Blogging 101: Why Most People Fail

Blogging isn’t a walk in the park. If you are currently blogging you probably already know that. No matter the type of business you run, if you have a website you can benefit from blogging. Yes, that’s right, even if you own fishing website, by regular blogging you will see benefits in terms of SEO.

A big component of SEO is content creation. Google loves detailed, new and fresh content. By blogging on a regular basis you are meeting these requirements. It seems simple in theory, but actually can be hard work.

You have probably heard a few blogger success stories. But for every successful blogger, there are thousands who have failed. So why do so many people fail? Well it is never down to just one reason; there is usually a combination of factors that contribute to the failure.

Blogging takes constant effort and you have to write with a high level of quality every time.

You can’t just write blogs every day for 2 weeks and then stop. Consistency is key when it comes to blogging. Make sure you understand just how much work you will need to be putting in to your blog. This isn’t a set and forget kind of thing.

If you are just starting out your new blog, it is important for you to understand not only what the successful bloggers are doing right, but also what the failures did wrong. By understanding why most bloggers fails you can make sure you don’t follow in their footsteps.

In this blog, we will have a look at why most blogs end in failure. When most people fail it is because they have a misconception on how to blog and they are using flawed practices that aren’t sustainable.

You will need to think of blogging as a habitual thing. By getting in the right mindset (and sticking to it), you are on the path to success!

Have a look below at some of the most commons reasons people fail at blogging:

1. They aren’t producing content that is engaging

Think about it. If your content isn’t engaging then what reason are you giving your readers to stick around? People are on your blog for a reason, if you don’t meet their requirements they will go somewhere else where they can find what they are looking for.

Think about what your readers want. Your blog will have to be useful to them and actually answer a question or thought they have. This should be the purpose of your blog. By always having this in mind, it will help keep you on track.

These days there is so many blogs and so much content being created and push out onto the internet. This means that if you aren’t creating engaging content on your specific topic, there is probably someone else who is.

Content Marketing Institute has done some research on the area and they know just how important creating engaging content is:

They said that 72% of B2B content creators feel as though creating engaging content is of a top priority.

Now I can say “okay go create engaging content”. But what does that actually mean? How are you going to create content that will engage your readers? And remember engaging content isn’t just about physically writing more.

I spoke about this above; firstly you need to get a better understanding of what your readers are looking for. As well as this, you will need to have an understanding of the industry you are in. Once you know what people are looking for, you can choose topics that are relevant and will interest your readers.

Producing engaging content doesn’t just happen overnight, and it will take a lot longer than if you were writing poor quality content (obviously).

Quality content is all about the research. Make sure you research the topic and statistics before you start writing. See what else is out there! If a lot of people have wrote about the same thing you are, make sure you are offering a fresh and different view on the topic. Don’t just write the same thing as everyone else.

You should also look to keep up with the latest developments and news in your industry. This means you will also be writing about new topics that are time-relevant. To do this you can set up a Google Alert about a specific topic. By doing this you will be notified any time something new is published.

You don’t always need to be writing about the latest news. If you find a topic that seems to be lacking you could build up on it. When doing this, it is important that you actually add something new to the mix and not just repeat what someone else has said.

So you have just started your blog, to help get the word out there about your products, let’s say it’s all about candles. It would be very useful for you to find out what is already been written about the topic. This will provide you with a starting point.

As well as this, you can see what topics people liked (i.e. got the most shares, views, etc.) and focus on that. This means you are limiting your chances of failure because you are working with topics that have a proven success rate. However, this doesn’t automatically mean that your blog topic will be as successful straight away. It will take time to build a following.

To get more details about what topic you should focus on, you can use BuzzSumo. This tool will show you the most shared and engaging topics.

I searched “candles” in BuzzSumo, and here are the results:

This tool is free to use and it gives you the most shareable content on the related topic. This gives you the starting point you need to choose popular topics. After a while you may have your own topics that you want to discuss and this is totally fine as well.

2. They aren’t being consistent enough

Like many things in SEO, consistency is key. You can’t blog every day for two weeks and think that is enough. Results in blogging take a while, you will see better results if you are blogging on a consistent basis.

Writing a quality blog will take some time. Think about how much time realistically you can set aside each week for blog writing. Try not to overcommit because you may end up hating it and giving up. I will give you a guide to how much blogging you should do, but it is important to know your limits. It is better to have 1 quality blog every week, then having a blog every day for two weeks, then stopping for 3 months, then starting again.

Your blog should be viewed as important. You will need to understand why you are writing a blog and why it is important to your website. If you don’t have solid reasons, you are more likely to eventually give up. Writing a blog isn’t a side project, if you have this view in mind you probably won’t see the results you want.

In the graph below you can visually see the importance of producing more blogs per month. If you produce more than 16 blog posts in a month you should see 3.5 time more indexed traffic then those websites that only blog between 0 and 4 times every month.

The results speak for themselves. Want more traffic? You should be writing 16 or more blog posts every month. The trend is going up. So the more you write, the more traffic you will see (to a certain extent).

You should be looking to publish new content every second day. Now I can hear some of you internally screaming! I know that seems like a lot, but if you are truly committed to improving your SEO, this just something you have to do.

But don’t worry, I wrote a blog post giving you tips and tricks to writing a quality blog and fast.  It doesn’t have to take you all day! A quality blog post should only take a couple of hours! Even if you don’t think you can write any faster, still have a look at the tips.

3. They aren’t creating anything new

I talked about this in the first point. If you aren’t creating new and different content you are likely to fail. If you are just like everyone else, you aren’t bringing anything new to the table and readers are probably going to see right through you.

Make your blog as individual as you are.

Give your blog an edge to all other blogs, give readers a reason to come to your blog and spend hours and hours reading what you have to say. Think about what your readers what and produce that content. Don’t just produce the same old stuff; your readers have probably already seen it before.

So how exactly do you make your content new and stand out from the pack?  Well there are a few ways!

• Make your content more in depth than others
• Include high quality images, graphics and statistics (i.e. tables, charts, graphs)
• Ensure you have done proper research
• Publish your content in a way that is easy to read and unique (i.e. headings, font size, font colour, bold, underline, highlighting, etc.)

Sometimes you could even have a distinct enough writing style and that is what sets you apart from everyone else. Your writing style is very important and you should choose how you express yourself very carefully. For example, if you were writing about law and its surrounding topics, you would not use the same writing style if you are blogging about jewellery and shoes.

You should add your own personality into your writing.

You are an expert in the area you are blogging about (hopefully!), so you probably have your own personal stories, include these in your blog. I usually include personal stories in my blog. Not my whole life story, but something that is relevant and helps build on what I am talking about.

4. They are greedy – only want their blog to make money

If you think of your blog only as a way to attract users to your site and generate more sales then you a mistaken, and this kind of attitude will create failure in the long run. Don’t just think of your blog as a money maker, it is so much more than that!

If you have this attitude you are more likely to give up and fail because, more often than not, you won’t see immediate results. Your blog isn’t just about making more sales, increasing traffic, etc. It is about telling people about a topic you are an expert in and giving readers valuable pieces of information.

This attitude is certainly dangerous and you aren’t likely to go far. If you just want your blog to make money, you probably aren’t in it for the right reasons. This mentality will probably translate into laziness when you don’t see immediate results. You can never make money by doing nothing!

Final Thoughts

If you don’t already have a blog, you should probably begin to think about starting one. The long term benefits are great. Not only will you see more traffic to your website, but it should also help push you up in the rankings on search engines.

Many people start a blog and then fail. It can be fairly disheartening if you have a blog that has failed before. As well as this it can be daunting to those just starting out. However, don’t let this stop you from giving blogging a crack.

There are a couple of things you should be aware of so that you don’t fail. By producing engaging content, you are meeting the desires of your readers. Readers want new and fresh content that actually answers a question they have about an area.

You also need to be consistent. Try not to stop-start your blog. Look to be posting a new blog every second day. As well as this, make sure you are actually creating something new. Don’t just produce the same old stuff, readers are probably really bored of that. Finally, don’t just think about your blog as a money maker, it is so much more than that.

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