So, you’ve started the blog, got the snazzy theme and awesome content, but there’s just one problem…no one is reading it. It’s heart-breaking to think of all that time and effort you have put into creating your blog and writing those post is all for nothing.

Take solace in the fact, however, that it’s not necessarily because your blog isn’t any good. It could be awesome, but when it comes to the World Wide Web you simply cannot adopt a build it and they will come approach. There are over a billion websites online, so you have to give your prospective audience a reason to click on your blog.

So how do you attract an audience? There are various online marketing strategies that you can adopt, depending on the size of your budget. We will give an insight as to why your blog is without any readers and what you can do to reel them in, opening up various opportunities for you and your blog.

 

Lack of a Social Presence

Does your blog have a presence on social media? If you consider sharing posts on your personal accounts a social presence, then you are already going about things the wrong way. Think of your blog in the same terms as a brand – would you expect your favourite brands to feature on social media solely through the personal accounts of their founders?

Of course you wouldn’t. When you search a brand name you want to find a dedicated page. You should treat your own personal blog no differently and open dedicated social accounts in its name. Then you can begin a wider audience outside of your close circles on social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram which can convert into traffic for your blog.

For your social channels to be effective, you have to be active. You cannot just exist, but neither do you want to spam your followers. Create valuable content that your audience wants to digest, giving them a reason to care about your blog. This can be incredibly time-consuming, which is where many professional bloggers employ the use of a social media agency to look after their social channels.

 

What Purpose Does Your Content Serve?

While your content could be amazing, who is it for? Have you spent a couple of hours writing that 1,000-word plus blog for you or have you considered important issues for your target audience? If the answer is the former, this is probably why you are suffering from a lack of visibility. If the answer is the latter, you are more than halfway there – if your content serves a purpose and clearly answers a question, the chances are that you have yourself some engaging content.

You might now be asking, ‘so why is no one reading it then?’ – well, there are a few reasons why. Firstly, while your post does indeed provide an answer to an important issue, at least in the terms of your target audience, has it been optimised? By this, we mean has your content been written with SEO in mind, making use of keywords targeting attainable search terms with a good balance between average searches and difficulty? It’s always good to do your research to find out where your audience is at and take the content to them, rather than expecting it to happen the other way around.

Secondly, you might already be answering a question that has already been answered multiple times – and by higher authorities than yourself. Especially in your early stages, you need to offer something new and fresh to your audience, as opposed to a regurgitation of what is already out there. With nothing new to offer, search engines won’t place you favourably at all in their all-important rankings, severely harming your visibility. Unless you are the first to provide an answer, think about how you can take a look at things from a fresh perspective, as well as adding additional points that haven’t already been covered by your competition.

 

Does it Work on Mobile Devices?

It is amazing that we are still having to point out the importance of ensuring your blog performs just as well, if not better, than it does on desktop. Google has long implemented its Mobile First rankings, considering the performance of a website on mobile devices above the desktop, which means that if you are the type of blogger that never previews any changes on mobile before pressing publish, you’re likely not having a good time.

Most WordPress themes are responsive, meaning that you shouldn’t have to do a thing when updating your theme and/or design to ensure it fits on mobile. However, that doesn’t mean you can just take the ‘oh, it’ll be alright’ approach because there are so many other key factors that can affect your blog’s performance on mobile devices.

The most common of which are web pages that take too long to load on mobile because the file size is too big. While super high-resolution TIFF images may look amazing, the standard file size is around 12mb per photo. When considering the average web page size is 3mb as of 2017, that tells you everything you need to know. Poor page speed equates to a poor user experience, which then equates to poor search rankings and poor search visibility. Consider the value of everything you upload to your website and, when you do hit publish, check the page speed on all devices.

 

No Quick Fix

There is no such thing as a quick fox when it comes to digital marketing, at least not one that works and is sustainable. Patience is key and, while you should regularly monitor the performance of your blog, don’t give up so quickly. Refine your strategy and consider all of the points that we have included in this post.