You work hard on your blog. Every day you’re putting yourself out there, crafting posts and sharing them with everyone imaginable. You’ve worked on your writing and explain your points in clear, concise language. You respond to comments to keep the conversations flowing. In other words, you’re doing seemingly everything right.
Only, you’re not seeing results. Your traffic has flat-lined and hasn’t moved for months, maybe even years. Social media? Those numbers are stuck too. Sure, you have a small core of loyal readers, but they haven’t snowballed into a critical mass. What are you doing wrong?
If you’re anything like the clients I advise, the answer is simple. It’s at the core of why people visit blogs in the first place. Before we get into this, let’s be clear on a few things.
1. People don’t come to your blog to read your opinions. You might express opinions on your blog. Most of us do. But that’s not why people come back every day. Everyone has an opinion, and most people aren’t open to changing theirs.
2. People don’t come to your blog to read the news. Even if you’re in Google News, chances are you’re only getting fleeting traffic from it. There are hundreds of sites that provide up to the minute news on any given industry. If you’re not already among the elite, chances are you’re not going to get there by reblogging the news.
Why do people come to your blog, then? Clearly you bring something to the table, as evidenced by your core readers. But if you’re not providing them with consistent value, you’ll lose them too. So how do you provide that consistent value?
Teach Them Something New
People read blogs to kill time, sure. But there are so many established blogs for doing that: BuzzFeed, Gawker, Engadget, etc. They provide all-day distractions for millions of people. But that’s not your target audience. You want people looking for something a bit deeper than the latest Apple rumor, or the latest cat video. You need to give readers something extra, something they can take with them even when they leave your site.
Chances are you do teach your readers something new. Or, at least, you used to. In fact, you might have read the large type above and thought, “duh.” Yes, you need to teach your readers something they didn’t know before they visited your site. That can be a how-to guide, a quick tip, a connection you made between different articles or documents, etc. It can be any number of things, so long as the reader leaves a bit more knowledgeable.
We all have something we can teach others, since we all possess a unique intellect. Unfortunately, that well of knowledge dries up eventually. Once you’ve taught them everything you know, then what? How can you continue running a successful blog if you have no new knowledge to impart? It’s a tricky situation that has a simple solution.
Take Yourself To School
The solution might be simple, but it’s not easy. Young bloggers might find it difficult, because they have formal schooling obligations. Older bloggers might find it difficult, because they cast aside their learning mentality once they finished school. Yet it remains the only way to keep up with your niche. If you don’t have anything new to add on your own, you have to go learn new things.
I have a client who faced this same issue not long ago. He’s a handy dude, and so a while ago he started a DIY home improvement blog. At first it was a great idea. Using pictures and words he showed people how to perform home maintenance and improvement on their own, saving them thousands of dollars in the process. Advertisers loved his blog, and he made quite a few dollars from affiliate marketing tactics. But eventually he ran out of post ideas, because he shared most of what he knew.
We sat down and mapped out a plan for him. It involved reading everything there was to know about home improvement, from tools to methods. We found books and websites that could teach him about home improvement projects he didn’t yet know. He went from teaching people how to build a table to teaching them how to maintain their heating and air conditioning systems. The result? More visitors than ever, with an avalanche of social shares.
That session took a long time. We had to figure out what he needed to learn, and then how he was going to learn it. Here’s an outline of how I’d suggest someone else do this.
- Start with books. Pound for pound, books contain more knowledge than any other media. They’re also the most versatile learning tools. They can cover general topics, or go deep into a topic.
- Pinpoint the best blogs. There are likely many blogs that contain the knowledge you seek. Don’t subscribe to them, though. Dig through their archives and find the posts that will help you.
- Subscribe to trade magazines. It might cost you a few dollars, but trade magazines will provide you with information that the general public just can’t get.
- Build up a presence on forums. People share their troubles on forums. Get in on that and learn what you can from the experts. Ask questions first, but answer where you can.
The aim is to make yourself into an expert. Only when you reach expert status will you see your blog traffic skyrocket. But even that’s not enough. Even experts have to continue learning. But with a blueprint like this you can continue expanding your knowledge in perpetuity.
Are you suffering from the knowledge problem?
If so, don’t worry. The solution is easy: start learning more. It might feel difficult at first, but that’s just initial resistance. If you truly love your blog’s topic, you’ll naturally want to learn more. When you learn more, you can share more with your audience. And when you share more with your audience, you’ll see your blog really take off. I’ve seen it happen enough times.
image © auremar – Fotolia.com
Ganeshan Nadarajan November 5, 2012 at 12:45 am
If you truly love your blog’s topic, you’ll naturally want to learn more. When you learn more, you can share more with your audience. And when you share more with your audience, you’ll see your blog really take off.
Lilibeth Leoligao October 26, 2012 at 9:57 am
Yes, I agree with you that there are hundreds of websites all over the internet market today, but the question is why these consumers will visit your site? Are you getting interest or hitting their interests in life, business, career, profession, social life, etc.? Are your site shows relevance to their needs? Are your site do upgrades and updates?
Lucy October 6, 2012 at 1:54 am
I do agree with you that people don’t visit our website until and unless we present to them something different from others and stand out from the rest of the crowd. Why people will come to your site when hundreds of other sites are presenting the same thing. This is a mistake most bloggers dont realize and as a result they repeat it time and again with no results.
Hamza October 1, 2012 at 4:43 pm
Wonderful article Joe thanks You have highlighted a very interesting point. The desire to learn something is the basic reason why people visit a blog or by the way read anything written or typed. And in order to teach you have to first of all learn yourself. I’ve faced the same problem when i started my first blog 2 years ago focused on personal development. I think I’ve written around 20-22 posts and after that i simply couldn’t find ideas for my blog posts. But this time i think after using your method i will be able to launch a successful blog.
Zach from TruthInMarketing October 1, 2012 at 4:27 pm
I completely agree with this strategy Joe. Luckily, I haven’t reached the point of not having anything new to write about considering I just started my site. BUT. I fear the day I do.
I will definitely be investing in some good marketing books that I can read to get some new ideas from. Even just reading blogs on a daily basis, I get inspired to write new content, so I know your strategy described in this post works.
Thanks.
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Mark October 1, 2012 at 4:06 pm
Wow Joe,
And here I thought being included in Google news was the end-all-be-all of traffic generation.
Have you had content there?
Regardless, contributing something more than what has been hashed over and over again on the web is a great business plan.
I like your point about reading books because I have personally found that there is a great deal of knowledge in books that is NOT indexed by Google.
Great read.
Mark
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Joe Pawlikowski October 1, 2012 at 5:10 pm
It’s funny, Mark: when I started a network of tech blogs 5 years ago, getting into Google News was HUGE. Now it doesn’t seem to send us much of any traffic.
Joe Pawlikowski recently posted..A time to be frugal, a time to indulge
akhilendra October 1, 2012 at 2:03 pm
Hey Joe, You are right there, we often get lost in our own world and we believe that we are communicating with the outer world whereas in reality, we are not. if we can break the shackle and come out if it and provide something new and informative, our blog can really move in entirely different trajectory. thanks for sharing this great article.
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Dev October 1, 2012 at 6:03 am
Hey Joe,
Excellent post. It’s very important to write something new (& bring value to the table), because there are hundreds of blogs online on the same topic.
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ansh October 1, 2012 at 3:43 am
abslutely right . .people these days are only confined to became no.1 rather than concentrating on their contents.
Suzanne September 30, 2012 at 6:00 pm
Joe, fortunately I do love my blog topics and I love learning so it follows that I need to continue expanding my knowledge base. I have a stack of unread books on my office side table – I guess I need to finish reading them. And there are a few blogs that deal with my niche client niche topic. Thanks, Suzanne
Abhik September 30, 2012 at 8:59 am
Thanks Joe, for the awesome read.
All I know is you will get what you deserves, if you are dedicated.
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Guppu Boss September 30, 2012 at 6:28 am
Now a days i think copy bloggers have increased too much they just rewrite others old post in little better way and publish them own their blog. Every newbie i saw in blogosphere starts a blogging niche blog. Which i think is not good. They can’t add value to their blog like this
Jane September 29, 2012 at 1:35 pm
Hey Joe, it is very important (especially these days where there are loads of blogs that talk just about the same topic) to teach our readers something new with every piece of content. I mean, if there’s nothing new and if our blog posts doesn’t add value, why publish it?
Thanks for the headsup!
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Joe Pawlikowski October 1, 2012 at 5:17 pm
“I mean, if there’s nothing new and if our blog posts doesn’t add value, why publish it?”
I think it’s because of the pressure to publish often. It’s silly, but it’s true.
Jacko September 29, 2012 at 12:16 pm
I think people are afraid to say something that is not STATUS QUO. This is what I find too often.
People need to realize there are already enough blogs offering generic tips, you have to stand out and the only way to do that is to bring something special to the table that no one else can.
YOU
Stop trying to please everyone with that “go along to get along” attitude if you want to maintain the status quo why start a blog to begin with?
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Joe Pawlikowski October 1, 2012 at 5:16 pm
I think people start blogs wanting to break the status quo, but then find themselves caught up in it. It’s tough to break out of that mentality.
James Hannan September 29, 2012 at 9:52 am
Joe You are quite right. Now a days People don’t care about personal opinion. E But you can still add your personal feelings at bottom. But I think sharing any tricks and uncommon things works best in terms of getting people read blog.
Joe Pawlikowski October 1, 2012 at 5:15 pm
Yep. It’s like the reverse pyramid style they teach in journalism. Get the important stuff up top and you can do what you like towards the bottom.
Wayne Melton September 29, 2012 at 8:14 am
We all have the problem you suggest in that there are no more ideas to teach. I suggest we often need to cover again some of the same topics we have already covered. Why? Well only about 20% of adults will learn even from a well planned post. Adults learn differently. Teachers are well aware they need to vary their teaching methods to reach all the students in their classroom. Bloggers may need more articles, videos, slides, pictures to get their point across to their audience.
Also even if you had a great article that was perfect you really only reached a few of the 5 billion humans on the planet.
I suggest that 1) money and 2) traffic growth are really the number 1 & 2 problems. Enough money to motivate the writer to keep going. Enough growth in traffic to also keep you writing. Perhaps better and more focused keywords or long tail keywords will help you rank each topic better. High rankings usually mean more traffic. Which brings us back to content + seo are both critical to traffic. If you only are good at one then you will struggle for the traffic.
Only my two cents!
Wayne Melton
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Joe Pawlikowski October 1, 2012 at 5:13 pm
I love that suggestion, Wayne. It has actually come in handy on a tech site I write. We share tips, but we get new readers every day. Chances are many of our current readers didn’t see that tip we shared back in 2008. So yes, rehashing old items in a fresh, new way can be another great idea.
Wayne Wymore September 29, 2012 at 7:22 am
Thanks, Joe for an interesting article. Plan to come back myself when I can
Just found this article thanks to a share from Hesham Zebida on G+…
One other idea for your blog – analyze your traffic and see what terms were used to bring folks to your blog. You might be surprised – or it may confirm what you thought when you started – but then as you have time create more content focused on that area.
Wayne Wymore recently posted..Think Mobile, Earn Global: How Mobile Technology Can Be Used in Marketing
Joe Pawlikowski October 1, 2012 at 5:12 pm
I hadn’t thought of that, Wayne. I usually just glance over referrals, comparing the top two or three. I suppose digging into the long tail could help focus content as well.