I was setting down to begin writing a new topic for this blog site and was pondering why it doesn’t work as well as I would like for it to work. I know I’m not the greatest writer in the world, but I’m certain I’m not the worst either.
Then I started to wonder if I’m the only blog writer out there wondering why their blog isn’t working. Not likely: after all, I’m not the only person in the world who likes spaghetti.
So I thought about it for awhile and I came up with the following reasons and hopefully you will find these insightful enough to help you. Also, I’m sure I’m not the only one to come up with these same reasons:
- It’s not all about me – I have come to the realization that most readers of a blog could care less about the person writing the blog. Face it people, the most important person to the reader of your blog is…the reader. He couldn’t care less about you. Is what you’re writing going to solve his problem a fill his needs? That is what is important.
- Quit trying to sell something to your readers – I’m certainly guilty of that one. From now on I’m cutting back on the ad space.
- You don’t cite other sources – When it comes to an article where you did a good deal of research and the ideas belong to someone else (are there any original thoughts anymore?), give credit where credit is do. I read a lot of different sources for my material, but the thoughts on what they wrote are my own.
- Your writing is BORING – You need to spice it up, make it interesting and make it relevant. Come on, I know you have something to say. Spit it out and quit trying to be fancy. Be you cuz there ain’t no one like you and everyone wants to see that person, not some fool you’re pretending to be.
- You’re not making it easy to share– Put an RSS feed on your site. Add a Follow me on Twitter button, Post to Facebook button, a Like button. Anything you can think of to let folks share easily. I know with WordPress there are plugins that allow your readers to share your content. I use WP-Social-Bookmarking which adds on links to all the major Social Media sites.
- You’re not letting others talk – You need to engage people in a conversation. That may mean having to go where they’re at since they are coming here. Go to other similar blogs and comment on what they wrote. This allows folks to get to know you and what you’re all about. It may make them stop by for a visit now and then.
- As number 6 said: Give them a reason to return. And they will if you’re not boring, you engage your readers, make it easy to share you and you’re providing useful information.
Hopeful this proves to be somewhat helpful. If anyone out there has some other thoughts please share them with us so that others may learn too.
Yellowbird Marketing Solutions
