This is the first of a series of guest blogs from James Hallam, a fellow Aussie blogger who also blogs about small and medium-sized business and how they can make the web work harder for them.
I really like James’ writing style and, although it can be pretty in-your-face, it’s also always sensible, simple and features common-sense solutions to everyday problems faced by small businesses and their blogging effort.
In this post, he goes through the 6 reasons your blog sucks and nobody’s game to tell you.
Reason 1: It’s about you.
Unless you’re Lady Gaga, nobody cares what you’re wearing today. Have a look at your text. How many times do you say “I”, and how many times do you say “you”?
“I’s” should be approaching zero, and “you’s” should total a very big number. Remember that everyone else has the same problem you do – they all think they’re the most interesting person in the world. So put yourself in their shoes and talk about them for a change.
Reason 2: You can’t explain in 10 words or less what problem your blog solves for the reader.
People need to get something useful when they come to your blog, and if you’re not razor sharp on what that is, they won’t come back. This takes constant work. You need to write it down, and remind yourself constantly what problem you’re solving. Remember that logic isn’t what sells – find the emotional words for the problem and talk about that.
I’m constantly refining the problem my blog solves, but currently what you get is the “freedom to make the web work for you”. That’s 8 words. Small to medium businesses need a cost-effective, sustainable web presence, and that’s what they get from me – the benefit in emotional language, is freedom.
Reason 3: It doesn’t have pictures.
People love pictures. Put them near the top of the page, get high quality, royalty free images from somewhere like Shutterstock. Make them humorous, or a little bit racy, or inspiring, or whatever resonates with your answer to Reason 2.
Reason 4: You don’t have a call to action.
So they read a post, and you’re getting traffic. What then? Every post needs to ask or challenge the reader, directly, clearly and for a purpose. Do you want them to comment, so you can create a discussion and relationships with readers? Do you want them to subscribe? You need to work out what comes next after the hook, and keep reeling people in. Every lousy fisherman has a story of the one that got away.
Reason 5: You’ve got a fantastic blog but you don’t promote it.
This sucks the hardest, because you’ve done all the work but nobody knows about it. There are some crappy blogs out there that get traffic because their owners are great at spreading the word through every available channel. Do yourself a favour, read Nick Bowditch’s tips on making use of Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin to promote your blog.
Reason 6: You’re not passionate about your blog and your customers.
People can smell a fake a mile away. They can even smell when you’re half hearted about something, and that’s worse in many ways because it’s wet, insipid and uninspiring.
Have an opinion. Be prepared to offend someone, or if that’s too direct for you, at least be prepared to disagree, and never apologise for your work or your opinions. Be nice, but don’t be weak.
There is a metric sh*tload of work you have to do to make your blog successful, but if you work on the 6 points above, you’ll start to see things change, I promise. To learn more about getting your blog or website on track, subscribe to my blog and send me an email. I’ll reply the same day every time.
Did you know … that there are more than 120 million blogs circulating the internet now? Can you imagine how many of them are rubbish but also how many of them might be directly competing with you for readers’ attention? If you would like to find out how I might be able to help you with making your blog better, more relevant, and found more by Google, call me TODAY on 02 4324 2594 or email me nick@thebowditchgroup.com.
James will be contributing more blog posts in coming weeks. If there is a particular topic you would like him to cover, let us know.
How many of these 6 things are currently present in your blogging? Do you have other reasons to add to James’?
Please let us know in the comments below. When you leave a comment on this site, it appears straight away – no signing up, no waiting for the comment to be moderated – it will appear below straight after you have posted it.
James Hallam writes a blog about making the web work for small and medium businesses. James is an internet entrepreneur who in former lives has been a Software Engineer, Sales Representative, Boat Builder, Manager and Business Analyst. James loves to help people “think about things in an unambiguous way” and has a knack for identifying business problems and drivers and converting them to solutions. You can also follow him on Twitter.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Really great post Jimmy! The web recently has perpetuated the “me me me” ideal, and the majority of it offers no real value. I really found some truth in reason 3 – you’ve gotta get people to act, and reason 1. Except, I really couldn’t care what lady gaga is up to either!
#7 – Your posts can’t be read quickly. People are time poor. (I admit I only read your sub-heads in this post)
Interesting post but I totally disagree with the offending people bit. I couldn’t do it anyway I don’t think but I hate all that sensationalist crap in blogs and you just KNOW that person isn’t really like that. Blogs like Perez Hilton aren’t clever they are just mean. Why be mean???
Gday Shelly,
You’re right, you don’t have to be mean. I think the point though is that offering a different viewpoint or challenging the status quo of thinking on a particular topic – especially if that topic has been blogged about A LOT – can’t necessarily hurt.
Nick
#8: Spelling
Bad speling rearly shist me!
It’s great to see some good discussion – as a blogger that’s what I’m always aiming for – so thank you!
Shelly I know what you mean – too over the top can be a turn off – I guess what I’m trying to get across (and Nick is spot on) is that if you try to keep everyone happy, you’ll lose the focus and passion you need to engage your niche – so don’t hold back just because someone might not like what you’ve got to say. The fact you totally disagree is a case in point I think – you’ve got a definite position, and you’re not afraid to say it.
I’m one of those unfortunate people who offends people all the time without even trying, so I guess I have the opposite problem!
Paul – and I was worried this post my be too short and punchy! There ya go!
Matt – I’m actually kinda fascinated with Lady Gaga – she’s an amazing marketing machine all on her own. The issue is the rest of probably aren’t…
Martin – Ha! In a similar vein, you’ve heard there are only 3 kinds of people in this world right? Those who can count, and those who can’t.
Hi James, what about being original and coming up with new stuff that nobody has done??? It’s getting harder and harder to think of blog ideas. Any tips?
Jules.
Hi Jules,
I think coming up with something new is very hard – and even if you did that, you’d still have to do the hard yards to get your “voice” right, to promote the blog etc. So my effort is better spent on getting it right, rather than coming up with something totally unique. The old saying 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration comes to mind. I sometimes worry that I’m not doing something original enough – but then I remember that even if I’m not the first person to talk about my topic – it’s the first time anyone’s heard about it from ME. And that’s as original as it gets! As a bonus, it’s also completely authentic – I don’t have to try to contrive something clever or tricky. I’m a firm believer that the 2 essential ingredients for success are to be just 1% better than your competition, and to be 1% more persistant and relentless.