You’ve got an amazing story to tell. Your blog post is highly engaging, and you’ve definitely got the skill to back it up.
You’ve spent a long time building up a small but loyal following on your blog, and you probably even have a few thousand monthly visitors. One would think that this is just what you need to be picking up momentum and driving in the right direction. But here’s the problem:
You’re stuck on Aweber. You’ve tried other tools and you keep getting distracted by shiny new toys. But when you come back to Aweber, it’s like an old friend who you’ve missed.
You may think that your link is not clickable on Aweber because you’re on the wrong platform. But that’s not the case. Your problem is that you’re not presenting Aweber with value, just like every other company out there. You can’t just will your way to a sale, especially when it comes to content marketing. You need to work at it.
It takes a lot of effort to get someone to click on your link. That’s why you rarely see businesses successfully generating traffic and engagement from pure marketing activities. You need to add value before you can expect to earn value in return. What are you currently doing to add value to your interactions on Aweber?
What You’re Seeing On Aweber That You Don’t Need To See
Now, it’s not like you’ve suddenly gone bad and started mistreating your followers or anything. You’ve been consistently good to them. You’ve just slowly and surely seen the value of Aweber disappear over time as you’ve gotten more and more distracted by shiny new things.
Here are just a few of the things that you don’t need to be seeing on Aweber:
1. Unengaged Users
You’ve got a lot of followers, which is fantastic. But if you go back to that original post that you wrote a while ago, you’ll see that not all of those followers are engaged with your content. (And no, refreshing your homepage or checking your email from time to time to see if there are any new posts is not going to make that change.)
If you’re not getting the engagement that you’re looking for, it might be time to find a new tool. Are you currently happy with Aweber? Or is there something else out there that you think would be a better fit for your needs?
2. Lack Of Interactions
When you first got started, you probably noticed that Aweber was the go-to platform for content marketing. As you’ve gotten more experienced, you’ve slowly begun to see the limitations of this platform. Why? Because people on Aweber don’t have much interest in what you have to offer. They just want to read your blog post. And while that’s not a problem, it can be frustrating when you’re looking for growth.
To get the most out of your content, you need to find a way to engage with your audience. The easiest way to do this is by answering questions. (Yes, the very same approach that was used to get you to read this article in the first place.) You can give some thought to the questions that you’re going to ask. And when you do, you’ll quickly see that some of them are better suited to an email course than they are to a blog post. (Hint: this is where a standalone webinar comes in.)
3. Disappearing Rating
Nowadays, you’ll see a lot of businesses with huge followings on social media. It’s quite the trendy thing to do. But if you go back to those early days when you first started blogging, you’ll see that your rating on Amazon was probably a lot higher. (And yes, a lot of that had to do with the fact that you were just starting out. But that’s not the whole story. Your content was also a lot more valuable then.)
Do you occasionally check your Amazon reviews? You should. It’s important to stay active on social media and keep an eye on your reviews. But you also need to be careful about comparing your numbers to other businesses. (This is especially important if your aim is to generate more traffic and revenue from your blog. A lot of businesses fall into the trap of thinking that more followers means more sales. That may be true for some niches, but it’s certainly not the case for everything.)
Since you’ve been generating mostly organic traffic to this point, it’s likely that your reviews are pretty good. But that doesn’t mean that they’re perfect. In fact, they probably have a few areas that they could be improved upon. Once you’ve addressed these issues, you can get your rating back up where it belongs.
Being able to track the performance of your digital marketing efforts is becoming more and more important. With each new update to Google Analytics, it’s got a bit easier for you to track where your traffic is coming from and how effective your campaigns are.
But you also need to be looking at other platforms to see how your efforts are measuring up. Not only does Analytics allow you to track the performance of your digital marketing efforts, but you can also view that data from different platforms in one place. (Not to mention all of the other tools and gadgets that you can get to help you find the information you need in the first place.)
4. Content Isn’t Stocking Stuffers
Aweber was probably the first content marketing tool to come along. And even then, it was mostly aimed at individual bloggers who wanted to keep their audience engaged over time. (Not to mention the fact that it was free at the time.)
But in today’s world, content is something that everyone is doing. Whether you’re creating a course for other businesses to take or you’re just putting out an article to draw in more traffic, people are getting more and more comfortable with creating content.
And while that’s fantastic, it can also put a lot of pressure on business owners who aren’t used to creating content. You’d think, with all of the technological advancements we’ve seen in the last few years, that content creation wouldn’t be a problem. But in reality, it’s probably the hardest thing for a lot of businesses to get their heads around.
To help with this, Niche Pursuits has created a 7-step guide to assist you in creating your very first blog post. Even if you’ve been blogging for years and have had success on the platform, these steps will take you back to the basics of blogging and help you build up your confidence to create a quality post that will engage your audience.
5. Fewer Skimmed-Over Designs
When you first got started, you probably wanted to have a unique and beautiful blog design that would draw in the readers. But as you’ve gotten more experienced, you’ve slowly begun to see that a lot of design choices can be distracting. (And no, those orange highlights around the edges of posts will not make up for a lack of originality.)
When someone lands on your blog’s homepage, the very first thing that they’re going to see is the glorious, awe-inspiring design of your blog. But before they can even begin to read your content, they’re going to be gobbled up by all of the pretty colors and flashy fonts.
Unless you’re also offering something special that will draw them in, like a free eBook or a special deal, you’re better off sticking with what you know. And that’s usually a good thing. (Plus, less things to keep track of when you’re on a tight budget.)
6. Fewer 404 Errors
When someone tries to click on a link on your website, the most basic thing that they’re going to want to know is whether or not the page that they’re trying to reach actually exists. (Or, at the very least, whether or not they’re going to end up on a scary website full of porn.)
If they find that the link is connected to a broken URL or one that takes them to a 404 error, your reader probably doesn’t have the best experience. And that’s something that they’re going to want to avoid. (Especially if they’re trying to avoid porn.)