The passion you show in your blog is a fundamental element of your ‘stickiness’ factor.
This passion and enthusiasm starts with your love for the subject you’re writing about. As more people visit and post comments, it’s easy to get caught up in it all.
But what happens when this passion starts to wane?
How do you get it back?
There are a few easy ways to make sure your blog content is always fresh. Keeping your passion isn’t as hard as it first might seem.
This is a simple point, but always pick subjects you’re happy to write about, that you feel confident discussing. If you try writing about something you’re not happy with it will show. Your passion is what makes your blog stand out from everyone else’s. You don’t want to mirror what’s already been said, but rather stand out from the crowd. This is where passion comes in to the mix.
We all have things we are passionate about, or hobbies that we love to keep up with. Whether it’s for personal or business reasons, we like to keep up with any new developments in our chosen subject or hobby. Capture what it is about your ideal hobby, and try to transmit some of that enthusiasm to your blogging. If you’re mad keen on gardening, think of ways you can write about it. Use metaphors, analogies and comparisons to draw from your favourite ways to spend time, and combine them with your blog.
Starting things afresh from a new perspective
Maybe it’s time to approach the subject of your blog from a new angle. Rather than sticking with a tired formula that you have always used, it could be time to make a switch and go for something completely different.
We all tend to get used to the way we like doing things, like playing our favourite character in a game, or revisiting films we love or books we enjoy. However, if you try a different character for a change it may open up a whole new game. Experiment with new media and see what you can achieve.
Switching to a new vehicle for posting messages
Perhaps you’ve never tried a podcast before or an audio stream. There is the risk of your confidence standing in the way of you presenting yourself on your blog visually, but it’s interesting to try. If you’re worried about public speaking, there are tools to help.
What’s the worst that could happen?
If you don’t like how your new post turns out, you don’t have to publish it. Even by trying, you have opened yourself up to a whole new field of skills that will fuel the enthusiasm fire. If it works well, then your audience have been shown a whole new side of you and your blogging capabilities will be transformed. If it doesn’t work, you’re no worse off but you’ve learned some tricks along the way.
Your passion and enthusiasm about your blog is one of the biggest strengths you have as an expert in your field of industry. If the thought of producing yet another post makes you feel sick, perhaps it’s time to do something differently.
How do you make your blog stand out?
Please share your views in the comments below.
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True !! I blog out of my passion but few do due to various reasons
Hi Andrew,
I seek to offer a mix of personal development and network marketing with a twist. I’ve uploaded a bunch of youtube videos – over 480 to date – and frequently publish these vids on my blog. This has spiced things up while making my blogging experience more enjoyable. As you note confidence can be an issue. It took time for me to turn on the Flipcam but I’m happy I decided to keep shooting.
Thanks for sharing your insight and have a wonderful day.
Ryan
Ryan,
480 videos! Wow. You must be the expert.
Andrew
Always trying to work on making my blog sticky 🙂 It’s hard though, I’m scared to try out video posts lol.
Ben
What are you scared of?
Andrew
When it starts to wane, it’s time for vacation.
Video is definitely in my future; first others, merely for the sticky effect, then hopefully shooting my own to bring in even more of the personal touch.
Dennis,,
Looking forward to seeing you in videos – I think you would be great.
Andrew
Hello, Andrew,
I used to post at least a video every week, sometimes two or three a week if I was feeling up to it, but I’ve lately been sticking to written articles. Why? I just don’t have the time to make a QUALITY video. A lot of my older videos weren’t very QUALITY, so I leaned towards no longer making them.
Of course, I care about the utmost of quality, so it just wasn’t in the question until I got the equipment to make it TOP NOTCH.
Great post.
Joe,
I must admit I’m made some low quality videos.
Will be starting again real soon and going to brand them as well.
It takes time but I think it is worth the extra effort.
Andrew
Wow, I felt mixed emotions while reading this post Andrew. I thing I have correlated the first part of the entry with the my current personal condition with my relationship. And the weird part is that I find your advice for blogging applicable with the “passion” I’m trying to have back. A new perspective, that’s what I need.
Anyway, I agree with the part of not posting it if you’re not clearly satisfied with it, knowing that it will also turn off your readers. But at least, you can try to keep the entry saved and be edited once you got to think of new stuffs that can complement that post.
Jason,
Good enough is no longer good enough, is it?
Andrew
Hi Andrew
Cos my blog is only a few months old the passion is there and I’ve still got pleny of ideas for posts. Although how I write now is different to a few months ago. Have more confidence in my topics I am writing about.
The more I research my small niche, the more I am learning and so I can pass this on to my readers.
Thought about doing vidoes, but for the moment my readers seem to be really enjoying the articles I’m writing so that may come later. Will be interesting to see how different my blog is in a year’s time though.
About to have my first guest poster and I’ve been asked to guest post on a new health blog that is coming on-line soon. I hope to have more guest postings up to keep up the freshness of my blog.
Patricia Perth Australia
Patricia,
You have grown so much in confidence.
Why not try a short video and see what reaction you get. You don;t know until you try.
Andrew
I do not personally “like” video posts. I always feel more at ease writing than I do speaking. It gives me a moment to organize my thoughts.
That being said there is absolutely no denying that trying video posts and other forms of new media, at least to “mix” them in is a really beneficial move. I have probably posted about 30-40 video posts on my blog to keep it fresh.
For one of my affiliate marketing sites. I have about 100+ videos done and this is a source of my continued traffic to my autoresponder list.
All of this from someone who frankly hates video. Trying things outside your comfort zone can really help you grow, get better and reach new audiences.
Steve
I know you said you hate making videos but it sounds like you force yourself and it is beneficial.
Great!
Andrew
I’m always wary of making video blog posts… It’s not indexed as well by Google (they just see text), and I don’t notice an increase in comments after a video post.
Henway,
At least you have tried…that’s the main thing.
There are some plugins you can buy that create a video site map. I’m just about to invest in one.
Andrew
I think it’s really important to love what you do in any field. For me, blogging is a great hobby. I enjoy doing the research on my topics because I’m learning at the same time. Then I’ll think about my various topics and experiment with my writing style to try and make my posts “sticky” as you say. Part of the fun is learning new writing techniques.
Richard,
Learning and fun!
Sounds like you are enjoying yourself.
Andrew
I am lucky one blog I write is new, but I have actually been a tour guide for a movie location for 5 years – I have done hundreds of tours! My blog is about the movie filmed on this location, I think I am lucky as I get inspiration from my clients on tour, I get face to face instantaneous feedback , something bloggers do not really get. That interaction is what keeps it fresh, I get lots of ideas off people. As a blogger that what you also need, a fresh mind to brainstorm with, give some feedback and away you go again.
Elayne,
Sounds like you are grabbing some great content…that will make your blog ‘sticky’.
Andrew
Video is a great way to capture the attention of any visitor to your site.
I believe most people (at least businesses) will have some type of video in the near future on their site.
Would be great if you could interact with it.
Joe,
I agree – expect to see more video…right here!
Andrew
Among other sites i run a site about weight loss as my “passion site” i am absolutely fascinated with everything weight loss related. I read tons of books on the subject etc.
However, as much as i love this subject, i sometimes just don’t feel like writing or talking about it.
I think things like this are natural and you really cant fight it. With me, i just take a break and eventually the passion comes back. I would advise people do this if at all possible. Or perhaps try and remember what made you so passionate about the topic to begin with.
Anyway, great post, i really enjoyed it.
People blog for different reasons. But the most important reason is having a passion for it. It is true that when you write something you’re not happy about, it reflects in your blog and your readers can feel it too. So writing something that you’re happy about is essential in making a blog stick to others.
I can definitely tell the difference when I write about a topic I care about vs when I do it simply because I need to publish something, Andrew.
Andrew, I’m most passionate when I get a positive response from readers. It makes me want to write more articles of that type. Recently, have had good reception to humor articles.