If you are a “serious” Blogger, you would know by now that Blogging is not a child’s play. It is not for the faint hearted. It is time consuming, brain tasking and it involves you knowing a little bit of everything or everything if I may say. From taking photos to editing them to writing great contents to marketing the contents you have spent time to create, you must know everything or almost everything, especially if you are just starting out and can’t afford to outsource.
Blogging is not rice and beans (a.k.a blogging is NOT easy) BUT it is doable and can lead to GREAT opportunities and has a very big potential to lead to phenomenal things, including being your own boss.
One of the most important things to be as a Blogger is to be ORIGINAL. A lot of people know when a Blogger is fake. They may not say it BUT they know it…
One of the most important things you can do for yourself is to be REAL or be ORIGINAL. In “realness”, you find or discover yourself more and attract an audience who loves you for you. In realness also, you are able to create contents you like and the people who are really into you would come to your blog and read it.
For example, I have shared with you before that the calling upon my life/purpose is beyond Beauty and Fashionable things. I love fashion. I breathe fashion and I have a career in fashion. While that is what I am truly passionate about, I love inspiring people. I love motivating people because I have being GIFTED to encourage. And because I know that, I just had to find a way to keep writing those motivation blogs. Now, a lot of people look forward to Mondays here on the blog so they can read Motivation for Mondays. I am happy to say that Mondays are the busiest days on this blog. Thank you for letting me share and for reading when I do.
See, being authentic is showing who we truly are. Our strengths, our weaknesses, our vulnerability, our faith and what we believe strongly in. I am a Christian and I use scriptures to write my motivation sometimes. I can’t say because I want to attract a wider audience who do not share the same faith as me that I won’t use scriptures if I need to. One, this is my blog. Two, that won’t be real and truly the people I have being sent to may not get me… I stand for something so I share it…..SHARE WHAT YOU STAND FOR, there are people out there looking to read all about it. Your job as a Blogger is to find them.
Lesson One: Be Real and create contents you are truly passionate about. When you do, people who believe in you would embrace it.
How Do You Know Your Audience Are Not Into You?
1, When Your Contents Don’t Suit Your Audience
Pay attention to what your audience look for when they land on your blog. Look for how long they stayed on your blog. Look for how many pages they visit when they stop by. Also the countries they visited from and what they read about. This way, you know exactly what to be writing about. Although I said above that you should write about what you are truly passionate about, your analytics can help guide you to write your blog to suit your audience.
For example, I know of this guy, MJ, he has the same “nickname” as me 🙂 He doesn’t visit the blog everyday BUT anytime he does, I see that he goes from one motivation blog to another. One, I could tell by his comments and two, I could tell by tracing what he reads. Jetpack is a free and easy to use WordPress plugin to use to track your blog analytics.
Lesson Two: Your audience would be into you if you write your contents to suit them
2, When You Spam Them
I blog because I am truly passionate about creating life changing contents / writing contents to help people. I also blog for profit because I believe everyone deserves to get paid for the job they do, no matter how small the job may be to others.
While sharing blogs that are sponsored or collaborative, it is important to have in mind that your audience do not want to come to your blog to read about Adverts all day and everyday.
A lot of people drop by to your blog because they like you first and because they like what you share. Don’t use advertisement blogs to scare them away. It may come across that you do not care about them but the money only. You need them to stay, they are the ones who make your blog popular or alive with their comments.
Lesson Three: Don’t Spam Your Readers with Ads, especially your Subscribers
3, Blogger Friends! No Matter How Good Your Blog is, they may not read:
I am so grateful that I have a lot of “Blogger Friends” from different parts of the world. My friend Sarah wrote a blog recently where she addressed the use of the word “Blogger Friend”. I do not consider any of the Bloggers I know “Blogger Friend”, I consider them colleagues and friends because let’s face it, we meet people in different places right? I have met this ones online should not make them less of a friend. Most of them have being here from day one and they keep retuning to show love and support and vice versa.
If you have Friends whose blog you read and they do not return to read yours, they may not just be into you. I understand a lot of Bloggers are busy, I am that busy too BUT trust me, if you care enough about something, no matter how busy you are, you would make the time.
If you write “good contents” and your “Blogger friends” whose blog you read does not show up at yours, at all, they may not just be into you. Like I always say, give LOVE not withstanding, you will reap love back. It may just be in other areas BUT most importantly, find your own “TRIBE”; the people you have being sent to or your ideal audience.
Lesson Four: Give love, you will get love back
4, When You Try Too Hard, a.k.a Fake it, Till You Make It
Trying too hard is wanting to be like others or trying to front what you are not. Especially for Fashion Bloggers, we all love amazing brands and labels. While a lot of us Bloggers get a lot of goodies for free, a lot of us Bloggers have to pay for them…
It would be a crazy idea to be in debt to be a people pleaser. You do not have to buy new clothes for show off all the time, especially if you can’t afford it. You can share with your audience HOW to wear one style piece in multiple ways. They love this and more so, in the real world, nobody really wants to be buying everything you feature; that is a “Blogger life” and not the real life.
Another colleague and Friend of mine, Stella wrote an article about a girl who committed fraud because she wanted to be on her “A game” on Instagram. I don’t know what the story is now BUT nobody has to go through that humiliation for the sake of showing off. This point ties into point number one if you can relate.
Lesson Four: Don’t be a People Pleaser or Social Media Pleaser
When I say, show multiple ways of wearing one outfit, I shared 5 ways to wear one denim HERE. People loved it. They appreciate it because truly, that is the REAL LIFE.
5, When Your Blog is all About You
Although a blog should talk about you and your realness. It is important that your blog is not a one way traffic, a.k.a “a monologue”. Give people room to contribute and talk about themselves too. For example, last Valentine, I shared my LOVE STORY HERE and I invited all my friends to please share their love stories with me. I did not only read, I connected with them by joining in, in the comments. It was FUN and I think this is something I would do again. Make your blog a “connection point” and NOT “an authority domain”.
One way to do this is to use the power in You, Me and US which I did use throughout this post. I use this in connecting with people especially when I write motivational blogs and in all my speaking engagements. It works magic.
YOU: talk to your audience NOT at them
ME: talk about you. Your vulnerability (weakness), failures (set backs) and achievements (how you turned things around)….
US: find a common ground, include them in your message so you do not feel superior to anyone even though you may have achieved much more
Lesson Five: Use the Power of You, Me & Us + Remember We were all created EQUAL
And those are some of my pointers for knowing when your audience are not that into you. Although there are more. I stopped here today so the post isn’t too long. Would continue next time on the Blogging for Success Series.
Please share with me in the comments some of the ways to know if an audience is not into you….
Wishing you all the best in your blogging journey. If you need help on your Blogging Journey, do not forget to check my Help For Bloggers HERE
Much Love, Mojisola
And by the way, the feature image is the one I use on my Blogging for Success Series because it tells the story of “Help for Bloggers Better”. You can learn the power of Using the right Photos to attract an audience HERE
What is My Purpose? Why on Earth Am I Here?
I believe strongly that we have all being created for a reason. Some of us know WHY already and some of us don’t. In this video with simple life instances, I shared few TIPS that could help you know WHY on earth you are here. Please watch……
4 comments
You’re definitely an ‘Encourager’ and I would add a wise woman! It’s always a pleasure reading your advice…
Thanks Linda for cheering me on 🙂 Appreciate you loads.
Cheers
I absolutely loved reading this. Thanks Moj.
XOXO
Thank you Sam for always reading. Love reading your comments, they make me smile.
Cheers