The biggest blogging mistake…

… and what to do about it.

So many people make this mistake when blogging, and it’s ranks worse even than not ever updating your blog.

Writing about things that no-one cares about.  You spend a whole load of time, effort and brain power, crafting a beautiful blog post.  It takes you ages.  And then no-one looks at it.  N0-one cares about it.  Stupid people… how dare no-one care about what you’ve spent hours writing?

Ok, let me help the penny drop here… it’s not that they are stupid people.  They’ve got a business to run, a job to do.  Find me a person who chooses to read articles about something they have no interest in/get no benefit from, and I’ll retract this blog post.  But until then, remember this – if you write your blog entirely from your own viewpoint, it will fail.  If you write it with the hat of your website visitors on your head & their shoes on your feet, you’re much more likely to succeed.

So what you can you DO about this?

One
Know who is looking at your website.  Think about who they are, what they are looking for, and what problems they face.  Don’t make assumptions here, ask them – run a customer survey, run a website survey (ask me if you need help with this).


Two
Now your job is to find the resource gap in your market that you can fill.  What sort of content will help them do their job better?  Achieve what they are trying to achieve?  What knowledge do you have that you can impart in a practical, easy-to-follow way, that will assist your readers?


Three
Thirdly, plan out an initial series of posts which directly address the resource gap you have identified above.   The acid test – put yourself in the shoes of your busiest client.  Is what you’ve written or are planning to write, going to be of use to them?  Is it compelling enough to cause them to take the time to read & act on what you have written?

Tips

• If you’re stuck knowing how to find your resource gap, start asking people.  Two heads are often better than one on this.  Ask clients, potential clients, colleagues, friends – anyone!
• Finding a resource gap is crucial – it doesn’t have to be something that no-one else has ever written about, but just something that your visitors or clients are missing right now.  Once you have this, it will be so much easier to generate ideas as to what to write about.
• If you find yourself only ever writing updates on your own business, you’re probably not filling a resource gap.  That may be fine – if you simply want to use your blog to update clients with latest company news & that’s it.  But check that’s what you are aiming for, and set your expectations accordingly.
• When it comes to planning out your posts, use my handy blogging template to stick all your ideas down: Handy MS Excel Blogging Ideas Template