Welcome to the death of your blog: you. That's right, I said the death of your blog will be you. You are your blog's own worst enemy. It's not the blog down the cyber street that you've been competing with, it's not the search engines that refuse to put you in the #1 spot, it's not the readers that aren't coming to your blog. This is reality talking, and begging you to listen up, lest your blog die a painful, lonely death.
At this point you might be thinking, 'how can I be the death of my blog? I made it look sexy and I wrote a bunch of awesome content! I've even got a few followers.'
Ok, so your blog does look good and you did put up some content, but let me ask you this: are you still actively posting to your blog? Are you engaging your readers? Have you left room for your blog to grow? Truth time.
Death Stage 1) If you're not actively posting to your blog on (at the very least) a weekly basis, then your blog is getting ready to shrivel up and die, and your readers may be getting ready to leave and not come back. Nobody likes a stagnant blog. Your readers want to see new content in new ways. Don't leave them hanging because you got bored with your blog or ran out of steam. Take the time to learn to come up with awesome content with our article HERE, and how to dominate your time HERE, so that you can keep going strong with your posting.
Death Stage 2) Failure to engage your readers and keep them interested, involved, and invested is a fast way to lose them. There are lots of strategies you can use to keep them engaged. Let's look at three of them here:
- Ask your readers questions at the end of posts in order to get them commenting. You want your reader to feel invested in the topic by giving their input. Where a reader is invested, they will want to come back again and again.
- Keep readers interested with contests, polls, sexy graphics, and a constant stream of new and interesting content. If a reader feels bored with your blog, they won't be coming back. You want them to be excited about coming back to your blog on a daily basis to see whats new for them.
- Give readers the option to share your content with others, in as many ways as possible. If your blog doesn't have social bookmarking options like the option to share on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, etc, then it's time to upgrade. You want your readers to share your content with as many others as possible, and they'll want to share your articles if they're truly awesome. You're only deterring them from sharing if you don't have the option for them to easily share.
Death Stage 3) Did you build your blog in a box with no room to grow? This is a problem. From the start you need to take steps to leave room for your blog to grow. When one of your posts goes viral you want to have the space for several things, including: hiring more authors, adding new pages, and growing into new topics in your niche area. Don't forget that you'll want to have room for selling advertising on your blog if you plan on monetizing it, and also have ways for your new readers to follow you in a variety of ways including: Twitter, Facebook, and feeds.
Death Stage 4) Giving up. Too many bloggers get discouraged when their blog doesn't become an instant hit or they're not making the big money they thought they would. If there's one lesson I've learned in my blogging career, it's been not to give up. In the blogging world, you get out what you put in. If you aren't dedicated to your blog, then you won't be getting the big results. It's a lot of hard work, and I haven't lied to you about that yet and don't plan to. If you're planning on giving up, have a look at what we have to say HERE. If you give up on your blog, it will be the blog's instant death.
Reality says blogging is hard, time consuming, and is not for everybody. Reality also says that anybody can be a great blogger if they put in the thought and effort. I don't want your blog to die, and I'm positive that you don't either.
What do you think? How many times have you been close to giving up? What are some ways you use to keep your readers engaged? Let us know in a comment below, and don't forget to subscribe to us on Facebook, Blogger, and Twitter.
7 comments:
Wow, I really like how you wrote this one. I hadn't even thought about allowing room for my blog to grow.
I know all about wanting to give up. It's hard when you write and write and write and nothing comes from it.
Thanks... I like the tips.
I have come close to giving up. I have been told that my blog is too personal and could be seen as bashing. I said if people think that way, they don't have to read it. If I post and it is about someone, I send them a link so they can read. I have never had a problem.
To keep readers engaged, I just try to be as honest as possible. I hope even if they disagree, they appreciate the honesty.
As a begining blogger, I really appriciate having this information now before my blog is on life support rattling it's last raspy breaths! Great advice!
These are all very true words and I admit I have fallen prey to some of it myself. Thank you for cracking the whip and reinvigorating us bloggers. Good words!
Thanks for the great tips, certainly some things to put your blog on the right track
@mrawesome, thanks for the compliment.
@faith, thank you!
@Tina, different things work for different blogs. If you're not blogging for profit then this may work really well for you. I do know of a for-profit blogger that shares his personal opinions/life on a daily basis however, and his blog is wildly popular. Go to google and look up Danoah or Single Dad Laughing sometime.
@The Get Real Mom, I'm glad this information is able to help you out!
@DJ, glad to 'reinvigorate you' :)
@Jason, You're welcome :)
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