First, let me define what I mean by successful as that term could mean many things to many different people. My definition of successful is really based on consistency and engagement. With my first personal blog I had a level of consistency and engagement that I was satisfied with for a very short period of time, but a move across country obliterated that. I lost all sense of consistency and engagement when that happened. My latest two blogs have suffered the same fate....no real consistency and minimal engagement.
And now I think I know the reasons why.
POOR CONTENT
They say, "content is king." {I am still not entirely sure who "they" is, but just go with it, OK?} I 100% agree with "they" though. Providing, interesting, thought provoking, relevant content should be a goal for every blogger. Unless you are blogging to simply document your life for yourself and maybe friends and family, the richer the content the better.
Up until now, I feel I have suffered greatly in this department. Every once in a while I feel I provide some great content but it is cluttered in between a lot of other random stuff that maybe isn't great content. This probably leaves my readers confused and off to click on something else that will provide them the richer content they are looking for. I notice this pattern in my own online reading. Every day. If I click on something that is kind of oh hum...the mouse goes right up to the X on the Google chrome tab and its on to something else.
LACK OF FOCUS
This ties in very closely to content. If your blog topics range from high to low and all over the place in between, your readers don't have something they can depend on with regard to your site.
This is probably the biggest area that has affected me. I come up with a great idea for a series and then it fizzles out and I start something new. I have too many things going on at once. I'm not focused on exactly what I want this blog to be about and what it's purpose is and so it just kind of sits there floundering.
NO CONSISTENCY
Consistency is almost always a good thing. It makes us feel safe. We enjoy guidelines and routine even though we often won't admit it. When you take long breaks from blogging or post on different days every week it can just be unsettling for your readers. Sure they may think, "oh a post from so-and-so, that's a nice surprise!", but then when you don't post for another three months they are left wondering what the heck happened.
Again, huge problem for me. I have lacked consistency throughout my blogging years. Many times I would just write it off and think to myself, "I'm just blogging for me anyway, so it doesn't really matter how consistent I am with it,". But deep down, I know that's not totally the truth and my blog suffers for it.
INCORRECT AUDIENCE
Not correctly defining your audience is probably the biggest reasons blogs become unsuccessful. If you don't know who you are writing too then how can you successfully structure your posts?
I will admit that on more than one occasion (ok, a LOT of occasions) I have let my supposed audience completely distract or derail a blog post. I had something to say but knew the majority of my audience would likely be my friends list on FB. I would mentally start going through those friends and thinking of their reactions to what I would say. How they would like it or hate it or be bored by it (and think I was boring) or possibly criticize me for it. Eeeshhh! Terrible! Now that I have defined my audience I feel like a ton of weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. Why didn't I think of this before?!
NO IDENTIFIED PURPOSE
Why are you writing what you are writing about? What do you hope happens as a result? What is the purpose of what you are doing? What is the WHY?
These were questions I have never asked myself before when it came to my blog. No wonder I've been all over the place. Having a clearly defined purpose brings everything about your blog together. It is essentially the "glue" or the "brand" of your blog. What is the mission? What are you trying to accomplish? I have these questions now answered and I am SO excited about it!
NAVIGATION DIFFICULTIES
I have always tried to make my blog as easy to navigate as possible, but I think I can do better. Now that I am blogging exclusively through Squarespace, I need to really get up to speed on everything this platform has to offer. I am learning a ton from someone who I will be introducing soon. Stay tuned for a million new fun resources from my new partner!
TOO MUCH INSPIRATION
Yes, you read that right. TOO MUCH!! Being inspired is great don't get me wrong, but too much of it can leave you overwhelmed. In the past I have followed anyone and everyone in an attempt to encourage engagement but what it left me with was a million blogs that I felt like I had to read and comment on as well as a million ideas about how they did things that maybe might work for me. STOP THE MADNESS. All that does is lead me to my last point....
OVERWHELMING YOURSELF
There can be a LOT that goes into blogging. Learning your platform, drafting the post, creating graphics, doing all of this on a schedule, ensuring your readers can access your super rich and awesome content easily throughout your site, seeing what others are doing and wanting to do it too but you have no idea how they did what they did and ahhhhhhh!!!! It is all too overwhelming so I'm just not going to do any of it. Sound familiar? This has happened to me me one too many times and its time to put a stop to it!
How do I plan to change all of this? By creating a defined strategy for my blog audience, purpose and scope. Sound interesting? Tune in Thursday to read more about my plan!
