This guest post is by LA Juice, of www.la-juice.com.
Saturated, overloaded, “all full up.” These are the words and phrases I think of when I look at the blogging world. Especially in the context of gaining new followers when you aren’t teaching, selling, or giving valuable books and prizes away.
In my six months as a “humorist” blogger (someone who doesn’t teach, sell or give anything away), I have seen my initial traffic grow very well, only to absolutely stagnate over the past two months. And my commenters have all but disappeared. At this point the only people commenting are (and I am sure of this) blogger friends who feel bad for me.
You know, other bloggers who know “what’s what” (bloggers running sites where I have commented).
I’d love to tell you I’m not trying everything to grow my readership, but short of paying for advertising, I am doing all the things the bazillion SEO/SEM/marketing blogs tell you to do. Oh wait, I am paying for ads. Sure, they’re just cheapo Facebook PPC ads—but they’re ads nonetheless.
Here is my active blog promotion checklist:
- Twitter: active, with all appropriate feeds (bit.ly, comments etc.).
- Facebook: active, Networked blogs: active, PPC ads on Facebook, etc.
- Post no less than three times a week.
- Respond to all comments.
- Ask readers questions/trivia/etc.
- Write about controversial stuff hoping someone will engage.
- Held a couple contests, and gave prizes away.
- Regularly comment at between eight and 12 different blogs in the same genre as mine.
- Guest blog at three places.
- Create topical headlines (SEO/SEM within the confines of WordPress).
I even offered iTunes cards to the first five Facebook followers who got more than five of their friends to “follow this blog.” The silence was deafening. The WB frog would have sung louder at an American Idol audition.
I have first page Google rank for “LA Juice”—in fact, I hold first-page spots three to six, and seven on google for a very common search term, if you ask me, and I have made nice progress moving up the Technorati ranks, so I feel like I’m doing a lot of the right SEO things, too.
Yet, crickets! Pure crickets.
When I am not barraging Twitter with (hopefully) pithy jokes, not responding to people who do comment, not commenting at other sites, not guest blogging, and not offering fabulous prizes to my Facebook followers, I sit and wonder, “What happened to the days of people sending links out: “You have to read this blog, it’s hilarious.”
You know word of mouth? I’d even take hand to hand combat right now!
I fear such days are long gone. I can’t recall the last time anyone sent me an email with a link in it. And Twitter retweets, and #FFs? It’s more like white noise.
No one shares or promotes their favorite websites anymore. Except bloggers, to other bloggers, on Twitter.
In fact, my last (and first) six months of blogging have led me to the conclusion that the only people reading blogs are other bloggers. Is it possible that we bloggers have worn our welcome out? Even before I got into the game? Can it be true that either people no longer read blogs or everyone has become a blogger and so there are no more readers?
These are the questions that keep me awake in the middle of the night.
Of course, its possible I am just not funny, engaging or interesting, however:
- That never stopped half the bloggers out there with bigger “followerships” and more daily comments than me.
- People who think they are funny, but aren’t, will draw mean commentors—and I don’t even have any of those!
- Plus, and most importantly, my mom told me I am the funniest and prettiest girl in the kindergarten class.
So, sure, it’s possible, but—let’s be frank—not likely.
Accordingly, we have to ask: is blogging dead?
It’s a tough suspicion for a new blogger who has no intention of giving up the fight. But it’s a truthiness I am beginning to believe with the sincerity of a guest on The Colbert Report.
That’s why I wrote this post: to find out if you agree and, if not, why not. If you do agree, what do you think we should do about it?
Oh, and if you don’t comment, you’re probably proving me right! …See what I did there?
Aspiring to be the funniest blogstress west of Rodeo, Juice currently writes your wrongs at her website: LA Juice. LA Juice is one escaped Detroiter’s unedited and often inappropriate perspective on all things pop culture, celebrity and LA .
What does “LA Juice” have to do with being humorous, though? You can pick keywords that get a ton of traffic, but if no one who is searching for it actually is interested in your blog, they’re not going to stick around.
That’s the problem with SEOs today–and I’m one of them. They preach traffic, traffic, traffic, but so few actually preach conversions. I can get you a ton of traffic for any keyword you want, but if no one is sticking around, it’s pretty useless, right?
LA Juice is a cool keyword and yeah, it gets a bunch of traffic, but it’s not funny. Why not try keywords for funny related things? If someone is looking for humor, chances are, they’ll stick around if you’re humorous. But, if you choose a keyword–that really is just your domain name, so of course you rank high for it–that has nothing to do with what people are searching for, you can’t expect people to stick around.
I’m a blogger so, yes, I read blogs. Many, many blogs. So whether or not non-bloggers read blogs, I don’t know. But does it really matter if those reading your blogs are bloggers or not? They’re readers…whether they have a blog or not.
I really agree with Jacob. I enjoyed reading your guest post, and I’ll more than likely look your blog up as soon as I finish posting here–and that is what we all hope to happen, isn’t it? But I probably would have never found your blog if you hadn’t guest posted here because in a zillion years I would never have thought to Google “LA Juice”…and if I had happened to see it, I would have thought it was a site for a juice bar or one of the many MLM nutritional juice businesses…in which case, I’d have never clicked on it. It seems to me you’re doing all the right things to build your blog, but the people searching for LA Juice are looking for something to drink rather than something to read. Try a new keyword…one your readers would naturally put in the search bar.
It sounds like you’re doing a good job keeping your blog up and practicing a lot of the standard social practices, but I agree with Jacob in terms of seo — it all comes down to the conversion … and if a certain term isn’t working, it’s time to try another.
That said, humor is a difficult beast — sure, you can optimize for stuff like cat pictures (good luck), but for the most part humor is something that finds footing through word of mouth. People weren’t searching for “star wars kid” or “people of wallmart” before they new what it was. They searched for it because someone told them it was hilarious.
I checked out your blog and have to admit, I couldn’t tell what it was about by skimming through the posts on the front page. In my opinion, I think every post needs to be connected by a spine of some sort, whether it’s celebrity related or clothing related. I think the major problem might be the headlines — they fall short of revealing what the post is about, therefore falling short to compel readers to click.
You have your own unique style and write very well, so I think the only optimization you need to do is your headlines … they’re everything. If you don’t have a compelling headline, then readers aren’t going to click, facebook friends aren’t going to click, twitter followers aren’t going to click. And that’s just the immediate connections — there’s also what’s left of the social bookmarking crowd, which can bring in a lot of traffic and help boost your content to that word of mouth status you need … especially StumbleUpon.
Hope the best! You should follow up with another guest post in a while and let us know how it’s going.
Thanks much! a lot of people here have mentioned headlines, and its funny, my headlines are doing a pretty good job of dragging in readers that would never have found me-just randomly of course.
Something yousaid hit the nail right on the head, Chris- it seems its not SEO or SEM- its the “Star wars kid” phenomenon: word of mouth. word of mouth. sigh.
I agree with Chris here. Because I really enjoyed your post, I had a peek at your blog straightaway. At first glance though, I couldn’t really tell what your blog is all about – it seems like it lacks a certain cohesiveness. Remember I am not even reading anything at this point, so I can’t honestly say how good of a writer you are. As a first time visitor, my first concern is to find out what is it that you write about. What exactly is LA Juice? And I don’t get that in the first 3 seconds.
Your post got read on problogger because this is one stop shop for all things blogging. The voices are different, they can be serious, funny, formal, quirky, contemplative, businesslike etc but the underlying theme is the same. I think by just being humorous is not big enough of a hook for most readers – it has to be about something that really helps them with something. It has to provide some value. I often (try to) be funny about things too, but I write on personal development for bloggers who blog for the love of it.
Your headlines are not very descriptive as well and this is something writers struggle with. They don’t make me wanna look. Do this with your headings and be creative within the post. Hope this helps. :)
I ditto to what Karen just mentioned. The name of your blog may be needs to be changed, as it is not something anyone would look out for, unless they are looking for ‘juices’.
Isn’t O.J. Simpson the original LA Juice?
Just wanted to say I’m not so sure it is “blog overload” but more “life overload”
Ah, Jacob, see and that is the sort of pitch I get all the time. I have no doubt it works for different types of blogs. But LA Juice is not only my name, its my location and persona. My blog is about the persona. The point of my blog is to write, with the hope being that what i have to say resonates with people. The blog is not monetized, nor is it intended to make money. Keywords – or at least those that are affordable- are useless to a blog like mine. I am never going to spend the kind of money on a PCP campaign that it takes for the PCP campaign to be effective.
People are only going to return or visit if I am interesting and fun and if I resonate with their opinions, or make them mad enough to respond. There are no keywords for that. Or if there are Perez Hilton and the Huffington post dominate the page ranking.
Sorry about the typos! I was not expecting my post to go up today and am trying to respond to everyone quickly before I head to work-among other typos, PCP should be “PPC”..sigh.
I agree, sometimes I feel that bloggers get too personal with branding and don’t focus on the right keywords.
I have begun to wonder the same thing. Or is it the exposion of various “social media” that has saturated and burned everyone out?
I know, but I really wish I am wrong!!! I am not rad to give up and am hoping all of you will tell me what a fool I happen to be (A fool!)
I’m with Michelle. I sensed the tide started turning when Facebook became the “it” place to hang out. I do still get decent traffic on my own humor blog, but it’s stagnated. I can’t say I’m very upset about it because I like hanging out more on Facebook myself. I’ll admit it… for a humorist, it’s just easier.
I may also be burning out as a blogger. Been at it four years. I might be done. I’m tired. And like I said, FB is way easier. I get a fair amount of comments on my FB status updates, so I do still get a sense that people are listening to what I have to say and still consider me entertaining. But blogging feels so hard these days.
I don’t know. Maybe I just need a break.
Oh good, it’s not just me. I feel the same when it comes to getting participation from my blog community. I’ve tried different things and some of it works but when it does it doesn’t really sustain itself and that technique dries up. It certainly doesn’t help that Google changed it’s search engine formula and my site was docked (why was it???) and so I get less Google traffic while still maintaining the same PR.
I don’t even know what “Docked” means! And the comment participation thing evades me completely. I am getting 150-200 visitors a day now, but rarely more than 2-3 comments. sigh. Maybe someone here has the answer!
I’ve often wondered the same thing. It’s tough when the commenters on your blog are other bloggers…but then again the number of visitors that I receive daily tells me that it can’t just be bloggers that are reading. The fact is that people read but don’t comment unless they are passionate about the post or subject.
I have the same experience, except that my commentors tend to be other bloggers who recognize the importance of leaving a comment.
I have noticed the same thing Sandy and I used to be worried bloggers were my only audience. But, I get enough random comments to realize there are a lot of lurkers. And. some of them are really appreciative for the posts, even though they don’t expresss it often.
You know, Bret- I know you are right. I just get a little bummed. A LOT of the fun of writing this kind of blog is interaction. I often write things I know are probably short sighted, myopic or silly, because that is the way I feel at that moment. And I always hope someone will come along with a different perspective, or say something I haven’t thought of. Two years ago I wrote a fan blog at the NHL’s fan website “nhlconnect”. The thing I loved the most was getting that reaction- having 20-50 other hockey fans- opinionated hockey fans- tell me I was wrong, teach me something, feel strongly enough about what I wrote to engage. Before the NHL took the fan website down, I held the record for a blog I wrote that had the most comments- well over 1,000 comments. I loved interacting with all these people. I totally miss it.
As someone who’s just entering the world of blogging myself, reading a post like this is downright alarming. The reason it’s so alarming is that it feels true. Yes, I’ve only been blogging for a couple of weeks, but one thing I was pointing out to my husband just last night is that EVEN MY CLOSE FRIENDS are not sharing my blog with others, with the exception of my mom, my husband, and my roommate. I have a growing group of Twitter followers who aren’t my prior acquaintances, and I know some of them are reading, but… where are the retweets? They’re non-existent. I’m not sure what the answer is, but I feel like if would-be serious bloggers keep on trucking, the answer must materialize eventually. Everyone may be blogging, but the fact is that most of their attempts are just blips on the radar screen. This too shall pass, perhaps?
Don’t Give up Heather!!! Seriously. You are not alone- read all these comments- we all share your experience. You know, Problogger, has posted some great articles that talk about a couple of things that every blogger needs to do succeed, and the one rule that resonates with me is to stick with it.
If you are familiar with “The Bloggess”, I took a look at her earliest posts and was somewhat heartened to know that in the first few months the most popular bloggess in the blog-o-sphere was only getting single digit comments. And now, several years and a book deal later, she gets hundreds of comments on every post.
as for family and friends- read below..
I agree about comments – with few exceptions they’ve pretty much dried up. Even my regulars have gone silent (on the plus side, so have the psychos).
As for my hit rate, it’s been wildly variable of late but no overall damage so far. It is, after all, holiday season (though my blog is read in over 140 countries, the biggies are the UK, mainland Europe, and the USA).
I’m not worried just yet.
Ha! ah the psychos- I’ll take yours! Good Luck!
Interesting post. None of my ‘normal’ friends really seem to read blogs, or if they do they don’t post interesting ones on facebook all the time like I do.
I think the message I really take from this post though is perhaps people can sense you’re not blogging for you you’re blogging for them and maybe desperation and focus on numbers and comments detracts from the whole experience?
I find when I don’t give a shit and just write what feels right I get much better response…
Well said! There is an Afghan proverb that says; “What raises from heart, inevitably sits on the hearts”. When we write things that we truly have a feeling, belief or/and strong opinion about, people enjoy reading and responding.
Aw, I don’t feel desperate. But who am I to say how people perceive me. I have no problem writing about whatever I want- and sure it gets me into trouble. But that is supposed to be a good thing.
Now I am confused if the actual question is “is blogging dead?” or “how to retain the traffic?”. Blogging can be considered as a personal passion which can never die if you are interested in writing not giving a damn about what others think of it. If your only reason to blog is to provide humor and get traffic (and ultimately monetize) then you may think of retaining those few commentors that you still have. How to retain is out of scope of this post i believe. (or is it?).
Finally, blogging can be considered as maintaining your personal diary which doesnt need any visitors, and hence will be alive with you till the end.
But Praveen, I keep my personal diary under my hello kitty pillow, locked up tight, not on display for the world, silly. Of course I care what other people think- and honestly, any blogger who tells you otherwise, is fooling themselves. But I like your perspective. You suggest that a blog is to be used either for ultimate monetization, or as a personal diary, manifesto, “passion”.
But there is a whole world of bloggers- whether they tell you this or not – who are blogging not to just share their deepest thoughts, or to get advertisers and monetize the blog. For example, if you are an unpublished writer who does not have any level of celebrity, the only way a literary agent will even give you the time of day is if you have a well trafficked, popular blog. You can argue that writing a blog in the hopes of getting a book published falls under the “ultimately monetized” category- but that would miss the point. I think that what these bloggers are really doing, first and foremost, is to find out if their voice has a place in the literary world.
Hey La Juice! I hope you’re wrong. But I fear…. Gee, where’s all the comments? !!
Well Played Christine, well played!
Writing, like any art form, is a tough ride. Think about your experiences walking around a bookshop. There are hundreds of titles on display, some that are probably brilliant, others that have been advertised through the roof, and yet you continue to go for authors and genres that you know. Comedy is an even tougher act.
If you want your blog to be a success you have to treat it like a business. The SEO and guest blogging is great, but did you do any market anaylis? How many other humourist blogs are there and how well are they doing? Where are they advertising, who is reading them and how can you target that demographic?
As for WOM, it tends to start with people you know and expand from there. Instead of paying for PPC Social Media ads and optimising your content, start by linking your blog to your FB page and enrouraging people to Like you without necessarily giving them prizes – if people find you funny, they find you funny, they don’t need to be given a free iPod to Like you, that makes you seem like you’re trying too hard.
Another thing you might consider is whether posting 3 times a week is too much. There is something nice about having something to look forward to once a week. Sometimes when something is overly available it’s not as tempting. Think about things like the length of the posts, how digestable they are, how relateable they are etc. People like sound bites, they like content that is nicely packaged and doesn’t take too much time or effort to get through.
The biggest piece of advice I can give (if you’re interested) is that you stop focusing so much attention on your SEO results and the number of Likes you’re getting. If you’re funny then just focus on being funny. Be satisfied by the fact that you’re spreading your humour and making readers around the world laugh. People will catch on and spread the word about you.
Sure and as I mentioned in the post, I have done the facebook networked blogs stuff and other things you mention (market analysis). In fact its the market analysis of my comedic bretheren that prompted this question. I am not the only one in my position, it got me thinking.
I must say its an interesting suggestion to argue that someone should post less than 3 times a week- I have never heard that one before! Bravo!
Can you explain what “WOM” means? I am clueless.
Everyone and their cousin has a blog now, so it could totally be overload – of bad blogs? But shouldn’t the good ones then rise to the top? Finding readers is hard enough and the competition is fierce. I wonder what the appeal is if you’re not “teaching, selling, or giving valuable books and prizes away”. Not to say that there isn’t good reason to read a blog that doesn’t do those things, because they’re are. But then, for the most part that seems to be what the medium is becoming (venues to teach or give stuff away).
I don’t know. I wish I knew.
Darn it Rob- I know. I know.
To paraphrase Chris Brogan “Overnight success at blogging is possible after about 8 years”!
6 months is no time at all in blogging terms, I have run my blog since 2009 and saw little significant increase in traffic until I decided to blog every day. During the 8 week period I managed that, I work full-time and have 3 kids so blogging is a hobby, my traffic sky-rocketed. You can see the graph here: http://seanclark.com/blogging-2/more-traffic-to-your-blog-guaranteed/
If you want it, work at it. Try different angles, write a series, do some video…
Blogging is certainly not dead, people come to the web to consume content, you just have to find your niche and stand taller than the rest.
Best of luck.
Oh I believe you Sean, (and Chris) on that point. I almost think that in the end the blogs that are successful are the ones that last longer than a year or two… stay tuned!
I’m with you. I have similar experiences, which has led me to increasingly come to an important conclusion: MY AUDIENCE HAS OTHER HANGOUTS THAN SOCIAL MEDIA.
So maybe it is time to dust off all the other tools in my marketing toolbox. Direct mail (with links to relevant content online), phone calls (especially to existing or previous clients — maybe that would be lukewarm rather than cold calling), PR (finding something special about my talent and services I could promote to trade papers and mags).
When there’s a will, there’s a way. And you shouldn’t forget that any online content you have WILL help in the end: it’s there for search and it gives a more detailed picture to those who are interested in your content.
I’m not throwing in the towel, no way. But I’ll certainly activate other methods of getting in touch with my potential. My time is too valuable to waste on things that don’t work.
Let us know how it works out!!!
To be honest, I don’t mind whether I get comments or not on my biz blog at http://www.garrendennylane.com/blog . Yes, some interiors blogs get loads of comments but they are often not businesses, but are writing a blog about interiors because it is their passion, their interest or their hobby. They will read numerous other blogs and comment and form a community whereby they comment on each other’s posts. Yes, I do read other blogs, of course I do, and write comments on them too. this angle targets other bloggers.
I also write a blog for SEO purposes, to attract people to my website and to drive sales too. this angle targets both bloggers and non-bloggers, targets people looking for my kind of product really.
I can see these being great uses of your time for a business blog. I really hope you see the results!
I am not sure I agree with the statement blogging is dead but probably I would agree that we need to blog differently than it used to be few years back.
I love blogging and I would not mind even I am the only reader of my blog and I am fine with that as well. I blog not because of blogging is live or dead and it is working like anything for me.
I see a lot of people here are just like you- bravo! I too love to blog, which is lucky, but I also like to think about what makes a blog in my “genre” successful, and the more I study my market and my “brethren” the more this question looms.
I mean, no matter how much we love to write, if we all blogged just for the sake of writing, we wouldn’t post for the world to see. I am convinced that everyone who publicly blogs is doing it to reach out in some way, for some reason.
I am not convinced that everyone who publicly blogs is trying to reach out for multiple reasons. Some of them which are on top of my mind right now are
1. WordPress the best blogging platform available has the option to block SE and it is kept as an option for years now which suggest people do use that feature.
2. People love to tell the world definitely but there are people who get lot of queries about what you did and how you did and some blogs are meant to let users know those things.
People always judge blog based on how many readers it has or how much money it makes and those type of judgement is mainly done by fellow webmasters and I would say I also do the same but that is not the case with everyone but with majority of us.
In some post few months back here I read a guest post where I found some link which tracked in real time number of blogs created each minute but I could not find that link as of today but to be honest thousands of blogs are created each minute and yet only few succeed and majority of those blogs successful blogs are started by people passionate about blogging.
I don’t think so. The reason is because with blogging, like all things, most people give up before they have a chance at success. Either that or they thought it would be some ‘magic pill’ bringing in instant money, which it isn’t. We won’t hit blogging overload because the majority of blogs today aren’t quality, and the rest quit before they can attain a following. It’s just about being more creative than the rest of them. Finding creative ways to promote and creative things to post is the best bet at blogging success now days.
So you’re telling me there’s a chance? Sticking to it. yep- I very much suspect that this is abut 90% of it.
I’m not sure how much this means as a new blogger, but I’m inclined to agree. I know how to write, and I work my ass off to get my blogs distributed to the public by the same means you do. But my only traffic spikes are from a few friends on facebook and those people clicking through their stumbleupon feed. Other than that, there isn’t much internal traffic bouncing around from page to page.
I’ve gotten wonderful feedback on my blog, but this lack of involvement from the community has slowed down my posting, to the point where I’m trying other niches, causing me to start neglecting the successful blog of mine (which isn’t much yet anyway).
Meanwhile, while I’m trying to get traffic flowing to my site, I have friends who can’t even write well trying to blog (usually it becomes a 3-5 post failing experiment). However, they aren’t interesting in reading any other blogs for somebody else. This means that reader interest is lost with the rise of availability of information.
Blogging has too much access to the general public. This is both good and bad. Good, because it allows a chance for the serious writers to get their name out on the internet. Bad, in that it also brings in a flood of writers who aren’t serious about what they do. In effect, it creates an ocean of bloggers where readers have given up on trying to find that occasional fish.
You make very interesting points, and I share your experience. The point about “too much access to the general public” is a more interesting way of saying what I meant. Maybe that is why so many commentors here talk about monetization- because other than those people blogging for the love of the word, the only bloggers who will rise are those sticking to it for years and/or spending the money. The rest of us are white noise…
I too think the readers have given up looking for the next big fish, but I have to believe they still need to waste time at work on the interwebs. It makes me wish for the next new and interesting way to separate the wheat from the chafe.
It sounds like you’re doing all the right things to get traffic and people to your site. In fact looking at your site it seems really quite good to and you have lots of followers by the looks of it (in fact I’m a new one – I can always use a good laugh)!
I guess in answer to your underlying question its about getting the right people to your site, people that want to interact and communicate with you – not just to promote their own agenda and site, but because they are interested in what you are saying. To do that it might be necessary to go beyond the “blogosphere” to where the real people are.
“Going beyond the blogosphere to where the real people are”- I am convinced this is the secret, I just cannot figure out where the sidewalk ends….
Thank You so much Hutch!!!! In fact, without you I would not have known this was posted today. Your Google sign up lead me to realize Problogger had posted my article (I thought it was going up next Monday, so I am late to my own darn party.)
I hope you will be amused and entertained by my posts and interested enough to stay. After all, what kind of blogger/writer would I be if I wasn’t narcissistic enough to believe people wanted to read and respond to what I have to write?
“Chirp. Chirp.”
…
…
Seriously, though, as someone preparing to start a couple blogs, I hope you’re wrong. I’m really interested in seeing how others respond to this post, but since they are probably all bloggers themselves, the responses will likely be different from those who don’t blog.
Bryan I hope I am wrong too, and I am also hoping for some new insight in these comments. But mostly, I hope your blogs are HUGE successes!
Blogging hasn’t reached overload but there is a limit in certain niches and you may very well have reached that limit. Ranking #1 for “LA Juice” won’t mean much if people aren’t searching for it. As for twitter and facebook I don’t think they are worthwhile honestly. Most twitter users are spammers and most facebook users have no life.
You would probably be better served working the forums at places like Comedy Central or tag teaming with like minded bloggers. Everyone extols the virtues of social media but most bloggers would do well to target the main areas where their readers would be found hanging out.
I’m not sure how a humarist blog does in the long run. I find that a major factor for any kind of blog similar to that is simply novelty.
Hello,
I have been blogging for 8 months now and every month I’ve done better than the last. I went to your site, and I think your design may be some of the issue. I’m not rolling in dough here, and I’m still new, and I don’t care nearly enough about guest posting, commenting, or proper SEO, but I’m still averaging 500-1000 new unique visitors a month. I also only have 15 newsletter subscribers, and 12 feed subscribers, BUT I’m still getting between 4000-6000 unique visitors per month. My revenue has steadily increased from 0 to hopefully $20 this month. SO, let’s talk about how we get you more viewers!
You’re going to need the Facebook Fan widget that show’s peoples’ faces and how many people like your facebook page. You’ll need to get rid of the tiny ass share buttons in the top right of your second sidebar and replace them with BIG BOLD Twitter, Facebook, RSS Feed, and Email buttons up in your logo area. Why the logo area? Because nothing’s going on up there, it’s the first thing people see and it’s very static (I have the same issue, but I’m making strides towards awesomeness).
Next, I don’t know where on your page I go to subscribe for the newsletter. If I can’t find it in 15 seconds, I’m probably not going to sign up for it. Also, I would get rid of the Google Members box, no one really uses it, especially any international visitors you may be receiving. I also feel that you could completely get rid of one of your side bars, or at least relocate it to the left. Also, your categories are in the absolute bottom right of the page, they should be right up at the top so people know how to navigate your site. If you do go with the idea of having a left sidebar, make the left sidebar completely about navigating the site with categories, recent posts, and relevant tags. Make your right bar all social media, recent tweets, comments, polls, contests, giveaways etc. And for your next giveaway don’t be afraid to fill your logo area with a little sticker button that says somethings like “Want $200 Click Here!” or something like that.
And for comedy, utilize podcasts, you’re in a very advantageous position to take full control of your voice, not just with writing, but with words. Write out a great post you would feel comfortable reading aloud, or even performing, and make it into a pod cast with the original article transcribed below the sound file.
Branding your site further would also help, I like your logo, but it looks flat and at a low resolution. The pattern behind the blog is nice but where is the juice. I would love to see the letters LA, perhaps in the Dodgers Logo font with a big pitcher of juice next to it. And connecting the categories could help also, celebuturds juice, or juicy celebuturds etc.
And please don’t take this as me trying to bash your site, I’m just extremely superficial when I visit a site because the populous that are going to blogs have an immediate want or need and if it’s not satisfied quickly they leave. Speaking of which, I recommend broadening your marketing to include Stumbleupon Ads it’s a great way to reach thousands of people, and is one of my driving traffic sources.
Best of luck to you, and don’t give up hope, just keep adapting and changing!
Thank you so much for your thoughtful response! While I do have the facebook widgets you suggest, my subscribe button is very small and above my header. You give a LOT of food for thought and I genuinely appreciate it!!
Good luck to you too, it sounds like your blog is doing so very well- and many of us here appreciate learning about your success!
I love your blog title and logo. So unique and memorable. Fantastic Job. :)
I think it’s all about the user experience and focusing on how you can help your audience the most. So, you’re not writing how-to articles, that’s okay. You are still helping people enjoy their day, burn a few calories with a good laugh, or simply lighten the day. How can you do that the best?
One, I’m not too fond of your headlines. It feels like you write for the people in-the-know: your current subscribers, friends, and family. EQ in a headline isn’t catchy, because I don’t know what you are talking about. I just read a series of posts on writing magnetic headlines I feel will help you: http://www.copyblogger.com/magnetic-headlines/.
I just tried to copy a bit from your blog to share and critique it here, though I can select anything! I can’t right click! What sort of non-sense is this? How do you expect people to share your content if you disable how they (expect to) interact with your website? I’m reading a book on user experience called, Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug (http://amzn.to/q1btzj). Besides, anyone who may plagiarize your copy can easily do this through the source of your website, which is public.
From manic-monday-dig-if-you-will-a-picture (copied from the URL because I can’t copy from the content, so ‘very’ frustrating), the first paragraph doesn’t hook the reader and has two typos: whose instead of who’s and its instead of it’s. Your craft is the ability to hook readers, pull them into a hilarious experience, and leave them wanting more and sharing your content. To do this, you have to write well. I suggest picking up a few books on better writing, such as The Elements of Style, or a less opinionated book Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips For Better Writing. On top of that, study humorous texts; understand why they are humorous; understand the target audience; and take notes on all that you learn.
Anyway, to answer your question, blogging is but one way to be known online. We are all about sharing knowledge, and there is no end to knowledge. Finding new ways to make people laugh is just as important as developing the newest games, or tracking the best banks (what I have just started doing). Find your niche and blow it out of the water.
One last book you may be interested in is Launch by Michael A. Stelzner, it helps you focus on your niche, how to develop it out, and how to make it successful.
Hope this helps and happy blogging. :)
Again, thank you for such energy and time to respond here. Problogger has recent article on Headlines too, I will take the advice with the appropriate grain of salt.
I purposefully block copying of my material, I apologize for your frustration. Its a smart thing for a writer to do. If someone chooses to plagiarize as you suggest, I have a strong legal argument now- beyond standard “rights reserved” protections that not only did I clearly and fully intend that no one use my stuff without express permission, but that the plagiarizer went to extra ordinary lengths to steal my material. Case closed, pay me your ad revenues…
I totally hear you… and yes, I’m a blogger, so you shamed me into commenting, even though you said it all. :)
Tina, you are hilarious.
Great article. Some good tips. I think content is really important now. A friend told me to base content on the news. I tried that and it didn’t work. I seem to do well with the names of famous photographs as far as Google rankings go.
I suppose people want to know that so I’ll have to write more posts about them.
Its interesting the things that end up drawing people to a blog, no? I am fascinated with the keywords that draw people, and am always surprised at the posts that bring the funk- so to speak. They never have any correlation with my expectations. You cannot believe the traffic I get from the phrase “Charlie Waffles”.
I agree that there are tons of blogs out there and in order to really stand out, you have to offer something that people really want to hear. Mom bloggers, especially (which I guess I am) are a dime a dozen. So I have to ask myself, “how will I be different?” I’m no pro, I’ve only been doing this for a year and I have a lot to learn, but I know I’ve found a niche that is not well populated; I know there are few sportsparenting blogs out there written by a coach’s wife of 28 years and a sports mom of 16. I see thinks from BOTH sides and that’s why I’ve found a niche that has continually grown over the past year. I strive to really give my readers something they need or at least think they need. That’s all I know.
Congrats! I totally agree- its crazy good to find a relatively unpopulated niche where you have insight and expertiese. Plus you can also fit in as a subset (a unique subset) of mommy bloggers, and that is a blogging world that supports the HECK out of each other.
OH how I wish I had a unique niche market. Oh I know there is only one of me, just like the millions of other uniquely funny, odd, quirky bloggers out there.
I think, with a few exceptions, blogs are read, commented on and publicized mainly by other bloggers. To get ‘normal’ (non-blogging) people to visit your blog you have to rank high in the search engines for things people are searching for and then deliver the answers they’re looking for.
It’s great that you rank high for LA juice but I’m guessing some of the people finding you with that term are looking for wheatgrass and phytoplankton smoothies in the downtown Los Angeles area, rather than a good laugh – you can see the potential problem there. Still, I picked a domain name that rarely gets searched for at all, so you’re way ahead of me.
You re so right about everything!! I agree about the way to get non-blogger readers, and you hit the nail on the head with my goggle page ranking- its not useful at all for my genre. My boyfriend and I went back and forth on this, because he is an SEO/SEM expert. Ultimately – and like you I suspect- I chose to go with the persona I wanted the website to embody, rather than pick an intuitively searchable domain name.
That is how I approach my site, the way I write, what I write about, my design- its all a reflection of the persona: who I want “LA Juice” to be. Not even remotely useful for optimization or marketing purposes. I do note there are a lot of us out there like this, so I figured that those others like me must wonder what we can do, besides write our very best content.
What I am seeing is that people who understand the blog world have blogs, and read blogs. But, that’s a small population compared to those who do not have blogs, nor do they understand them. Most of my readers haven’t the slightest when it comes to subscriptions, RSS feeds and even, yes, commenting. They understand you can comment on Facebook about it, but they haven’t figured out how to comment on the actual blog.
I agree with you, I do all of the right things, too. But those who understand the blog world read their feeds on mobile devices now, and they don’t have time to comment on the go. What to do??
Jenna
momofmanyhats.blogspot.com
That is so right! When I launched the blog, all my friends commented on my FB page- and I tried like mad to install the plug in that posts your facebook comments to the blog, but it failed time and time again.
The twitter world has been really fruitful- as you mention. I notice that the funnier, more controversial I am on twitter the more retweets, links.
Hate to throw a (figurative) wet blanket on your blog, but you did ask (I’m being gracious) for comments so here goes.
I think you need to take a really good look at your blog. Seriously. I have been reading blogs for, well, over a decade, and read a bunch of them every day, mainly with my newsreader, but I do visit many of the actual blogs, and yours just seems to be full of distractions. FB Nation, bloggers choice award (really?), a Twitter feed (I guess), some kind of Google friend connect thingy, a list of guest blogs posts, recommended blogs, Scribd?, Say What (SAY WHAT?), and what the heck is FNS, I mean-really? Oh, and there’s some actual content in there as well, but I never really got around to it-too diestracted. I think it would do you some good to look at what the pros are up to-Boing,Boing, LughingSquid, heck even EnglishRussia! Seriously, I’m NOT trying to be mean, I really mean to help. (Sorry if I come across as a bit snarky, this now-living-in-texas-LA-ex-pat still has a bit of LA’s-uh, snarkyness I guess.)
Keep up the good work, I do think you’re on to something, and I realize that this blogging business is hard work. I hoe I haven’t been a discouragement. Really.
Oh I am the first to admit I make mistakes! No discouragement at all. You make great points and one that cracks me up. I love that blogger choice award widget- and here is why: When I first found blogger choice awards, I had NO IDEA it was just a SPAM FARM, and I was super excited. I put the widget up. Then I learned that I was a total idiot. I like to own my mistakes, so I have left it up there as evidence of how easy it is to be an idiot in this blogging world.
ps: FNS- is the “funny not slutty” network, into which you have to be invited/nominated. And let me tell you- this network brings about 10-20 new readers a week to my site. At this point 10 new readers a week is a significant number for me. But I do understand your point. thanks!
I skimmed through the front page and didn’t see any titles that stood out. I wasn’t even sure what the blog is supposed to be about. That could be the problem if this perception is common.
Thank you.
To have a very good traffic, you should have a very optimum SERP and SEO. But to maintain the traffic and increase the loyal readers, the content have to be a quality one. It can be told by your Bounce Rate wether people tend to stick around for some time in your blog or not.
Yea, I have heard about “bounce rate” – and I see it in my google analyics, but I don’t actually understand what makes a “good bounce rate”. Mine averages about 54%. Any insight?
This is an interesting perspective. When you point out that most other readers are other bloggers – I completely agree. My family and real-life friends never read my blog – why would they? LOL And let’s face it, the commenters all want backlink juice. I don’t mind, as long as they contribute to the conversation. With so many blogs on people’s Readers, how can you keep you keep up and get more subscribers?
I wish I knew- I can’t even get my MOM to “like” my blog on facebook. I even tried to shame her into it by writing a post about how she won’t sign up. She never read it. sigh.
Some commentors here have pointed out (correctly, I believe) that unless you get google page rank in your genre or niche, the non-bloggers probably won’t come. Of course unless you are The Bloggess, Funny or Die, Perez Hilton or the Huffington Post- you are not getting first page google ranking in my genre. I am not these people, so it feels like such a Catch 22.
I also think the commentors here who point out that it can take years of consistent blogging to grow a decent reader base, are right. I am in this for the long haul, its just that right now I have all this enthusiasm for trying to find the magic recipe, and I see a lot of bloggers out there like me.
What an interesting approach to getting people to review your blog. Painful though. I have one main question for you:
1. How long have you been blogging?
According to a friend of mine, I have a #2 ranking on Google, but experience the same thing. It occurs to me that my name is unique and therefore I receive that ranking. But a blog title resembles a headline in its value. Good headlines get readers. Good blog titles do the same. I’m hunting for a new title, maybe the same applies to you.
From what I’ve learned so far, it takes time to build momentum, even with a good name and great headlines, keep it up and with persistence and a strong learning curve, more readers may plop in your lap.
“Funny”, I did not write this seeking a review of my site- in fact I say as much in the article. I wanted a discussion about what other people do that I have not already done, and whether others have the same experience as me. sigh.
I went to a Leonard Nimoy talk once, and he told a story about when he drove a taxi cab as an underemployed, unknown actor.
He got a call to pick up John F. Kennedy, a Massachusetts senator at the time. They talked, and Nimoy said he was an actor. Kennedy said it was a tough business, but “there’s always room for one more good one.” Nimoy always remembered those words.
I personally find that very inspiring, and I think now is the time to start remembering why these words matter.
Let’s say blogging is oversaturated. In that case, it’s no different than any other artistic racket out there. Whether it be painting, music, design… there are far, far more people that want to have an audience than possibly can. But there’s always room for one more good one. Maybe the standards for being “good” are getting higher and higher.
But there’s always room.
This is exactly right. I could not have said it better. Especially since I live in LA, I am totally in awe of the perceptiveness of this comment. And the other thing I know about “artists” living in LA, (actors trying to make it) is that the ones that do, are not necessarily the most attractive, or the most talented. The elements that got – say Renee Zellweger- to the top were “knowing” the right people, sticking to it, taking the crap roles, paying her dues and being in the right place at the right time.
In other words, things we have no control over. sigh. Its true and I know it.
I’m starting a blog in a couple of months and I do believe blogging is ‘evolving.’ When the web was warm and fuzzy, people could use websites to engage and build relationships. That’s what Facebook is for now.
People want answers to questions. They Google, they don’t ‘surf’. Information overload makes filtering more precious. If Facebook and Google+ meet my relationship needs, then I need the blog primarily for authoritative yet interesting content. That makes the competition to be authoritative fierce. Overload of crap also means less tolerance to explore new sites.
Finally, blog is a dirty word. It’s a journal of someone’s experience. Who has time for that? Solve my problem now because you know what I need and you have just the answer. That’s why problogger and a few others are so popular.
I don’t think blogs are dead. Selling ideas/books/ebooks/stuff using blogs is close to dead. Mobile devices are killing comments.
The issue of trust comes to mind as blogs still are kinda of thought of as online journals and not promotion vehicles. I think developing your tribe and getting them to trust you is key. That usually takes awhile; it means responding and/or participating in comment discussions. Maybe even writing about them.
I saw this post because I have problogger.net in my Google Reader. So my thought – why not encourage the readers to put it on their reader rather than subscribe?
Two more ideas:
1. Write for your local free paper. They tend to be trendy and hip people read them (the same people who might like your blog). Make sure they give your blog address at the end of your weekly article.
2. Try a voting widget in your blog; it’s worth a try. Readers are suckers for things like that for various reasons. And I think Jenna’s right about mobile devices killing comments.
Hang in there!
BTW – I know you already respond to comments!
I think there is a lot of ways to keep the traffic for bloggers but they have to think outside the “blogger-world”. How do newspaper and other websites keep their traffic? SEO? Great content? A good community? Probably all of those things.
all true. And the only controllable item listed in your comment is content, except that its not. I can only produce content I think is great, its up to the world to decide if it actually is.
Wow everyone! thank you for playing today. There are a lot of great points made in these comments, and a lot of food for thought. I really appreciate the time you all took to read and comment today, and now I am off to check out your blogs…its the least I can do!
Ok I have to address the elephant in the room and apologize! I feel bad. I didn’t write this guest post looking for a personal critique of my site, and apparently it is coming across that way. I do genuinely thank everyone taking so much time to help me personally (WOW!) but I feel pretty stupid that an article at Problogger is turning into a sort of “Help Juice, She’s needy” situation.
And so I would like to clarify a bit. Sure my title was provocative, but that is because I am trying to learn the lessons so many of you are suggesting. now I will work on – perhaps- the misleading part.
What I was expecting was a discussion from people in the biz (whether a blogger, or an expert) as to where they think the non-blogger readers can be found by a new, obscure blogger who has no celebrity and who has tapped out her facebook and personal world resources.
Some of you have pointed out that this is the most elusive beast in the interwebs, and I agree. Maybe there is no answer, I guess I just figured this was the group to ask- commentors here at PB tend to be in the know. What do you think?
The non-bloggers might still be coming to your site, but you might not be giving them enough reason to leave comments. Based on the few posts I’ve read, maybe you should solicit readers to share their experiences, making the posts more conversational. You could try using something like Disqus as your comment engine so comments get seen more in the social media space (sorry I’m piling to the critiques).
I also wonder if many readers might feel intimidated about leaving a comment on a humor blog. Maybe they’re afraid of not being funny enough.
Yea, I think that is true – I get 200 visits a day (on the peak days of the week), but 1-2 comments. I have tried a couple of things to get people to comment- at least once a week I write a blog with questions at the end, I used to beg people to write their own haikus on Wednesdays, but never got anyone to play. I need to think about this a lot more.
Hi LA Juice!
I believe more and more people are reading blogs through a reader, which doesn’t make commenting any easier.
Also, you should consider implementing a completely unique feature which sets your blog apart from others.
For instance, check out a new blog my friends and I set up… MyShocker.com… Where people can share things anonymously (not original)
We also have a unique feature where people can upload pics of themselves doing the shocker, and we have a world-map to visualize them. Again, we’re new so we only have like 3 pics so far, but I think you’ll see what I mean by unique. It is a self-promoting feature, and another way to get people to come back to the site, as well as participate.
Good Luck!
Nudo
My advice would be to not obsess about it too much and just concentrate on content.
I do have a Facebook tip for you though – switch off Networked Blogs – at least the bit where you have your posts automatically landing on your wall. Facebook’s news feed algorithm favors manual links over automatic ones. As soon as I stopped mine, I got double the impressions.
I’ve blogged for 4-5 years and had the same shock my first year of blogging. What you are seeing is a seasonal slowdown. This is pretty normal in almost every blog for summer months. Usually the traffic picks up and starts climbing again in mid-September or early October. Also, remember that posts you written in the past which no one is looking at often can become quite popular later on, you just never know. This year on one of my blogs, traffic has actually doubled during the summer, but this is the first time it’s ever happened (in 15 blogs I’ve written). So that’s pretty unusual. Actually, if you’ve even been able to keep your numbers even during the summer, you’ve done well. Usually, readership actually declines during the summer months. Most other bloggers I’ve discussed this with have told me they’ve found the same thing. So just keep blogging, and I’m sure the numbers will pick back up by October. Don’t get discouraged.
Wow! It never occurred to me that the weather made an impact- thank you for the insight! And for commenting.
LA Juice,
You are funny. I like your style.
I so have to say I had the same initial response to this post as some of the first few comment regarding your SEO practices. I did not “get” the name o your blog until I went there. I would not have associated your content with the name you are using. Maybe that is an LA thing that I am just missing, but if you want to reach out of LA then you need to step out of LA and view your site from there.
I learned SEO by accident when I started a blog in 2004 to keep family and friends updated about the progress of our medically fragile son (#2 of 4) born that year. After a couple of years I had an author friend (millions of books sold) approach me and ask how I got my son’s name (Caden) to the top of Google and Yahoo? By that time I realized what I had done on accident and researched how it happened. It did not happen over night. He hired me and I took his sites to the top of Google for the keywords he wanted to hit on and did it blogging.
I then fell into a blogging slump and did not blog on Caden’s Page but maybe once per month. Then I realized that I can do this again (blogging) and I can do it as a six-figure career. I just launched a new site that will evolve into much more than just a blog. Blogs are not only read by bloggers…especially in the case of sites like Caden’s Page. That site was providing helpful information to a targeted group, but ended up reaching others who were dealing with similar scenarios as we were related to birth defects and extended hospital stays.
The point I am trying to get to is this: Do more than blog with your site
You are hilarious and have to be able to transfer that into other mediums. Podcast, video, e-books (read John Locke’s “How I Sold 1 Million ebooks in Five Months”. You could easily replicate his model with your writing style.
I was intrigued by your BlogHer experience post title. I clicked and read much of the post and then skipped to the comments. I am now inspired to write a raving (positive) review of the Nestle formula that we use to tube feed our little Caden. It has been as good at nourishing a growing boy as breast milk. ;-)
Wow…tough crowd here tonight..
After looking at all the blogs of people that have commented on your post…I must say i’m not impressed….a lot of the pot calling the kettle black?…most of the comments seem like haters…
.I was thinking the same thing the other day…You put up a blog and wait for the followers….where are the comments? 9 out of 10 of the comments I get are from spammers…I know people are looking at my blog from checking my google account..
.I think I mainly have a following of lurkers…
I know this blogging thing is just like any other business…it takes 2 years before anyone even knows about you…you just have to hang in there…
I’m blogging for the love of blogging…not in it to make money…which I think was what the pioneers of blogging were all about…..they had something they wanted to say…and said it……now most people are in it to just to make a buck…
Follow your passions… in the end…..that’s all that really matters!
I think people are still commenting on blogs, maybe it’s just the lure of summer taking people off-line right now.
Maybe only bloggers read blogs? But wouldn’t it be great if everyone blogged? I think it is important that people who are interested and good at getting their messages out into the “blogsphere” keep showing the world what is possible and encourage others to engage in this activity, at all levels.
upi:dyd-dgyeo
It takes time. But I’ve wondered if we’ve hit saturation myself. But as David said, and I’m glad to have read it, “There’s always room for more” If we’re just at the beginning of the blogging boom, the longer we keep at it, the better our rankings will be. I’ve tried a few different blogs here and there, and have settled in on a couple theme’s that I’m passionate about, and blog now just for myself, I’ll work on the other SEO ect when I’ve got some time to get more serious about a couple of the blogs.
For now, I’ve just don’t have the time to do more with blogging. I expect that situation to change in the next few months. So, I’ll lurk and learn.
Yes I am a blogger, but I do read a lot of blogs. Photography blogs that are interesting and informative where I can learn something – because that is my passion. I might read a blog that ‘s witty and entertaining but if I haven’t learnt something I won’t be back , because that’s not what I’m looking for. Horse for courses and all that. :)
A very interesting post and comments. I believe there are several issues at work here. One, is blogging takes a lot of time for the blogger and the blog reader. Peoples attention spans are shrinking at an alarming rate, ala twitter. Two, I agree with the concept of social media overload. Even Facebook seems to be dying right now. Is this just a phase? Who knows? Three, lots of spam and very unusual hits on my stats pages and I am but a tiny blog. Why so much traffic from Russia? Wierd business sources of traffic too leading me to believe perhaps it is no longer “safe” to blog. Just some random thoughts from a mini blogger. Thanks for a thought provoking post.
I think Facebook and twitter killed blogs. The blogging scene is indeed saturated. In addition to that when facebook and twitter came along, many bloggers abandoned blogs. Those who loved the camaraderie that bloggers shared found that they could enjoy the same on facebook and the did not have to write 200 words for that. A short status update yield as many if not more comments. Twitter was even easier. Who wants to read blogs when you can read a sentence and move on?
However, having said that, I find that the true blue bloggers will never abandon their blogs. The diehard bloggers will always be around and for as long as those are around, there will still be people who read blogs. After all, if everyone has become a blogger, then everyone will read blogs won’t they?