Your recent blog statistics showed that the number of readers is dwindling. Those who visited do not stay long. Why doesn't anyone read your blog, you ask?
Especially after you spent so much time and effort, not to mention funds on building a website. Well, chances are it's the same reason why students fall asleep during lectures. Or someone trying to avoid long queues (did you know that in some parts of the world, people get paid to queue for others?). I think you got the message!
Yes, your blog is probably B-O-R-I-N-G to others. No offense but not everyone is interested in what you had for lunch today. Or to read a 2,000 words posting on quantum physics. But having a boring blog is only one of the few reasons why some blogs have no readers. There are many other reasons.
But don't worry, it's not the end of the world. I've list down 5 main reasons why no one reads your blog except perhaps your family and your best friend. I have also included ways to overcome them.
1. Boring Blogs
A few years ago, you could get away with a not-so-interesting blog. Back then, blogging was still a fairly new concept and there were not that many around.
Fast forward to today, there are countless of awesome blogs and in order to stand out, you need to create an edge. People need a reason to want to come to your blog. So if your blog has:
- all text with no or few images
- monotonous writing or academic sounding posts
- a sitting-on-the-fence approach to a topic
... then you are sending your readers a boring message. And eventually, even the most enthusiastic reader too will tune out.
How to overcome:
In today's blogging world, just like most things in life, the laws of attraction works. Give your readers what they want to read, or benefits to visit your blog. It could be reviews of the latest technology or the hottest gossip in town or even controversies, depending on your blog type! On my web hosting blog, I always share great web hosting deals - for example a huge discount on Bluehost hosting plan at $3.95/month (instead of the standard $6.95/month)! Satisfy those what's-in-it-for-me needs.
A blog is a two-way communication unlike traditional print. Write your posts as if you are talking to your readers. Let them know that there's a person behind that blog of yours. Engage them by fielding questions and asking for feedback. Also, response to the answers you get.
Img credit: http://heartifb.com/
2. Not Posting Often And Consistently
How often do you post? Everyday? Once a week? Once a month? No specific time? Well, if you are not posting often enough, your readers would eventually grow out of the habit of clicking on your blog URL. Even those frequent visitors who had been visiting your blogs previously, they would over time, forget about your blog too!
How to overcome:
Easy. Post regularly. Make sure you consistently publish fresh and quality contents. Give your readers a good read every time they check back at your blog. You would find that the more you publish, they more readers you get.
If you don't have enough ideas on what to post, just hop over to some of your buddy's blogs or blogs of similar topics for inspiration. But, if you found that you don't have the time to write, do check out our 5 Productivity Tips.
3. Too Many Advertisements
Ever been to those blogs that has tons of advertisements that shout at you? How did you feel? Having some advertisements is alright but crowding your blog with banners and links would turn off your readers.
Moreover, blogs with lots of advertisements usually take a long time to load, which I'm sure you know, is not good for SEO purposes.
How to overcome:
While I am not against having advertisements on your blog, there should be a limit to these. If you do put up advertisements, it pays to ensure that your blog is optimized to ensure speedy loading and also that your hosting provider has enough bandwidth to support them.
If you decide to write "promotional posts", then do draft them out in such a way that your readers would benefit from them too e.g. providing valuable information within that post.
4. Your Blog Design Leaves Much To Desire
I'll be honest here. Blog design does play a crucial part in drawing new readers and persuading them to stay. Take a step back and review your bog design. How does it fare? You can also ask your readers whether they think you need a makeover. That's an engaging post there!
How to overcome:
Select themes that go well with your blog topic. For example, if you have a photography blog, choose a theme that offers a lovely gallery and a home page that allows you to showcase your works. If you have no clue where to get such a great WordPress, you can start your search at Elegant Themes.
Other design features to take into consideration include typeface (whether it's legible) and choice of colors (striking or easy on the eye combinations). Your choices would depend on your target audiences.
5. Lack Of Exposure
On the other hand, you may have developed the best looking blog and publishing great posts every other day and yet still experience low readership and traffic. What could be wrong? Well, it takes more than design and good writing to draw readers. You need to market your blog. People need to know that it exists!
Poor promotion leads to poor SEO and poor traffic. If your URL is buried deep in the 7th page of a search, chances are no one will find you.
How to overcome:
Learn how to SEO your blog and raise its ranking e.g. inserting proper keywords, building backlinks, installing WordPress SEO plugins and fine-tuning Permalinks. You can look for more tips at our SEO articles.
Another effective way to promote your blog is to guest post. This way, you build a relationship with other bloggers. In blogging, it's about being part of a community. They come to visit your blog and you drop by theirs. They comment on your posts and you leave your thoughts at theirs. The more blogs you visit and leave comments, the more people are aware of you and would return the visit.
When your readership increases, so would your pagerank and traffic. The higher your pagerank, the more new readers you will attract. The cycle goes on.
Other than that, you could also develop an email marketing list or make use of social media. Just drop an email or tweet or update Facebook status to let your friends know about your new post.
A lack of readers is quite demotivating to a blogger, especially after all the hard work poured in. But the good news is that you can certainly do something about it, as shown in the above. Hopefully, you will be able to boost your blog readership through implementing these suggestions.
Do you have any other tips to add? Feel free to share them below.