5 Tips To Prevent Blog Wandering and Traffic Loss

This is a guest post by Robb Sutton. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

Blog wandering? What is that?! I have seen it over and over again. A new blogger kick starts a blog with all intentions of hitting it big and growing a huge subscriber count. They are going to be the next big thing! Just you wait and see! So what does this new blogger do? Picks a domain name, spends countless hours looking at premium blog themes and finally gets around to installing every single cool plugin they can find. Everything is set and ready to blog!

One big problem… a complete lack of direction. Focus is everything as a blogger. You need to nail down your niche and begin generating content related to that niche and forget all the fancy flash that contributes absolutely nothing to your blogging and your goals. Even long term bloggers get caught in the trap. This can often disguise itself as blogger burnout or an obsession with having to perfect a design. When it comes down to it…successful blogging is about delivering the goods and staying focused.

Here are 5 tips to get that focus for new bloggers and to bring the focus back for bloggers that have wandered off the path with no real direction.

1. Nail Down Your Target Audience – Who are you appealing to? Who is reading your blog and what do they want? Blogging is a conversation that exchanges content for traffic. It is your goal to connect with your readers and provide them with content that connects with their needs. If you wander off track, it is hard to bring them back. If you are a new blogger, who do you want to connect with? Who is your target audience? These questions need to be asked before you even think about choosing a domain name.
2. Create A Blogging Road Map – Every successful business – online or not – has a road map of goals and achievements that contribute to the success. Physically write down short term and long term goals to keep that focus. Do you have a great idea for a series article or ebook? Your short term goals should be a means (articles, promotions, informational goods) to the long term (stats, subscriber counts, monetary goals) and as you complete these goals…add new ones to the list. This is a never ending process as you continue to better yourself and your blog.
3. Focus On The Content – First and foremost, focus on the content. Too often we get wrapped up in activities and time wasting events that add little to no value to our blogs at the end of the day. Are you going to get back those 4 hours trying to tweak your theme? You could have generated content that will bring in potential income so…one day…you can pay someone to do that for you.
4. Focus On Tried and True Promotion Techniques – It is your job to find targeted readers and subscribers to your blog. In my experience, guest posting on other blogs related to your niche provides the best return (much like I am doing now). By focusing on your target audience and delivering quality content to that audience, you are keeping your focus as a blogger and growing your readership at the same time.
5. Pick A Project and Stick With It – Too many bloggers jump from “great idea” to “great idea” without giving anything a chance. Successful blogging takes time and you need to stick with your idea. You can tweak things as you go to accommodate your target audience, but resist the temptation to jump ship and try something completely unrelated.

Successful blogging is not rocket science. It just takes focus and direction towards a goal. If you continue to wander off the path, you can expect results that resemble the effort. But… with time… if you keep to your goals and continue to operate your well oiled machine, you too can see your blog grow to proportions you never thought possible. The key is never giving up and keep true to the path. The rest falls into place with hard work and a little bit of luck.

Robb Sutton blogs about blogging and lifestyle design at robbsutton.com. Check out his free ebook Ramped Blogging – The Ultimate Blogging Guide on how to become a successful blogger.