5 Reasons Why Your Blog Isn’t Working (And How to Fix It!)
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Before I started my blog back in 2016 I had the totally wrong idea of how blogging worked. I honestly just assumed that:
- You had to be rich and pretty.
- And once you open your blog, the floods of traffic and raving fans roll in.
Boy was I wrong! I first learned that no, you don’t have to be rich and pretty to be a successful blogger like Instagram had fooled me into believing. In fact, you don’t have to be anything at all!
Average Joes just like me were making thousands and even millions of dollars online blogging every year and I could do it too! If you have a passion, cooking, fashion, crochet, cat grooming even. Then you can make money blogging about it.
So after reading this stay-at-home mom’s blog income report back in 2016, and learned that she was making a full-time income while at home with her kids, I decided I would start my own blog. But after launching my blog, I learned that just because you have a blog, doesn’t mean anyone will read it.
I seriously thought that the process was pretty easy! Simply publish your blog and people will flood in and brands will be throwing money in your direction. Wrong again Cass.
I learned the harsh reality that no one cares about you and your blog just because you clicked publish. So when I made it past day 30 of blogging without earning a single penny, I was a little disappointed.
But instead of giving up and throwing in the towel like so many other new bloggers. I decided to put my nose to the grindstone and figure out this whole blogging thing and you know what? Eventually, I did!
Through months of trial and error, I figured out how to drive people to my site. How to make money with my blog. And how to cultivate a tribe of raving fans!
And because I know how frustrating blogging for beginners can be, I wanted to help you do the same.
Why Your Blog Isn’t Working (And How to Fix It).
1. Your Blog Lacks Focus.
One reason your blog may not be getting the traction you hoped is because it lacks focus. If I asked you right now what you blogged about could you give me a clear answer in only one sentence?
If not your blog likely lacks some focus.
Do you write about a million different topics? Maybe you blog about food, and beauty, and dogs on your blog and the only thing you’re doing is confusing the heck out of your readers.
You see this all the time with failed “lifestyle” bloggers.
When it comes to blogging it is best to settle yourself on one niche (the topic you blog about). But so many new bloggers get around this idea by calling themselves “lifestyle bloggers” and letting that mean they can blog about ANYTHING because they simply blog about life in general.
That is not niche enough! What kind of lifestyle blogger are you? Mom life? College life? Health and fitness? Don’t try to do it all.
How to fix it:
Take a look at all the topics you cover right now. How do they relate together other than “these are all the things I like”?
Have a focus and mission for your blog. What are you trying to achieve through your blog? What problems are you trying to solve for your readers? Choose a niche and stay in your realm.
2. Your Nice is Too Narrow.
Another reason your blog may not be working is your blog topic is too narrow. If you blog about travel in your small town then there are only so many readers you can drive to your site.
You aren’t getting hoards of traffic because you there isn’t enough people interested in what you are doing. I love a good niched down blog but don’t niche down too much or you’ll have too small of an audience size to really turn your blog into a money making business.
How to fix it:
Blog about how to crochet outfits for cats? Maybe expand to include other pets and how to crochet for beginners. Take your niche from Crochet outfits for cats to simply Crochet.
How can you expand your topics and drive a larger group of people to your blog?
3. It’s All About You.
This is a big one. Here’s the truth, no one cares about you just because you have a blog. It’s harsh but it’s the truth.
If your blog only serves you then you will never have a successful profitable blog. Because when people hop online they are looking for solutions to their problems.
When clicking over to articles and websites there is always a subconscious voice asking “what’s in it for me?”. And the most successful blogs always seek to solve those problems.
No one cares that you took your kids to the park this week or what you made for dinner. They want solutions for free things to do with their kids and a quick meal they can whip together when they just don’t have time to cook!
If you are simply publishing your own stories or writing posts to serve you, then it’s time to change.
How to fix it:
Make it about your reader! Remember what I said before? The most successful blogs always seek to solve it’s readers problems.
Who are you writing for? Who are you trying to attract? What are their struggles and felt needs? How can you help, inspire, encourage, entertain, or educate them?
Once you stop thinking about you and start thinking about your reader you’ll actually start attracting those readers!
4. You Have a Bad Website Design or Poor graphics.
If your blog is hard to read, hard to navigate, or had poor graphics then people will not want to visit. A bright yellow background or a jumbled mess of a menu will only get people to leave faster!
And if your blog graphics are bad, no one will click over to your posts! We live in an especially high tech and visual world where everything needs to be appealing and easy.
Imagine how quickly you become frustrated when the wifi suddenly goes down or even lags just a few seconds. It doesn’t take long for anyone to get frustrated and it is the same for your blog.
If your site is slow or people cannot find what they are looking for fast and easy they’ll find it somewhere else. And if your images don’t draw them in, they won’t click on them.
How to fix it:
Use a good web theme or hire a designer to make your blog user-friendly with your blog posts organized into easy to navigate categories on your main menu.
Also, establish pretty photo templates that you can use over and over for your blog images. Use easy to read fonts on top of photos with an overlay.
Take a photography class or invest in good stock photos for your blog!
5. You Treat Your Blog Like a Hobby.
If you want to have a successful money making blog then you need to stop treating it like a hobby.
If your goal is to make a full-time income from your blog but always push of blogging then you will never get there. So many new bloggers assume that building a money making blog is easy but it isn’t! And if you want your blog to be successful you need to make it a priority.
How to fix it:
Treat your blog like the money making business you want it to be and not just a hobby.
- Get serious about blogging. Make your blog a priority!
- Invest in blog training (ebooks, courses, coaching)
- Keep a schedule.
- Dedicate at least 10 hours a week to your blog.
- Set goals and action plans to achieve them.
Conclusion:
If your blog isn’t working then make sure your niche isn’t too broad or narrow, you make it about your reader, your site is easy to read and navigate, your graphics are well done, and you aren’t treating your blog like a hobby.
Chances are if your blog isn’t working, then it’s becuase of one or more of the mistakes above. Luckily you can fix it! Blogging for beginners is hard, heck blogging in general is hard but you can do it! Just keep going and don’t give up!
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BLOGGING NOT WORKING ANYMORE ! WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT? mABYE NOTHING BECAUSE THEY NOT WORK ANYMORE…..