Jan 14
Why Write When No One is Reading?
One of the things I’ll never understand is why some people decide to start a money making blog, diligently write articles for said blog, but do NOTHING on the side of attracting new visitors.
I just don’t get it!
And in the event that YOU are one of these people who are wondering why your blog isn’t going anywhere keep reading…
I have your answer right here. And it couldn’t be easier.
If A Tree Falls in a Forest…
Chances are that writing good content alone is not enough to make your blog successful. Why? Because you need visitors coming to your blog. You need people reading your content. If you do nothing for your blog but write content, who’s going to find it? The answer is NO ONE. Well, maybe search engines. Maybe… After some time. And unless all your posts are absolutely loved by search engines, rank 1-30 on the SERPs, and kissed by the heavens you’re screwed.
Here’s another way to look at it : How many great posts do you have in you? When are you going to write these posts? Truth is, it could be today or it could be tomorrow. But how would you feel if you knew that the best post you would ever write has already been written by you, and no one was around to see it? My guess is you would feel like you wasted your talents. Don’t waste your talents.
What to Do About It?
Invite people to read your articles. Yes, it IS as simple as that. All you have to do is comment on other people’s blogs, showing that you have an interest in what THEY are writing, and they will often return the favor. And how long does this have to take?
Oh, 2 minutes.
In as little as 2 minutes a day, you could be inviting someone new to your blog and getting a reader for life. (Wait – This is beginning to sound like an infomercial (#);). If you were able to get 1 new person a day for a year, that’s 365 readers in one year’s time right? And who amongst us wouldn’t love to have 365 new readers every year?
Out With The Old and In with the New
So look – If you’re starting a new blog and you’re writing content, don’t have that new bloggers’ mentality. You know the one… “Well, before people I start having people come to the site, I want there to be a ton of articles on the site for them to read…” That’s just a rationalization to get you out of doing something extra for your site. On the early days of this site, things looked bad. I was talking about super random stuff and my writing style wasn’t all that money either. (It’s great now right?) But nevertheless, friends have seen this site change and evolve and become what it is today.
People love a journey so why not take them on yours?
January 14th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
great advice, and it’s true, you need people reading or caring
January 14th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
This is a good post. I think a lot of my visitors came from having gone around searching for like tags and commenting on their sites first. And also, you are right – it shouldn’t take long to do – a couple minutes a day is plenty of time to add a few new “invites.”
January 14th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Solid advice buddy . I have also gained a lot of visitors by commenting on other blogs.
January 14th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
@Sir Jorge – Absolutely! Glad you liked the article and I’m also glad that it looks like you’re becoming a regular reader too. (#):)
@Teeni – *nod* I think one of the things we all need to be mindful of is constantly building our communities.
@Madhur – Hey, it’s the number one thing to do right? It just boggles my mind as to why a lot of new people don’t do this! It should be filled under Blogging 101!
January 15th, 2008 at 8:29 am
Hey Bush, your writing style is great.
I still have not found my niche and still talk about random stuff, although lately my blog has been lacking slightly!
I do find it hard to get the visitors in and I think it’s because I lack direction. So I am going to try and nail some regular weekly features and make a bit more structure.
As for networking by commenting. It’s my favourite thing to do and it does bring people over, if only for a quick visit.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Comment, comment, comment. Go around and let the world know there’s a new crazy blogger in town. Some of them will pay you a visit just to see how crazy you are.
Solid post buddy.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
I never think of what I’m doing to help my blog, I just try to help others with theirs. I provide traffic to them…by going to them, reading and commenting. I usually win them over but that’s not my intention. I know I could make my blog more popular and make more money…but that doesn’t interest me.
I do try to meet new bloggers, especially ones not in my same niche (if my blog even has a niche). My favourite blogs are personal blogs, they are my friends:)
January 15th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
@Forest – I appreciate the comment as I usually try to put some effort into my posts. Which is ANOTHER reason why occasionally you won’t see a post. If I can’t put the work into it, I try not to just put up gibberish.
And the whole niche thing is a tricky deal. I do believe that picking one is important… Either for you OR for your readers OR for both. But I’ve found that if you pick something to narrow you’ll get bored.
So as I learned in Jamaica one summer, “Don’t rush, don’t rush it – You might crush it.”
@Brown – Ha ha ha. Is that how YOU got your start Mr Almost 500 subscribers? (#):)
@Bobby – That comment of yours really sums you up nicely in a way. Don’t you think it’s a travesty when new bloggers don’t try and mingle though? It’s like going to a party and being a wallflower… It’s no fun for anybody! (Though I was a wallflower for a long long time).
January 15th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
[...] Why Write When No One is Reading?- Bush shares the ultimate tip about getting more readers– commenting on other blogs. [...]
January 15th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
A timeless post for every blogger!
Brown- That’s a nice theory. It should become a tagline.
January 15th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
@Grace – I’m glad it’s been so well received. Thanks Grace!
January 15th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Dropping by via Monday Linking on Grace’s blog
well this is an ultimate advice for every blogger out there. What really matters afterall is a steady, stable readership, and bloggers cannot just sit there and WAIT for visitors (unless you get ranked high in the search engines, like what you’ve mentioned). Bloggers have to be outgoing as well – dropping by at other’s blog to leave a thoughful comment or two, and visitor traffic will transform from a trickle to a surge when people find your blog interesting. Nice advice, what a great read 
January 16th, 2008 at 8:40 am
It’s all about community building – when you have that scope in mind, it makes it easy to realize that visiting others and taking part in their conversation is only the right thing to do! Great article bro!
January 16th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
@Teddy – Hey, thanks a lot. And welcome to the blog my friend! I hope you end up becoming a regular reader and GL in 2008!
@Andre – Thanks a lot man. You know, with all the good vibes I’m getting from everyone here on this, I may have to re-write it and re-release it in a “best of” series or something. (#):D
January 16th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
I know you’re supposed to be writing more for your own sake, but it is awfully gratifying when your readers leave comments – it’s about the only way you know if your content is meaningful to anyone else. A little validation sure goes a long way to making all the hard work seem very worthwhile – and fun!
January 16th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
@Rob O – I could’ve just taken out half my post and put your comments in its place! You summed up things quite nicely! And BTW, welcome. (#):D
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:48 am
I think it depends with a few of my new websites I wrote a lot of articles before I started commenting on other websites. I think I had around five – ten articles wrote. It didn’t take me long to write them only a matter of days but it got done. Was I purposely holding off marketing my website to get out of doing something extra? No I had a plan with me I wanted to focus on writing those articles, adding resource pages before I opened my virtual home to my neighbors. Just like I wouldn’t want people to come to my real home with junk all over the place I’m not about to have them in my virtual home until it’s the way I want it.
My newest website will hit the four-week mark next week. Funny, I thought I was already there but I’m not. I’m averaging 40 unique visitors daily and already have had several post Dug, stumbled, Linked to, and I’ve received two rewards.
Even though I didn’t market it it made me money, via affiliate marketing, my third day online. It was indexed by Google withing 24 hours and I was receiving traffic from seearh engines the following day. On average people stay on that website at least six minutes and the bounce rate is under 30%. People are led to that website by keywords, comments I leave on other websites and they stay because of the content. On average five people comment on that website daily. Again not bad for a one month old website.
I’ve finally figured works for me. It might be different for someone else. When it comes to releasing new websites that to my network they will follow the same process. I’ve done it with my last three websites with excellent results. Writers that I hire will be trained about my process and will be expected to use those guidelines for newer websites that I add to my network.
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:02 am
I forgot to add that I didn’t market my newest website on Vegan Momma I wanted to see how well I did as a newbie. I still haven’t revealed it. I might in a few months. I want to see how well it did without help from my highly trafficked website. I wanted to step into that newbie role once again.
I would like to think I’ve done well. The difference between Vegan Momma and this website is amazing following a set plan has really been the key in its early success. If I had followed the same rules with Vegan Momma I would have avoided many of the mistakes I made early on however I did learn from my mistakes.
Having quality content that people can relate to keeps readers coming back to a website. Anyone can add content but if its crap or you don’t know what you are talking about a person most likely won’t come back. Impression matters even online. Do I make money online sure but not by talking about it. Occasionally I’ll toss out a few money posts but for the most part I make money by what I provide to my readers. A brand “me” they can trust. If they feel that they can trust me they will purchase from my affiliates I market. I market only products I respect.
With my last three websites, I’ve added their only source of income is affiliate marketing. I have huge plans for this last website but for the first year I’m focusing on branding myself then I’ll move forward to the next level.
January 22nd, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Words of wisdom, my friend. Sometimes it’s easy to get lost in your blog and forget to pull your head out and look around. I’m guilty of that, most heavily this month so far. It’s tough finding a balance, but with a little practice, it’ll be found.
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:40 pm
@Opal T – Good stuff Opal and congrats on all your success! As soon as I find some time (hopefully really soon) I’m going to step into that newbie roll myself with a relaunch of one of my own projects and from what you describe, I’m hoping to take it down a similar path.
I really think everything I’ve learned through blogging will help out considerably and will fix a lot of the problems the site had in its first iteration. And I think unlike this site, it will be commercially attractive from the start which may make you wonder why I focus on this site so much but hey, I LOVE BLOGGING! (#):D
@Mark – Plus, I’ve found that even if you take a bit of a break, your visitors are usually pretty cool with it. (#):)
January 27th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Absolutely, I have just started a new blog with a friend, it doesnt really have a set topic and we dont actually have any visitors as of yet.
January 27th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
@Spencer – Hey buddy, thanks for the visit and best of luck in 2008 with the new site. And BTW, glad to see you got your DNS all squared away on prospektrevolution!
January 30th, 2008 at 10:25 am
Hi Bush,
I dropped in from Bobby Revell’s site.
He was right, this post is thought-provoking.
Your advice goes not only for new bloggers, but also yearlings.
I made that term up for describing bloggers who have been around for twelve months and suddenly wake up to find that their blog community has disappeared.
I first started blogging on the now defunct WritingUp community blogging site.
When that site crashed and burned, I was at the crossroads you described: why should I continue to write, if there is no audience?
I was invited to Fanstory.com and, for a while, that was a great solution. But, I don’t feel like paying to belong – hosting fees are quite enough. So I left and turned my business website into a blog.
There were other issues separate from what you brought up in this post, but once I got everything lined up properly, I began to enjoy writing again.
My biggest fan? My dad.
Yet, I do visit other blogs and participate.
This was the legacy of WritingUp. Community.
The joy of discovering new blogs is worth the visits.
The joy of finding folks who like what you like – Blogging, Tech and Games – well, that’s just pretty cool.
I’ll be checking you out!
Cheers,
Mitch
January 30th, 2008 at 11:24 am
@Mitch – Hey man, thanks a lot for dropping by and for the thoughtful comment. (#):) It’s funny where blogging takes us isn’t it?, And I can’t believe your dad’s your biggest fan! I don’t know that ANYONE in my family would get this site (#):D
March 5th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
[...] to be humble (perhaps in a destructive way). I believe I take it to an extreme. Bush wrote a post Why Write When No One is Reading? He is right. Many of us do avoid being successful…on purpose. His message is straight forward [...]