3 Reasons Why So Many Blogs End Up Failing
Blogging is probably the online business with the lowest barrier to entry and is very democratic at its core. Blogging as a business model is still largely misunderstood, however, which is why so many people end up failing. Many new bloggers become disillusioned once they realize how much work is involved in building a successful blog. Others expect their blogs to just blow up overnight because they’re in a good niche and they keep posting. But being a successful blog is about much more than that. Below we look at some of the most common reasons why so many bloggers fail.
They Rely on Only One Source of Revenue
One of the biggest mistakes new bloggers make is thinking that ad revenue will be enough for them to make a full-time income with their blog. If you look at any major blog out there, we can guarantee you that most will be using a whole host of different monetizing methods – some you may not have even noticed. As a blogger, you should be using all the tactics that you can, whether it’s donations, email marketing, product creation, or affiliate marketing.
One original way that you could make money from your blog, for instance, would be to have a widget that displays special coupon deals to clients. Certain apps will allow you to display deals based on specific categories and show deals your readers might like. All they have to do is use the coupon code and you get a commission. There are plenty of apps that can do this, but this plugin works well if you’re looking for something you’ll be able to easily integrate into a WordPress blog.
They Don’t Care Enough (Or Too Much) About SEO
SEO should be a priority for all blog owners, but you should not count on it as your only or even main source of traffic. Organic traffic from search engines is great, don’t get us wrong, but you never know when your site could get hit with a Google slap. Don’t assume that doing everything right by Google will save you either. Sometimes, updates can affect very specific blogs and you might get targeted just because of the type of blog you have, just like YMYL (Your Money Your Life) blog owners had to learn after the infamous 2018 Google core update.
This is why you need to diversify your sources of traffic just as you do your sources for revenue. The best way to do this is to increase your presence on different platforms, get active in the community, and release content in different formats so you can extend your reach.
They Don’t Pay Enough Attention to the Metrics
Another reason why so many people fail at blogging is because they don’t track their blog’s data properly. They don’t know which of their pieces are working the most, during which periods people are the most active on their blogs, or which type of posts their readers engage with more, etc. Not only that, but they don’t know how the content they post on their social media or other pieces of online real estate is doing either. This is why you will need to get very familiar with tools like HubSpot and Hootsuite so you can learn exactly what pieces of content are working for you on and off your blog so you can create more of it.
These are just some of the reasons why so many people fail to turn their blogs into a real business. Try to avoid these mistakes, but don’t be afraid to make errors as this is how you learn a lot of things with blogging.
