It’s been estimated that 80% of blogs fail. I got that wonky statistic from a website that helps people earn money from their blogs. I think they’re saying that 80% of professional bloggers are disappointed with their blogging income.
But many of us don’t even try to earn money by blogging. We’re more interested in sharing ideas. For us, failure is feeling like we’re not being seen. If no one is visiting or following our blogs, we wonder if we should even bother continuing. If you google what percentage of blogs are abandoned, the number is more like 95%.
So, how can we remain among the 5-20% of blogs that succeed? It’s about commitment and quality. How do we get there?
Choose a focus. Why are you blogging? Is blogging how you keep family and friends up to date on what’s happening in your world? Is your blog your forum for sharing your thoughts and opinions about deep topics? Do you have something to sell? Or do you have expertise in a certain field that you’re willing to share? My own reason for blogging is to build a fan base. I have several books in the works, and it would be nice if there were already people out there who like my writing by the time my books hit the bookstores.
If you want to write about a particular topic, make sure it’s something you foresee keeping your own interest for an extended period. I know I love the arts and the creative process, so that’s my focus. That’s not to say that everything I post has an arts tie-in, but most of my posts do.
Also, once you choose a focus, that doesn’t mean that you can’t pivot to a new one. But help your readers adjust during the transition. When they started following you, they did so with the expectation that your posts would center around a certain theme. Assure them it will still be worth their while to continue to visit you.
Come up with a posting schedule that you can maintain. You don’t have to post every day. I do, because I like to. And I’ve planned it so that most days my posts are quick and easy to come up with. Two days a week I post articles that take several (or many) hours to prepare. But I no longer have a fulltime job outside the home. You might not have the flexibility I do.
In my opinion, once a week is the minimum you should post. Less than that, and it won’t become routine for your followers to visit. You want your readers to look forward to next post, and know when to expect it.
That said, life happens. You may occasionally miss a post or two. If you can, write a short message to your readers. A post entitled “Taking a Break” and saying, “Can’t blog right now. Come back in a week or two. I’ll explain then,” will at least alert your readers that you haven’t forgotten them.
[Want to know where your book is falling short? Get a free book coaching sample.]
Do your best work. Think about what a reader might enjoy—step-by-step directions for a craft project, a review of the movie you saw last night, a different insight on an issue than what is currently being offered on talk shows—and strive to provide it in an interesting, informative, helpful, amusing, or imaginative way.
If you do your first drafts in Word, take advantage of the spelling and grammar check. Literate people cringe at mistake-ridden posts. They might even neglect sharing your post on their social media if there are too many mistakes.
And before you let your post go live, reread it again in preview format on your site. You may catch some errors that you missed earlier.
Engage with your followers. If someone comments on your post, reply to the comment. Some of my favorite bloggers do this: Gwen Lanning of Deep in the Heart of Textiles and Little Wild Streak; and Donna Kramer of My OBT are both wonderful at acknowledging responses. So is Cee Neuner of Cee’s Photo Challenges. If you enter one of her challenges, she will make every effort to visit your blog and comment on your post. All of these bloggers have thousands of followers, undoubtedly because they show their readers that they care.
I’m not so good about replying. I often can’t think of anything to say in response. Did you know I’m an introvert? I’d much rather write a blog post than call a friend. Yet, when someone comments, I can’t find words.
But I will go take a peek at your blog. I’ve discovered lots of good blogs that way, and if I like your blog, I might feature a post of yours in my Friday Creative Juice feature, or post a link to social media, or mention you in an article like this. WordPress requires that you have a Gravatar to leave a comment on a WordPress blog like mine. I can click on your Gravatar and find a link to your blog. (If your blog isn’t linked to your Gravatar, you should fix that.)
Try not to rant. Unless the focus of your blog is politics or hot button topics, avoid those subjects, please. One of my favorite bloggers (I won’t tell you who) is on the opposite end of the spectrum from me politically. She recently made a comment on her blog that I just couldn’t let slide, and I gave the most innocuous reply I could think of, and she blasted me. I unfollowed her for two months. I like her blog too much to stay away forever, though, and I’m back reading it. But I scroll past the political stuff and just read the artistic content I like. Pretty much, if you can’t say something nice about somebody, maybe do what mama said and say nothing at all. Your readers will thank you for it (unless they follow you for that kind of controversy).
In conclusion, if you’re already doing these five things (identifying your focus, posting with consistency, providing quality content, engaging with your readers, and cultivating a positive tone), you’re already a successful blogger in my book. Keep up the good work!
Now it’s your turn. If you consider yourself a successful blogger, to what do you attribute that success? Or are there any other suggestions you can give that will give a blogger an advantage toward success? How do you gauge the success of a blog? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
This guest post was contributed by ARHuelsenbeck. Former elementary general music teacher ARHuelsenbeck blogs about the arts and the creative process atARHtistic License. She is currently writing poems, picture books and short stories, a YA mystical fantasy and a Middle Grades novel. You can follow her on Twitter, and see some of her artwork, photography, and quilts on Instagram.
Thank you for sharing.
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I write purely to put it out there, and love the give and take of readers and responders, I do the same
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Thank you so much for this article! I actually had NO IDEA about Gravatar so I had to go and check my WordPress settings the second I finished reading. Turns out I had a profile but I never added my site so no one could see it when I commented! Hopefully this makes a huge change.
Also, thank you for redefining success on a blog. I’ve been trying to establish my blog as part of my author platform for a while now, but I haven’t seen much growth and I’ve started to get a little discouraged. Knowing that I’m heading in the right direction by doing these things is very encouraging. Do you also consider social media to factor into blog success?
Thank you again for this post! Could you possibly tell me more about your Friday Creative Juice feature? That sounds like an amazing way to reach out and connect with other bloggers! If you like, you can check my blog through this link: https://fosteryourwriting.com/. I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
Thanks again,
E. S.
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Hi, E.S. I checked out your blog, and I’m now your newest subscriber!
I am terrible at social media, but I believe it can be an excellent avenue for promoting your blog and your future books. I do get referrals from social media, but I don’t know how much is from my own efforts or from people sharing my posts. Most of the social media traffic I get is from Pinterest, so maybe that is a good platform to start out with.
If you want to see what my Creative Juice is, here’s my edition from last week: https://arhtisticlicense.com/2024/02/02/creative-juice-381/. I keep a document on my computer called “Blog Posts I Really Like.” I save links to articles I might want to reread someday, and many of them turn up on Creative Juice. I also include well-written articles on diverse subjects, but especially on the arts and the creative process.
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That’s awesome and thank you so much! I actually just got started on Pinterest, so it’s nice to know that’s a good route to take.
I’ll definitely check out Creative Juice!
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Good tips, thanks! Foremost a writer, I rankle that blog popularity almost demands amazing images. I guess my tip is, have great images and my q is what is the workaround for peeps who care more about words than pics?
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Excellent point! I follow several photographers’ blogs because I love their photos and aspire to be a better photographer myself. Images definitely make your blog more attractive. I think there should be at least one photo on every post just to get it noticed. Also, when people share your posts on social media, if there’s no picture, their friends tend to scroll past.
Ideally, the photos should be ones you’ve taken, unless you don’t take very good pictures. In that case, there are several good websites online that allow free use of at least some of their images. My favorites are unsplash.com, stocksnap.io, and pixabay.com.
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Good tips, thanks! Foremost a writer, I rankle that blog popularity almost demands amazing images. I guess my tip is, have great images and my q is what is the workaround for peeps who care more about words than pics?
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Oh, here you are again, not being anonymous. Hi, Ben.
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I have just returned to WordPress after Squarespace and a Dutch provider JouwWeb. Although I liked the designs of Suarespace and the ease of use of JouwWeb, I missed the sense of community you can have with bloggers on WP. So now I consider myself having written a good blog if it gains me one more follower. I try to focus on three areas: life as an indie writer, cats and poetry.
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All three of those topics have great online communities.
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A wonderful post with practical suggestions! I think the “focus” idea is one I really need to work on. Thanks. 😊
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Very good advice. A blog needs focus, especially when first starting out. For the first blog I created, I made the mistake of just posting whatever random thought of the day I had, and it went nowhere. But at least I learned. Thanks for sharing!
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I’ve seen blogs that have no focus, just the random thoughts of the blogger, that get lots of followers. I think sometimes it’s the writing, and sometimes it’s a person with a lot of friends.
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My problem so far has been that I keep flitting from website to website and from platform to platform. Now I am building my “forever home” here on WordPress with my own website, incorporating all of my bits and bobs I feel I will be more consistent.
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I just checked out your new blog and read your post, “Do Dogs Have a Sense of Humor?” Wonderful article! I believe they do. Best of luck!
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Oh thank you! That’s very kind of you ☺️
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I just launched my blog today, this is very encouraging, thank you!
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The new blog looks great! I just read your post “3 Simple Ways to Turn Your House Into a Home”–wonderful!
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There really is no shortcuts when blogging. As long as your enjoying it success will come.
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