blogging Archives - LJ Sedgwick

July 19, 2018 by LJ Sedgwick 4 Comments

Copywriter vs content writer: Which one do you actually need?

The blank document is open. The cursor blinks, taunting you. It’s like that oh-so-helpful paperclip in Word – completely annoying. But this blog post won’t write itself. And your about page needs a good polish. It hasn’t been updated since 2008.

If only you had a content writer to handle this stuff for you. Or maybe you need a copywriter.

You pause, thankful for any interruption from staring at a blank screen. Exactly what is the difference between copy and content?

Look at any internet sales page. Or advert. Hell, even read the script of a radio ad. Now look at a blog post. Or a magazine article. Or a Youtube video.

Notice any key differences?

Copy sells. Content speaks.

That’s the main difference between the two. Copy is the written word, used to sell something. Don’t get me wrong, content can sell things too, it’s just less overt about it. But you’d hire a copywriter to sell.

Just to confuse things, copy isn’t just selling stuff. It can also sell ideas. Look at this famous NHS poster for basic hygiene practices.

Do you need a copywriter or a content writer? Learn the differences between the two here before you hire your next freelance writer. — Copy sells IDEAS.

Sure, it’s not selling a swanky new car or a luxury villa. But it’s still communicating an idea that will change a behaviour.

Which is really all selling is. You want your potential client or customer to do something different, whether that’s installing an app, using your software, or even just remembering to back up their files.

You can find a copywriter that will also write content. Just like a content writer may write copy. But most writers will have a preferred specialism that they’re good at. That makes them far more likely to be able to help you.

When would you hire a copywriter?

A copywriter is fantastic for web pages, particularly sales pages. They know how to drill down into the needs of your target users and speak to them on a fundamental level. Part writer, part psychologist, and part alchemist, good copywriters speak your user’s language.

A copywriter will do a ton of research into your target audience before they start writing anything. They need to, so they can fluently speak their language.

By speaking their language, copywriters can tap into their hopes, fears, problems, and desires. Notice that’s their issues, not yours. If you can show that you understand what those problems are, your users are more likely to trust that you can help solve them.

You can hire copywriters to write taglines, sales brochures, product descriptions, even your sales emails.

Why would you hire a content writer?

Content is a different kettle of fish. You need a content writer if you need white papers, case studies, blog posts, even emails. User guides and how-to tutorials are an educational form of content. Specialist content writers can create scripts for videos. Content writers are also adept at creating content for email marketing campaigns if you’re looking to build relationships with your subscribers.

A content writer will do a ton of research into your product/service before they start writing anything.

So this blog post is content. I’m not trying to directly sell to you. I’m trying to help you make better decisions when hiring writers in future. Sure, I want you to pick me for your user guides, blog posts, and white papers. But I’m not selling that. I’m just giving you useful information. Like this testimonial.

LJ makes writing for the web seem effortless. She has a very shareable and engaging style and a fantastic understanding of technology and marketing that works together to deliver incredible value to her clients. I’d been looking for a long time for a content writer and I’m so glad I found LJ!

Claire Wingfield

Think of content as a consumable for your audience. I’ve put together a 1-page guide to my 5-step method for writing blog posts, including a checklist to keep you on track if you want to be your own content writer. Just add your email below and get your PDF.

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Content is how you start a conversation with your audience. Or you can use it to connect with them in other ways. what improves your website.

But be warned. Content won’t sell immediately the way copy does.

Copy is supposed to sell from the word go. If you land on a sales page, you expect to find out more about the product or service it’s selling.

Content is different. It’s how you get noticed among the noise. Think of content like the friendly barista who learns your name, and your favourite type of coffee. You start looking for that barista every day because they provide value. But you’ll also use that brand more often because of that barista.

By comparison, copy is the salesperson you go looking for in the store when you’re ready to buy a new TV.

Content has other advantages. Google likes regularly updated websites. What better way to push out new updates than blogging? It lets Google know that you’re still relevant to an audience – and worth sending traffic to.

Let me put this into perspective for you. WordPress developer Robert Ryan stopped blogging for 251 days. His organic traffic (visitors sent by Google) dropped by 42%. He dropped from ranking first for his keyword to 6th.

That doesn’t sound like a lot, but the top spot gets 33% of all search traffic. Just because he stopped blogging.

So which is it that you need to hire?

Do you need sales pages, brochures, descriptions, sales emails, or web copy? Then you need a copywriter. Leave a comment if you need some recommendations.

Or do you need blog posts, white papers, downloadables, e-books, or online course content? You need a content writer.

LJ is an excellent writer who always delivers top-notch content and routinely exceeds deadlines. There were never any issues contacting her (me being in North America and her in the UK) and she’s so dedicated she even came home early from an anniversary dinner to take on and deliver a last minute project! I would highly recommend her writing services to anyone who needs actionable and engaging and content for their business.

Elna Cain

If you’ve decided you need a content writer, then drop me a line and we’ll discuss your needs.

I’m standing by!

April 11, 2018 by LJ Sedgwick 2 Comments

5 things going to the gym can teach you about blogging

You might be looking at this title and wondering if I’ve finally lost the plot. What on earth has going to the gym, a hot, physical, difficult practice, got to do with blogging, a tiring, mental, difficult practice?

Oh, wait…

Hear me out. 12% of a gym’s members sign up in January alone. But those gyms know full well that 95% of those members won’t make it to February. It’s an interesting figure – in 2009, the New York Times estimated that 95% of blogs were ‘derelict’ (aka abandoned). Some six years later, I doubt that figure has gone down.

95% abandoned gym memberships, 95% abandoned blogs…

Developing a gym habit and building your blog aren’t as different as you might think. Both require a lot of effort, discipline, and planning. So even if you’ve never set foot inside a fitness centre, find out what 5 things you can learn from blogging by going to the gym.

1. Set goals for blogging as you would for the gym

You can’t move on the internet without falling over posts about goal-setting. As much as I hate to say it, goals are important. If you don’t know where you’re going, then how will you know when you get there?

Sure, you can go to the gym with the general aim of ‘improving your fitness’. But you’d probably do that after a fortnight, so what would keep you going back? You need to have a goal in mind. Mostly because you have no goal, so you have nothing specific to track.

My gym goal is to lose a certain number of inches by the end of the year. It gives me a thing to track and a deadline by which to do it.

Your blog is no different. Simply having a blog is not enough. It’s not going to motivate you to work on writing the posts your users or customers need. If you don’t have time to write posts, then working without a goal won’t make you magically find an extra two hours a week.

If your startup's blog is struggling, you might not think a gym habit can help. But here are 5 things you can learn from the gym to boost your blog. — The ever-elusive time!

Attaching a goal to your blog means you’re more likely to actually do something with the blog. After all, you have something to aim for.

Here are some simple goals you can start off with.

Post one new 1000-word article per week for 3 months.
Double your weekly page views in 4 months.
Achieve 100 social shares on a single post.
Triple the comments you get per post in 6 months.

Whichever goal you choose, set something achievable, and easy to track. Which brings us on to…

2. Use technology to track your progress

I have the Samsung Health and Google Fit apps on my phone. They let me log my food intake, monitor my weight, and measure how much exercise I do.

Yesterday, I did 25,661 steps – which is 11.44 miles.

By tracking how much exercise I do, and how much weight I’ve lost, I can keep an eye on my progress. Otherwise, it would be easy to become disillusioned/bored with the gym and stop going. It’s pretty much the reason why the FitBit (aff link) has become so popular. Setting continual goals keeps you on track.

In much the same way, technology can help you track your blogging progress. Google Analytics is a simple way to monitor the traffic to your blog. Among other things, you can;

easily see how people find your blog (and concentrate your marketing efforts there)
chart your page views and bounce rate (how many people leave your site after their initial click)
track the devices used to view your blog
watch your ‘returning visitor’ percentage overtake new visitors

It also means you can test blogging strategies and see if they actually work.

If I check my analytics, I can see that in the last three months, my most popular posts have been around reader-friendly content and types of content. That helps me to know what else to write about in future. Which is another excellent way of staying motivated – I know people are reading.

Even if you just keep a separate note in Evernote, tracking the number of social shares you’ve had, the number of comments per post, or the page views, then you can see what works. And what doesn’t.

3. Stay disciplined

We’ve talked a little about discipline already. It’s possibly the hardest part of starting any habit, whether that’s the gym or blogging.

I’ve had days where I’ve felt tired or sore, and decided not to go the gym that day. Then my next gym day rolls around and I find another excuse not to go. And so on. If I wasn’t careful, weeks could elapse before I went bak. By that point, I’d wonder if it was worth it.

Does that sound like your experience with blogging? You’ve had ‘write blog post’ on your to-do list for three weeks straight. Every time you sit down to write, an important email lands in your inbox. Or you get a call you have to answer. And the post goes unwritten.

The longer it goes on, the less likely you are to start writing posts.

If you bring discipline into the equation, it makes blogging/going to the gym that much easier. If I don’t feel like the gym, I make myself go. I promise myself I’ll just go on the exercise bike for ten minutes. Even if I don’t do the full workout, at least I’ve been.

Then an hour later, I realise I did the whole workout after all.

Do the same with blogging. Make an appointment to work on your blog. Even if you give yourself three 30-min slots throughout the week. Show up, and get the work done. You might only be writing bullet points of what the content should be. Or you might look for the images.

You might also find that you’ve suddenly got a post written without realising. If you want a solid method for writing blog posts, then grab my 5-step method (and checklist) below.

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4. Buddy up with someone

Going to the gym can be really boring on your own. If you struggle with motivation, it’s easy to skip out on a workout if there’s no one there to call you on it. And if you have an amazing session that leaves you feeling like Captain America (or Wonder Woman, your call), it’s deflating if you have no one to celebrate with.

Blogging is no different. Until you build a community of users around your tech or software, it’s hard to stay enthused about what you’re doing. I’ll be honest with you. When you first start out, blogging feels like howling into the abyss.

I know, I know – the internet at large keeps telling you to ‘follow your passion’. But you need more than that.

You could divide blogging duties between your team. Delegate posts in particular categories to different people. But what if there’s only you? You’re already CEO, head of sales, customer services, and HR. Even if you work with developers, you may not have anyone to buddy up with.

An easy way to solve the problem is to hire a colleague. Specifically, a blogger or content creator. It essentially buys you time (so spend your blogging time working on your product/service) and it gives you someone else to talk about your blog with.

As it happens, I have spots available if you’d like me to be your blog buddy. Check out my services.

But whatever you do…

5. Be patient about seeing results

It’s easy to get disheartened when you go to the gym for a week and you don’t leave looking like Arnie.

Sure, it’s unrealistic to think that you would. But since when were humans realistic?

Just like going to the gym, so you have to be patient with blogging. You won’t see most results immediately. Social media can be pretty good for short term validation, but any attempts at SEO take a few weeks to ‘bed in’.

But remember that you’re building a community around your blog. It’s going to be a cool place for existing users to hang out, and a fun place for potential users to stop by. Your enthusiasm is going to shine through your blog posts and bring in the people who need your tech in their lives.

You just have to trust the process.

Over to you! Have you ever given up your blog – or a gym habit? Let me know in the comments below!

February 1, 2018 by LJ Sedgwick Leave a Comment

5 simple (but effective) ways to find time for your company blog

You’re sitting at your desk, fingers flying over the keyboard as you send your last email of the day. A notification pops up on your to-do list. Your blog post for that week is due. It’s almost 5 pm on Friday – how will you find time to write something?

You move the task to next week’s to-do list. You’ll look at it again on Monday.

Trouble is, this is getting to be a common occurrence. It’s making you hate your company’s blog. But you’re not alone.

Many tech companies feel they need to blog continually. A regular blog habit is a great way to hone your writing skills and nail the voice that resonates with your target customers.

But ‘regular’ doesn’t need to mean a daily posting schedule. You could just blog once a week and you’d still reap some benefits.

So why should you do all of this hard work? What are the benefits of blogging?

The benefits to you are pretty simple. The more blog posts you publish, the better you get at writing. You’ll also hone the voice you need to talk to your customers or users.

It’s also a numbers game – you stand a better chance at getting those elusive social shares, and the more posts you put out there, the more chances you have for your customers to see them. I’m not saying you should put out just any content. But ten well-written, optimised blog posts are better than one.

Don’t forget, customers often need to see your name 7 times (or more) before they think of you when they want to buy. They also need the chance to get to know you in order to trust you. Your blog provides those opportunities.

Many tech companies put off blogging because they're not sure how to find time to write posts. Here are 5 ways to do just that - and you can get started today. — This is what we want to see!

Not only that, but it’s good for your SEO. WordPress developer Robert Ryan ran an experiment in which he stopped blogging for 251 days. In that time, he dropped from the top spot for his chosen keyword to 6th place in the search engine results. Given the top spot in Google gets an average of 36.4% of search traffic, and no.6 only gets 4.1%, that’s a massive drop.

Organic traffic fell by a whopping 42%. His overall site conversions dropped by 28%.

All because he stopped blogging.

OK. So you get why you should blog regularly. But how do you find time?

Here are five simple ways to find time for your startup’s blog. And I know they work because I use all of them!

1) Think beyond long form posts

You’ve no doubt read all of the blog posts that say ‘size matters’. From an SEO point of view, long-form posts perform better than short posts (i.e. those less than 1000 words).

Studies have shown that posts over 1000 words long receive more shares and backlinks. Translated into English; more people seeing your content, and Google pushing your site up the search results because those backlinks prove you’re a trusted publisher.

But you might not have the time to write a 2000 word post every week. Luckily, it’s okay to give your users or customers other types of content that have their own value.

Remember. Your blog can be entertaining or inspirational as much as it can be educational.

So mix those long-form posts in with other types of content, including photo posts taking your customers behind the scenes of your startup. Post tutorials to help them get the best out of your solution. Show them how to do something that doesn’t require your solution…but your solution makes it faster.

You can reuse videos from Facebook Live or Youtube. Embed the videos into posts (as I did in this post on using strategy for your blog). Pay for transcription and put the scripts underneath (this is great for SEO). Host podcasts and the accompanying show notes on your blog.

Don’t worry about repeating yourself. Not everyone will follow you on every platform. And it’s good to have everything in one place.

2) Find time in small snippets

You’re a busy person. So it’s difficult to find an hour or two to write that week’s blog post.

But it’s much easier to find time in snippets of 10-20 minutes.

You might find it;

Between meetings
During your morning coffee
On your commute
Even in the gym (dictation can be your friend on the treadmill)

No matter where you find time, make sure you use it. In one snippet, you can write down bullet points to expand later. In another, you can craft the introduction. Elsewhere, you might locate images for the post. Later that day, you might write several calls-to-action until you find the right one.

However you do it, you’ve managed to compose a blog post across several sessions. Does the reader need to know you did that? No. They just need to read your post. And now they can!

Grab my checklist below to find out how I write blog posts.

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3) Stop thinking of your blog as a sales tool

It’s unlikely that you’ll make a sale from a first-time visitor to your blog. Before you close the browser tab and leave this post, let me explain.

Your blog is not your entire sales funnel. It’s often the entry to the funnel instead. The content exists to get eyeballs on your website. Sure, you might have diehard existing users that read everything you post. They’re the ones who’ll share it on social media and bring in new visitors.

(Think social media is dying? Check out these social media marketing stats and think again!)

But that random person who stumbles across you from a Google search? They don’t know who you are. So they might not know they have a problem yet. If they do, they’re not sure how you provide the solution.

Yet.

Draw them in with your blog – so your content can be fun, informative, educational, helpful, or just plain awesome. Teach them, make them laugh, inflame their passions – but make them do something. Then get them to sign up to your email list so you can send them future posts.

Remember that 47% of buyers view between 3 and 5 pieces of content before they speak to a sales rep.

That first post they view just has to get them onto your list. It doesn’t have to make them buy straightaway.

4) Make your blog a priority

Sad thing is, unless you make your blog a priority, you’ll keep finding excuses not to find time. You know why you need to blog. You probably even want to blog.

But your blog needs to be a key factor on your to-do list. Not a holdover item that skips from one week to the next without getting done.

You might schedule blog time on your calendar. Set aside half an hour once a week to draft your posts, the same way you’d block in a meeting. You can always polish them later in the week – but at least you have the draft to start with.

5) Stop writing posts every week

This may sound controversial but the easiest way to find time to write is to write less often. Much of the accepted wisdom around blogging is that you need quality content, rather than lots of content.

Maybe you drop your posting schedule to once a fortnight. Perhaps you write one long-form post a month, but you supplement with other content, such as podcast show notes or Facebook Live videos in the other weeks.

You need to find the schedule that works best for you. One company might find it easy to create a blog post responding to industry changes or future predictions every week. Another company might prefer to take longer, creating thought leader pieces once a month.

Whichever option you go for, make creating content a priority on your to-do list and stick to your schedule.

Alternatively…

If you still don’t feel you can devote the time to your blog, let me handle it for you. I have 4 spots available for my retainer services so click here to secure your spot. I’m standing by!

November 8, 2017 by LJ Sedgwick 8 Comments

How to use strategy to make your blog reader-friendly

You’ve been spending some time building up a bank of blog posts. Maybe you’ve come up with some really interesting topics.

Blogging is important to you. After all, 81% of B2B content marketing takes the form of blogs.

But your social shares are low and comments are non-existent. You have to ask yourself; is your blog reader-friendly?

Not getting shares or comments? Pitifully low conversion rate? You may need to spend time making your blog reader-friendly. Find out how. — Is your blog reader-friendly?

There are various ways to achieve that. And this post is a case study in how I developed a strategy to make my fiction blog reader-friendly. Fear not, it’s not a thinly-veiled advert for my fiction endeavours. It’s just a case study and a set of principles you can apply to your own content.

So what did I do to make my blog reader-friendly?

You can consume this content as a video below, if you prefer to learn by watching and listening. Or keep reading and find out how to make your blog reader-friendly!

1) Identify a target audience

If you really want to make your blog reader-friendly, then you need to know which reader you want to attract. Because you’re writing for their benefit, not yours.

My blog was originally just a place where I discussed books I was reading or places that I’d been. And back in 2009 that was fine. Fewer writers had blogs back then so there was less internet ‘noise’ to cut through.

Then I committed the usual sin of fiction writers and started writing blog posts about writing. Sure, it was good to share what I’d learned with others. And if I’d had a blog about creative writing as a practice, that would have been ideal content.

But my blog was supposed to advertise my writing to readers.

New visitors to your blog probably don’t know who you are.

Why would readers care about a three-act structure? They probably weren’t interested in where a character came from unless they’d read the book.

A lot of this came from bad advice from blogging ‘gurus’. They ran blogs that solved problems or taught readers how to do things. They didn’t have a clue how to market novels using blogging…so they fell back on the age-old “write about your books” advice.

Some of the writers who came to my blog for the writing advice enjoyed my books. But I wanted to attract readers who would go on to check out my books.

So I came up with a target audience. What would they be interested in reading about? What would make them click through to my blog and then my books?

You may have done the same thing. Someone advised you to talk about your technology or software solution. So you started posting about it – without realising that new visitors wouldn’t care because they have no point of reference.

Educate your visitors about the problem your tech solves before you try to sell them your tech.

2) Create content readers actually wanted to read

I started asking readers what they’d like to know more about. If I posted a link on Twitter, or Facebook, I’d always include a CTA about topics they were interested in.

A Facebook friend said he wanted to know more about ‘chime hours’. So I wrote a post about the folklore around the so-called witching hour. Writing content that readers actually want is probably the fastest way to make your blog reader-friendly.

To date, the post has had 48 shares on Facebook. Compare that to 0 shares on a post that wasn’t requested.

The content is for them. And if they’ve already suggested topics, then you have an in-built audience for your posts.

You may not want to ask potential customers for topic ideas. That’s fine. Keep an eye on the news and write posts on stories that relate to your product. Raid your FAQs for common questions and turn the answers into posts. Check out places like Quora and use questions related to your tech as prompts for new posts.

You’ll make your blog reader-friendly because readers are already looking for those answers.

3) Set up an editorial calendar

It was Lacy Boggs who really taught me how to get the most out of editorial calendars. I’ve got one for this blog as well.

They make my life a lot easier. No more do I have to sit down and wonder what the heck I’m going to write about that week. I’ve been able to break my content into month-long ‘themes’ to make it more consistent.

But they also work towards making your blog reader-friendly. Because there’s a rhyme and a reason to the content that you’re posting. You can follow a traditional AIDA sequence. Lead readers through a series of posts that let them get to know your startup – and why they should buy from you.

Or you can keep track of what content you’re posting and balance the different types. So maybe you post tutorials, quick tips, and thought leadership. Using an editorial calendar lets you see the distribution pattern of your post types at a glance.

That way you’re not favouring one type of content over another.

You can set one up in Excel, or use a WordPress plugin like CoSchedule to balance your blog and your social media promotion.

4) Nail your blogging voice

My writing background is either fiction or academia. My ‘old’ blogging voice fell closer to the latter.

That’s all well and good when you’re delivering a paper about the use of set design in What We Do In The Shadows at a conference in Vienna.

But when you’re trying to connect with readers on your blog?

It’s bloody awful.

So I made one very simple switch. I started writing the posts the way that I speak. I’ve never gone so far as to dictate a post, but I’d imagine that would be a great way to nail your voice.

And it’s a simple way to make your blog reader-friendly. Because readers respond to people, not clever language. Try something like the free Hemingway app to make your writing more reader-friendly. Or hire me to write it for you. /shamelessplug

Write in a more conversational way and let your readers get to know you. You’ll be a step closer to earning their trust.

5) Fix the appearance of each post

It’s tiring to read on a screen. An article in Scientific American maps out the difference between screen reading and paper reading.

So there’s nothing worse than the dreaded ‘wall of text’ on a blog. A lot of my earlier posts looked like that. Just a solid block of text.

And even worse – where I did include images, they were left aligned. That messes with comprehension as the eye stutters over the interruption.

I could get around that when readers mostly read on desktop screens. And then mobile browsing became big news. Ever tried to read a blog post with aligned images on a smartphone?

So don’t do what I did. Make your blog reader-friendly by breaking up the text with headings. Much like I have in this post. Make the headings obvious too. Most readers scan a post before deciding to read the whole thing.

Include images or video – we’ve already discussed types of content to improve your blog posts.

And for God’s sake, choose a font that’s easy to read – and a nice size. You don’t want readers squinting so they can make out your pearls of wisdom.

A lot of these tactics are common sense.

But it’s easy to overlook one, two, or even three of them if blogging isn’t your natural forte.

Luckily it’s easy to put right, and your readers will thank you for it.

If you don’t feel up to the task of making your blog reader-friendly, drop me an email. We’ll get it fixed in no time.

August 31, 2017 by LJ Sedgwick Leave a Comment

How to spot these 5 symptoms of a failing blog – and fix them!

With phrases like “content is king”, it’s easy to think that churning out content is the best way to save a failing blog.

After all, if you build it, they will come, right?

Nope. Not in the world of blogging. More content doesn’t always equal more traffic.

You need to give visitors a reason to visit your content, otherwise you’re going to end up with a very sickly blog indeed. And when that happens, some 95% of people stop blogging. They assume blogging is a waste of time.

Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, it’s still really important to start or have a blog in 2017, moving into 2018.

So if you suspect your blog might be ill, see if you can spot these 5 symptoms. With early intervention, your blog can be saved!

1. The dreaded ‘wall of text’

Back in the early days of blogs, there wasn’t as much competition for attention. And blogs still had a degree of novelty value. So you could post the so-called ‘wall of text’ and readers would still read it.

But readers have a lot more demands on their time now. And there are a lot more blogs – and therefore more competition.

If a visitor lands on your blog and finds an impenetrable wall of text, they’re likely to stop reading after a couple of paragraphs. Reading on screens is hard on the eyes. And comprehension is still much better when we read content on paper.

So posts need to be scannable. Use headers to break up content. Readers can decide for themselves what sections they need to read, and which sections they can skip. Believe me, you’d rather your reader skips around within your content, rather than skipping to a whole different site.

Or just use images. GIFs are great, depending on your audience. I write for tech and software companies so I might use science fiction or tech GIFs. Like this one.

via GIPHY

Bullet points are useful for giving short bursts for information, or providing checklists. Images and infographics can also get across your point far more quickly.

So look at one of your current blog posts. The content itself might be fine – but if visitors can’t read it properly, then they won’t get the best out of it.

Work out where you can add headings to guide the reader through the content. You can use headings like I have here, to indicate a change of topic. Think of them like mini chapter headings.

2. No fixed focus or theme to the content on your failing blog

I’m my own case study here. When I started this blog, I’ll be honest – I didn’t know what to share on it. Now, I knew how to blog – I’ve been doing it since 2009. And I’ve been ghostblogging long enough to know how to write posts. I just didn’t know what kind of posts needed to be on here.

So if you look back at the earlier posts, they ping about around digital marketing, social media, storytelling, and copywriting.

It’s not a million types of content, but it wasn’t as focused as it should have been.

But why does it need to be focused?

Pretty simple. Say a visitor comes to your blog and enjoys the post they found on Twitter. You’d written about 6 hidden features of Photoshop to save time when editing photographs. They love it. It’s exactly what they needed.

But then the reader clicks onto the previous post, and it’s a post about an appearance you’ll be making at a local trade show. And the one before that was about a brilliant video you watched on Youtube the day before.

Are they likely to subscribe to your email list? Or come back to your blog? Sure, they might use your fancy category dropdown. And maybe they’ll use your search bar. But they want to know there’s essentially “more of the same” elsewhere on your blog.

You know you need your blog, but it's not quite wowing your visitors. Spot these 5 common symptoms of a failing blog and give your content a shot! — Diagnose problems with your blog.

So in the example of my content. I wouldn’t call it a failing blog – but I knew I needed to change something. So I got strategic. I worked out who I wanted to help, and I planned an editorial calendar. I focused on themes I wanted to cover. It’s helped me to work out what value I want to provide – and what I want to help you with. All in a logical order.

If you’d like help creating your editorial calendar, drop me a line!

3. Using too much jargon

It’s one thing showing how much you know about your subject. But it’s another thing confusing visitors to your site.

And I get it. If you make software, you want to speak to the people who use it. So you should use technical terms, right?

Not quite.

Scrivener are a good example. Their writing software is pretty much industry standard among authors. And their blog features short tutorials on using specific features.

But the terminology relates to the tools a user needs. It doesn’t bamboozle them with science. And nor should you.

For a great example of a conversational, friendly blog, check out Wunderlist. Their style is one of many reasons why I signed up for their to-do list app! (That’s not an affiliate link, by the way. I just think they’re ace).

A failing blog uses jargon; a healthy blog talks to its users as trusted friends.

4. Focusing on news type updates instead of useful content

A lot of companies still use their blogs as a place to host their news updates. And I know why you’d do that.

You’ve won an award. You’ve hired new staff. Awards show credibility and authority in your niche. And new staff prove you’re willing to invest in your brand – which should give a better experience for users.

But ask yourself; if you came to that blog as a first time visitor, what would you think?

You wouldn’t care. You don’t know who the company are, so why would you be interested in their new hires? If you haven’t used their software, you’re probably baffled by the new features.

Humans are inherently selfish, and “What’s in it for me?” seems to be the phrase of the 21st century.

So if you focus on yourself, you might end up with a failing blog.

I agree it’s definitely important to keep updates on your blog. The company behind OmniFocus use their blog to announces new updates to their software, or forthcoming features. It’s great for existing customers who want to keep up with the software they love.

But try to balance it with stuff for your visitors. What problems can you solve for them? Or how can you entertain them? Remember, being entertained is still a definite benefit for a reader.

You can even include content like ‘a day in the life of…’ to show visitors what it’s like behind-the-scenes. The value lies in the way you draw back the curtain. Plus, it humanises your company. People like to buy from people, not companies.

5. Not promoting your content in the right places

If you wanted to advertise the juiciest beefburgers in town, would you put your posters in a vegan restaurant?

I hope not!

You’d put them in the places where your ideal customer might shop. And your blog is no different. Your marketing strategy should have already identified where your target audience hangs out.

And that’s where you need to promote your content.

You might have already guessed that I don’t just mean social media. How about internet forums? Other blogs? Hell, you can offer your content as a guest post on a blog that your target audience reads.

But you also need to make your content shareable! If I land on a blog post and I can’t find share buttons, then often I just won’t share it. If your blog is on WordPress, plugins like SumoMe make it really easy to add nice sharing buttons.

You might want to experiment with the best place for the social share icons. But at least readers can now share your content – and help promote it for you.

So as you can see, a failing blog could be due to a range of factors.

But hopefully one – or all – of these symptoms can be easily fixed. And your failing blog can make a full recovery! But it’s obviously a big topic, and if you’d like a blog audit, then drop me a line!

We’ll get that blog back to full health.