Hugh has put together another top ten list – this time it’s 10 reasons why nobody reads your blog. Take it with the humorous tone it was written in but see the truth in some of the points. I particularly agree with these points (Hugh’s points in bold with my own comments afterwards):
2. There’s nothing in it for them – it’s about value. Give people something that they find valuable and you’ll find people coming back for more and recommending others check it out. Of course ‘value’ means different things for different people and can stretch from information, entertainment, inspiration, news, community etc
5. You have nothing to say – this is related to #2 really but takes it a little further. Many blogs fall into this trap with content that is dry and uninspired.
8. The very fact that you’re whining about traffic makes people not want to read your blog – this is a trap many bloggers fall into. I’d extend it to ‘whining’ on many topics. While the cynical, moaning, snide approach to blogging works for some people, in general I think people are attracted to blogs that are positive and offer something that enhances people’s lives in some way. As my wife says to me when I get into a whining state of mind – ‘build a bridge and get over it’.
9. You’ve only been writing the damn thing for a week – so true. With all the talk of massive blogs around it’s easy to expect too much too quickly. While traffic is important I recommend bloggers in the early days check their stats less and write more quality content. While you can do things to maximize your blog’s exposure the number one thing you can do is have a useful, relevant and up to date blog that over time develops authority on a topic. This doesn’t happen over night.
Perhaps in the vain of #9 would be the addition of ‘you only post once a month’. Regular posting and fresh content is key.
Found via Life 2.0 (who has a good post on the topic).
A lot of “consultants” and “experts” seem to think that pushing blogging is an end unto itself and that blogging will automagically lead to success, fame and fortune. If you don’t have anything to say, then why force the issue?
Some people simply are not suited to blogging, while others navel gaze…
[…] Found via Pro Blogger Technorati Tags: […]
So true..I’ve been up only for 1 week and I am already getting impatient!!!
My favorite is #1, though…
“1. You’re not a good-looking female who likes posting naked pictures of herself.”
Like Floyd, I started another blog last week and I am checking my stats like crazy. Today I reached a new high of 9 pages views :-). Ya gotta start somewhere…
Hey Daren. Glad this was useful and thanks for link.
Blessings
Same here- a new blog in the business/life/blogging niche.
Not new to blogging, however.
Regarding the comment about value to the reader- that is where the hard work comes in on the part of the publisher.
Your visitor should not be there by accident.
If you are blogging about music, a person looking for gardening tips isn’t going to find value in that first 1/20th of a second anyway.
TARGET your audience correctly.
My site slowly getting serious readers and commenters after i started publishing my own original contents
Yup, I’m new to blogging too. However, I seem to be picking up some traffic from search engines already. Not really google, but msn is working for me :D I guess people are just crazy for the stuff I mention on my blog ;)
My newest blog has only been going for a month (started Jan 1st) and I have really been working to get it filled with content before I talking about it. I want to make sure there are plenty of posts for people to fall back on.
I come from a history of publishing a print newsletter with over 2000 regular monthly subscribers. I recently stopped printing it (what a hassle) and moved to a multiple-blog format. To get my print readers to come to a FREE website was like pulling teeth (only about 5% came, even though I had a near 100% re-subscription rate).
I find that I publish articles too often (daily, at least 5 days a week on all of 4 blogs and soon 7). It is less work than my printed newsletters and my daily e-mails, and it actually saves me time. The blogs with the least updates (but still 2-3 times a week) get the most traffic and make the most income.
If you’re a blogger, be unique. Fill a niche. Don’t spam a thousand other blogs or web forums with random posts. Just write, and hope that people start telling their friends. One of my blogs jumped in traffic almost 400% in the past 3 weeks on word of mouth alone.
I’ve been up and running for about three days, and am really enjoying the experience. Your site, and especially posts like this one, are very helpful and I thank you for the service you are providing!
I’ve put in place some of your advice already at my blog http://www.swimsean.blogs.com and had about 80 visits in the first 24 hours. Onward and upward from here I say!!
I disagree with Michele, I think any person can have certain success extent in the blogosphere, cause every single one of us has at least something (as in a category or a niche) interesting to say, only problem is we don’t always like to talk about what we’re good at ;).
Don’t get me wrong, i’m not saying that you can start writing about your boss and get 100 visits a day, but there are alot of ways to succeed as a blogger and not as an info-feeder.
If you remmember, blogging’s first aim was to write about life, an online-journal…people did write about their life and while today we’re more interested in the commercial field, there are still people out there who get alot of traffic out of (fake) writing about their life.
A.H
@AH – You are entitled to your opinion, but I still disagree :)
Totally agree with number 9. FemBlogs.com has been up for just under a month now. At first I thought we were never going to get any readers…but these things do begin slowly. Sure enough we’ve begun to see a few readers poping up now. Am going to keep plugging away and be patient. Effort is the only thing that ever really pays off in this world. Gave up on luck a long time ago.
[…] Aiheista hyviä kirjoituksia löytyy osoitteista: – https://problogger.com/why-nobody-reads-your-blog/ – http://www.life2point0.com/2006/01/title_needed.html […]
We started our blog about 9 months ago, let it languish due to a death in the immediate family and other things. We have recently got back into building it into something that is fun and a potential earner.
I am guilty of watching the stats too much and not publishing as much content as I’d like. The goal is to enter 4 new items each day. Finding fresh content has proved tougher than I thought. Our blog is technotainment focused (one of the few technotainment blogs out there, lol) and I don’t want to get in the habit of retreading all that is out there unless I feel I have something new to say or can point out something relevant.
Darren’s site has been very helpful in all aspects of the direction we are taking the blog. I also pick up a ton of info from the comments sections as well and appreciate the contributions everyone makes here.
I’ve been running a blog for a while now, my site generated a small number of hits each day, but I’m a big beliver in Darrens point about giving the readers some value.
I’ve tried to do this whenever I learn something.
For example this page is a prime example:
http://www.acrazy.com/view-blog.asp?bid=25
I’ve been researching into making an income online so have been posting how I go about it.
From only 30 visits a day I’ve receive about 5 e-mails a day now thanking me for that posting.
In short – Give your readers something of value and you’ll blog will be a success.
Cheers Darren and the other comments on here – a really useful posting for me. :) thanks.
Phil
My new favorite thing is doing a few days of posts at once. I just switched to wordpress and this feature is amazing. Just last night I made up 10 posts for my one blog so I don’t really have to worry about it for the next week or so. A lot easier than trying to write a story every day or too when you get busy. How did I ever survive using blogger….
I would add #Nteen – you’re on a free hosting platform, but you aren’t Scoble. We saw traffic triple _the_day_ we moved to our own domain, and we’ve sustained that new level since. Granted, it’s only been two weeks since we moved, and two months since we started, but it seems to have made a difference. If only everyone would get off the old feed and onto the feedburner feed.
Thanks for a great blog – your posts have helped me a ton with SEO and general mindset about blogging. We post daily, avoid news-regurgitation, and generally try to contribute to our community. Thanks for the many great tips!
So you are happier with WordPress over Blogger Jon?
I just started my first with Blogger, and would like to try other options, as I have been primarily using my own hosting account (i.e.- not part of any networks).
Does WordPress charge a fee if we’d like to include our advertising on the blogs?
[…] Great tips- especially for beginning bloggers- at Problogger’s Why Nobody Reads Your Blog. Tags […]
Nice article.. Thanks for the post
#4 (the secret “A list” cabal) is dead-on.
#8 is way off — bloggers whine better than anyone else (and people like to read that crap). if nothing else, they whine back in the comments. believe me, i whine at my site and get responses.
Hugh is hilarious. His manifesto on ChangeThis.com called “How To Be Creative” should be standard reading for everyone. Kind of wisdom that is rarely disseminated let alone followed.
Permalinks. Use them!
Search engines dig them and will increase readers just in themselves.
Hey..Thats correct!, you have given great info!, Keep up the good work buddy!
Good post. I’d say I really benifit a lot from your blog. Thanks a lot.
[…] What I am hard to write content is not different from many blogger, and students, who always asked me how to make blog popular, how to write content and so on. At that time, I felt hard to advise them because I am not good at blogging as well. Later, I always read the professional foreign bloggers such as Problogger, John Chow Dot Com, Chris Garett…etc. I read articles saying about how to write content, method of blogging such as 5 blogging method that work, 10 ways to become a better blogger, 10 things you need to know before you blog; 6 lesions Britney Spears can teach you about blogging; Why nobody reads your blog…etc. […]