You’ve seen those work-from-home mom blogs, right? Or those I-Make-$30,000-A-Month-On-The-Internet blogs? Well all of them - every single one - is about the author. It’s not like it’s about cars, for example, or gadgets or politics. It could feature some of those topics, as a side note, but it’s mainly about them. If my mum was to set one up now it would be about how she is a work-at-home-mom (even though she isn’t). So what exactly makes these people and their lives interesting enough to read about? Envy.
When we read about that guy or gal who earns $30,000 from writing about how much he earns online (john chow ring a bell?), what do we feel? We feel envy. We think to ourselves boy, i wish i earned that much doing that - that’d be the life. Well, guess what? That’s Interesting. It’s interesting to read about the life of someone we’d like to be. What about that work-at-home-mom? She stays at home, looks after a kid or two and makes some dosh by blogging about…how she stays at home and makes money. People want to be like her. They want to sleep in, look after the kids at home, spend an hour or two blogging and make money doing so.
So how do you make people envy you and read your blog? This simple answer is; blog about something they want to do. People like to earn money. Blog about that. People like to travel and escape their day jobs. Blog about that. People wish they were famous. Blog about famous people.. I guess it’s been said before, but you have to find your niche. A cosey little subject that you know about, your interested in and, more importantly, other people are interested in.
Go find your niche’s people!
If you’re just starting out with your site, or re-making it, you have two choices: hand-coding or use a CMS (content management system). For those of you taking the latter route and not wanting to code your own, here’s my selection of the finest pre-made content management systems around.
*click the images to go to the site.
Wordpress - One of, if not the best, most powerful and easiest to use blogging systems around - and it’s completely free! 2.5 should be out within the coming days :)
Drupal - the most powerful, extend-able CMS you can find. Modules and Themes for every purpose, taste or style are available either free or paid (boo!).
Symphony - gets a special mention because it is awesome and Australian Made! We Australians pretty much kick ass in everything we do, and this is a great example of kicking ass at making content management systems :)
Xoops - not as popular as Drupal, but yet still very professional and very extensive customization options.
TYPO3 - hasn’t been updated in a while, but still a very good, powerful and unique CMS.
Expression Engine - looks to be one of the most powerful and impressive blogging/cms engines ever.
Lot’s of people start a blog and think they’ll instantly have hundreds of subscribers and thousands of visitors a day and the cash will come tumbling in. This isn’t true. Unless some type of miracle happens, you’ll be working hard to get your readers, and then working hard to keep them. There are thousands upon thousands of reasons why blogs fail, but here are the top 6 reasons why I don’t read your blog:
- I couldn’t find it!
If I can’t find your blog - either through a search engine, or a link on another related blog, then there’s no chance I’ll be reading your blog at all! Remember, advertise your site as much as you can whenever you can, and invest some time in some proper SEO (Search Engine Optimization). The more people know about your blog, the more people will read it, and the more people will come back!
- Not enough content/updates
I suppose if you’ve only just set up your blog, you could be forgiven, but having no content is a BIG no-no. If there’s nothing there that’s interesting, why would i read it? If you don’t update often enough, why would i keep coming back? If you don’t update for a week or so, I’ll probably start to think you’ve either died or fallen of the edge of the earth (it’s flat, alright?). I want content, and then i want more. And more. And more. Keep it coming! Continue reading ‘Half A Dozen Reasons I Don’t Read Your Blog (Or What Not To Do)’
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