I wrote The Art of Blogging: What is Your Site’s Focus?, and gave quite the list on things you should consider when creating your website’s focus. However, I still get on occasion bloggers who have been blogging and just have not gotten results. When I saw Dragon Blogger’s article, Blogging Without A Purpose, I was further motivate to revisit this topic once more.
My advice for those who have been blogging for a while and have had no success – go back to the focus and use your Google Analytics and other blog tools to see what will work best for your blog.
I will use Blondish.net to convey my own experience. At first, Blondish.net waded around in a pool of content from home life to my internet life. It was a bit disconcerting for some of my tech friends who would look forward to my posts that either contained something about blog tools, social media, but I was having a rough time and kept avoiding that. In fact, it hurt my site a lot and in December 2008, I put down in writing what could go on Blondish.net and what had to go elsewhere. I ended up creating a mommy blog for my home and personal life. Of course, I do put some personal stuff here at Blondish.net, but only if it is relevant to the focus of the site.
See, I have always given a lot of freebie graphics since I got online. While doing that, I kept getting questions on how to make things on just about anything I put on my site. I decided instead of always fielding my instant messenger, I would blog about it. In 2009, I got down and dirty with my blog, starting to clean up section (which I still am), moving contenting off and onto other places, and of course, blogging like a woman on a mission. My mission: to help bring my experience to others as a blogger to become successful and introduce things online that are resourceful. I also vowed to become more active in interacting with my commenters to hopefully continue the discussions beyond my blog’s words.
My blog has become more successful. My Alexa rank at the beginning of 2009 was hanging at 1.6 million, and now it is around mid 2009, it was 217,218. I have connected with quite a few other successful bloggers and have learned from them. I have influenced others in return. Since then I have slowed down some, but still built my site, focusing solely on sharing my knowledge. In the beginning quarter of 2012, I hit 50,000 Alexa, but recently did an experiment on how lack of blogging effects a site’s traffic and ranking….and let it slip to around 72,000 Alexa. As the saying goes- “Content is king.” Without content to attract your visitors, what is the purpose of your website in the end?
With all the tools for blogs to analyze what is being searched, you should not have any trouble on how to develop or even, redevelop your site’s focus.
Have you had a similar experience with your blog? Have you influenced others through your blog? Have any other suggestions?
About Nile
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Excellent tip, telling users to analyze their analytics to find whats popular is a valuable way for bloggers to find what reader’s like and focus more on that topic and genre.
There are even more tools out there. I went through and started using Lijit which also has analytics with it. Some of the things said there, I could not get in my Google Analytics, so when I have time, I go to Lijit and check out in detail what people are viewing and looking for on the site.
Twitter: wajahath_ali
says:
Hi Nile,
Yes,I have been using Google analytics since a while and it is very useful for me to know about the users of my site and to focus on the content. I am now planning to redesign my site and offer a better user experience.
Congratulations on your blog success.
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Twitter: AmitV_Tweets
says:
Such a great tips and insights you covered in this awesome post. So helpful for bloggers and who just started with blogging. Thanks so much for your great sharing. Have a great day. Keep Rocking
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Wow! so nice informative post it is. I got so much information from this post. Good luck the admin! It is one of the great posts. i was in search of such kind of information since long. i am happy to find mine required information here.Please continue your struggle in this regard. Tnks the admin!
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Twitter: SadieMHarris
says:
Hello Nile…
Thanks for sharing this post and the info about your Alexa ranking. Aswell as running Google Analytics on my site I use the Get Clicky plugin too, strange thing is the results from the two are not the same and I do feel I get more info from the Get Clicky analytic.
A couple of people I know do not use Google Analytics at all and opt soley for Get Clicky and I wondered what your thoughts on that might be?
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Twitter: JupiterJimFLA
says:
Sadie-Michaela,
I LOVE statcounter.com check it out!
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Yes! you are right people who blogging from long time or have no success yet, should try these tools.
Twitter: techinitio
says:
A very nice post indeed. When you are blogging you should revise your focus every now and then to make sure you are under what you expected and you have not turned away from your subject.
Rashmi Sinha recently posted..New SEO Tips & Tricks After Google Penguin Update
I don’t even know what else to think anymore… I have been scraping around the web for information on what to do, where to turn and how can i possibly rank my blog?
Things are really tough, and especially with the latest of Google’s Updates, the market just got more insecure.
I assume that Google Analytics can still be of some help, but the question remains, how to get traffic to your site?
AndrewBlogger recently posted..Building blog backlinks after Penguin Update: what is there left to help your blog page rank?
Twitter: alifeoflight
says:
Thank you for sharing your experience with us, Nile. This sounds very similar to what I have experienced with my sites. if I don’t decide up front at least where to start with them and what content is going to go where, I wind up putting all kinds of stuff everywhere. And that just does not work so well for focus.
I really appreciate you sharing your Alexa ranking with us, I know mind could be lower and that I need to do even more concentrating, thank you for the encouragement to do that.
Michael recently posted..Open Your Gifts
It’s important to blog with a definitive purpose rather than focusing on so many different topics. That could alienate your audience.
Twitter: antonrsa
says:
Hi Nile,
Thanks for sharing your experience. A lot of webmasters and SEO’s suffer from a drop in rankings or site value (Alexa) when doing experiments. But this is one way of knowing that a tactic wil work for your website or not. As we all know – it’s not always safe to presume that what works for one website will work on another. I think you’ve highlighted the importance of having a good focus point or niche for your website well enough.
Anton Koekemoer recently posted..How to do more with your social media campaign
I’m really glad I have found this information. Nowadays bloggers publish just about gossips and web and this is really frustrating. A good blog with exciting content, that is what I need. Thank you for keeping this site, I will be visiting it. Do you do newsletters? Can’t find it.
Hi Nile, may I add that google /insights/search/ is also a good tool when analyzing the top keyword or phrase readers used during search.
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Twitter: faissalhaithami
says:
I have recently noticed that many sites have dropped their Alexa rankings. In addition, I can see the number of links (as Alexa counts it) also decreasing for many sites. It’s, therefore, definitely time for revisiting site focus.
Thanks for the reminder!
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Hi Nile,
I guess most new bloggers are tempted to put everything on one blog. I like your blog a lot, the graphics are very nice and you branded yourself very well. It is not often that I see such a clean design.
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Twitter: prabhatrayal
says:
hello nile,
you have raised an issue which is i think a problem for many bloggers i mean there are many bloggers who are working but still not getting much success. in fact i am facing the same issue. but your own experience inspired me a lot. i will try and try and try until i get success
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Twitter: mss_inc_usa
says:
Nile – I am new to your blog and still relatively new to blogging itself. Thanks for providing awesome advice on how to blog. I am definitely going to go back and read some of your other Art of blogging posts so I can learn more.
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Twitter: SammieClemmons
says:
Great post– and I LOVE how you re-use and add to content! That is an awesome idea, and this post especially shows how much your site has grown in three years. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing this and this will serve as inspiration to everybody who want to succeed in blogging.
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Oh, those goals keep on refining and refining…. Craft / home decor is a VERY competitive field, and it feels like I’m sculpturing a site rather than linearly implementing a set of goals.
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Carefully studying and gaining insights from your analytics account is one of the most important step in SEO. Many SEO practitioners failed to do this very basic technique thus misleading their SEO campaigns.
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I totally agree with everything you said. People tend to snob those things in business. They lack in appreciating small things. They jump ahead to the advance technique and they think they can do it without mastering the very basic ones.
This article is really good for all of us, as it makes me think about the perspectives of my blog for the future. It is always a good idea to assess what articles have been the most successful, and to march on this direction.
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Hello Nile,
“those who have been blogging for a while and have had no success”, that’s me! I love your diagram. Thanks for inspiring me and thank you for sharing this great article.
-Steven
Nile,
You have a great experience. Yeah that is a great question about what is the purpose of your website if you don’t have a great content to attract people. Right now I have been more onto creating a unique content.
Cheers,
Francis
Twitter: sahaali1
says:
Hi Nile…
Nice post. I agree with Anton Koekemoer, It’s important yo focus on one topic.
Thanks for sharing this nice post.
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I believe in the saying “No man can serve two masters”. That is meant to focus on one thing. Thank you for the nice illustration.
Twitter: brotherbillamis
says:
Nile, this is great information that I also love to use. Content is King is what you stated and will echo for an eternity.
While there are allot of people who believe that the only visitors that leave comments that we can see make to total number of visitors. That is a bad judgement.
Most my visitors which has been no less than 1200 per week. They do not meet our standard to approve their comments as is. Show when I get a change to get those dropped links out of their comments. That is when I allow it to be approved.
You have to share information that will empower people to hope again. Then also manifest stories that share courage and persistence. Right from your own life story. Yet, leave all negative things out of it. That will create your own unique branding for you blog.
Just as Nile is known for her amazing ability to give us readers procedures that work with design and understanding the whole picture of creative thinking.
Thanks Nile for being yourself. Your one of our great coaches and I do look forward to a lifetime of learning from you.
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Twitter: JupiterJimFLA
says:
Nile,
Well, one of the reasons that I listed you on my list of The Top 20 Blogs you need to read to succeed in 2012 is because your blog is so focused!
Not only is it focused, BUT it’s really USEFUL information for fellow bloggers!
And, yes, I have watched my Alexa ranking move up when I post and definitely slip when I don’t post on my blog.
I say “Content is King, but Marketing is the Queen!”
Thanks for sharing!
~ Jupiter Jim
Jupiter Jim recently posted..Top 20 Blogs You Need to Succeed in 2012!
Twitter: techsparx1
says:
hello
thnx for this great and winderful post with a definitive purpose rather than focusing on so many different topics. That could alienate your audience.
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Twitter: techblowup
says:
Yes Nile wonderful post, thanks for sharing it. Not quit so easily in blogging field because here success comes in a long time I think.
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It has been a while since I started blogging and I must say it was an experience worth cherishing. I write about almost anything related to appliances and through blogging have learnt a great deal from others. The greatest benefit of blogging, I think, is that it takes your relationship with the readers to a more personal level. Visitors to your site feel that not only they are learning from you but they can also contribute to your life as well through sharing their experiences.
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Twitter: DinaBehrman
says:
Great post! It’s so true that ‘content is king’, something that I think many bloggers seem to forget. I also agree that looking at the focus of your blog is really important as readers want to know what to expect and it can become confusing if you’re bouncing from one subject to another.
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Twitter: soumailaadamou
says:
so if content is king, know the title reign because the title is 95 percent reusir the online article.
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Twitter: Semidoppel
says:
I have a personal blog and I can say that I really can’t focus on a certain topic or niche. That may be the reason why I can say that my blog is “not in focus” although I am posting regularly. Hmm, I’ll consider the points you discussed, thanks!
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Twitter: Elena__Anne
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Content is so important. So write about what you know and write about what you’ve researched and researched well. People are more likely to engage with you if you do. You’re more likely to make money if you do.
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Hi Nile,
I’ve been searching some articles about, how to start a blog and some SEO articles.
I ‘ve landed into your blog as one blog mentioned that your blog is a dofollow enabled commentluv comments.
As I am practicing SEO right now, and specifically blog commenting, I browsed all the comments here in this article “The Art of Blogging”, I saw that the Commentor’s name is not a dofollow link?
Or is it a dofollow link before? how should I insert my keyword if this is a nofollow link?
Twitter: mega_beet
says:
Very nice post! Thanks a lot!
Twitter: soumailaadamou
says:
very impressionnat your post, for from the difficiel is to generate traffic to my blog.
sumaila recently posted..send image to phone – learn the arts to send multiple images from a iphone 4
You couldn’t be more correct. Every blog needs a focus, a certain niche that guarantees them viewers. Even if it’s something that isn’t popular or part of the status quo. Every topic has an audience.
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wow…
thnx for sahring this post.
nice site. nice share.
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Twitter: rachelroland
says:
Thank you for this post – content is so, so important – it’s one thing to write about random things, but you should really write about things you love.
Rachel recently posted..Wordless Wednesday: Vacation Favorites
I’m a very new blogger and I’m finding that I have this tendency to write about any old thing that pops into my head.
I have resisted the urge to post any of these crazy ramblings onto my blog though – they really are just ramblings!
I know what my blog is about and who my key reader is I just need to calm myself down and focus on staying on topic.
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Twitter: pinoyseoservice
says:
What a very comprehensive discussion on comments. Content is really important but if you don’t have the right keyword to drive traffic to your site in the content it will be disappointing in your side. I read a lot of site owner complaining that why aren’t they getting good traffics wherein their contents are of highest quality….
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Twitter: utsavchopra
says:
wow….
awsome post…
nice share.
This will be better for me.
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Twitter: futurerayz
says:
really such a great post ……its really helpful for me i just started blogging…thanxxx for sharing ……
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Twitter: gamerdiehard
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As far as I can guess and think and understand in respect of blogging, I’d like to mention that the real art of blogging lies inside the interest of your topic or niche.
If you go on blogging anything, you just cannot dive inside the detail of your selected topic because it doesn’t interests you, you just doing it for money or God knows for any other reason.
Blogging should be pure, like if you like games, technology, celebrity gossip or even a tree, it doesn’t matter what you like. But if you blog what you like you can surely put some real stuffs in it., especially some unique and creative ones.
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Hi Nile,
This is an awesome write-up for people who just started blogging. I am sure they will be able to understand more how blogging works.
Cheers!
Nicholle Olores recently posted..Green Renovation Trends in Brisbane
Hi Nile, Thanks for showing us the important topic to consider about every blog i.e. The Focus! I am agreed to your thoughts and I have just a short and small question.. If a newbie blogger setups his blog but he is having 2 to 3 focus points, what should he do? Whether he should employ all his focus point in a single blog, or there should be a categorization ?
Twitter: Power_Global
says:
Inspiration post to say the least. Being a so called newbie myself to blogging its inspirational to read this. Its intriguing to see that you did analysis and improved your Alexa ranking so greatly I can only hope to soon see the same results. I understand it takes time and a lot of effort but with compelling stories like your own I have no doubt I can do it too.
Craig recently posted..How to Bypass Facebook phone verification
Very inspirational topic.. It’s right we should focus on one point at a time.. Newbies must read this post
ayesha recently posted..How to Not allow Right Click on The Page
Hi Nile, I’ve read your article about revisiting site focus. some days ago I did it & my returning visitors improve 50% of my total traffic. I applied my trick that was upcoming post title or upcoming image on my right sidebar & when people see this sample small image on it they was really interested to revisiting my site
what do you think about this trick?
Post thumbnails are always nice to have. I use them and definitely recommend them. Most people are visual and just like picking out a book, some people look at an image and the title before deciding if they should go ahead and read it.
Twitter: PritamNagrale
says:
Excellent article. There are many bloggers who update their blog on regularly basis but don’t have idea what they want from their blog. Google Keyword tool & analytcis are the tools which can help you out. You need to write a plan of focus even before you start a blog.
This site is good to get tips for new bloggers…
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Twitter: RRamkalyan
says:
Yes Nile!
Google analytics is a great tool and I’ve been using on my latest site http://beginwebsites.com/. thanks for the great post!
Twitter: RRamkalyan
says:
Oh! I want to also congratulate you on the service you are doing to fellow bloggers by allowing your blog to be a do follow. Once again thank you very much.
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Twitter: iLifehackNL
says:
Cool article, good for a starting blogger like me. I’m still struggling to get my facebook fans though. How did you reach +3k?
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I reached it due to the fact that I speak at a lot of conferences and meet people in person at them. Other than that… normally my readers and clients follow me on my Facebook fan page.
I have read the whole series of the articles you have written on this and must admit that they were very helpful. They helped me to re-prioritize the tasks I was doing on my blogs. I have now a whole new understanding of this blogging business.
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Twitter: philmacphoto
says:
Really useful post Nile, although I have had a blog for some time it is only recently that I have decided to devote more time to it.
Learning about seo, Alexa rank and Google Analytics is quite a steep learning curve so your suggestion to focus on a few things at a time is good advice.
I have to agree with you about Alexa, as I have been posting more frequently I have noticed an improvement in my ranking which is great and supports your conclusion.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Phil recently posted..Blogging Tips & Social Engagement
Great post… Every Bloggers must read it.. thanks for sharing this.
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I am thinking to create my own blog. I was confused about topic selection. Then I thought to put different topics in one blog. But after reading the article and comments I will try to write on one topic.
Twitter: iambbaker
says:
Just moved our technology site from static html to wordpress and added a blog. Found your site doing some research and read several good articles. Will be back for more. Have a great day.
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Fantastic post, thanks Nile! Really loving this site!
Joe recently posted..Types of Video Production
I’ve been searching some articles about, how to start a blog and some SEO articles.
I ‘ve landed into your blog as one blog mentioned that your blog is a dofollow enabled commentluv comments.
As I am practicing SEO right now, and specifically blog commenting, I browsed all the comments here in this article “The Art of Blogging”, I saw that the Commentor’s name is not a dofollow link?
Twitter: Snehafudoweb
says:
Excellent Your Website really amazing its very interesting stuff getting impressed by seeing your blog thank you very much for such a blog i will be coming back for new updates in your website!
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Hiii Nile your post is very nice.. good work..
Thanks nile , for posting such a nice article about the art of blogging. your advice is excepted for all the web master. i love it.
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really nice and informative article !!!
The air ticket booking was very quick And great service. I decided to write a feedback on the website. http://bit.ly/13FMiH8
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Hi Nile,
Thanks for the tips, I like your article because you made it easy to understand with your experience.
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Hi Nile! I really appreciate your wishes to help other blogger who are struggling with their blogging career. There are few key points you have mentioned. I agree with those. Some important tips to avoid the problems. Thanks for the great article.
Hey Nile,
Nice post and Thanks for sharing these tips with us. This post surely gonna help all the newbies. Yes, Google Analytic is really an awesome tool and we can use it many different ways.
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