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Unbelievably Simple Explanations Why Your Blog Isn’t Growing

People start blogs with big dreams and goals. 

They imagine that their blog becomes the go-to resource of thousands of people or that they will establish themselves as an authority in the topics.

But just because you start a blog doesn’t automatically mean that thousands of people will come flocking to read your content. 

When growing a blog, you can put in a whole day of effort only to attract a dozen or so visitors. 

Many bloggers get a thrill out of sharing their ideas with other people, so when their blogs aren’t doing as well as they’d like, this may leave you feeling discouraged. 

There is this misconception that you need to struggle for years before you become successful.

And while there is no such thing as an overnight success and, yes, it does take time to build a successful blog, that doesn’t mean that it’s not possible.  

It’s about delivering valuable content that people are searching for and building your brand. 

Let’s take Google as an example. 

In terms of searching engine optimisation, Google cares about perceived value. 

So if your content doesn’t offer users stuff they want (a solution to what they are searching for), Google won’t boost your ranking, and it will be hard to generate the kind of traffic you’re aiming for.

In this post, we’re going to take a look at some of the unbelievably simple reasons your blog might not be performing and what you can do about it. 

You Don’t Know Why YOU Should Be Seen As An Industry Expert 

Whenever you meet successful bloggers, there’s always something that they are known for. 

They are seen as an authority for the topics they blog about whether that’s about travel or style. 

So ask yourself what topics do you want to be known for in your industry? 

What do you want to be an expert on? 

And figure out why you should be blogging about those topics, and not someone else. 

There needs to be a reason why people gravitate to your blog. 

And one way you can figure this out is to tell your story–a story that shows people why you are the best person to talk about the content you blog about.

What you have to do is to share your backstory. 

For example, if you’re a travel blogger, you might have been on an extended gap year that allowed you to explore beautiful off the beaten path travel destinations. 

Maybe you lived with a family abroad while studying a new language. 

Whatever it is, you need to show how your experiences and story makes you an authority in your space. 

You Haven’t Mastered Your Niche

Choosing a niche is one thing, but mastering it is another. 

Mastering a niche isn’t just about learning a lot about a topic – it is about finding the sweet spot between what your audience wants and using your passion for solving it. 

The ideal blog should have the following characteristics: 

1. There should be recurring income potential in the content you post 
2. It should deal with the audience’s pain points – the things that they are struggling with or need answers for
3. It should reflect your passions and strength
4. It should already have proven merit in the form of other bloggers in the same or similar industry monetising their sites 

You can be passionate about solar power, but if nobody shares your interest in that or you don’t solve problems related to solar energy, your blog will not take off.

This is something I had to learn with my previous blog, which was a travel blog for music lovers. 

While I love music and travelling, I couldn’t find a travel blog focused on music (i.e. going through the lens of music such as gig guides or music-related spots & activities to do while travelling) that was monetising. 

You Don’t Know Where You’re Headed

Blogs that are in it for the long-run and have seen success have a clear idea where they’re going.

They have a plan and strategy to get to where they want to be to achieve the goals. 

They know where they want to be in a month as well as five-ten years from now. 

You need to think of a blog as a business, especially if you want to earn money from it. 

You need to create content that will attract your ideal readers. Then eventually you can branch out to other topics once you’ve established yourself as an authority for a specific niche or blog focus. 

Your content and promotion strategy also heavily depends on your goals. 

For example, if you want to launch an online course, you have to put out content that warms up your audience for your offer. 

And then once it’s launched, promote your course through blog posts as well.  

You’re Ignoring Your Email List

Many new bloggers spend an excessive amount of time trying to explode their blog traffic. 

So much so, that some of them wind up neglecting their email lists and their subscribers. 

While having thousands of blog views does have its benefits, think about building your blog in the long-term, which means capturing the interest of new blog visitors by getting them to join your email list.

And then nurturing a relationship with your current subscribers.

Having an email list is a personal way to get in touch with your readers, so make sure also to set aside some time to nurture and build your relationship with your subscribers via email. 

Creating an email plan is vital if you want people to continue returning to your blog, week after week.

You’re Not Using SEO

Search engine optimisation (SEO) isn’t just a tool for businesses. 

It is also something bloggers need to consider when trying to grow their blog traffic and expand their reach.

Failing to use SEO will result in missed opportunities to grow your blog. 

Incorporating SEO friendly practices into your blog posts could help your blog be found by new readers and increase your blog traffic. 

There are aso many topics under SEO, but if you’re not sure where you’re at right now, an SEO audit could help. 

The basic idea is to find out how optimised your pages are and then create an itinerary of further actions you could take. 

There are also a lot of SEO tools out there for you to use.

For me, I use the Yoast SEO plug-in to help remind me to think of SEO when crafting a blog post.

The more you explore the SEO side of your blog, the more you’ll find room for improvement. 

You’re Not Using The Correct Revenue Streams For Your Stage Of Growth

Blogs don’t just get bigger and bigger, retaining their old revenue models. Instead, they change as they grow. 

There are different ways bloggers can make money. 

New blogs usually make money from affiliate marketing or offering services.

You’ve probably seen this approach multiple times on other blogs. 

A freelance writer opens a blog, does a bit of marketing on behalf of an eCommerce store, and sells their services like writing skills. 

The next tier of blogs takes this a stage further, offering a combination of digital products and premium courses. 

The primary revenue stream ceases to be advertising and instead becomes what their blog offers. 

The top-level of blogs use memberships and self-publishing. 

If you want to work your way up, you’ll need to show your audience how valuable your content is–both free & paid–for them to purchase from your income streams.

You Have Too Many Goals

While goal setting in blogging is essential, having too many goals will leave you feeling overwhelmed and unfocused. 

A lot of new bloggers have many goals they want to pursue at the same time.

They want page views, shares on social media, and paying subscribers all in one go. 

Scattergun approaches like this, however, rarely work. 

You don’t have time to target all these objectives at once, particularly if you have a busy life outside of blogging. 

Most experienced bloggers, therefore, target one thing at a time. 

Typically, you’ll want to boost traffic first. 

The more people you can get reading your blog, the better, even if they’re not particularly interested in your premium services yet. 

Then, once you feel traffic is at the level it should be, you could look at other goals, such as getting more likes on social media. 

Focus on one big goal at a time, review what works and continue implementing that. 

You Rely On Feedback Too Much

Some bloggers will rely on the comments sections for ideas regarding what to post about.

While it’s good to get feedback on what your readers want to see from you, you want to publish content that helps establish your credibility to be recognised as a leader in your industry. 

And this means giving users the content they didn’t know they wanted. 

Of course, this means also backing it up with research to see if people are searching for a specific topic. 

There’s no use writing about something that people don’t want to read.

It sounds tricky to pull off, and it is.

But when you can provide something unexpected yet valuable, it helps to keep your blog fresh and exciting. 

And in the end, people are getting the content that they want.