I get approached a lot for blogging and branding advice.
One of the number one questions I get asked:
“I feel like my blog is all over the place. How do I get my blog more focused?”
First, I’ll say that I can completely see why this is a quandary.
Everywhere you look, you’ll find a blogger complaining that blogs have become too commercial, not authentic, or don’t share enough personal TMI (Too Much Information) tidbits anymore. Then you’ll read another blogger that talks about how your blog should just focus on one topic and one topic alone.
I’m sorry, but what the heck?
Those that complain that blogs aren’t what they used to be and that they’re disgusted by what they’ve become, I’ve got one word for you.
Evolution.
If we look at the big picture, we’ll see that more people have access (thankfully) to the internet than they did even a few years ago. More people own mobile devices that allow for web access on the run. And diversity of content has increased immensely. I feel a little redundant saying what I’m about to say next, but I’ll say it anyway.
Video killed the radio star.
And guess what’s killing who now?
So, my dear comrades wondering how to get more focused, find your niche, please the masses.
Stop.
When you hang out with your friends, do you only talk about one topic?
No.
Do you share every private detail about what goes on behind closed doors at your house? You may or may not.
Some people plan their posts in advance, they create an editorial calendar if you will. Most of the time, I write what I’m thinking about that day. And a lot of times, it has to do with marketing, blogging, social media, and work/life balance. And if you ask any of my friends that interact with me in person, they’ll tell you that it’s what I talk about a lot in person, too.
It’s what I’m passionate about.
To you, your blog may feel like it’s all over the place. But you know what? I like your blog. I see that you’re human. I’d rather read your blog that’s all over the place than one that constantly talks about how the “new” bloggers are ruining it for the “old” bloggers.
The more you blog, the more your posts will reflect your voice. And your voice is what I want to hear.
And if your voice tends to talk more about one subject than another because it’s what you’re passionate about, even better!
The most important thing to me is that you stay true to who you are. Whether you approach your blog as a personal memoir, a form of therapy, or a business…stand behind it and support others that do the same, even if their approach is different than yours.
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Let’s face it, when it comes to blogger outreach and marketing, PR professionals and business owners alike are always asking bloggers the same question:
“What are your page views per month?”
This has become the bane of a lot of bloggers’ existence as they try to increase their traffic in order to get it to a level where advertisers and marketers want to work with them.
After all, pageviews equal eyeballs. Right?
Yes…they do. But with a caveat.
What are those eyeballs doing? Are they staying and engaging, or are they bouncing back to their search results? Are they digging in to the content or skimming over for 10 seconds?
What if instead of just paying attention to number of page views, advertisers and marketers paid attention to number of minutes the average reader spends on a blog?
Would it change their mind about who to work with?
From a marketer’s side, it would sure change the game for me. Personally, I’d rather have my brand on a site that gets 200 hits a day with an average of 2 minutes per visit than a site that gets 2000 hits with an average of 10 seconds per visit. Not just because of total minutes spent, (24k vs 20k) but because of the average time spent per user.
From a blogger’s side, I would pay more attention to providing quality content so that my loyal readers can expect consistency and keep coming back for more and new visitors will take the time to delve into more than one post.
What do you think? Do you think advertisers and marketers should start paying more attention this?
According to my GetClicky analytics, at time of posting, the average time a visitor has spent on my blog today is 2 minutes and 55 seconds.
The majority of those reading this will probably know how many page views they get per month, but do you know what your readers are doing once they arrive at your site?
*The above link for GetClicky is an affiliate link, however, I have been using them for almost a year now and have been more than happy with their reporting and the level of detail they provide real time is phenomenal.
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A lot of my readers are on my newsletter subscription list.
Different from my RSS feed, I only send newsletters when I have some news to share or a special event coming up. In other words, I don’t send a newsletter out on a regular, scheduled basis.
I’ve tried different approaches to my email newsletter. Announcing a contest before it’s launched, asking for votes for one of the various blogging contests, and sending out a poll.
But then I realized something. It occurred to me that my readers subscribed to my newsletter because they want to receive an email from me. And after a recent email newsletter I sent out, I figured out what those newsletter readers find most compelling.
Story telling.
And no, I’m talking Puff the Magic Dragon or the Three Little Pigs. I’m talking sharing what’s been happening in an anecdotal way.
What do I mean?
The last email newsletter I sent out, I shared some major changes going on in my life right now and while I told the story, I linked to the related posts in my blog. I was able to elaborate more and offer a more personal perspective while keeping the newsletter short and concise. If the subscriber wanted to get more context…the link was there, directing them to the relevant post.
My usual traffic driven from an email newsletter to my blog more than tripled.
Now I’m not a mind reader so I can only offer a guess as to why it happened this way. I think that as we subscribe to more and more blogs our feed readers get overwhelming and sometimes we sacrifice reading great content in exchange for keeping our feed reader’s contents at a manageable size.
By crafting my email newsletter in this way, I was able to condense all my recent posts and put a personal spin on them. The end result was telling a story and offering more if the subscriber wanted as much and an easy one button delete if they were happy to just catch up.
I’m definitely going to start doing this more, maybe every couple of weeks as another way to engage and connect with my blog readers.
I use MailChimp after trying lots of other email newsletter providers. I like that you can either pay as you go or get a monthly unlimited email at a set price based on number of subscribers. If you are interested in trying out MailChimp, you can get 30 free credits (and give me 30 credits at the same time, we both win!) by signing up using my referral code.
I’ve been using MailChimp for a while now and as my subscriber base grows so does my plan (I do the monthly plan).
Want to see what I mean? Sign up for the Jessica Knows blog newsletter now!
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UPDATE! All fifty $10 credits have been given out to readers. Thanks for the great feedback and remember, you still get a $10 credit just for signing up AND a referral fee on friends and family that you introduce to Alice.com as new customers.
I want to save money anywhere I can, but a coupon clipper? I am not.
For me, if I’m going to use a coupon, it has to literally be handed to me.
Yes. I’m that lazy about saving money. If that coupon isn’t handed to me and isn’t a coupon for something I was already going to buy…then I’m paying full price.
Or not!
Enter Alice.com. Ahhh, Alice. She’s an enabler alright, that Alice.
I can get all the benefits of couponing without flipping through a single circular or mailing.
Let me explain.
Alice.com, officially launching today, is a web shopping platform that starts by asking a few things about who is in your family. After that they take you through all the essentials that your family buys on a regular basis. You know, like toilet paper, deodorant, toothpaste, trash bags, dishwashing detergent, DOG FOOD.
I bet you’re thinking, “Dog food? Is this woman insane, the amount of shipping will totally defeat the whole purpose of ordering something like that online!”
Oh no, my friend. Guess what.
SHIPPING IS FREE!
ALWAYS!
So, just like Amazon Subscriptions, you can set up auto-delivery of all the items you need for your household, except:
- ahem, shipping is free
- if there’s a coupon for it, Alice.com lets you know and if you add to your cart, the coupon is applied automagically.
- you can shop by room; you know, kitchen, bathroom, cleaning, laundry, and more; so that you don’t forget anything.
In fact, Alice.com also helps you budget so you can manage your household spending on things you NEED to buy.
The kicker? To celebrate launch, Alice.com gave me $500 in credit to give away to my readers. Instead of holding a contest, I’m going to make this really simple.
The first 50 readers who sign up for Alice.com using my referral link (so I can track) and leave a comment here about your first impressions of Alice.com will get a $10 credit applied to their account.
You must use the referral link AND leave a comment to get this so please do not leave the comment until you’ve signed up for a free account.
Even better? When you use my referral link, you get a $10 credit toward your Alice.com account (when you spend $50) for being a new customer. So the first 50 that get that first $10 giveaway (no strings!) can also get ANOTHER $10 applied to their account when they spend $50. That’s a total of potentially $20 credit!
So what are you waiting for? Are you going to be One of my 50 lucky readers to win?
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As most of you all know, recently my family decided that I would go back to work full-time, return to the corporate world if you will. It was a huge decision for our family to make but it was an easy decision. Why? Because the family roles we have set up right now are in complete negation with the way my husband and I are wired.
Let me elaborate. I am a workaholic. Some people loathe climbing the career ladder…I aspire to it. I constantly want to build on my skillset, be innovative in my space, and develop professionally. Yes, I could do this virtually by nature of my profession, but the energy that comes with being aligned with something bigger than myself, collaborating with people *gasp* in person is a high I’ve been jonesing for.
My husband is a nester. He’s a hard worker at his job but passionate about it? Not so much. He manages almost every aspect of our household, too. It comes naturally.
And that’s the whole point. When things come naturally, you’re in the flow. It feels right. Why? Because everyone is wired a different way.
Have I daydreamed about being the ultimate Martha Stewart cum June Cleaver cum Clair Huxtable mom? Abso-freakin’-lutely. I love spending time with my son, learning from him, teaching him, guiding him to become independent and while fostering his sense of self all the while. That comes naturally. But the cleaning, organizing, laundry, errands? I can do them. Heck, I can do them well (erm, maybe not), but it doesn’t come naturally. I am much more comfortable in the board room than I am in the laundry room or the kitchen.
OK, so enough about me and the way I’m wired. How are you wired?
Are you embracing what comes naturally?
What about bloggers? Are you writing for what you would like your blog to be or are you writing what your readers want? I am willing to bet that nine times out of ten, the posts that get the most views are the ones that came most naturally. Check your stats, see what you find (and for all intents and purposes don’t count the giveaway posts).
Are you marketing a product or service to people? Have you thought about how they’re wired? Being thoughtful about this might change how you’re connecting with them. Even better, it could change how they’re connecting with you.
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