If you’ve spent much time with this blog, you know we’re big proponents of blogging for B2Bs; for example, see “How integrating a blog can help your B2B fast-track its marketing”. Much of our evangelizing has been aimed at simply getting started with your blog; but once you do that, you need to keep it going, you need it to grow. And there are more than a couple of hazards along that path.
Enough, in fact, that Gautam Hans recently posted “5 reasons your blog isn’t growing” over at Social Media Today, which we thought well worth a brief recap here. As he put it, “The key to growth is identifying those things that stunt your growth.” Here are his Fatal Five…
Publishing irregularly. How often isn’t the issue; just pick a posting frequency you can live with and stick with it. Your readers need to know when to expect content from you, whatever the frequency. Haphazard posting makes it impossible for your blog to gain momentum, and makes it difficult for readers to stick with you long term.
Making it difficult to share your content. Your readers can be your most valuable tool for promoting your blog, if you make it easy for them. You simply need to have social media buttons on your blog that include instant sharing capabilities with Facebook, Twitter, Digg, ReddIt, and other popular sites.
Posting “me too” content. Don’t just rehash what everyone else is saying. You need to offer some material/thought that can’t be found on the other blogs in your space.
Not writing like you talk. Readers expect to feel like they’re connecting with a real person when they read your blog, not an impersonal organization. Make your blog posts conversational, and your blog will acquire a voice different from the others in your niche.
Not optimizing your blog for the search engines. Every post needs to be optimized for search engine visibility… by using keyword-rich titles, tagging and categorizing your posts appropriately, and using keyword-rich anchor text to link to related content elsewhere in your blog. If the search engines can find your blog, they’ll bring it lots of new readers over time.
