Why Bloggers Fail

According to one source, there are more than 164 million blogs…

Most of these blogs get less than 1,000 visitors per month, and the harsh reality is, the majority of those blogs are, for lack of a better word, failures.

What’s unfortunate is, in that group of people, I’m betting there’s someone just like you….

…Someone who believed pumping out good content will generate the leads and sales they need to run a profitable business.

…Someone who believed a journalist or Google would notice their hard work—and reward them with an endless supply of traffic that converts.

…Someone who put the work in, and things just didn’t pan out.

The question is “WHY!?!”

And most important, how can you BEAT THE ODDS?

Why do bloggers (and the blogs they create) fail?

And more important, how do “some” people beat the odds…

…and build blogs that help them build HUGE businesses?

The answer lies in:

The Psychology Behind Why Blogs Fail

I’ll be straight up with you because I know you expect nothing less.

Most people who start blogs dream about their blog soaring to Everest-level subscriber numbers.

(Who doesn’t want to make a splash?)

And they’re willing to do the work, too. They’re not looking for handouts, they want to earn their success.

(Sound familiar?)

So, what happens?

It turns out that most people who start blogs quit within the first 3 months.

Why?

It’s simple. When people start blogs, they do the wrong things.

And the problem is, when they spend time on all those things they find something strange happens:

They’ll waste their first 3 months, and they’ll have NOTHING to show for it other than a bunch of social media logins, passwords, and the belief that “I’ll be ready to go, when I just finish this one thing…”

But they’ll have NO RESULTS.

And that lack of results will demotivate the MOST AMBITIOUS individual.

(I’ve been there…)

It’s human psychology.

(The more time you spend working on something without a reward, the harder it is to continue doing it).

And that’s why, I believe, most bloggers fail.

They start their blog with good intentions, but fall off the beaten path because they waste time on pointless drivel that doesn’t deliver what they really want: more traffic… more leads… more sales.

It’s sad, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

So I have a question for you:

Are you worried that the same thing will happen to you?

Are you scared that you’ll waste your time on the pointless drivel “fake blogging experts” shill as “advice?”

Or worse, maybe the same has already happened to you… and you’re tired of it?

If you said “Heck, YES!” you’re in luck.

Here’s why:

In my Free Ebook: How to Get 5,000 Subscribers, I’ll show you how to build a profitable blog (including the “behind the scenes” strategies that allowed me to attract more than 200,000 (yes, 200,000) subscribers).

I’m going reveal the “time-wasting things” that cause well-deserving bloggers like you to fail.

The “time-wasting things” that cause you to get no results… demotivated… and eventually cause you to burn out and quit.

And what’s better is, when you eliminate these time-wasters from your blogging schedule, I believe YOU CAN BEAT THE ODDS.

Ready?

Let’s jump in.

Time-Waster #1: Creating Too Much Content

When I asked bloggers, “How do you spend time on your blog?”, they said “I spend about 80-90% of my time on creating content.”

This makes ZERO sense.

Here’s the deal: When you run a blog that has a few readers, adding more content doesn’t help you get more readers. The math just doesn’t work.

Let’s say you have 100 readers. What are the chances that one of those people will love your content so much that they tell ALL of their friends about it? 1%? 2%? If that?

Whatever it is, it’s low, and at that rate, you might get 1 new loyal reader. Going from 100 readers to 101 readers isn’t how you build a blog readership.

To build a blog readership, you’ve got to go from 100 readers… to 500 readers. Then, from 500 readers to 700 readers, and so on.

How do you do it? The secret lies in your ability to promote the content you already have, because if you’ve got something that was only seen by 100 people, chances are there are at least 10,000 or 100,000 other people in the world that can benefit from what you wrote.

So, I’m giving you permission…

“You don’t have to create content, day in, and day out. You just have to work on getting the content you already have… in the hands of more people.”

How does that feel? Good? Great? AWESOME? Here’s how some of my other disciples felt when they learned this:

Derek’s advice to blog less and promote more was earth-shattering and such a relief because it completely eliminated my blog stress and gave me peace and time and space back in my business to do what I love to do, which is coach people.” – Nicole Burley, Certified Health Coach and Life Coach, creator of NicoleBurley.com

“My biggest struggle coming into the course was that I was writing frequently, but never really connecting with my followers… Now that I have taken the course, I feel that I have a game plan for each post.” Craig Koniver, MD, Organic Medicine Physician, creator of OrganicMedicineNow.com

Now that leads me to the NEXT big time-waster.

Time-Waster #2: Promoting Content The Wrong Way

This always cracks me up…

When I talk to people, and I ask them “How do you currently try to get your name out there?”

Here’s what they say:

“Okay, so I publish an article, then I share it on Twitter, Facebook, and my other social media networks.”

And I’m like, “Okay, and then what?”

“Umm… I sometimes tweet out my article a few times because not all my followers see it the first time.”

And again, I’m like “And…?”

“I sometimes ask one of my friends to share it on their Twitter, too.”

And again, “And…”

And that’s when they fall flat.

“Well, I don’t know what else to do. So I write more content.”

(Does this sound familiar? Fess up :-P)

[Face Palm]

Newsflash: Sharing your content to your small (and inactive) social media accounts ISN’T PROMOTION. And doing it regularly is often a waste of time

You’ll NEVER build a blog that fuels your business by following that method of promotion.

Now what really grinds my gears, is right about now, people always say “Okay, what do I do then, smarty pants?”

But it’s not about promotion tactics. You’ve got to understand what good promotion is, and how it works… first.

So, here’s what you need to know:

The easiest way to get readers for your blog is to convince another blog that has readers to send readers your way.

That’s it.

(Notice how I didn’t say share it on Twitter).

What you MUST do is convince people who have readers… to send you readers.

The question is “How?” And that leads me to the NEXT big time-waster.

Time-Waster #3: Creating a “Me Too” Blog

If you want other bloggers to send their readers your way, you’ve got to create a blog that warrants it.

And the sad truth is, most blogs out there don’t warrant it.

Most blogs, in fact, are what I call “Me Too” blogs. They say the same things as everyone else… and nobody cares.

The problem, again, is just human psychology. What blends in gets ignored, what stands out gets remembered. It’s that simple. And every second you spend working on a “me too” blog is a second wasted.

The question is, “How can YOU stand out when there’s more than 164 million blogs?”

I go into detail about this in my online training “Start Your Blog Right,” but the SECRET behind standing out today is as simple as “GETTING REAL SPECIFIC” with what your blog stands for.

Don’t write about fitness. Write about fitness for 45+ year-olds who want to do cross-fit.

Or, as a personal example, when I wanted to break into the marketing space (one of the most crowded blog spaces on the net), I didn’t just write about marketing. I focused in on how to leverage proven psychological principles to improve conversion rates.

You might think, “well, won’t that pigeon hole me into a small audience?”

And the answer is, “Yes,” but there’s no reason why you can’t expand out of that once you OWN your topic.

It might seem a bit silly, but look at it like this: What’s more rememberable? “I’m a marketing expert” or “I show you how to use psychology to increase your blog conversions.”

The latter obviously :-P.

And if you’re worried that this won’t work, just take a look at what some of my disciples said:

“Derek was great in helping me focus on specific leadership topics, and blogging about action steps that my readers could benefit from. Leadership is SUCH a vague & broad concept to begin with, and Derek helped me feel like I wasn’t nailing jello to the wall anymore!” Maya Mathias, creator of InventiveLinks.com

“Due to Derek, I have narrowed my focus of my business to web designers… I credit Derek for helping me find the need to focus my business like a LASER instead of the shotgun approach. It is making all the difference in the world.” – Gene Hammett, creator of CoreElevation.com

Is there such a thing as getting too specific?

Absolutely.

There has to be an audience for what you’re writing about.

But the fact remains: what blends in gets ignored. What stands out gets remembered.

Here’s What You Need To Do Next…

Now that I walked you through the psychology behind why blogs fail, and the big 3 time-wasters that cause that failure, you’ve got ONE goal:

You need to get some results… FAST.

I mentioned this earlier, but when you work on something for too long without seeing a reward, you get demotivated, and you don’t want that to happen.

So, what can you do to get some results fast?

Well, remember when I said:

The easiest way to get readers for your blog is to convince another blog that has readers to send readers your way.

Do that.

How do you get started?

First you must figure out what sites you’d like to send you some traffic.

So, for homework, I want you to leave a comment on this blog post. Here’s what you should include in your comment:

First, I want you to list your 1 DREAM website that you would LOVE to get a link from. (Notice I said “dream” website. Shoot for the stars!)

Second, I want you to list 3 other websites that you would also LOVE to get a link from. Don’t pick the biggest websites in the world, but instead, pick some smaller sites that you think would do your brand well.

In both scenarios, explain WHY you think this website will help you. This is important, and if you skip this step, the exercise is pointless. :-).

Now, download this FREE Ebook.