This is a guest post by Nadia Jones. Should you wish to write for this blog, check out the guest post guidelines.
In recent years, blogging has become a hugely popular endeavor for businesses and individuals around the world. As a great way to make money on your own time/terms and a great way to market a business, blogs have popped up all over the internet on every topic imaginable. But, with blogs taking over such a large portion of the content on the web, several myths about blogging have emerged. Everywhere you look there is a new “don’t do this” and “don’t do that” article about blogging. While there are plenty of useful blogging tips available, there are also several myths that just simply need to be ignored.
1. Content is King: This is a phrase every blogger has heard more than a dozen times throughout their first month of blogging. The belief is that content is everything in a blog. While quality content is absolutely essential to a successful blog, it is not the only thing that matters.
There are thousands of blogs on the web that feature well written and interesting content that will just never be seen. Blogging is as much about marketing and web design as it is about writing. You have to create an entire experience for your readers. If a website is ugly or difficult to navigate, even the best content in the world would likely struggle to be seen. Make things easy for your readers.
Write amazing content and then showcase it in a beautiful and effective way. Furthermore, even a website that is well set up and full of interesting content can struggle to be seen without a significant amount of marketing effort. If you want people to read your great posts you have to get them to want to. Market your blog on social media and among other blogs.
2. Post Every Single Day: Another common blogging myth that newbie bloggers are bludgeoned with repeatedly is that they must publish a new post every single day if they want to be successful. This just isn’t true. In fact, there is really no point in dedicating hours of your time to creating posts that no one is going to see.
Before you flood your new blog with posts, come up with a strong blog. Work on your niche idea, your web design, your marketing, your branding, and all the technical stuff. Once you have everything in solid working order and you understand exactly what you want your blog to look like and do, you should create a blogging schedule. Yes, you do want to post new material regularly, but don’t burn yourself out.
Come up with a reasonable schedule for publishing new material that you know you can keep up with. Trying to produce too much content at once will only make things more difficult and less enjoyable for you.
3. You Need Millions of Visitors to Be Successful: Of course, web traffic is essential to profiting from your blog. You make money by getting people to visit your blog. However, millions of visitors a day are not essential to popularity or making money. Oftentimes, the traffic that comes from the mega sites like StumbleUpon and Digg will come all at once and then not at all.
Traffic from those sites fluctuates regularly. The traffic that bloggers should really be aiming for is traffic that will return. You want to attract readers to your blog, keep them there, and then convince them to come back regularly. This is the type of traffic that you need in order to create a truly successful blog on the web. Having a few hundred very engaged and consistent readers is far better than having thousands of random visitors that change each day.
Author Bio:
This is a guest post by Nadia Jones who blogs at online college about education, college, student, teacher, money saving, movie related topics. You can reach her at nadia.jones5 @ gmail.com.
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Hi Nadia,
I agree with your points, You’re correct that you need a regular reader to read your blog and spread about your blog…. not traffic which comes one day and never come back.
Thanks for reading, Aarti!
Twitter: Couponseasy
I too feel that to be a successful blogger you don’t need to publish your post each day. You can publish twice a week but make sure that quality never scarifies and write something informative or interesting which your audience like.
Riya recently posted..HostGator Coupon Code
Absolutely, Riya! Quality is essential.
Thank you for this article! I’ve leared these lessons during my blogging adventure, and I wish I could have read this article earlier on in my blogging career.
I agree good content is important, however writers, especially new writers, need to practice writing. Sometimes it’s simply a matter of getting words on a page, practicing writing skills, and learning as you go!
I also agree with that good content isn’t valuable if no one is reading it because the content isn’t being promoted on social media and/or the blog design is difficult to read/navigate.
I relate all too well to myth #3. I do not have millions of visitors and I’ve decided my page rank & page views are not indicators of my success.
The truth is my schedule is pretty full and millions of visitors would also mean I’d be spending a lot more time dealing with spam comments and responding to commenters. I remind myself that I’m okay with the level of activity on my blog right now because I can handle the level of activity on my blog right now.
It’s also useful to remember that millions of visitors doesn’t mean I’ll meet my blogging goals. If I’m trying to sell a product or service then my actual sales are a better indicator of my success.
Thanks for this great article about the truths of blogging!
Chrysta
Chrysta Bairre recently posted..3 Misconceptions About Work-Life Balance
Chrysta, thank you so much for reading. I totally agree with all of the additional points you brought up. Good luck with your blogging, it sounds like you’re on the right track.
Nadia Jones recently posted..Meeting in the Middle with Blended Learning
Twitter: onlinejobreview
Great Post Nadia. You have given enough justification to your article but I still think content is the king. Of course you need the platform to market your blog but without quality contents, your blog is missing a lot and all your visitors will not return back. You also try to post on regular basis if not daily.
marketing is what the most important part and every successful blog you see is well marketed
Pritam recently posted..Make Money with Pay Per Service of WeBeServe
Thanks for reading Pritam! Yes, of course quality content is essential. I simply mean that you must have quality content accompanied by all of these other successful blog qualities. Thanks for your discussion.
Nadia Jones recently posted..Meeting in the Middle with Blended Learning
Twitter: stevescott1
Nadia,
Some good points here.
1. While I am big on the importance of shining with killer content, it is only -part- of the process. This one of those statements that I could argue either way. Content matters. But just as having “all sizzle and no steak” you can’t have all steak with no one to eat it. (okay not the best analogy)
2. Definitely true. I posted every day for a year. Now I do it 2-3 times a week. While i am glad I have a nice collection of content I prefer the lower frequency (and hopefully better content) and traffic and conversion have not suffered.
3. Absolutely. Conversion is what matters. I would rather have 1 “buying” visitor than 10,000 who come and go.
SU is the perfect example of this. I have had many random days with 400-500 stumbelers who spike up my stats. The problem is these number are almost all untargeted and end up with horrible 90% + bounces. While ANY traffic is better than NO traffic, targeted traffic far surpasses untargeted.
Steve recently posted..How to Prevent a “Red Sox Collapse” with your Internet Business
Thanks so much for reading Steve! You make some great points. SU is tricky to deal with. It’s great in a lot of ways, but also misleading at times. Thanks again.
Nadia Jones recently posted..Meeting in the Middle with Blended Learning
Hi, Nadia,
Finally, the truth revealed! It’s just all not that simple as the rule that “the content is king”. It is important, of course, but as you say, if there is no good marketing and if nobody will visit an interesting article, then this rule suddenly becomes obsolete. Same is with the rule of everyday posting. Completely not relevant if no one is going to visit the post afterwards.
Kristina L. recently posted..Sixt Coupon Code
Totally agree! Thanks for reading Kristina!
Nadia Jones recently posted..Meeting in the Middle with Blended Learning
This article really explains some burning topics in the blogging business. Yes, of course, everyone has come across the phrase, but very few know how to implement it along with the proper marketing strategies.
Mark recently posted..I wanted to go out on the beach and have all the guys staring at me, so I decided to get the P90X workout videos
Thanks for reading Mark!
Nadia Jones recently posted..Meeting in the Middle with Blended Learning
Twitter: Mazzastick
Hi Nadia,
Great points in your post about blogging myths. I think that many successful bloggers experienced some kind of controversy (get people noticing your blog) in order to get the attention and then traffic and readers followed.
Justin | Mazzastick recently posted..Weird October- All Weird Topics All Month
Thanks for reading Justin! I agree, controversy can be a great thing for a newbie blogger.
Nadia Jones recently posted..Meeting in the Middle with Blended Learning
Well done Nadia.
I think you dispelled the 3 biggest myths there.
I personally think that the best way to boost traffic to blogs is to be social. For me, being a blogger is all about making friends online and posting content that starts a discussion. If you look at some of the biggest blogs, the post is only a tiny part of the page as most of the content comes via comments.
One day I hear someone saying content really is king my page or post is on page 1 for this keyword or phrase. Next thing I know I am reading someone else complaining about some poor written article that ranks above theirs. I think content is good to a certain extent, but like you mentioned it is all about marketing it. I don’t believe in posting everyday mostly because I just don’t have the time. I guess if you were rolling in the money and you had plenty of time on your hands maybe. Some sites I frequent they actually post several per day, and it is impossible to follow their updates and new content. Anyway these are very common myths.
Ray recently posted..+1 Button in Google Adsense Ads
Twitter: ascamorlegit
‘Post every single day’ is one of the worst pieces of advice. Why? Because it’ll burn you out and its highly unlikely that you can produce awesome content everyday. Also, it doesn’t give your readers a break and you can burn them out too!
Thanks for revealing this myth!
Sandip recently posted..CashNetUSA
Twitter: adriennesmith40
Hi Nadia,
I couldn’t agree more with you about these myths. I think that over time, like anything else, things change. It use to be that if you had great content then you were set. But with all the competition out there we all know that there is much more to it then just that.
Getting your content seen is a big issue for most but really so simple. I was also taught in the beginning to write everyday but there was no way I could keep up with that kind of schedule. I started off writing three times a week but when I put up a new blog late last year and no one knew who I was, I only blogged once a week. That blog became very popular in a short amount of time because I was taking action and driving traffic to it.
We all wish we had millions of people visiting our blog all the time but that will never be the case for the majority of us. But by just getting your content seen by people who will become returning visitors, that’s much more important. They will start spreading the word and from there it can really take off.
Thanks for sharing these myths with us. As with everything else, things never remain the same.
~Adrienne
Adrienne recently posted..Fabulous Goodies For My Blogging Friends
People still advertise content as being the king, that’s a normal belief when you don’t know better. It’s the ABC of blogging.
But they’ll grow and find out content to be just a part of what it means a successful blog.
Chris recently posted..Stamina CPS 1305 Indoor Upright Exercise Bike Review
Nadia,
Hi, my name is Chuck. This is my first time on this blog.
This was a great post. These three myths are definitely spot on. It’s about build a community. That takes time, patience and consistent work.
Thanks for sharing your wisdom. Have a wonderful day!
Chuck
Charles Holmes recently posted..Oct 4, Home Income Residual
This post is a breath of fresh air. Its 2011 and SEO “experts” are still falling back on phrases like “content is king” as a way of trying to convince people that they know what they are talking about. Content isnt king, you dont need to post every day and a small reader base can make you a fortune if you know what you are doing.
Well said!
Lessa recently posted..Voucher Codes
Hey Nadia,
I’m new to blogging and I have started to passionately research everything about blogging….There is so much info out there though that I sometimes feel overwhelmed. Posts like this one help shed some light on what blogging truly is. Thanks!
Tomek recently posted..Do We Need Nutrition Supplements?
I definitely resonate with the third myth you shared. I used to think that I do need tons and tons of traffic. I was obsessing over this, especially as I’m not any SEO master. So, it was refreshing to read your post
Alison recently posted..Whole Body Cleanse
Hi! I have just started a blog and my understanding was that I need to learn SEO first. It seems to me that it would make more sense to get into Social Marketing and start building sound relationships with my readers….
Michael recently posted..Florida Auto Insurance Laws
These myths are every where online and some of the bloggers who follow such myths are bound to go in the wrong direction. Having regular content is not a must but it is also not good to totally neglect your blog.
Caesar Parisi recently posted..The Bridges Real Estate is coming to Boca Raton / Delray Beach in 2012
Very interesting post Nadia
Blogging is much like marketing, and I agree with that. It doesn’t matter how much quality and useful content a blogger has, if no one is gonna see them, that blog won’t break it.
And it all comes down to quality content and a good marketing campaign to tell the world how good the blog is. That’s the way to go.
Hey Nadia! Loved your points. You’re totally right. It doesn’t matter if you post every day, as long as you’re being consistent and providing absolutely wonderful stuff to your readers (and ensuring you’re getting a regular flow of traffic, of course), you’re on your way to success!
JackL recently posted..Electric Space Heaters
Great post on blogging myths. I totally agree with these points.
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