The following is a guest post from Sachin from Web Profits.
Perhaps the stupidest idea ever inflicted on anyone in media was the idea of an “industry standard” of production. Really, who wants to see a lot of stuff which looks practically identical, and equally mediocre? Blog audiences definitely don’t, and as a matter of fact, never have. Standardizing practices like SEO makes sense online, but following the hype about every new style is a recipe for failure.
Blogging is media work. It’s presentation to a mass audience. The internet audience is the toughest in history, and it’s not like they don’t have choices. They gravitate to their areas of interest automatically, and screen out anything which isn’t part of the preferred options.
As a matter of fact, that’s good news for bloggers. In marketing, one of the most basic of all principles is targeting an audience. This audience does its own targeting. It’s a godsend, if you know how to use it, but some people don’t. The classic mistake is to send the wrong signals to the audience targeting mechanism.
Sadly, internet hype about blogging is always sending the wrong signals. New WordPress theme sites are supposed to be a good idea, according to the market. They’re now so common they get lost in the crowd. This is the market’s idea of “good content”. Something “everybody will be interested in”.
No, it isn’t, never was and never will be. How many WordPress themes does the most obsessive, emotionally insecure WordPress blogger need to see? Millions? These blogs are almost guarantees of anonymity.
Social networks are still being trumpeted as the answer to everyone’s blogging needs. That’d be extremely funny, except the poor bloggers are expected to believe that the entire 600 million population of Facebook will naturally stampede onto their blog at the slightest opportunity. It’s absurd.
All a blog really needs is a motivated audience. Targeting is the key to blog marketing, but you’re supposed to be the one doing the targeting. In this case you’re targeting the audience’s targeting systems, using their motivations to find them.
The basics are simple enough:
Doesn’t really need NASA to help out with the technical difficulties, does it? Very straightforward, and it works. Actually, it works specifically because it’s straightforward. The audience’s targeting systems recognize something they want to see. Remember, hits on a blog are based on a Yes/No decision, “to click or not to click”. The more obvious the interest values of your blog, the better your results.
This is actually a sort of second-stage Search Engine Optimization in practice. The audience targets its area of interest, then targets secondary choices in order of priority. All your blog needs to do is be a viable choice, and you’ll get your hits.
Another great reason to build a relationship with your readers is that they will more likely to go to bat for you when it comes to getting the word out about your site. If you put in the effort to speak honestly to your crowd they will be more likely to recommend you online and through word of mouth. Don't speak at your audience, speak to them. You blog should be a dialogue not a presentation. The more engaging the better.
I totally agree with your post! Passion is one of the key to become a successful Blogger as it will be your fuel to give more and to do more.
Good stuff Dan. Getting a good audience, I never thought of it in those terms. lol
Great bullet point under Blog Marketing.
My recent post Alan Cowgill – Guest Post
Hi,
Indeed, a lot of people, visitors, have their own story to tell about optimising and not every 'story' is correct. We must always listen to everything everyone say, especially the competitors, don't tend to be 'incognito', keep your eyes open and listen as much as possible. Thank you for sharing this, great!
Best regards,
Cristian
My recent post Jocuri 3d
This is great advice for a new bloger like myself, I very much want to get my blog out there but also want to provide useful info for my reader/customers. There is no one answer ifs all solution, so I think you should concentrate on providing useful content and try to market it as above and hopfully as the movy say "build it and they will come"
Ant
"Don't believe the hype!" Thanks for putting this song into my head =)
But what you mean by it, I think you are right.
My recent post Mobile Vikings
I've always been under the opinion that great content first and then SEO becomes much easier. No great content and you are just trying to gimmick the system.
I think once you have 100 readers, its easy to build up to 1,000 readers!…
Awesome post!,
David Edwards
Hey Dan, In my opinion for us to provide good and quality blogs is to know what our visitors need. Like you. You provide us quality posts that will give us information that's useful to us. Keep on blogging! Have a nice day!
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Interesting article Dan. My blog has evolved over time, yet I never sat down and visualized who my audience was so I could be sure to target information for them. Some of my most popular articles are homework assignments I did keyword research on for a good title and added a picture or two and linked to further research on the topic. Being an internet marketer, blogger and entrepreneur, I guess the classes I take are of interest to my target audience because they are all digital media and blogging and internet marketing classes.
Time to visualize my target audience a bit better. One thing I do is try to provide exceptional value in every article, offer a do follow blog with comment luv and keyword luv so commenters get rewarded.
My recent post iZigg Mobile Media 90210 – National Expansion – Sell Text Marketing
Right said…. Listen everyone but do what you think is right for your site or blog. If you try to follow what others said then you won't be succeed.
Well said, Dan. I think part of your point here is that it doesn't matter if you have the latest and greatest when it comes to blogging. When it comes to creating a great blog, the simple adage is to create and market content that is relevant, compelling and resonates with your desired audience (and not any audience).