Why most blogs never get much traffic

If you're famous, like Mick Jagger or Robert Scoble or Madonna, write it and they will come. You can write about anything you want, and lots of people will read it.

Unfortunately, you my friend are probably not famous, just like I'm not. If we write on whatever we find interesting and exciting, it's unlikely many other people will have matching interests.

Oh some may find your posts on the advances of bowling ball technology fascinating, but they probably won't care for your extensive coverage of laptop battery time extension techniques or any details of your belly button lint collection. And the belly button lint aficionados probably find bowling balls and batteries boring.

In other words, it's NOT about you - what you're interested in. No one cares about what you're interested in (unless you're famous), and very few people will have interests that parallel yours.

But wait, if it doesn't matter what you're interested in, what about all this stuff about "passion" and "passionate bloggers are successful bloggers" you keep hearing? How can you write passionately about something you're not interested in?

Well, you probably can't, but the solution is simple -- a one word answer:

FOCUS!
I repeat, FOCUS!!

Write about ONE thing you are passionately interested in, maybe Nubian dwarf goat husbandry or American Civil War history or the evolution of belly button lint collections in museums. Plenty of people -- potential readers -- for any ONE of those topics. Even belly button lint has 274,000 hits on Google, and yes there appear to be blogs on the topic too.

I'm writing about Web 2.0 stuff and how it affects business, things like blogging and podcasting etc. I'm NOT writing about fishing or Chinese cooking or biking or wine or many other things I'm passionate about, because it's not about me. And yeah, I should work about being more focused too . . .

But whattabout Scoble? He's a blogger -- and his claim to fame is from blogging, and despite Robert being a great guy I read regularly HE isn't THAT focused.

Well, you need to be and so do I if we care about traffic  -- Robert IS famous AND he started blogging in a simpler time when there was less competition.

And now I must leave you as I'm stranded in an airport and my laptop battery is almost dead. Fortunately I have the latest "Popular Nubian Dwarf Goat Husbandry" with me. Maybe I'll check my belly button too  . . .

Comments

[Alfred Thompson]

Boy are the search engines going to send you interesting traffic with all the off topic words you have in that post. :-)
I agree with everything you say though. A lot of the early bloggers got famous early and stay widely read no matter how unfocused they are. In some ways things become important because famous people say they are rather than people becoming famous because they say important things.
I think you can still become famous (at least in a circle) by saying important and valuable things in a focused way. That is the way people have to try to build an audience in most cases.

[Alfred Thompson]

Boy are the search engines going to send you interesting traffic with all the off topic words you have in that post. :-)
I agree with everything you say though. A lot of the early bloggers got famous early and stay widely read no matter how unfocused they are. In some ways things become important because famous people say they are rather than people becoming famous because they say important things.
I think you can still become famous (at least in a circle) by saying important and valuable things in a focused way. That is the way people have to try to build an audience in most cases.

[T Demop, Blogging for Business]

Alfred, I thought the same thing when I hit publish! The array of odd keywords, repeated multiple times, is sure to cause "interesting traffic" from the search engines :)

[Easton Ellsworth]

SShhhhh, Ted, don't spill the blogging beans! :)

This is exactly right - and really, taking a step back, it's the secret and the key to success in so many other areas of our lives. Focus - limiting our scope - ironically serves to strengthen us. Think of a magnifying glass with sunlight passing through it and you've got the idea. Great post!

[Bob]

FOCUS! Yes F... O... C... U... S...

[Dating Goddess]

Ted:

You're so right! When I've advised other bloggers to pick *one* topic and stick with it, they want to be able to say whatever is on their mind. I tell them to start multiple blogs then, or get used to having 5 people (maybe) read their blog.

I have been astounded how putting this "focus" advice to work has garnered not only traffic, but media and soon a book deal (I now have an agent for my blook). I've been featured in the Wall St. Journal, several big-city newspapers, 2 TV appearances and radio interviews, all without a book on my topic, dating after 40, and with no former presence on this topic before my blog, less than a year ago.

So your advice to focus is right on!

Dating Goddess
Adventures in Delicious Dating After 40
http://www.DatingGoddess.com