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5 Main Reasons why no one likes reading your blog

Discussion in 'WordPress' started by hmansfield, Feb 4, 2012.

  1. #1
    A lot of blogs suck. I've had a few of them myself. But I have learned a few things over the years about how I've turned off readers and they have greatly improved my bounce rate and time spent on my blogs.

    1. Your design sucks.
    Seriously. Unless you are Guy Kawasaki, who most people would read if he wrote on a paper bag, you have to do more to attract readers. I don't use free themes, but if you don't have the ability to customize it and make it your own, using the same theme as a million other bloggers will get you nowhere. Design is important. How you present your information says a lot about your knowledge and professionalism.

    Take the time to find and use media. Media makes EVERY website. Great images and Video are important. You can't just rely that people will read the words and discover how great you are.

    I've seen free themes with great images, use of video and multi media and a little attention to detail with slight customizations look like a million dollar site. And then I've seen other spend tons of money on design, only to mess it up with poor quality images and adding a bunch of noob junk in the sidebar that makes it look like a 12 year old girls My Space page.

    If you can't do it yourself, then spend the $40 and get something professional and stop kidding yourself that what you've done is enough for now.

    2. Font too small.
    I see it everyday. Small light grey text, using blocky fonts, on white backgrounds. You need to think of all of your readers. Not just the ones that have perfect vision and are reading an extra large monitor. You need to check how your website displays across all monitor sizes and mobile devices. Readers in the 30's and up ( you know, the one's with the disposable income?) , aren't going to strain their eyes and adjust their monitor settings just to read your blog.

    Take a page from popular websites. I mean really popular ones with millions of daily readers. Look at their font selection and sizes. If you are going smaller than that, you are doing it wrong. Fonts are not the time to get cute unless you know what you are doing. Stay safe until you know better.

    3. Too many ads.
    I know what Google says about ad placement and we can all name many popular websites that have ads everywhere. But they didn't start that way. As readership built over time, they added more ads. They didn't start with 3 ad blocks before the content.

    They also have a better design. You can get away with more ads, when you take the time to make integrate into the design seamlessly.
    A simple theme, with adsense everywhere screams to everyone "press the back button". Use the ads as part of the design so that they look like content. Especially image ads. I'm not saying to trick people into clicking them, I'm saying that it's all design.

    4. You have no idea what you are talking about.
    Everyone and their mother has a Health, Finance, Forex, Blogging, Make Money Online, Work From Home, and every other subject that supposedly has "good earnings through adsense" or some other ad program. But most don't know anything about those subjects, so their blogs are garbage.

    If your ad program dictates your subject matter, and you don't have any expertise in those subjects or anyone writing for you that does, your blog is going to suck and be just another MFA ( Made for adsense). And people recognize those in seconds. You aren't fooling anyone.

    Also if you think that you are going to do the bare minimum and rise to the top of the SERP's with a few SEO tricks and beat out all of the other millions of blogs about the same subject, you are kidding yourself even more. That is NEVER going to happen.

    Write for people. Not search engines. If you are writing for search engines, that means you have pretty much accepted that real people are never going to read it, you just want to place well enough to get a few ad clicks. Without extensive SEO and SEM knowledge, that is short lived.

    Blog what you know, love or can add the most creative and informative content about, and then pick the ad program to match the content. Not the other way around. Adsense is probably the lowest paying program on the web. Better to capitalize on a small niche and build a loyal following of readers, than to try and attract a large group of readers about a subject that you know nothing about.


    5. You are only blogging because you think it's good money.
    You and 99% of every other blogger out there that doesn't and never will make a dime. Successful blogs and websites usually have more going on than just the blog. The blog is a tool to promote the core business. Thinking that you can recreate their success without the other half of the equation is an exercise in futility.

    Even if your business is simply providing information, you have to be one of the best. The days of plopping up any old blog and making some money are over. They've been over for years. Like 10.

    You can't recreate the success of others if you aren't willing to spend the same time and money that they have spent. No one is successful in ANY business by doing the bare minimum.

    Online, one of 2 things are certain, you will either learn how to do the things that make for a successful website, or you will pay someone to do it for you...or you will fail and be overshadowed by the 1000's of hungry business people that are willing to go the extra mile.

    If you've ever said this, "I just want to see if I can make a few bucks without spending any money first, and then I'll invest some money", don't expect much in return. If you can name me ANY business that started with that attitude and made a success out of it, I'll be surprised.

    The launch of your website is not the end. It's the beginning.

    Last thing:
    If you are blogging in English and are looking to attract an English or American speaking audience. Learn the language. Bad grammar, broken English, poor diction and horrible sentence structure turns people off in seconds and they will never return.

    I would never blog in Spanish, because my Spanish sucks. Take notice.
     
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2012
    hmansfield, Feb 4, 2012 IP
    samirj09, Eminatorz and davidogden like this.
  2. davidogden

    davidogden Member

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    #2
    You have hit the nail on the head and its great advice that applies to any site content. You need to develop a professional attitude and be prepared to invest in your business and avoid free souces which often have a sting in the tail.
     
    davidogden, Feb 5, 2012 IP
  3. IG2010

    IG2010 Well-Known Member

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    #3
    well said, could not think of anything better
     
    IG2010, Feb 9, 2012 IP
  4. armando

    armando Well-Known Member

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    #4
    great tips. thank you :)
     
    armando, Feb 11, 2012 IP
  5. WPKube

    WPKube Greenhorn

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    #5
    Those are fantastic tips. Good job!
     
    WPKube, Feb 11, 2012 IP
  6. inayah

    inayah Peon

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    #6
    Thanks..goods tips from the expert...
     
    inayah, Feb 25, 2012 IP
  7. hmansfield

    hmansfield Guest

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    #7
    Thanks. It's not so much about me being an "expert", it's more about having done every single thing that I've listed and realizing that I was kidding myself and was NEVER going to make any money.

    I've had the most success with blogs that I wrote without concern for ads. I loved the subject. Knew a lot about it and wanted to build a respected source of information and entertainment about it.

    It was probably a year into it...after numerous improvements to the design and the quality of my content that I decided to try out a few ad programs. At first, nothing. But when I found the right one, it was consistent income every month.

    If I had tried to force the ads in the beginning, I likely would have never grown and gained the respect of regular readers.
    The ads were an afterthought. AFTER the blog was good. Really good.

    When you have a really good product, you won't have to spend so much time on SEO because people will be linking to your content EVERY DAY. From all kinds of places. Forums, industry publications, high ranking websites in the same field. Other bloggers. Companies. It's non stop backlinks and you'll be surprised where they come from if your website is that good. Don't quote the source. Be the source.

    If you have THAT attitude... that you want to create something so good that other people will want to link to your information, then you will have no problems making money with a few ads.
     
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2012
    hmansfield, Feb 25, 2012 IP
  8. seo_buzz

    seo_buzz Well-Known Member

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    #8
    You have hit the right chord, seriously!
     
    seo_buzz, Feb 25, 2012 IP
  9. zxcvbnmII

    zxcvbnmII Peon

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    #9
    Cool! Thank you so much for the tips dude. With your post I think you attract a lot of readers :) Godbless!
     
    zxcvbnmII, Feb 25, 2012 IP
  10. samirj09

    samirj09 Well-Known Member

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    #10
    Honestly some awesome tips. Rep for you @hmansfield.
     
    samirj09, Feb 25, 2012 IP
  11. quickmarketer

    quickmarketer Peon

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    #11
    What about "Your content sucks"? Most blogs suck when it comes to writing, which is why no one reads them.
     
    quickmarketer, Feb 27, 2012 IP
  12. hmansfield

    hmansfield Guest

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    #12
    #4 pretty much covered that. You are correct. Most people with a blog have no idea how to write. Reading comprehension and how to structure a complete article was gradeschool for most people, but a lot of people didn't get it then and never learned it as they got older.
    And now they write like they speak, which stopped growing back when they skipped over comprehension.
     
    hmansfield, Feb 27, 2012 IP