11 Reasons Why Nobody Reads Your Blog
You’ve been blogging for weeks or even months. But you’re still lacking real traffic. Why is that?
1. You don’t read. Why should other people read your blog, if you don’t read blogs? Get a feed reader and start subscribing!
2. You don’t comment. This is the bread and butter of blogging. Give feedback and thoughts to other bloggers. If you’re not leaving at least one comment per day, step it up a notch.
3. It’s ugly. Content is king, but aesthetics is queen. People don’t like reading ugly blogs, so spruce yours up a bit.
4. It’s cluttered. You could have the best design, but clutter it up with ads, widgets, gadgets. People like bells and whistles, but your blog still has to be usable.
5. Comments aren’t allowed. Just like people enjoy receiving blog comments, they like to comment themselves. Enable comments and disable moderation.
6. You don’t trackback. When you read a good article on another blog, “trackback” to your own blog. This means that you write your own take on the article and link back to the original post. Spread the link love.
7. Typos abound. Blogs aren’t formal writing, but your posts have to be readable. Do a quick spell check and re-read each post before publishing.
8. Posts are long and unbroken. Screens of plain text are boring. Break your posts up into lists, bullets, and short paragraphs. Add an image or two to provide visual focus.
9. Readers don’t know you. If you don’t provide info about yourself on the blog, it feels impersonal. Be sure to write a good “about” page and give details about yourself. Your name isn’t required, but you can give basics about your interests, likes, dislikes, etc.
10. You don’t network. It’s a big internet out there. You need a big network! Make friends with other bloggers, post to social bookmarking sites, participate in carnivals, and jump in on group writing projects.
Those are my 10 thoughts on getting blog readers. They’re nothing new, but I’ve been getting more and more emails from people asking for basic info. So there you have it. 🙂
What do you think? I’m counting on you to add number 11.
[tags]blogging, promotion, marketing[/tags]
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18 Responses to “11 Reasons Why Nobody Reads Your Blog”
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About Andrew Flusche
Lawyer, bicyclist, husband.
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May 18th, 2007
Number 11 (or 10b) –
Network offline. Make your blog a destination for readers. Readers who identify with the author(s) of the blog are more loyal readers.
May 18th, 2007
I feel like I do most of these already. I guess the main reason is because my blog is so new and there’s been no chance for many people to see it.
May 18th, 2007
Jim,
That’s definitely a great tip. We should make strong efforts to network offline as well as online. It’s all about building a good network overall.
Thanks for commenting,
Andrew
May 18th, 2007
Excellent post, Andrew. I think I’m often guilty of 7 and 8. I’m just starting to get the hang of writing posts that are easy on the eyes. I’m also a horrible speller and often forget to run spell check before I post.
What do you think of my layout? Is it ugly? I feel like I could do something else to make it more attractive to readers, but I don’t know what.
May 18th, 2007
Jake,
That’s definitely a good #11 as well: your blog is new. Building readers and traffic simply takes time.
Good luck,
Andrew
May 18th, 2007
Brett,
For spell checking, I recommend Firefox 2. It has built-in, as-you-type spell checking for input boxes. It definitely saves me some spelling trouble.
I like your layout! It’s not ugly at all. I’m definitely no designer, so I don’t have many good tips in that department. I just try to imitate what people say looks good. 🙂
Take care,
Andrew
May 18th, 2007
11. Your Content isn’t Fresh
Keep up to date on current events especially those related to your niche. Write never before seen content and report on the latest buzz.
May 18th, 2007
11. You don’t have any thing interesting to say.
May 18th, 2007
Mark,
That’s a great addition. I would clarify that you just can’t be stale. Of course it all depends upon your niche, as you put out. But some blogs can write more timeless articles, which keeps the content from feeling stale even months later.
Have a great weekend,
Andrew
May 18th, 2007
Owen,
I hope you’re not accusing me of that! 🙂
Maybe we could say “you don’t say things in an interesting way.” I try to think that everyone can be interesting, but maybe they just don’t express things well. Who knows?
Thanks for your thoughts,
Andrew
May 18th, 2007
The best blogs are a balance of personal content and “issues” content. Too much of “this is what I did today” gets boring, but a blog in which the writer’s personal life is never mentioned is also boring.
May 18th, 2007
Hi Aileen,
You’re exactly right. Blogging is about striking a balance. Hopefully we can all do better at that. Good content, from a personal viewpoint.
Andrew
May 19th, 2007
Yeah .. I might have been a bit harsh there. Though I have come across blog posts reading: “Went to work today” or “Had KFC for lunch” (those were entire blog posts) …
Owen
May 19th, 2007
#11 – No pictures!
Interesting or related images give a post just a little more oomph, especially in a feed reader. Since so many people access content through feed readers rather than at the source, this could be more important than ever. I alway sigh a little when I see a long wordy post in my feed reader without any sort of breaks or images. There are lots of cheap and free images sources out there. For instance, I’ve found lots of pictures associated with DNA, my topic of choice.
Great post!
May 19th, 2007
#11 It’s not clear what your blog is about. Your brand.
This is a good post. This is something I’m trying to work on, making it clear what my blog is about so that people will want to subscribe.
If you ever have any thoughts, I welcome them. Glad to have found your blog. I think I will subscribe. Best Regards.
May 19th, 2007
Blaine,
Pictures are incredibly important. We all love a bit of eye candy. Hmmm, I haven’t used pics in my last few posts. I should focus on that for the next ones.
Take care,
Andrew
May 19th, 2007
Hi AgentSully,
I’m glad you found my blog too. 🙂
Branding is incredibly important. That’s why taglines and about pages are vital. It looks like you’re doing a great job there.
Thanks for commenting,
Andrew