gone wrong. So here are the real reasons why no one reads your blog.
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No Specificity
When blogs were novel and few in number, it was easier to create unique content. After all, there was less competition and many niches hadn’t even been written on. Now, blogs must battle hard to become the authority on a topic. With so many individuals and businesses creating this content, it becomes incredibly important to set yourself apart from the rest.
Many poorly-performing blogs fail to ever find their purpose, either centering on a topic that’s much too general or producing inconsistent articles on seemingly random subjects. It’s integral that readers can quickly identify exactly where your knowledge lies so that they have an indication of your blog’s value.
Ask the question, “Do people really want this kind of content?” If you think they do, your mission should then be establishing your site as the go-to place for that specific information. Own that niche and drill down on it. Contrary to intuition, specificity doesn’t limit your opportunity, but instead launches your success.
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Transparent Selling
Regardless of what the ad people believe, the average person is remarkably skilled at sniffing out ulterior motives in blog content. If you’re writing blog content exclusively as a vehicle to promote your products and services, we’re afraid we’ve got some bad news… no one cares.
People don’t visit blogs to hear a pitch. Companies that endlessly stuff tacky sales speak into their blog writing may as well use pop-up windows that say, “Don’t think, just buy!” Ok, you may be somewhat confused now, as we’ve been constantly told to monetize content and that the aim of a blog is to drive sales. Well, yes and no.
Your blog is your opportunity to connect with customers, but most of your readers will likely never make a purchase. Focus on adding value to them rather than hard selling and they’ll be far more responsive to your suggestions. Having a call to action (CTA) that simply encourages them to sign up to a newsletter moves them through the buyer’s journey without coming across as pushy or transparent. Educate and entertain an audience and sales will certainly follow.
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Poor Promotion
You could have the best blog in the world, though if no one knows about it, you’re the only one there. Following the best SEO practices obviously helps your content climb search rankings (and you can use a SEO agency to do that), but it’s not as simple as hitting publish and ending it there.
Your digital marketing strategy is the support for your content, like the trellis on which your message can spread. If you don’t distribute effectively, there’s no space for it to grow. Regularly update your social media followers and email subscribers so that they can find your work, and so that they know you’re consistently publishing informative content.
As with anything in life, too much promotion is a bad thing. Say your piece, let people know about it, and then leave the decision to read up to them. An individual may be uninterested in your discussion one week, but then see something that draws them in the next.
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Worthless Content
It seems a bit cruel to point a finger and call someone’s content ‘worthless,’ but there’s a lot of content out there and readers know it. No longer can you whip up an article in 20 minutes and top the rankings. Thanks to the huge resource that is the internet, people won’t settle for unengaging, irrelevant, uniformed, and downright dull writing.
Here’s the best tip anyone can give you on the matter: research well and write authentically. Don’t regurgitate the facts and figures you’ve found, but find ways of clicking them into place naturally. It’s your job to translate the boring stuff into something that readers enjoy. If you don’t inject some personality into your words, you’ll end up with one of the million blogs that specialize in rehashed fluff content.
When you think of a blog as a reflection of the quality of your brand and business, it seems very strange to create mediocre content that simply wastes everyone’s time. If you’re getting help with the writing on your site, remember that you get what you pay for: a few well-written pieces bring far greater long-term reward than endless waffle.
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SEO in Shambles
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the art of streamlining content so that it appears higher in search ranking. Obviously, this is immensely valuable as you climb the pile and get to customers first. In the earliest days of search engines, it was astonishingly easy to manipulate the order of things by using shady black-hat tactics, essentially keyword stuffing and metatag trickery.
Thankfully, it’s no longer possible to deceive search engines in these ways, hence the need for sites to have a proper SEO strategy. The subject is too broad to get through here, but there are many dedicated guides that outline the best ways of optimizing your content for greater outreach. Put simply, search engines don’t like to be fooled so describe your content honestly and never try to cheat the system.
Basic steps like effective titling are easy to implement. For instance, if you’re writing an article on how to conduct a sales call, “10 Top Tips for Great Sales Calls” is usually the best title approach. It may be somewhat uninspired, but it’s very clear to search engines what that content is offering. That’s what metadata is for, after all, so be as accurate with your descriptions as you can for better SEO.
Take your Blog Above and Beyond
Much of the time, a blog is only a few steps away from seeing success. Unfortunately, when you’re very close to your work, it can be difficult to diagnose with an unbiased perspective. Many businesses benefit from professional Web Design and SEO services, snapping out of an ineffective routine or simply adopting new techniques that actually increase their readership and subsequent sales.
If you need any help changing up your site, or have any other questions on blog writing, feel free to get in touch with us here at Shtudio!