5 Signs That Your Blog Sucks
Jul15Written by:
2009/07/15 11:34 AM
Do you have a blog? Is it working? Are you battling to get readers and comments to your blog? Is Google indexing your blog? These questions and others are what all bloggers should be asking. But I suppose the ultimate question you need to ask is, Does my blog suck? Here is a list of 5 signs that your blog sucks.
1. You Aren't Getting Any Traffic.
You're excited about your blog, about the time it took to design the perfect blog and layout. You’ve just finished your site. It looks like a million bucks! Well it's a shame it isn't attracting a single visitor. Just because it exists doesn't mean people know about it. Announce it to the world by submitting it to reputable directories and sharing your useful content with others on social bookmarking sites like Twitter, Gatorpeeps, Friendfeed, Digg, etc. Set up a RSS feed. Encourage people to subscribe.
2. You Have Worthless Content.
Have you heard it before, if so, well then sorry about this, but here it is again. Content Is King. Don’t just fill your blog with worthless meaningless words. Just because you might have some content does not mean people want to read it. They must want to read it because it is meaningful to them. What defines worthless content? Without knowing what topic your blog covers it's tough to say, but if you have nothing that sets you apart from your top competitors then you probably have worthless content. If you don't know what kind of content people are looking for on the Internet today, take a peek at what's popular on social bookmarking sites.
3. You Have No Comments.
Probably a difficult one because the lack of comments on any single post does not mean it is worthless. But generally no comments, or very little comments at all is a sure sign that something is wrong. Remember, that comments are a by-line of good content and traffic. You would probably receive one comment for every 100 visitors. But why aren't you getting comments. Probably because you are not making it easy for people to comment. Make it simple. Ask people to comment. Put a call to action, a call to comment.
4. You Are Not Consistent.
Blogging is all about consistency. Readers are creatures of habit. They like to know ahead of time when things are happening. People need to plan their day. Akin to consistency is frequency of blogging. Get into a schedule, keep it up. Keep on blogging. Consistency and frequency builds relationships and trust. But keep in mind the usefulness of your blog. If you don’t have anything worthwhile to say then the best is say nothing at all.
5. Your Blog Is Old and Stale.
It is all good and well that you have content on your blog, but how old is it. Is the newest post about the 1995 Rugby World Cup, or the surprise death of Elvis Presley? Has Microsoft just released Dos 5.0? Readers come to your blog to get information, to read something. If they have read it before, or if it is old news, then they will not return, nor will they promote your blog and encourage others to visit. Along with being consistent, have relevant new information on your blog. This will encourage others to come back on a regular basis. It will encourage Google to index your blog. No one wants stale content. Stale content will definitely hurt your blogs ranking and search-ability.
Now comes the crunch. What do you think of this post? Please leave a comment in the comment box below. If for nothing else I do not fall into one of my own categories of a bad blog. It is not a bad blog, is it? So come on, leave a comment. Tell me what you think.
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