So you’ve heard about the magic of business blogging and decided to
jump on board. You’ve been writing and publishing for a couple of weeks
now. Like a grinning spider, you sit back and wait for the fly… And you wait… and wait. Some tumbleweed blows by. Nothing happens. Instead of hundreds of readers flocking to your blog, there’s only
silence. A couple of clicks, but no comments or subscribers. Your
business blog sits neglected in a corner, gathering digital dust.
I know you feel dejected but trust me, you’re not the only one to
struggle! There are several common mistakes that newbie bloggers make.
Read on to discover 8 reasons why no one is reading your blog – and how
to turn things around.
Reason 1: Your topic isn’t relevant to your audience
I know you love your business. I bet you could preach passionately
about your team, products, and profit margins all day, or give me a 20
second elevator pitch that would knock my socks off.
But this is where many business bloggers go wrong. You are trying to reach future customers and subscribers.
These people don’t care about your business (yet!). They don’t care
about your office Christmas party, or that Tim from accounts had a baby.
They don’t even care about your new product range because they’ve never
bought from you before.
Attracting new buyers and subscribers means attracting an audience you’ve never met. You need to appeal to strangers. And
not just any strangers – the kind of strangers who are likely to take
an interest in your business, maybe even become a customer.
For example, imagine your company sells engagement rings. Your ideal
readers might be people aged 25-35, earning at least 50k per year, and
in a long-term relationship. How do you appeal to them? What are their
needs, desires, fears, passions and interests? These are the questions
you should ask when choosing a blog topic. So you might write a blog
about romantic date night ideas, getting adventurous in the bedroom, or
10 signs you’re in a great relationship.
Don’t push your product or your own agenda directly. Figure out who your customers are. Then create content that holds value and interest for them.
Our tips:
- HubSpot and Xtensio offer free tools for creating buyer personas (imaginary profiles of your target audience). These can help you target your writing.
- Research your successful blogging competitors. What do they write about?
- Use language that suits your target demographic.
- Measure the success of your previous blog posts using Google Analytics (or your blogging platform’s built-in analytics). Which topics tend to resonate with your audience?
Reason 2: Your blog is visually unappealing
Human beings are visual creatures – we’re enamored by pretty things.
Which is why ugly websites don’t retain visitors… And neither do ugly
blog posts.
If you’re not including photographs or graphics within your posts you
risk losing the reader’s attention. This is particularly important if
you’re posting long form content – no one wants to stare at a wall of
plain text 2,000 words long.
Many bloggers like to take their own photographs, but if that’s not
your forte you can purchase stock photos online. Tread carefully though.
While there are millions of stock photos to choose from, many of them
ooze cliché – and business themed stock pictures tend to be particularly
cringe-inducing. It’s better if you can find something original and
edgy.
Finally, if you’re opting to advertise on your blog, do it in a way that preserves the look and feel of your site. Infolinks
is a great choice because they integrate audience relevant ads into
your site without disrupting the design or appearing intrusive.
Our tips:
- Try the more unusual stock photo libraries; like Death to the Stock Photo or Unsplash
- Check out Infolinks handy list of design tips
- Hire a photography student to take pics for your blog
- Use Infolinks for unobtrusive advertising
Reason 3: You’re not distributing effectively
So you’ve created a beautiful blog filled with relevant, interesting
blog posts. But the hard work’s not over yet! There’s no point in
blogging if you’re not distributing your posts.
One of the most powerful tools for distributing your blog posts is
social media. Social media channels are a relatively cost effective way
of reaching thousands (even millions) of new readers if used
effectively.
One of the great benefits of going social, particularly with
Facebook, is that you can finely tune the targeting to reach your ideal
audience. Are your main customers newly divorced men with a keen
interest in gaming? 20-25 year olds who own cars and frequently travel?
Crazy cat ladies in a 10km radius? Chances are, Facebook can pinpoint
and target your ideal reader.
Share your blog posts on your company’s Facebook, LinkedIn and
Twitter pages. It’s also a great idea to include ‘share’ buttons on your
blog. This makes it easy for readers to share your posts on their own
social accounts, spreading the love even further.
Our tips:
- Invest in targeted Facebook advertising and boosted posts
- Don’t just share fresh blog content – resurface your best evergreen posts
- Use social media to start a conversation with your blog followers
Reason 4: Your blog isn’t SEO optimized
Why is SEO (Search Engine Optimization) so important? Because the
second page of Google is a cold, dead wasteland where no-one dares to
tread. In fact, a staggering 95% of all search traffic
won’t make it past the first page. On the other hand, if your blog post
lands in the top 1 or 2 organic search results on Google’s first page,
you’ve hit the SEO jackpot.
Almost all bloggers are striving for great SEO rankings, but it’s
surprisingly easy to make basic mistakes. When you’re caught up in the
excitement of your shiny new blog it’s easy to forget mundane (but
important) SEO details like meta descriptions, alt image tags and title
tags.
Another common pitfall is basing your blog topics on over-saturated
keywords. Did you expect your generic travel post to rank no.1 on
Google? I’ve got news for you – you’re not the first person to blog
about the breathtaking beauty of the Taj Mahal.
This is why keyword analytics tools are so important, even though
many bloggers shy away from them (I’ve heard the same complaint so many
times – “I’m a writer! Not a numbers person”). Sorry to break the bad
news, but there’s no escaping analytics. Luckily there are plenty of
helpful online resources to get you started.
Our tips:
- Use online keyword planners. Try Google Trends, Google Keyword Planner, Moz Keyword Explorer, SECockpit, or Long Tail Pro.
- Long tail keywords are great because they’re more specific, and give you a greater chance of beating the competition.
- SEO plugins are a simple way of optimizing your blog. For example, WordPress offers an extremely popular All in One SEO Pack.
- Think you’re an expert? This Backlinko list of 200 Google ranking factors proves we all have more to learn.
Reason 5: Your copywriting sucks
Ouch! This one’s a little personal, and can be a tough pill to
swallow. But if your writing is awful you’ll be lucky to get any
subscribers (except maybe your mum), and your bounce rate will be
through the roof.
There are some common mistakes people make when writing blogs. One is
what I call university (or college) syndrome. Many recent graduates
can’t break the habit of using long-winded, rambling sentences and
showing off their vocabulary. If you’re using words like ‘axiomatic’ or
‘obsequious’ – now is the time to stop. No one wants to read a blog that
sounds like a tertiary assignment.
Or you could be falling into the industry jargon trap, as many
business bloggers do. You know your industry’s terminology inside out,
but does your audience? People lose attention quickly if language goes
over their head. You need to explain your business in terms an outsider
can understand.
Then again, maybe your writing is just plain boring. Great writers
know how to engage their audience – they use humor, emotive words,
metaphors and vivid imagery. If your writing lacks all of these things,
chances are it’s a pretty dull blog.
But don’t panic! The good news is that anyone can improve their
written technique. You don’t need to be a natural Shakespeare or Sylvia
Plath. Becoming a great blog writer is often about simplifying your
language, even breaking a few grammar rules to make your tone more conversational.
Our tips:
- Cut long sentences in two
- Add power words for impact
- Write like you’re talking to a friend
- Avoid technical & business jargon
Reason 6: You’re not publishing enough content
How often you write matters. The frequency of your blog posts can
have a direct impact on your search traffic and number of subscribers.
The general consensus seems to be that at least 3-4 posts a week is a good starting point.
But wait… You’re a business owner! You don’t have time to bash at the
keyboard constantly. Writing quality blog posts takes time and effort.
How can you achieve that amount of blogging when you have a million
other things to think about?
Finding time to write can seem like an insurmountable challenge, but
that’s why it must be treated as an essential part of your marketing
strategy. Input blog writing as a high priority task in your time
management systems. Make sure you have several uninterrupted hours a
week to get your creative writing juices flowing.
And if you still can’t find the time, you’ll need to delegate
blogging to your team or maybe even hire a freelancer. Just make sure
everyone is on the same page in terms of strategy and content!
Our tips:
- Try online project management software for your business, like WorkflowMax. By streamlining your processes you’ll free up more hours in the week.
- In your spare time, compile a list of evergreen content ideas & topics.
- Create a blogging schedule you can commit to (e.g. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday).
Reason 7: Your blog isn’t mobile responsive
Our generation is insanely mobile. For most of us, our smartphone is
an extension of our own body. It goes everywhere we do. Need to cheat on
a pub quiz? Catch Pokémon at work? The answers to all of life’s
questions are at our fingertips, thanks to the internet and the
incredible proliferation of smartphones.
And statistics reflect this trend. In late 2015 we crossed an
important threshold… It was announced that OVER half of Google searches now come from mobile devices.
So if your blog isn’t mobile responsive it’s not hard to do the math.
You’re directly missing out on over 50% of your potential audience! And
it gets worse. If your site isn’t mobile friendly Google may penalize
you by lowering its search engine ranking, meaning a significant drop in
overall traffic.
Our tips:
- Use Google’s Mobile Friendly Testing Tool to check your website’s compatibility
- WordPress and Blogger offer mobile friendly plugins and templates
- Instead of overhauling your existing site, it’s possible to build a separate mobile friendly version
Reason 8: Your headlines don’t cut it
We live in a strange and wondrous time. People are bombarded with
exciting, titillating content every time they fire up their computer.
With so much noise around, your blog posts need to stand out from the
crowd. And the first thing your potential readers see is the headline.
In some ways your headline is the most important part of the blog
post. It’s what sells you on social media, in search engines and in your
newsletters. Writing a great headline is no easy feat, and can be
challenging for even the most experienced bloggers.
A brilliant business blog headline should be enticing, but not tacky
clickbait. It should offer some tangible benefit or value to your
reader, but with its own unique twist. And if you’re trying to lure
search traffic, it should include your SEO keyword or phrase. All this
AND stay under the Google character limit! Sound tricky? It is.
Our tips:
- Explain clearly what the reader will learn or gain
- Play with alliteration and emotive language
- Keep it under 70 characters
- Put your critical keywords at the beginning
*****
Creating a successful business blog takes planning and hard work, but
if you keep following the best practices we’ve outlined here, you’ll
slowly and surely see results. Good luck!