Why Blogs Fail to Get Traffic

The days of easy Google traffic are over and I hear the complaints all the time.

How can I attract more traffic? Will Google ever notice my blog posts?

Well the answer is YES, you can attract great traffic and yes Google WILL notice.

Well…sort of. Someday.

In this post I’d like to address a couple problems holding you back from getting more traffic.

I’ll help you look at blog traffic in a different light.

As usual, feel free to comment.

Traffic terms

Here are some useful terms before we get going.

• Traffic = Online visitors to your site
• Returning traffic = People who come back to your site 2 or more times
• Target audience = People who will take action on your messages
• Online graveyard = Where thousands of traffic-less blogs end up every day 

Ok, “online graveyard” is one I made up 

To find the solution to a lack of blog traffic I’d like to look at two problems I commonly see. These problems prevent bloggers from attracting returning traffic and building it into a target audience. That’s something you need after a bit of time. You need people to take action.

Problem 1: We only look at the numbers

I feel like a lot is wrong with the whole “gimme more traffic” world nowadays.

The first problem is we see traffic as just a number.

75,000 page views a month, 60% returning visitors, 140 entrances, etc.

It’s a number we all obviously want to increase and if you run a huge blog your traffic number probably looks great. Go ahead, brag about it.

But as a new blogger your traffic number can be really depressing. It’s growing, and needs time.

It’s risky to focus on this number too much. Why? Because you may start to compare it to what you think it should be. You’ll probably feel it’s not enough.

And if you feel like it’s not enough, your blogging will suffer.

You’ll get desperate to create more content and will stop enjoy the little gains in your work. You might even decide to stop blogging.

So what’s the solution?

I’m no Seth Godin traffic expert, but I think I have something that could save you from the traffic blues.

Try viewing your traffic as a actual person, or group of people. That’s all traffic is afterall, right?

It’s sort of like the old “glass half empty or half full” adage. You’ve got to look at your traffic count as half-full of awesome readers who you get to interact with.

It’s awesome if anyone reads your blog. Even just…6 people a day.

If you take these 6 people for granted they’ll probably vanish. But if you take them seriously they’ll probably turn into 6 more.

Here’s what you can do:

• Respond to every single comment at your blog and on guest posts
• Thank people for tweets and re tweets
• Be available to answer questions over email

By giving your entire attention to just a few readers you will secure them as fans. Then, they’ll be more likely to recruit others.

They’ll comment, and people will notice. They’ll share your work to a couple hundred others!!

It’s all about starting small and appreciating the small gains.

Problem 2: Not enough self-promotion (80/20 rule)

This next problem comes with a fancy rule, a proven one.

The second problem I see among blogs is a lack of self-promotion.

Bloggers assume that just by pumping out content either a lot of people or Google or maybe both will notice them.

Trust me, people won’t notice. Google won’t either, unless you can get a lot of actually people to notice first.

The result is often just a lot of under-appreciated blog posts 

Sound like your blog at all?

So, what’s your strategy?

How much time do you spend building content on your blog? 50% of your time?

Any more would be crazy!

You should spend at least 80% (4/5s) of your efforts as a new blogger away from your blog. This is of course assuming things like design are working well enough at your blog.

Assuming they are, you’ve got to get out there.

More marketing off your blog + less content on your blog =

• More comments per post
• More klout
• More authority (at least a perception of it)
• More excitement for your next post!

I’m not the only one blabbering like this either. Check out Derek Halpern’s post on Why Blogs Fail.

How to fail at getting traffic

I thought we’d end with some traffic-gen strategies you should avoid.

a. Begging for links: You’ll lose a lot of respect
b. Twitter mass following: You end up following nonsense robo-accounts
c. Facebook spam: Usually irrelevant
d. Comment spam: Totally pointless (thank god for Kismet)
e. Forum spam: Will get you swiftly banned
f. Content over-stuffing: Mass producing articles won’t magically bring the traffic

If you’ve tried any of these don’t worry, I probably have too. But realize that these activities may actually harm your image and send people away from your site.

Healthy traffic: Where will it get you?

Increasing traffic levels will open doors for you as a blogger or online entrepreneur. You can do virtually anything with it.

You can do a couple things straight away to get more traffic:

1. Set up your Google Analytics profile and see how your website is currently doing.
2. If your bounce rate in Analytics is too high (over 20% is high) soon you will get downloading option of ebook for bounce rate.

More traffic comes from small adjustments today, that pay off the next time Google hits the Search “refresh button”. It’s a moment we bloggers and SEOs look forward to 

I’d really love to hear how you work to find more traffic. Grey-hat, white-hat, red-hat, whatever. I think if we bounce off some ideas here we may actually develop a new traffic gen strategy or two.

Post a quick comment and help us avoid the ol’ blog graveyard.