This is a guest post by Vanessa Burke from PollDaddy.com.
The number one reason most blogs fail is simply because they aren’t interesting. The blogger has nothing interesting to say, and well, it’s pretty obvious that no one wants to waste their time reading something they couldn’t care less about.
You don’t need to incorporate online survey tools into your repertoire to figure out that people don’t want to read a blog post that they can read on every other large blog.
They want a fresh angle, a new perspective, or just a different bit of information – but above all, they want it to be interesting.
So how do you keep your blog relevant without ripping off others and still drawing a crowd? Easy:
Be Yourself
Don’t ever pick up the opinions or even phrases of a blogger or personality you adore. You are your own person, and your blog should express that, even if you share similar thoughts and opinions as several others. You need to have a different perspective, because everybody’s life experience is different. Don’t be afraid to let your blog show that.
Also, there will always be a noticeable difference between some who is writing genuinely about their passion and a person who is trying to write about a fictional life that they think is more interesting than his or her own.
The most interesting life stories are not always the most glamorous. In fact, many readers would prefer someone who they can relate with and do not live a life shrouded in mystery, either, and will enjoy a unique perspective on everyday life. Write about what you know.
Be Persuasive
When you state your own opinions, you’ve got to back them up. By backing up your opinions with different facts or experiences, you are persuading your audience to accept or adopt your opinion. People like to have their beliefs systems challenged, and a persuasive post is a great way to get people thinking and posting on your blog.
That doesn’t mean you should be ridiculously controversial just to draw a crowd; it simply means that you shouldn’t be afraid to state what you believe and why you believe it.
Without your opinion or interpretation of facts and experiences, you are offering nothing that a reader could not find in many other places on the internet. It takes your passion and persuasive argument to make the post your own and to draw readers to your site and convince them to continue to return, which is the most important aspect.
When a headline is on the news, how would you like to have your readers’ first thought to be to wonder what YOUR opinion would be?
Be Informative
When you stay informative and consistently so, you become something of an authority over a subject. When you become an authority, readers are more likely to return to your blog again and again to hear what you have to say about whatever your specific subject is. Remaining informative and backing up your posts with hard facts is a great way to keep the attention of readers.
Being yourself, being persuasive, and being informative all lead into being interesting. People read blogs to have their opinions challenged or to find a like-minded comrade. They want to feel as though they are a part of a community.
If you aren’t yourself, persuasive, or informative; your blog isn’t going to be interesting at all – even if you are detailing the events of the most recent world crisis. So challenge yourself to be a little more interesting and experimental with your blog posts. You’ll be surprised with how quickly your blog traffic increases.
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• how to make a blog interesting • how to have an interesting blog • how to keep your blog interesting
Very correct! No one wants to read your blog post, if it is not interesting. Though you have mentioned informative data in your post but if you have never explain your thought in an effective and simple manner, people will not take interest to read this and all your hard work will go vain. Hence, always be informative and be persuasive while writing your blog post.
Your blog is boring because maybe it has a very poor article on it, the topic is not on demand, the readers did not like your point and many more.
I agree about being myself because that’s how I will get closer to my readers
and they will know the real person behind the blog
Good post Vanessa. I think being interesting is the best. Like you said you need to be yourself but it never hurts to be a bit controversial or thought provoking if that is your natural personality. Being funny never hurts either.
Yeah if I glance at a blog post which I do not at all find interesting, I stay away from it. I don’t care to read it. And I am not even talking about blogs in niches I don’t care for. Some blogs are just full of blabber without making any points, and that is just blabber.
Vanessa, i must say that this post will definitely give a chance to do a ‘reality check’ for most of the Blog owners..
I think 80% of the blogs are repeating the things that are really and already present. They are just bending and twisting the words. I guess the main reason behind this is that after a while when you are not making good money from the blog, the blog owners simply give up and they just write the blog posts to keep their blogs alive.
We all know that blogging needs time and efforts, results are slow.. so i guess there is a lack of great deal of patience!
Great list and one that is concerning me at the moment, I really need to sit down a put a timetable for progress on the blog because without that I cannot see what direction I need to take my focus. One great tip I got from the Warrior forum was the phrase “This is useful because…” if you apply that to everything you do then the interest level will be self generated and you can remain on track.
Very true. I have seen blogs with plain content that are not interesting at all. One has to make the blog interesting to get repeat visitors.
Blogs need to have character! And you need to express that in your writing.
You could have the most informative posts in the world, that are jam packed with important information, but if you talk like a robot then you’re going to go unnoticed in the blogging world.
Hi Vanessa,
You hit the nail on the head. It is hard to establish a follow-ship but if you see it going down you need to ask your self why, and asking why is something not enough people do. Why? Because it hurts, it hurts that you were wrong, it hurts that people are not that interested in things you are interested in.
They key is to find something you and your readers want to know about! We all write a crap article from time to time. Guilty as charged but learn from it is what will make you stand out.
Nik