They make it look so darn easy, don’t they? They post a blog, share it on social media, get crazy traffic and make tons of money. Cha-ching, right?! Well, you may be asking yourself, “If blogging is supposed to be so simple, why in the heck isn’t my blog growing?”

Have you ever looked at your blog and asked yourself, why is my blog not getting any traffic? 

You’re doing everything you’ve been taught, you’re spending every free moment you have hustling in Facebook groups, posting consistently to Instagram, and pinning like a mad woman on Pinterest…

…but every time you look at your sales (or lack thereof)…you let out a sigh, wondering what the heck am I doing wrong. I mean really, with all the time, energy, resources and love you’re pouring into your business, it hurts when you’re not rewarded for all your hard work.

Believe me, I’ve been there.

So let’s talk about it and hopefully, over the next few minutes of reading this post, we can figure out why your blog isn’t growing, and what you need to do next to make sure you stay on the right track. You ready?

Let’s dive in…

01 | People Aren’t Crazy About Your Content

If you’re going to sit down and spend time writing blog posts every week, make sure you’re publishing content people actually want to read. Your content has to be entertaining, informative, educational or empowering. Oh, and it has to be easy to consume as well. There is so much content out there for people to read, watch and listen to. So you have to give your audience something that makes them want to come back for more.

Do not be a lazy blogger. Figure out how you can infuse both purpose and personality into your posts. This will allow you to position yourself as an expert. People follow people they know, like and trust and since you may only have one shot to impress your ideal customer, give them content they can’t help but love. That means helping them solve a problem, providing value in a unique way, or inspiring them to move above and beyond their current situation. Remember, we live in a “what have you done for me lately” society so make sure your every piece of content counts.

• Related: 11 WAYS TO REPURPOSE YOUR BLOG CONTENT (SO YOU CAN GROW YOUR TRAFFIC BY DOING LESS)

02 | Your Blog Isn’t Focused

So here’s the truth. You can make money blogging about anything (just check out those lifestyle blogs). But even if you are a multi-passionate, multi-niched entrepreneur, you still want to make sure your blog is focused and has an overall theme your readers can relate to. This is why it’s important to know your audience.

When you know who you want to serve, even if you blog about multiple topics, you can always come back to the core mission that connects all of your content together.

If you find yourself straying from your core mission and purpose, revisit the WHY, WHAT, WHO, and HOW of your business.

• WHY did you start your blog?
• WHAT value do you intend to share?
• WHO do you plan on serving?
• and HOW do you plan to serve them?

When you get clear on these 4 Q’s then every time you sit down to write a blog post or create a new product there is an actual purpose behind your post.

04| Your Blog Design is Amatuerish

First impressions matter. Your blog needs to be the Beyonce of the blogosphere. There’s nothing worse than landing on a website that makes you say…”OMG! What’s going on here?”

Clean, cute, creative, beautiful, professional, stylish – these are the words you want your visitors to be thinking when they land on your site. Stay away from clutter, clashing colors, and crowded content. Your site should be inviting, branded and easy to navigate.

If your blog can stand a little rehab, do a quick blog audit. Ask your peeps to browse your blog and tell you how they really feel about your site. If you are new and don’t want to ask your momma, join a few Facebook groups and makes some friends. There are a ton of blogging related groups that have “Feedback” threads where you can ask a question and get constructive advice. If you want to make it easy, you can always join my Facebook group. I’m always down to help you out!

• Related: FIX MY BRAND! HOW TO REHAB YOUR BRAND IN 24 HOURS (AKA DO A BRAND AUDIT!)

05 | Your Social Media Presence Sucks

Social media is not just about stacking your friends and followers or forcing scrollers to become subscribers. When used correctly it’s one of the best ways for your audience to get to know you outside of your blog. Social media is powerful in that it allows you to share content that people can’t necessarily find on your blog. Think behind the scenes, a day in the life, tips, motivation, Q&A, polls and engaging visuals. These are the things that build a community.

So if your social media presence needs a little love, think about the sites your ideal customer is hanging out on. Pick ONE to TWO platforms to focus on (Pinterest + Instagram, Facebook + YouTube, Facebook + Twitter) and master those platforms. Social media can be a total time suck, so use your time wisely, post with intention and engage in a way that makes people want to check out more of what you have to offer on your blog.

• Related: 28 WAYS TO GET YOUR BLOG NOTICED AS A NEW BLOGGER! (BIZ + BLOG RESOURCE LIBRARY)

06 | You’re Stuck on An Island

Stop trying to build your business by yourself. I am an introvert and it is hard for me to put myself out there and make the extra effort to connect with other bloggers, but I do it knowing that collaboration = more cash!

Take 5 minutes each day connecting and following other bloggers. Reach out, comment on their posts, engage in meaningful conversation. There is power in partnerships and a good collaboration can jumpstart a series of opportunities that you would have never been able to reach on your own. So while you may be in business for yourself, don’t ever feel like you have to grow your blog by yourself!

07 | Your SEO is a No No

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) refers to the steps you can take to get your blog posts, videos and images to show up near the top of search engines like Google, YouTube and Pinterest when someone searches for a specific keyword or phrase.

Most bloggers use SEO as an afterthought or not at all. Yes, SEO can get a little technical and tedious, but if you put the time in, it will pay off 100 fold. You just need ONE viral piece of content to change your business, right? So make sure you are leveraging the search engines to grab the most amount of traffic you can.

Here are a few key areas you’ll want to use SEO:

• your blog post titles (use keywords and keyword phrases your target audience are searching for)
• your headings and subheadings (Your H1 tag should contain your targeted keywords, ones that closely relate to the page title and are relevant to your content. The h2 tag is a subheading and should contain similar keywords to your h1 tag. Your h3 is then a subheading for your h2 and so on)
• your blog post images (every image you upload to your site should have a keyword rich name, title, alt tag, and description)
• your meta descriptions (use Yoast SEO or All In One SEO Pack plugins to optimize your descriptions)
• your blog content. (make sure you are adding a healthy dose of relevant keywords throughout the body of your post)

Take some time to learn how to do SEO right. Just imagine what could happen on Google, Pinterest, and YouTube if you just used the right keywords! Use tools like the Google Keyword Planner, Moz.com, the Pinterest search bar and One-Free-Tools.com to search for keywords that can instantly boost your traffic.

08 | You’re Not Paying Attention To What’s Working Now

What’s worse than something not working? Not knowing WHY it’s not working. When you know why you’re not getting the results you want, at least you can change what you’re doing. That is why if your blog traffic is not growing, it’s super important to track what you are doing (or not doing) on a regular basis so you can pivot and do something different.

The beauty in building your own business is that it is yours, and you can switch things up, try new things, experiment and test new strategies without having to get permission from your boss. If something’s not working, change it.

I suggest you track your blog traffic, subscriber count, social media followers, sales and profits on a monthly basis. Check your social media insights and analytics reports. Track how much time, money, resources you’re pouring into your business and the return on that investment. Are you spending 10 hours a week creating content and 1 hour prompting that content? Are you only publishing posts once every two months? Are you spending tons of time on social media but not engaging your audience? When you have a complete picture of what’s working and what’s not you can focus on making the right changes.

I use The Biz + Blog Profit Planner to keep tabs on all of my metrics – from social media to subscribers, money spent on tools to my course profits. Yep, I track it all. Remember if you are blogging to make money, then you are a business owner and you are responsible for your own success. You gotta know your business inside and out.

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