New to this (Another one of THOSE posts)

[TheLoneStarBlogger]

My name is Meagan, aka "The Lone Star Blogger" and I launched my blog using Word Press on May 14th.

Considering I am pretty new to all of this, especially SEO and whatnot, I am having some difficulties as I expected I would. I am not too sure what the issues could be. Everything focuses to keywords, back links, social media, content - literally everything.

The main issue I am discovering is that I can tweak and adjust to lower my bounce rate, but I am just not getting the traffic I had hoped I would. I am not getting the followers on social media and I am not getting the subscriptions I had hoped for. I try to post regularly, but I am now starting to wonder "How much is TOO MUCH?" Where does one draw the line from gaining interest to being annoying?

I would like to think I am a pretty decent writer. I have even scaled the majority of my posts up (dumbed down) on the Flesch-Scale just to appeal to a wider range of readers. Perhaps one of my issues lie in a goal, or the fact that I cannot for the life of me decide what I want the blog to be ABOUT specifically. In general, I would say "life", but that's such a broad range. Am I setting myself up for failure? I am not really blogging to make money. Not yet anyways, so most of the "marketing" or "get x$ a day" techniques, while semi-informative, do not really help me right NOW.

I am having trouble focusing, perhaps a "writers block" so to speak. I am constantly worried about putting all of my effort into writing something that no one will read simply because the topic isn't "trending", as was my case with my post on Blue Bell Ice Cream. I posted it then realized, "Hey, I'm a month late on this topic." I can't tell you how many days I have stayed awake working on this, only to feel as if I haven't really achieved anything. Maybe I am just overwhelmed.

With an entire sea of information and my ability to comprehend most everything that is put in front of me, it pains me to ask for advice. I am not really even sure that anyone can offer advice that I haven't already read or been told by a friend who works in the Marketing and Sales Sector. That being said, I am open to ANY advice and am open to critique and criticism.

Because face it, while two heads are better than one, many heads are better than two.

Thank You for taking the time to read this wall of text,
Meg

 

[Welcome2TheU]

Maybe at this point it is better to find a topic that you are happy to write about. Once you do that, write a batch of articles that are ever-green (their relevance doesn't fade away in a week's time), and then after that try doing some promotion by letting people know about them on relevant forums and on social media.

At least if you enjoy what you are writing about, then it's not really time wasted.

 

[maxedgames]

Don't give up, keep writing quality posts, you seem strong-willed and determined

 

[jo080711]

I can't tell you how many days I have stayed awake working on this, only to feel as if I haven't really achieved anything.

Sounds like the beginning! I'm sure a ton of people here can relate to those same feelings. You'll most likely feel that way for a while - and it's the ability to be able to work through the uncertainty that separates those who succeed from those who don't. But launching on May 14 - you can't reasonably expect a huge amount of traffic for a while. I mean, it's not even a full week!

Judging from the post, it seems like you write really well. So I'd keep at it. You will definitely want to find out what you want the blog to be "ABOUT Specifically" sooner rather than later. Blogs that are too general can confuse people. If you tighten up the focus you will be able to attract people who are more interested in what you have to say. (Which will help improve conversions/email opt-ins, etc).

 

[Zwielicht]

Unless you're targeting uneducated people or pseudo-intellectuals (they're practically the same thing except pseudo-intellectuals love sesquipedalians and uneducated people have sesquipedalophobia), then just ignore the flesch-scale in blogging. After all, I'm pretty sure you're only doing this because Yoast's plugin gave you a warning and not because your analytics data suggested it would be the best move.

Anyway, I'm certain that most of the members here who have or are in the process of building an authority website went through a phase when they were dubious about if their efforts would pay off. The best way to find out if your efforts will pay off or not is to persevere through your doubt. Even if you don't earn any money from your site, you'll still gain enough knowledge to find out what you did wrong and start again.

Good luck, Meagan, aka "The Lone Star Blogger" (I hope your website is cowboy/Texas themed, it would fit the name ).

 

[TheLoneStarBlogger]

That is just it, there are PLENTY of things (too many) that I am more than thrilled to write about, I am just worried if anyone would be thrilled to actually read them instead of skim and bounce. I get what you're saying though, I suppose I should manually write down a list of stuff I feel like writing about and then just do it.

I feel that what is overwhelming me is that I think that I should be researching each topic/keyword in GREAT detail before I even type my first sentence, and after hours of research and backtracking and reading charts and statistics over ONE word, I have already forgotten what it was that I wanted to write about the subject and all of my creativity is spent.

 

[TheLoneStarBlogger]

Sounds like the beginning! I'm sure a ton of people here can relate to those same feelings. You'll most likely feel that way for a while - and it's the ability to be able to work through the uncertainty that separates those who succeed from those who don't. But launching on May 14 - you can't reasonably expect a huge amount of traffic for a while. I mean, it's not even a full week!

Judging from the post, it seems like you write really well. So I'd keep at it. You will definitely want to find out what you want the blog to be "ABOUT Specifically" sooner rather than later. Blogs that are too general can confuse people. If you tighten up the focus you will be able to attract people who are more interested in what you have to say. (Which will help improve conversions/email opt-ins, etc).

Thanks much! I think my biggest hurdle will be to find a niche and stick with it, as my brain is just so open to wanting to write about EVERYTHING!

Right now my blog is directed to MY life and hobbies in Texas. For example, I am going to be attending school in the fall for Industrial Welding. I also fish, hunt, cook, garden, craft, and hang out at my Aunts Ranch. But to ME, that seems like "too much" stuff.

I have also thought of opening topics about living life with depression and bi-polar disorder and sort of give hope to parents raising children with these issues, as I have grown into a semi-functional adult able to care for myself; but it has been suggested to make a different blog for that as to not muddy the waters even more.

Multitasking just takes so much out of me, and if I have too many things open at once, I loose focus entirely so I sort of wanted the "One Stop Shop" so to speak. If it can't work for one site though, it can't work. I don't want to do it if it will drive people away or confuse them. No sense being unrealistic about it.

 

[LoftPower]

Maybe at this point it is better to find a topic that you are happy to write about. Once you do that, write a batch of articles that are ever-green (their relevance doesn't fade away in a week's time), and then after that try doing some promotion by letting people know about them on relevant forums and on social media.

At least if you enjoy what you are writing about, then it's not really time wasted.

I agree that when you find something that you are happy to write about, it will get better. I know that for me, when I have to write something that I don't want to, it is not my best work.

 

[Franklin Hattchet]

That is just it, there are PLENTY of things (too many) that I am more than thrilled to write about, I am just worried if anyone would be thrilled to actually read them instead of skim and bounce. I get what you're saying though, I suppose I should manually write down a list of stuff I feel like writing about and then just do it.

I feel that what is overwhelming me is that I think that I should be researching each topic/keyword in GREAT detail before I even type my first sentence, and after hours of research and backtracking and reading charts and statistics over ONE word, I have already forgotten what it was that I wanted to write about the subject and all of my creativity is spent.

I usually write articles while I have them in my head then worry about all the keywords and research after. I then edit the article where necessary with the keywords. Most people tell me I'm doing it the wrong way around but I end up with a good article. It's exactly what I was thinking of at the time and it minimizes writers block. I've had no issues ranking articles this way.

I have done research before doing articles but all it does it make me forget what I was going to write. When when it comes to writing it I usually do a different approach anyway then my research become redundant.

As for writing viral/trending content I wouldn't worry about that too much. I've done lot's of articles that haven't had much engagement for weeks or even months. Then someone with influence comes across the article shares it and it goes viral.... or might end up on the first page of google a few months down the track then goes viral. I actually had something in my head a few weeks ago wrote up an article didn't do any SEO or anything because I still needed to do my research. Came back to do the research 3 days later and it had 211 shares on Facebook. Turns out one of my blog followers shared it on Facebook and it did well.

 

[TheLoneStarBlogger]

I usually write articles while I have them in my head then worry about all the keywords and research after. I then edit the article where necessary with the keywords. Most people tell me I'm doing it the wrong way around but I end up with a good article. It's exactly what I was thinking of at the time and it minimizes writers block. I've had no issues ranking articles this way.

I have done research before doing articles but all it does it make me forget what I was going to write. When when it comes to writing it I usually do a different approach anyway then my research become redundant.

As for writing viral/trending content I wouldn't worry about that too much. I've done lot's of articles that haven't had much engagement for weeks or even months. Then someone with influence comes across the article shares it and it goes viral.... or might end up on the first page of google a few months down the track then goes viral. I actually had something in my head a few weeks ago wrote up an article didn't do any SEO or anything because I still needed to do my research. Came back to do the research 3 days later and it had 211 shares on Facebook. Turns out one of my blog followers shared it on Facebook and it did well.

That right there was what I needed! I suppose I just get so worried because I have ONE person telling me I should be doing it this ONE way along with all of these various articles telling me likewise. People leave out the part where luck can also play a huge part. I had wondered about the "lying in wait" method of where something I wrote months ago would become "trending" or "popular" based on current events down the line, but all of these "top blogger" articles never mention that. It always felt like I was reading some "How To Get Rich Quick" schemes.

I'm not saying that I haven't learned anything from those articles, it's just that they don't help to minimize confusion on the real-life aspect of launching a site...like maybe for the first few weeks or so the only followers you have will be yourself and a friend's duplicate accounts...which kinda make you feel like a loser. LOL!