Before you become angry at me for calling you “probably insane” let me give you its definition by Albert Einstein:
insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
So you have waited long enough. You are doing everything to grow your blog.
But the growth is something that doesn’t appear in sight. Not even visible in the horizon.
Why is that? Are you not working smartly? I am sure you are putting enough “work” into growing your blog. But then, why isn’t the “growth” happening?
And, to make the situation even worse, bloggers who started with you and who started after you are progressing and growing in an exponential rate.
While you appreciate their growth, at the back of your mind, you feel the pain, right?
I’ve been getting so many emails recently on this topic, which is why I decided to do an elaborate discussion.
I am going to discuss with you the possible reasons why your blogging strategy isn’t working. But I am not going to just point out the shortcomings. I am going to give you actionable tips to fix it.
I mean, who would want to be insane? We all want to progress and enjoy success! Are you with me? Let’s get started.
Stop being insane; that’s the first step.
Whether you accept it or not, you should first stop doing what you are already doing for months. If something is not working you should stop doing it.
That is the first step to change things.
Blindly doing the same thing over and over won’t get you different results. Get off the circle. Get outside the box.
Pause for a while and look back. Analyse your results. Do they match with your strategy?
Here’s an example:
Let’s say you are publishing 4 blog posts per month for about 6 months. Let’s say you do the standard promotion for your blog posts.
But when you look at the traffic, you see a plateau. Now you should stop.
Instead of blindly increasing the amount of blog posts you publish per month, you should analyse your strategy - your content strategy, your promotion strategy, your networking strategy, your SEO strategy and much more!
And then, tweak what you should tweak so you can get a different result!
This is the first, basic step here.
Now let’s see what you can do to fix your “no progress” situation.
Problem #1: You don’t have a blogging strategy in place.
Solution: Devise a blogging strategy and do things as planned.
Look, this one is a biggie. If you are blogging blindly, it is not a surprise that you don’t progress the way you expect.
You need a strategy. Now, if the word “strategy” scares you, it is not a complicated, technical thing. The layman version of it is “a plan that’s aligned with your goals”.
You need to have a plan to do things with blogging. Be it publishing blog posts, the frequency of publishing, networking, doing SEO, etc. you need to do things according to a plan.
Here’s a simple way to devise your blogging strategy:
- Know what you want.
- Set precise goals (and deadlines)
- Develop an action plan that will lead you to the goal.
- Implement the plan.
Was that tough? Not at all.
To help you with more on this, here are three posts on the topic:
- How to create a successful blog strategy @ Hubspot
- A proven blogging strategy that works in any niche @ Blog Tyrant
- Get more website traffic with a content marketing strategy @ Best Hosting And Design
Problem #2: You don’t know what you want!
Solution: Get clarity on why you’re doing what you’re doing and get precise on your goals/expectations.
This is the starting point to devising a blogging strategy (see above). Without exactly knowing what you want, you cannot work towards it.
I often say, “define your success first”. Your version of success that is.
When you know your end goal, you can put some action steps to get there. If you don’t know your end goal, you are doing something stupid.
Well that “something” might be real hard work, but the sad truth is that this kind of hard work isn’t going to pay!
So how do you get clarity on what you want? You need to spend some quiet time with yourself. Sit down with a pen and paper.
Ask yourself the right questions. The first one will be why you are blogging. And then you should build up from there.
Think about your expertise, stuff you are great doing at, stuff that makes you happy, stuff you can afford, stuff you can spend time on without feeling like doing a “job”. And so on.
Once you are done collecting information from your inner self, you will be able to get a clear idea of what you want.
Problem #3: You don’t connect with other bloggers.
Solution: Reach out to other bloggers and maintain a genuine relationship.
It is painful to see most bloggers ignore this highly crucial step. It is also heartbreaking to see that they work so hard to get it done all by themselves.
Blogging is not a one man/woman thing. Well, you can be THE sole owner of your blog/business.
But when it comes to making things work, you cannot do it alone. You need some extra hands.
Here’s where a network comes to help. And this is not something you build for the sake of growing your blog (although that is a sweet byproduct).
You have to reach out to other bloggers and start building genuine, long term relationships.
And trust me, this will get you real results. Not over night. Not next week. But over the time, provided you keep building new relationships and maintain the old ones in a consistent manner.
Here’s an important resource for you to check out in this context:
How to make those all important connections @ Adrienne Smith
Problem #4: Your content sucks!
Solution: Create great, useful content (duh!)
To start with, I urge you to read this post > Why creating great content is crucial?
Well well, you have heard enough of this already. I am not going to annoy you one more time.
But the point is, what you think as great content might not be great from the perspective of your readers.
Remember, your readers ARE the heroes here and you are not (hard to believe, I know).
So what you think is irrelevant here. You need to think from the perspective of your readers to be able to deliver awesome+useful content.
If your content is a super elaborate guide on doing something but doesn’t serve the purpose for your readers, then it is not useful. It is not great (no matter how strongly you believe it to be great).
Your content should be created with your readers in mind. It should directly address their problems, issues, questions, pains etc. It should be reader-centred.
And not YOU-centred or your product-centred.
Apart from that, here are certain things that make awesome content:
- Content that fills a gap
- Content that impacts your reader (changes his/her life)
- Content that gives an experience
- Content that leaves your reader with specific action steps (usefulness)
- Content that teaches something unique, in a unique manner
- Content that you can create with 100% passion (and not out of frustration to publish another blog post)
I hope you got the point!
Problem #5: You don’t promote your content
Solution: Spend 20% of time creating content and 80% of time promoting it.
If you are not promoting your content enough, you are not giving it the attention it needs.
When you don’t care about your content in the first place, how can you expect others to care about it?
If you cannot tweet your blog post, and schedule a few tweets for the coming days, how can you expect your readers to tweet your post?
You have to give the promotion it deserves. Stop creating more and more content before you properly promote the content you have already published.
Problem #5: You don’t care about SEO
Solution: No, you can’t ignore SEO. Embrace it.
SEO might be scary to you. It could be so hard for you to understand. Nevertheless, you cannot ignore it. You have to embrace it.
Even if you are someone who says I don’t want search engine traffic (I’ll be surprised), you still need to optimise your site and its content for search engines.
This is for the sake of your readers.
If you want your readers to find out your useful, awesome content, you have to make sure they can do it. And search engines form a very big portal to connect you and your readers.
Of course, I am not saying that search engines are the only way for people to find you. But that’s a big piece of the pie that you wouldn’t want to miss!
Here’s a bit of counter argument of myself (the irony) > How to ride the SEO roller coaster for consistent web traffic?
The key here is to focus on quality; don’t forget your readers for SEO.
Don’t mechanically optimise your posts. Remember, search engines are only portals. Your readers are the ones who are going to make use of your content, and they are the ones who will form the base for your business.
Here’s more in this context:
By all means make your readers happy! But don’t forget the keywords. Keywords are the “keys” through which your readers try to find a solution to their problem.
And if you let the search engines know that a particular page on your site is relevant to a particular keyword, they will direct your readers who are looking for a solution to that problem.
And there are other technical stuff like setting up permalinks right, creating a sitemap for your site, setting up Google Analytics and much more!
Problem #6: You don’t create anything unique!
Solution: You need to be yourself in order to see the results you deserve!
When I say “create something unique” I don’t mean to force you to find a topic that no one else has blogged about!
In fact, you couldn’t find such a topic. Coz almost all the topics have been already discussed.
But any topic can be made unique by giving it one secret ingredient. That’s you.
That uniqueness cannot be infused in your content if you don’t add that secret ingredient. But if you give your content your own opinion and add two tablespoons of your style, then you can create unique content.
Any topic under the sun can be given your own twist. Your experiences, your stories, your expertise added to the mix is a wonderful way to stand out from the crowd.
Rehashed content will not be unique no matter how seriously you rewrite it.
People cannot be fooled by publishing rehashed content. People used to fool search engines with content spinning for a while, but now search engine algorithms are also becoming smart to identify duplicate content.
So if you are a blogger who just publishes rehashed content, you are insane because you are wasting your time. It won’t work!
Stop being insane; apply these changes
As I’ve said already, you cannot keep doing the same thing and expect sudden progress to happen. It is not a magic to “happen”.
Your blog’s growth is directly proportional to the amount of smart work you put in.
Smart work means analysing every step and improvising on the go. If you don’t stop to see if your actions are giving you any results at all, then you are blogging insanely.
I hope I’ve given you something to think about in this context. Let me know what your comments on this!
Hey Jane,
This post hit home!
A couple of years ago I was blogging insanely. As a matter of fact I was publishing a blog post every other day and not going anywhere with my blog.
This made me mad and I thought I was going to go insane.
But I got smart and actually slowed down a bit.
I had goals, but they were too generic. So I started to create little sub goals to fix the problems I had.
And yes, it took me in a different direction and it was for the best. With that said, I started getting better results.
For one I didn’t have clarity, two my posts weren’t valuable to my readers, and three there were quite a few errors I needed to fix on my blog overall.
I’m glad I took the time to make those necessary changes or else I might have ended up in the crazy house lol
Thanks for sharing Jane! Have a great upcoming weekend!
Sherman Smith recently posted..5 Simple Tips For A Daily Social Media Promotion Plan
Hey Sherman,
Thanks for your valuable comment. You have shared your experiences here, and I found them to be very valuable - thank you so much!
And it is good to know I’m not alone
I was insane too when I started out. But when I started to slow down and observe what happened, I was able to realize my insanity and get back on track.
Thanks once again for stopping by. Have an awesome weekend
Cheers,
Jane.
Ryan Biddulph says
Hi Jane,
Goodness knows I have made all of these mistakes at 1 time or another. I have made ’em all and sometimes I need to check myself; I may even make a few these days too if I am not careful. 1 thing I’ve focused on is only posting blogging tips posts. At least for the past 2 weeks. Doing so has helped me get clear on my 1 core topic. Even though I love writing about my travels I will only integrate these stories into a few of my posts, taking a paragraph or 2 to chat about where I am and where I am headed.
I say, offer those practical tips, tell a story, stay on topic, and sell a dream to resonate with your audience. I do my best to solve my audience’s problems yet I also sell a dream to help them see above their problems, and to inspire them to free themselves by doing the freeing things one does to run a successful, full time income earning blog. That’s the secret; find that driver and you’ll do the smart, fun stuff that one does to become a really successful blogger.
As for my direction these days, I catch my insane blogging ways more quickly. This post has helped me spot my insanity a bit more because again, since I am human and fallible I may do silly stuff from time to time….blogging in paradise has its drawbacks sometimes. Too many distractions. Even as I write these words I’m thinking about our next trip. In 30 minutes we’re traveling to a cloud forest in Nicaragua, to spend a weekend on a volcano. Yeah I know, boring stuff. Seriously though, I need to double down at times to focus on the task at hand and to blog intelligently and effectively.
Stay on topic guys. This one gem alone will make you stand out from the crowd because once you stay on topic you’ll distance yourself from all of the folks who hop around from topic to topic every other post. Folks will know you for doing 1 thing and for doing it well. I used to change topics with the breezes. Now I’m more aware of when I shift, and even though I’ve made this mistake within the past 2 months or so I set the intent to stick on the blogging tips theme for the past 2 weeks. So far, so good. Check in on me if I stray and feel free to lash me with a wet noodle if I do LOL.
Each of your blogging tips is dead on Jane. So happy to be back here, sharing my comments, adding value to your post and spread the Pro Blogging Success word for you.
OK, off to the volcano.
Thanks for sharing and have a fabulous weekend.
Ryan
Ryan Biddulph recently posted..13 Cheap and Easy Ways to Increase Blog Traffic
Hey Ryan,
I’m SO happy you stopped by after quite a while. Yes we all are human and we all get distracted
The key is to spot it as soon as it happens or sooner enough so it doesn’t influence our blog in a bad way!
Focus is super important. Of course, you could think about your next trip if that’s so cool Ryan 😉 Why not?! We all blog to gain freedom and when you’ve got one, you might as well enjoy it.
I so appreciate your thoughts and stopping by! And I am sure you are already enjoying your “next” trip by the time I’m typing this reply!
Have a good one
Cheers,
Jane.
I am still new at blogging. My blog is only three months old. You have given me a lot to consider and try. I have been struggling with my blog and getting noticed. I can’t wait to try these suggestions. Thanks.
Glad to help Amy
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi, Jane,
Great post - love that you give the problem and the solution to fix it, and that Einstein quote is my favorite! 😉
Simple - stop being insane. Love it! Yes, too few folks analyze what they are doing and the results they are getting. If they want a different result, it’s obvious that they need to change what they’re doing, yet so many people go on and on as if they were a programmed robot. Sad really.
Yes, I couldn’t agree more! A blogging strategy is absolutely essential these days. Clarity of thought in knowing our big WHY is critically important, and we absolutely cannot progress without this, you’re spot on.
Relationships are very powerful, and I’ve learned this in the last 3 years. The first year or so of my business, I didn’t focus as much on building relationships with influencers, but only my subscribers and list, which was good, but I needed to do both at the same time.
Promotion and syndication is so important, and I’m glad you cover this because the first part of the first year of my business, I didn’t realize just how important it was. You’re helping a lot of people!
SEO is important, and I’m happy that my rankings are improving for certain areas. Uniqueness is a challenge these days, but when we really understand our USP, then it’s a lot easier. We want to give our readers a wonderful UX and knowing our USP and who it is we serve is essential and makes this possible. Awesome!!
Great thought-provoking article, Jane, and I’ll definitely be Spreading the word…
Have a good evening.
˜Carol
Hey Carol,
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your valuable input. I appreciate that very much.
Indeed, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is crazy. But I’ve done that blindly in my early days of blogging, until I realized my craziness. Having a strategy in place just makes things easy and manageable.
Relationships - oh well, I couldn’t live without them lol!
I’m so glad you liked the post Carol. Have a wonderful week!
Cheers,
Jane.
Thanks a lot for such a great post! I am also a new blogger and I am working so damn hard on my blog but still I haven’t seen any good results! So, I think I should try and implement your given tips on my blog!! Once again thank you so much!!!
Maqsood Ahmed recently posted..Happy Valentines Day 2016 Status
Hey Maqsood good luck with implementing these tips
it is so true, we get insane sometimes, no i think most of the times, we don’t know what we want sometimes and just post articles without any result. everyone at some point of time may face this, and then comes the eye opener where we wait and think what the hell it is going wrong. that’s it form that moment we plan correctly and work on our mistakes, and then success is just a bit far.
crook recently posted..Facts about tiger that will blow your mind
Hey Crook, you are so right. THat’s what happens most of the time. But it is a good thing that we get that spark of “WTH is going wrong”
Vidyut says
This post so resonates with me. I blog insanely. Great content in spurts, blank patches in between, next to no promotion. I suppose it is time to roll up my sleeves and get to work…
Hey Vid, now that you know what’s wrong its time to correct it
Good luck!
Thank you for your very valuable post! Always learning how to create content that people will want to read and not just the stuff I like to write. I’ve also come a long way from the beginning and find myself re-imagining things every day. I think of blogging as not just blogging but something that is providing something of value to readers - so this definitely fits with my thinking! Thank you also for the great links and focus on the human SEO element. I bookmarked this post and will be rereading it a lot as well.
Mrs Snow recently posted..20 Ways Motherhood Has Changed Me
Hey Snow, thanks for stopping by and I’m so glad you liked the post.
Sumit Thakur says
Most of the bloggers never promote their blog post, yes they are loyal and regularly updates their blog but if updation was only the way to success then all the articles directories must be on the top. Bloggers should always focus on promoting their blog too.
Hey Sumit, very well said! Publishing more content is not the answer here! Thanks for stopping by
Akshay Hallur says
Excellent post, Jane.
Having a proper strategy as a blogger works a lot. You should have a certain goal like reaching a target traffic or earnings. This can be made sure by keeping track of the progress you made month by month. Or by publishing income reports on your blog. Without keeping something as a goal, it’s quite hard to keep motivated as a blogger.
Secondly, I personally find creating content to be more attractive than promoting it. I find promoting content to be boring. You asked me to “Spend 20% of time creating content and 80% of time promoting it.”
On my blog actually I spend 80% of the time creating content. Maybe it’s the time for me to rectify the mistake, and get more readers to read my content; extract more juice off my existing content.
Cheers,
Akshay~
Akshay Hallur recently posted..8 Tips You Should Consider While Writing for the Web
Hey Akshay,
Well said - without a set goal, we don’t know where to put our time and energy. So it is always good to set a proper, realistic goal.
“I find promoting content to be boring.” - Thanks for being so honest. And yes, that’s right - from the perspective of bloggers it can be boring to promote content or do any kind of marketing. Content creation is certainly more interesting!
But marketing is what takes the content before more and more eyeballs.
Thanks for your comment.
Cheers,
Jane.
Godlove says
I found out that the reason most people don’t make it blogging is
- due to lack of patience
- want everything asap.
- Have no niche power.
You can write on other topics.
But there must be one that you are expert in.
Hey Godlove,
Well said. Nothing comes in so fast. Patience is a virtue here. Also being an expert on a topic helps with credibility.
Thanks for your comment.
Cheers,
Jane.
Purushottam Thakur says
This is a fantastic gift Jane ! Highly organized,easy to follow and understandable, even for a newbie to blogging and writing and terminology, like myself. It’s and encyclopedia of tools for success. Thank you for your work and generosity.
Purushottam Thakur recently posted..Recovering Lost Data From Android (OCT-015)
I’m glad you liked the post Purushottam. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment!
Thanks for an interesting article and interesting quotes. Indeed, to solve problems, to develop and to go to the next level in business, you should be able to evaluate yourself and your approach critically. Sometimes you have to give up a good approach, which does not bring the expected result.
I am most interested in point №3. I do not have time to develop relationships with other bloggers unfortunately. This, I believe, is a serious drawback.
I agree with you Valentyn. If something is not giving us the expected results its time to try something else. We might have to come out of our comfort zone in order to do that.
Yes, not having time to build relationships is definitely an minus. But I hope you can work it around.
Thanks for stopping by.
Dennis Seymour says
Guilty! You hit everything right on the mark Jane!
I’ve definitely made all these mistakes at points in my life haha.
It took a lot of effort to admit them to myself and finally fix them. I still make mistakes here and there nowadays but being aware of them definitely helps!
Great post as always!
Dennis Seymour recently posted..Here’s How Social Media Affects Your SEO
Hey Dennis,
I can so relate, because I’ve made those mistakes myself too lol. And yes, I too still make some mistakes but at least I am aware that those are mistakes, now
Thanks for stopping by Dennis. Means a lot to me
Have a great week!
Cheers,
Jane.
Hi Jane,
I couldn’t agree more with this post, it was just so spot on.
2 points resonated so much with me.
Point 1: Not connecting with other Bloggers.
You just said it so well, it’s so impossible to succeed as a loner blogger, you definitely need the support of other bloggers.
Point 2: Not doing enough Blog Promotion.
Lots of bloggers don’t promote their posts, I might add here that we need to also do Blogger Outreach which entails reseaching other Bloggers who have shared related posts or are interested in the topic you have written and then invite them to read your post and share it with their audience if it’s a good content.
Thanks Jane for creating this beautiful piece.
Dan
Dan Ewah recently posted..Should I just blog on Facebook?
Hey Dan,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this.
Without the help of fellow bloggers we cannot succeed no matter how much hard we work. This is one precious lesson I’ve learned over these years.
And promotion - yes. Without that all our efforts may go unnoticed.
Thanks once again for your comment. Have a great day!
Cheers,
Jane.
Rahim says
Awesome Post ! i am newbie in this field and i try my best to know everything about it , i am working hard to achieve my goals to help many people through my blog
Thanks for this post
Regards
Rahim
Hey Rahim, I appreciate your spirit. Good luck with achieving your goals.
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
It’s definitely better to be a smart blogger Jane!
And a while back, before I found qualified experts such as yourself and my
Coach & mentor Andrienne Smith & Donna Merrill etc.
I was definitely going insane!LOL!
I broke all six of your golden commandments o effective blogging!
I’m so glad I finally came to my senses!LOL!Thanks for sharing some more awesome content!
Mark recently posted..So How In The World Does Being More Charitable Fit Into Your Long Term Marketing Plans?
Hey Mark,
Lol. I can understand.
Ah and now you have awesome coaches Adrienne and Donna. I’m sure you can’t go wrong!
Glad you came back to your senses lol. Thanks for stopping by; I so appreciate it.
Cheers,
Jane.
I agree that one of the most common problems is being specific in your goals about you want to achieve with each of your blog posts.
Writers like to write, but if you are creating a blog as a business then your blog posts need to serve a specific purpose.
I would also agree about the 80 / 20 rule for marketing vs. writing. Even a little more time spent promoting your content can yield outsize results.