MarketingSherpa Blog

So, you have low blog engagement or a handful of loyal followers that you were expecting to blossom into a world-wide audience — but it’s just not happening.

I’m not an expert content writer or blog wiz. However, working at MarketingSherpa has given me insights that I would not have otherwise about what can make certain pieces of content successful while others flop.

Here are three common mistakes to keep in mind as you structure your individual blog posts and also determine your blogging strategy:

1. It’s all about you

The biggest mistake that content creators can make is centering their blogs on themselves.

They open with a relevant, beautiful challenge that the audience is facing, and then they ruin a perfectly good opening by presenting their product as the flawless solution — or their service as an end-all-be-all to those interested in a DIY experience. Content consumers aren’t looking for a reason to buy from you. They are looking for a resource to solve problems.

Be real, be relevant and be genuine. Make sure that your blog humanizes you, and explain how your audience  can learn from, and apply, your mistakes to their own campaigns.

Lastly, edit — grammatically and for content. Even the world of food bloggers (which I frequent) knows that the audience really only cares about how much salt is too much salt and why cream of tartar really makes a difference in the cookie recipe rather than just adding more baking soda. The annoyingly long charming story about your grandmother’s old pickup truck isn’t a necessary preamble for what I’m really interested in below.

Remember, every sentence should justify the reason as to why your post is solving the problem that your audience faces. It’s about them.

2. It seems too easy

As someone that often skims through several dozen posts during the weekday for sharing, I don’t want to repost something that seems unattainable or a little fishy.

Tell your audience what to expect, and spell out the process for achieving goals.

For example, if you’re explaining how to revamp marketing departments, acknowledging that putting your plan into action required a month’s worth of 80-hour workweeks casts a vision, inspires change in behavior and makes processes real rather than promising that a marketing coordinator can transform the company that she works for in three days.

Be authentic in expressing what real challenges lie ahead, and be realistic in what it will look like once the solution is implemented.

3. TL; DR (Too long, didn’t read)

A blog is not a book.

Yet, many bloggers feel the need to paint pictures with words and torture their audience with walls of text, large words or epic three-part-series. (Hint: add relevant photos to your blog rather than an entire paragraph’s worth of descriptive text).

Unless you have a blog of poetry or you’re writing fan fiction, audiences look for skimmable, consumable content.

When people ask the Internet questions, blogs often contain the answer. The original question doesn’t change once they land on your blog, so keep your audience engaged by answering the question quickly, credibly and efficiently.

In conclusion, make every sentence memorable, concise and significant. If it’s not important, take it out. If it doesn’t help the audience, scratch it. Get rid of as many words as you can to clearly express yourself.

You can follow Jessica Lorenz, Event Content Manager, MECLABS Institute on Twitter at @JessicaPLorenz.

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Categories: Social Networking Evangelism Community Tags: Blogging, content marketing, customer-centric