Should You Stop Blogging and Kill Your Blog?

Source: Neil Patel

A blogger’s work never ends.

There’s relentless pressure to keep creating content that entertains, inspires, and moves people to action.

This makes blogging a super high-maintenance field.

To gain headway, you have no choice but to immerse yourself completely in the ever-evolving digital space.

Put simply, blogging isn’t for the faint of heart.

After being at it for more than ten years, I’ve got some advice: Every drop of blood, sweat, and tears required to grow a blog is worth it.

Does anyone agree with me?

It looks like it. A resounding 6.7 million people blog on blogging sites, and 12 million blog on social media networks.

For some, it’s a means to support their business goals.

For others, blogging is their business.

Just take a look at Darren Rowse. His personal blog about blogging is the foundation of his multi-million dollar business.

Whatever camp you fall in, if you’ve been blogging for a while, you may have asked yourself these questions.

“Is blogging really worth my time and money?”

“Should I kill off my blog?”

These are valid questions.

In this article, I’ll help you come up with valid answers.

First, we’ll look at a few “false flag” reasons you may feel like calling it quits and how to get past them.

Why dwell on the false flags?

I don’t want you to make a permanent decision based on problems that can be fixed easily.

It could simply be a case of you using the wrong strategy.

Then, we’ll get into the circumstances that may warrant killing off your blog.

Let’s jump in.

Why blogging is ridiculously hard, and why you should do it anyway

Here’s the bottom line.

For your blog to gain traction, several elements must come together seamlessly.

1. Your audience targeting has to be on point.
2. Your content has to be of superb quality.
3. Your PR strategy has to be brilliant.

And that’s just the beginning.

Each of these elements has details to be worked out.

Is it hard work? Yes, but the rewards can be remarkable.

I can say with certainty that blogging has been one of my best business decisions. It helped me attract a large and loyal audience organically.

This is why I’m encouraged by the 53% of marketers who consider blog content to be their top priority.

With the right tactics, they will reap the rewards.

You can do the same.

Here’s an overview of what you can achieve with blogging.

• Attract the right audience.
• Convert your readers into warm leads by providing immense value.
• Close the deal by turning those leads into customers.
• Delight your customers into becoming evangelists for your brand.

In a nutshell, blogging is a powerful strategy to get people through these four stages of the inbound marketing funnel.

Here’s what the inbound methodology looks like.

That’s the awesome chain reaction that blogging can set in motion for you!

It’s no wonder that it is considered to be one of the highest ranking content marketing techniques.

Even with all the possibilities that blogging provides, success may feel like it’s out of your reach.

The result?

You may be compelled to call it quits.

Sometimes, these feelings are valid.

More often than not, there are simple reasons why your blog may not be performing as you’d like.

You can turn this around.

How to make your blog work for you

There are many problems that come with scaling a blog.

Some are more troublesome than others.

Here are the three most common “false flags” and what to do about them.

False flag #1: You’re not getting enough traffic to your content.

On the bright side, you’re not alone.

This is one problem that has left many bloggers discouraged.

HubSpot reveals that traffic generation remains one of the toughest marketing challenges for bloggers and businesses.

Is it frustrating when no one reads the content that you put hours into creating? Of course.

But that’s the nature of the game.

There’s simply too much content competing for attention.

Here’s how you can fix your traffic problem.

1. Master organic search. Search engines are your best ally if you know how to create content that they love.

The key is to optimize your posts with the keywords that your target users are searching for.

2. Build an engaged email list. My email list is one of my largest traffic sources. You can alert your list every time you publish new content.

If you ever plan to monetize your blog, your email list will be one of your highest converting channels.

Want proof?

Email ranks as the top channel for driving leads. (73% of survey respondents say so.)

3. Tap into existing traffic. If your target audience is not reading your content, chances are, they’re hanging out somewhere else.

Find out who those other players are, and reach out to them to collaborate.

You can write guest articles or co-create content.

Either way, some of their readers are bound to gravitate towards you.

What’s the key to tapping into someone else’s readership?

Ensure that your message is aligned with the interests and pain points of their audience.

4. Pay to promote your content. Organic traffic takes time and strategy to drive. If you have neither of those, you’ll be disappointed in your results.

The solution?

Drive targeted traffic to your posts.

Facebook Ads are your best bet. They’re cheap and effective.

In fact, the average cost per click for Facebook Ads across industries is a meager $1.72.

False flag #2: Readers aren’t engaging with your content.

Lack of engagement is another common problem.

Most times, it’s because bloggers simply don’t have a formula for creating engaging content.

In fact, 56% of content marketers agree that this is their top challenge.

Here’s my advice to fix your engagement problem.

1. Get clear on your target audience. When you know the…

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