1. You haven’t identified a strong audience persona
You can’t create compelling content without an in-depth knowledge of your audience. Personas not only help you create better content, but they also help guide your topics, strategy and monetization efforts.
2. You aren’t creating content specifically for the persona
It’s not enough to just have a persona. You must create content specifically for it.
This level of hyper-targeted content attracts the right reader to your blog.
3. You don’t know how your audience searches for content
This requires a deeper step into your overall persona.
- What does the audience search for?
- What kind of things do they need to learn?
- How can my content serve those needs?
Answer those questions and you’ll not only have a path for content creation, but you’ll know exactly how to optimize for SEO.
4. Your content’s style and tone don’t align with your brand
If you have a serious brand, but write in a laid-back, silly fashion, you create a brand misalignment. And when this happens, you confuse readers and detach them from what you’re saying.
5. You focus too much on products, services and promotions
People don’t always want to read about you.
The occasional announcement is okay, but you shouldn’t always be promoting something. Make your content about the reader – not you.
6. You don’t publish new posts on a regular schedule
Readers want consistency. Without it, they’ll never become attached to your brand’s content.
It can be tough in the face of competing priorities, but create a schedule and stick to it.
7. You aren’t creating content that provides enough value
Time is a precious thing. If you don’t offer immense value, why should someone waste what little time they have consuming your content?
Answer: They shouldn’t.
As an example, take a look at a recent Currency Liquidator post on the Iraqi Dinar. Clocking in at nearly 2,500 words, the post offers the kinds of in-depth statistics those interested in foreign currency need to make investment decisions:
8. You don’t test different types of blog posts for engagement
There are numerous types of content that drive traffic.
That should keep you busy for a while. Test out different post styles to see what type of content your audience actually wants to read – not just what you think they want.
9. You’re not infusing any personality into your writing
Bored!
That’s what people think when your content lacks personality. Even the most serious brands can allow their personality to shine through. Don’t be boring.
10. You don’t include enough images throughout the post
We’re visual creatures.
Including images throughout your post creates natural breaks in the content. This keeps readers engaged and reading, instead of distracted and leaving.
11. You aren’t formatting your posts for reading on the web
Please stop writing posts with huge blocks of text.
The online world has its own style for writing. If you don’t adhere to these guidelines, people will leave the page without ever reading a word.
12. Your content doesn’t add a new perspective
If you don’t have anything to add to the conversation, don’t say anything at all. There’s no reason to regurgitate the same thing hundreds of others have already said.
Position your content from a fresh perspective for best results.
13. Your posts don’t stick to the intended topic
Try to avoid veering off topic in your posts. If you’ve ever muddled your way through a post that jumps from one subject to another, you know how frustrating this can be.
When I feel myself getting away from the subject at hand, I make a note of the digression and use it as the springboard for a new post.
14. You use poor grammar and make spelling errors
This should be obvious, but I see so many mistakes online that I’ll say it anyways. Do your best to avoid mistakes, even small slip ups here and there.
The online world may seem forgiving, but that’s not an excuse. Major syntax, grammar and spelling mistakes throughout are always unacceptable.
15. You only use cheesy stock images in posts
The visuals you use in your content influence your overall. tone, style and branding. Most stock photos are cheesy. They’re staged and unnatural.
If you only use stock photography, it may be doing you and your brand more harm than good.
16. You have an outdated or unprofessional blog design
In many ways, design – not content – is king.
If you have an outdated, unprofessional blog design, would-be readers will leave your site before they ever give your content a chance.
17. Your blog isn’t optimized for mobile reading
More and more people are using their mobile phone to consume content. It’s also increasingly important for SEO.
A responsive design ensures that your website is optimized for mobile viewing. Don’t overlook this key design aspect.
18. Your blog takes too long to load
By nature, the Internet gives us information as fast as we want it.
If your website takes too long to load, readers will abandon their quest to get information from your site – and they’ll quickly find it somewhere else.
19. You haven’t optimized for social sharing
Publishing solid content is only half the battle.
Getting people to read it can only happen if they know it’s there. Social sharing optimization makes it easy for the readers you do have to help you spread the word.
20. You don’t optimize every post for SEO
You don’t need a full-time, in-house SEO expert to make strides in the search engine rankings.
Plenty of tools make it possible for you to rank well from the content you post. Take advantage of them and watch your readership soar.
21. You aren’t crafting compelling headlines
The headlines you use could mean the difference between dozens of people reading your post and thousands of people flocking to your blog.
Learn how to write compelling headlines.
Spend as much time on the headline as you do for the entire post, if that’s what it takes. It’s that important to the success of your blog.
22. You aren’t testing new headlines using social media
You know you need to create compelling headlines. But have you tried using social media to test different variations?
Formulas and the success of others don’t guarantee your success.
Use your social profiles to test several variations of headlines to see what kinds work best to capture clicks from your audience.
23. You don’t promote the post on social media enough
Don’t post just once.
That’s a huge mistake that many bloggers make. People consume more information in a day than most of their ancestors did in their entire life. Go ahead and promote your new post a few times. You might just be surprised by the results.
24. You haven’t reached out to influencers about the post
No man is an island.
Successful bloggers are always leaning on the influence of others to gain readers. If you want readers, reach out to the people in your industry that already have them. A few ways you can build a connection include:
- Adding immense value to influencers by providing your assistance.
- Asking for their input or expertise on an upcoming post.
- Interviewing them for their new book release.
25. You aren’t building a targeted social media audience
It’s great if you have thousands of followers. But if you’re running a marketing blog and you’ve bought a bunch of fake followers, what good will those bots do for you?
Ultimately, it’s better to have dozens of highly-targeted followers than thousands that don’t care about you.
26. You spend more time writing than promoting
Some people really like taking an 80/20 approach to their work.
And if you’re applying this concept to your blogging, you’ll want to spend 80% of your time promoting and 20% of your time writing. Don’t get bogged down by the writing. Go find your readers.
27. You don’t update your email list about new posts
Anyone who’s starting a blog needs an email list.
But if you don’t do anything with that list, it won’t do you any good. Set up your email marketing service to update list members each time a new blog post releases. This can typically be done automatically, giving you a quick and easy way to get more people reading your blog posts.
It’s frustrating when people don’t read your blog posts, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
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