Blogging is typically a rich and rewarding activity when it is done properly. Most people have a blog to share information with the world. However, many bloggers also want to make money by attracting new readers. This is where proper marketing techniques are a must. If all that motivates you is making money online you probably shouldn’t consider starting a blog. If this is done incorrectly, then time may be wasted with nothing to show. Bloggers who need to market a niche blog will need to avoid making a few common mistakes.
No Strategy
Coming up with a strategy is necessary when marketing and developing a niche blog. This means you going to have to take the time to mind map and carefully plan out how your going to convey your points. Are you going to use humor, videos, ect. There is no magic program that is going to make blogging a breeze. Your brain is the best tool you have and you need to put it to work. You have to expect to be blogging for 4-5 months without getting that much interaction. This seems obvious, but there are people who don’t have a plan in place for how to market their blog. A well-organized plan may not be an option when time is limited. However, a simple framework that lists objectives and goals is beneficial for planning. These will need to be specific with expected results. Another aspect of a simple framework is how these objectives or goals will be met.
No Experimentation
Too much strategizing with little experimentation is also a common mistake when trying to market any niche blog. Nothing worth doing in life is easy and you’ll never know unless you step out of your comfort zone and experiment with blogging. I have been developing websites for 5+ years and all my ideas were not golden and that is perfectly fine. Successful marketing requires periodic experimentation to see what is working and what is not working. Take the time once a month to evaluate what’s working and what isn’t.
Your going to have to meet new people in order to get your blog noticed. It doesn’t happen overnight and like anything does require work. This includes using different channels to promote a blog such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Common channels that are used when doing any type of online marketing include using social media and SEO.
Posting About One Subject
A niche blog often means being creative when creating a new post. So if your going to blog about wicked cool geckos make sure you stay on topic and don’t venture off into cars and personal finance. One thing a blog should not have is a library of posts about the same subject. Variation is needed to keep readers interested. Each blog post is a chance to share information with a reader. If the content is about the same subject, then there may not be an increase in readers. The last thing a niche blog needs is to have readers that are bored.
Posting Third-Party Updates
This is a mistake that is made when bloggers cannot come up with original ideas. Creating content is an aspect of blogging that is often not done too often. Most times a guest blogger is used to creating posts or provide a source of new information. A little bit of third-party content is fine, but will not be the way to achieve target objectives. If all your articles are guest post it just looks a little awkward. So obviously, always piggy backing others work is not a good idea. Make sure you come up with topics that are creative and provide some value.
No Engaging Updates
Frequent updates to a blog are not sufficient if they are not engaging for readers For instance, lets say you run a blog on online marketing and people take the time out of their day to leave you a response. The polite thing would be to take 2 minutes out of you day and thank them and answer any questions or concerns they might have. Believe me, this can go a long way. If you don’t engage people then you should just get a notebook and start a journal. Engaging content is the best way to have people share the post on social media. This is a great way to attract more readers. The further likes, shares, and retweets of a blog post will ensure it gets noticed.
Too Much Engagement
A blog is not social media and too much engagement with readers can drive them away. One mistake a new blogger may make is to suggest sharing or liking on every post. This can be annoying to readers if they see if too much. A niche blog is at the risk of losing readers by engaging too much and not having quality posts. If all you do is ask people to share your content your essentially going to scare a lot of people away. If they really want to share your content they will.
Slow Replies to Comments
Readers who post comments on a blog post want to see a response. A response is needed when an interesting blog posts has one or more comments with questions. Readers should not be kept waiting to see a response for a simple question. Many times a reader wants further insight about information in a blog post. The failure to respond to comments may lead to losing your readers. Think of it this way if you had a question on something and it took a month for them to get back to you would you respect that person?
All I am trying to say is make sure you plan out your blog, experiment, and try to be as creative as possible. It’s going to take work and you never know you could end up doing it full time. Is there anything I left out that you believe is vital to niche blogging?
