7 Mistakes That Are Sabotaging Your Blog

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You spend the time and the money to append a blog to your business website. You're a performance-oriented businessperson, and your analytics monitoring indicates traffic, click-through rates, and sales are no higher since the addition of your blog. So what are you doing wrong?

 

Does the writing stink?

 

Before we begin, we need to make an important assumption: the quality of writing on your blog must hover well above the level of acceptable. What constitutes good writing is a matter of taste and opinion, but good is good, and you know it when you read it.

 

For your business blog, even mediocre can be bad for its performance. So if you'd rather shave your head with a cheese grater than listen to a recording of one of your blogs, chances are your readers feel the same. 

 

You need to do what is necessary to get past the "good writing" hurdle. There are people out there who can write. Find them, even if you have to outsource for ghost writers. They'll bring your great ideas to life with talent that you will likewise recognize when you read their copy.

 

Honesty check out of the way, let's proceed to the nitty-gritty and see what could be the 7 mistakes that are killing the performance of your blog:

 

1. You believe your business blog is a promotional platform.

 

It isn't. Now that your website is up and running, looking at your blog as an opportunity for free advertising can result in a product that will elicit a universal yawn from your readers. Even the best copywriting is just copywriting, and you won't fool your readers with nothing but shameless plugs.

 

A change in mindset is in order here. There's no magic equation when it comes to how much subtle promotion versus education/public service content you need to include in your business blog. Rather, keeping your reader's needs up front is the key.

 

2. You are overly concerned with SEO and what the Google Robot does.

 

Yes, the idea behind blogging is to infuse fresh content to get on page 1 of the Bing/Google, et. al hit parade, but writing for the mammoth web browser alone is writing for a robot.

 

Not only that, the robot is getting smarter and smarter. It knows when you're trying to cram ad words and keywords into your blog at the expense of quality content--and its vengeance is swift.

 

There, your business blog must be for people, who want free and valuable reading material. The rule of thumb for blogging is the same as it is for any writing: never forget about your audience. You can worry about search engine optimization later.

 

3. You don't post regularly or consistently.

 

OK. Now, you can now worry about the search engine. That search engine optimization you're after won't happen unless you publish regular content. The web crawler wants new material, or it won't invite you back to the search results page. 

 

Again, don't forget about your readers. If you want them back, you must blog regularly.

 

4. Your business blog is an ego trip.

 

Your business blog reader will invariably ask this question before beginning to read your blog: "What's in it for me?" If the answer is your personal or your company's life story, history, or simply self-promotion, the reader will decide there isn't anything there and go elsewhere.

 

Your business blog must add value to your web presence with timely, interesting, and thoughtful content. Go for the reader's ego, and stay away from your own.

 

5. You love jargon, acronyms, and industry buzzwords.

 

If your business blog is laden with gobbledygook, it narrows your audience to fans of the latter, who may even be competing with you--or may never be customers. Even the most dedicated propeller heads won't blow enough traffic your way to justify the effort behind your business blog.

 

Yes, you want to be a thought leader, but your blog will get through to a larger audience if you remember a bit advice attributed to none other than Albert Einstein: "Everything should be as simple as it can be, but not simpler!"

 

6. Your blog lacks goals. 

 

A blog without a goal serves no useful purpose beyond that of a glorified bulletin board no one reads. 

 

Think about this: your original business plan was all about goals, niche, and market share. To the extent your blog relates to those goals and integrates fully into your website, it will drive: 

 

◦          customer engagement

◦          your reputation in the industry        

◦          more website traffic 

         

To the extent it does not, your business blog will flop. 

 

7. You're not measuring success.

 

No goal was ever worth setting without some means and criteria for its measurement. You won't know if your business blog is doing what you want it to unless you do something to measure it.

 

You need to answer these questions:

         

◦          What effect, if any, does your blog have on total monthly visitors to your site?

                   

◦          If your blog software lures subscribers, how many have opted in to hear from you regularly?

                   

◦          What are the number of (positive and negative) comments your blog elicits?

                   

◦          If you publish authoritative blogs, how many inbound links and page views result?

                   

◦          How many visitors came back to your site or product page as a result of visiting your business blog?

         

(Source: 5 Ways to Measure the Success of your Business Blog, by Prashant Kaw)

 

The takeaway here is that you need to integrate and monitor your business blog. It is a cost of doing business, but it has an enormous potential for return on investment.

 

 

 

 

 

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