As I stated in my previous post, If you could only have one ‘blogging’ question answered what would it be? I said I would answer the questions as best I could and here’s the first question about driving traffic to your blog:
“I’m exhausted by all the seo and back link building and social media. If you could do only one thing to build your blog and drive traffic is good content enough?”
Running a blog as a business, I agree, is hard work and exhausting.
And many business bloggers fall into the trap of trying to do everything they have heard associated with blogging including the latest ‘flavour of the month’ topics.
Where 95% of Bloggers Go Wrong
The problem is far too many bloggers waste their time chasing the latest ‘flavour of the month’ or scam. They believe the hype that the new method or tool will bring them tonnes of traffic…only to be disappointed and they chase the next ‘flavour’.
The One Thing That Drives Traffic To Your Blog
Now let’s go back to the original question: If you could do only one thing to build your blog and drive traffic is good content enough?
In short…no!
You say ‘good content’ and that’s why I answered ‘no’.
If you had asked ‘If you could do only one thing to build your blog and drive traffic, is GREAT content enough?”
Then “yes” would have been the answer.
The one thing that makes a great blog is the content.
If you have great content your visitors will:
- Share it on the major social bookmarking sites – so you don’t have to
- Link to it (and therefore build backlinks for your site)
- Comment
- Keep coming back time and time again
And all of that helps with SEO.
| There are some SEO techniques you should be using when you publish your content. Read my free guide (no opt-in) here: The 12-Step Checklist To Boost The SEO Of Your Blog Posts |
However the bigger question is: What makes content great?
Just because you THINK the content is great…it doesn’t mean your visitors will.
I’ve published many posts that I believe are great and they flop…no comments, a few Tweets and that’s it. They disappear as fast as you can say ‘abracadabra’.
Just because a blog post has been tweeted or shared on Facebook 1000 times, does it mean it is great?
Not really – you can buy services that will do that sort of thing for you.
Great content helps solve the majority of your visitor’s problem.
You really have to know what your customers want from your blog.
How do you know what they want?
Ask them…just like I did.
Ask them the question:
If you could only have one ‘blogging’ question answered what would it be?
And replace the word ‘blogging’ with the main word for your blogs main topic.
How would you answer the question:
“If you could do only one thing to build your blog and drive traffic is good content enough?”
Please share your views in the comments below.
I think that content will always be the most important factor in the success of a blog or site. Search engines will constantly switch up their algorithms and fads will change with the seasons, but good quality fun-to-read articles, genuine enthusiasm, and carefully researched information will always trump fly-by-night schemes in the long run. While we obviously have to take steps to get our great content to be seen by as many people as possible, the sharing frenzy will die out soon if it’s only the result of keyword-stuffing or other such methods. I’m sure I’m not the only one who gets tired of seeing fluffy, poorly written blogs come up in search results.
Raina
In certain niches it is getting harder and harder to stand out. Publishing the best content we can, we help us do that.
Think about the blogs you go back to time and time again – it’s because of the great content. Well, it is for me!
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
Powerful question leads to great answers! I love the question technique you applied. This is especially powerful for productivity.
If you have only 1 hour per day to be spent, what would you do to for your business? I’m sure the whole thing will change. We will prioritize everything and only do the most important thing with the most leverage to build our business!
Cheers,
Ming
Ming,
That is a great, simple question we should all ask ourselves…it would vastly improve our productivty.
It’s a question that needs to be seriously thought about.
I shall include in my list to answer.
Thanks.
Andrew
Andrew, I totally agree about the importance of content. [We agree, even great content still needs to be taken to market]. On why many bloggers fail, more than a wrong understanding of blogging, I feel they have a wrong understanding of success. As if they’ve forgotten the time it took even just to go from concentrating hard on drinking from a double-handed sippy cup, to holding long-stemmed cocktail glasses nonchalantly with two absent-minded fingers.
Beat
Really great content can sometimes be “picked up” by the market…you don’t have to take it!
What is the right understanding of success?
Andrew
I truly believe that the amount of tweets doesn’t necessary sum up the quality of the content tweeters often re-tweet because of the author without even reading the content. High quality content is what all blogs need to survive content that offer valid information and or help to solve a problem
I agree with you about the Tweets. I think it is ‘part’ of what makes content great but you cannot just simply say ‘1000 tweats…oh the content must be great’.
There must be 100’s of factors Google uses to determine the quality.
Andrew
It always surprises me which posts are commented on. Now that you mention it, I’m going to go back and see which ones they were. It’ll give me a better understanding of what THEY want instead of what I want to write.
And, you’re right, smart people ask questions!
Julie,
Comments can do that for you.
As long as the commetns are adding to the conversation rtathth than just saying ‘nice post’…agree?
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
in my views it’s all about the content. I don’t comeback to websites that are filled with fluff and advertising. I enjoy a good read about any subject…but it has to be good, informative, interesting. I can tell when someone just throws a few words together and calls that an article.
Mariella
I agree!
I hope to see you back here…soon!
Andrew
I have to agree with Mariella, blogs that are strictly promotional do not perform well. A company’s blog needs to be an extension of their knowledge base that is personalized and relates to their audience. If a company is using it’s blog solely to “sell” their products or services, they reduce their chances of getting repeat traffic.
Nick,
Agree…provide lots and lots and value first. Resolve your visitors problems and then, maybe, do a bit of selling.
But 19 out of every 20 posts must provide value.
I’ve seen a number of blogs that provide 19 out of every 20 posts…that just sell!
Andrew
That was a great article. Quality content that solves the queries of readers and their questions will always be the ruling factor for your blog. Algorithms will keep changing but if your blog provides good, captivating content you will surely get frequent visitors. Just having 100 FB likes and tweets really don’t guarantee quality. Make a connection with your readers and you will get genuine visitors.
True…writing a great blog post is no longer just a matter of writing.
You ahve to research and plan before you start to write anything.
Andrew
Hi Andrew, I would also add that writing a guest post is a smart way to spend an hour.
And of course you’re right Andrew, you still need great content on your own site. AND a great way to create great content is to answer your audiences burning questions.
Glen,
…or 2 hours!
I agree, your guest posts have to be great content. By guest posting you are ‘putting yourself out there’ and you want people to see how good you are.
Andrew
I always get confused between what is considered as a good content and what as great, not quite sure about the difference between the two. Though you are completely right to say that great content is what is the demand of today to make anything work.
Annie
When you read a blog post, do you sometimes think: “That was good” and sometimes think: “That was great!”?
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
You are right in saying great content is what will help drive traffic towards your site. The thing with great content is that it is often elusive, and once you write a great one (or so you thought), it is not something people are looking for. What is important though is that when you write, regardless of the topic you are writing, you write something worth reading and not just for the sake of writing.
Felicia
Very true!
In the past, I have written content just becasue I felt I needed to publish some content. I’ve changed my approach now.
Andrew
Andrew, LOL! That was MY question. AWESOME MAN…..I wish writing and creating GREAT content was easy for me. It’s way harder than SEO, backlinks, Social Media and connecting… Figures.. I love the question though, I’ll be asking my clients today what they need! Thanks for this post!
Michelle
Thanks for the question!
Many of us struggle with content…asking the question can help.
Good luck!
Andrew
Thank you for just simply not answering “quality content” but giving an explanation of what it actually means. I see blogs use the term repeatedly without a single explanation other than “good” and “interactive”.
I appreciate immensely how you put it “If you could only have one ‘blogging’ question answered what would it be?…
And replace the word ‘blogging’ with the main word for your blogs main topic.”
I will hold this in my thoughts on my next blog post. Again, thanks for not just giving the same old answer to content and blogging.
Gabriel
Thank YOU and I hope the explanation helps.
Andrew
Definitely agree that it takes a lot of hard work if you really want to succeed at teaching people things through a blog. And a lot of it has to do with how far you’re willing to do to teach someone. While it may be easy to throw together a quick 500 word post on the basics of how to do something – the people who will go above and beyond and write a 2000 word post complete with images, videos, diagrams, etc. will be the ones who will succeed in the long run – all about creating epic content, no matter what form that content takes.
Erda
I think we are all different and many visitors would be put off by a 2000 word post complete with images, videos, diagrams, etc.
It is about creating epic content but it doesn’t have to be 2000 words with images, videos, diagrams etc.
I love http://www.damniwish.com/ and most posts there are less than 300 words!
Andrew
It really requires a lot of effort to drive traffic to your blog. Content is the back bone for any successful blog. The blogger might have worked so hard to bring in traffic but the visitors will not think for a second to leave the blog if the content is not worth their time.
New blog or old Blog Content is the key to success & some times presentation to doesn’t matter if we have the right content.
Great content… I love it! This is more true now than it has ever been. Creating great content is really the only answer to driving traffic, particularly in the post-Penguin post-Panda Google world we live in. This is a great post, thanks for creating it!
Great content must be well written and pertinent to the readers you target. Forget blogging about dogs to cat lovers, right? Also forget long, boring blogs. Life hands us enough boring stuff. Favorite blogs are short and filled with tons of “good press.” Don’t cheat your readers by being stingy with info. You did a great job in this post.Thanks!
Cat
You share some great advice…”Don’t cheat your readers by being stingy with info”.
I like that!
Andrew
Content is king as always. I will like if anyone write a post for me and visitor and I will come back again but if anyone write any article for search engine and try to gain traffic I will visit the blog for first and also for last time. If I see that blog in google search query I will simply left the blog.