Every blogger earning money from their blog content understands that you can’t continue to make money unless you get readers to return on a regular basis. Without readers, you have no one clicking your advertisements.
Luckily there are different ways to get people to your blog, but the real question is how do you keep them interested in your content to keep returning? If a person doesn’t care about your content, they’ll leave without bookmarking your website.
The opportunity to expand your reach will disappear, too. In addition, dissatisfied readers won’t return or link to your content. Here are some helpful tips to make your blog more appealing to keep traffic flowing to your blog so you can earn more money.
Blog Design
Take a look at how the layout of your blog. Is it attractive to the eye? Does it feel inviting enough to make people want to browse your pages? Blogs should not only offer informative and engaging content, but they need to be eye-catching, too.
Think of how you would feel after getting a hotel room, and you enter it to find the bed disheveled, dirty dishes on the table and scum inside the bathtub. Is it likely you would use the same hotel again?
Think in the same terms about your blog’s design. It needs to be clean, inviting and comforting to your readers. It’s crucial not to have flashing graphics or loud music that annoys them to the point where they leave to escape the noise or cluttered ads.
A few animated graphics are fine but don’t have flashing ads and graphics detracting from your blog’s message – or your strategically-placed advertisements. It’s fine to use colored font for your posts, but make sure it’s easy to read.
A lightly colored font against a white background is difficult to read. Visitors don’t appreciate clashing colors and music gives readers a headache, so they’ll leave your site without joining your list or bookmarking the site to return.
Blog Content
Another common mistake I see is when a blogger only blogs once a month, which is a grave mistake. If you want readers to remember you (and often return ), you should blog at least one to three times per week. More content keeps humans and search engines coming back!
Consider offering different styles of content, too. Text posts are great, but mix it up now and then with video and audio. Insert some interesting graphics among the content. Variety is the spice of life and the same holds true for blog posts.
Blog Topic
It’s also important to stick to your topic. If you’re blogging about Internet marketing, then posts should evolve around that topic. Providing off-topic information can turn off your readers unless you figure a way to relate it to Internet marketing.
Successful blogging can earn you money, as long as you make the blog design and content appealing to your readers. If the traffic continues to build, the opportunity to make money from your ads and content will increase.
Did you create and design your blog or did you hire someone else to do it for you? Leave a comment below and let me know.
Thanks for reading,
– Bonnie
P.S. Did you enjoy this message? If so, please share it with your friends so they can benefit from schmoozing. Then, if you want to get more messages like this one, connect with me via my social links below or hop aboard my notification list. I would like to keep in touch.
Is Your Blog Appealing to Your Readers?
Every blogger earning money from their blog content understands that you can’t continue to make money unless you get readers to return on a regular basis.
I created my design from the available free Weebly pictures. It’s the third I’ve made with that server and I find it easy to use. I think I’ve got it just right in my last attempt, barring the change in fashion. They say orange is the new black.
Hi Francene,
LOL @ orange is the new black. There is a movie that shares the same name, believe it or not. ๐
It sounds like you’ve enjoyed the creation process, and you’re happy with your theme and color. I’m so proud of you, Francene. So many individuals don’t even try their hands at design, but you did!
– Bonnie
I think I’m like the cobbler kids who have no shoes – my blog gets left till last!
Blog frequency is a bug bear too (I neglect mine way too often!). On saying that, if you have nothing useful or interesting to say then blogging for the sake of it can be just as damaging.
Hi Jan,
I agree that we shouldn’t force ourselves to write if there is no ink in our pens but is this a good enough excuse to ignore our communities? I don’t believe so.
Here’s what I truly believe…
It’s common knowledge that you have what it takes to meet new folks, every day. Most of them probably haven’t seen the great content you’ve shared in the past. You could bring these people back to your blog to enjoy previous posts. Right?
Are you doing this by way of social media? With online websites, such as Buffer.com, you could announce previous posts every so often to bring people back to your website.
After all, you have a business that needs to attract traffic. Do you not? It’s not necessary to write a new blog post to bring the traffic to your blog; just use the content that’s already there!
When I had my offline printing business, I learned that you can never stop marketing just because your business is booming. Eventually, customer activity dies down, and you need new customers find you, which isn’t possible unless you’re advertising.
Blogging holds the same value as offline advertising; it’s your marketing engine for the online crowd.
There were moments when I left my blog sit idly too, so I’m talking from experience. However, I also realize that my blog is an essential part of me being able to serve others.
That’s why I do my best to return to my blog as soon as I realize I am ignoring it. Now… if only I could say the same for my mailing list of subscribers! ๐
– Bonnie
Don’t mention mailing list… I KNOW – get it done Jan!
Of course, you’re right Bonnie – re-using current content is invaluable. People may not see it first time around. It’s still useful. And if it’s not useful or relevant, then update it (currently going through that over on my blog – damn Google changing the rules so often haha)
Keep on blogging ๐
Hi Jan,
Are you telling me that you’re falling behind on your mailing list duties, too? ROFL — I feel you there, girlfriend. I don’t have a problem writing a blog post, but I seem to fail at the “announce it to my mailing list” sequence. Not sure why.
I try to write blog posts that never need an update. Of course, there is the exception, such as a product review. Otherwise, knock on wood, I don’t need to update blog posts.
At least you can laugh about your situation. ๐
– Bonnie
Oh, “on-topic,” shmopic. ๐
This may be true for businesses, but what about for writers? Must we pigeonhole ourselves and regiment our writing? No, no – forget I said anything! This “keep it on topic” advice is slowly working to help me dominate the “no-niche niche.” Carry on!
In all seriousness, though… there are so many topics that have been nearly exhausted over the years that it would be hard to wring fresh, original content from them on a daily or even weekly basis. That leads to borrrrring. How do you stay on topic, yet keep a stale topic fresh?
Hi Holly,
I enjoyed your response, Holly. At first, I thought, here is someone that isn’t afraid to speak her mind — I can smell a good debate coming on! ๐
Then you did a one-eighty and said, “Forget I said anything!” Oh no! You burst my balloon! LOL
However, I don’t agree that topics have been exhausted to death. I still feel there is an abundance of writing slants one could take to make their topic interesting and fresh.
My pop always used to say, “where there is a will, there is a way.” I believe this with all my heart. If your writing needs a fresh perspective, maybe it’s time to look at it through a different pair of eyes.
Interview people or curate content and put a new spin on it by starting a debate. Allow your visitors to share their beliefs and take the ball from there and run with it.
If people truly believe there was no way to bring a fresh outlook to a topic, we wouldn’t have so many product creators getting rich off their ideas. :)O
– Bonnie
Great tips, once again, Bonnie. The layout was the one that I used to really struggle with. What I enjoyed didn’t necessarily mean others would enjoy, too, and I really had to find a balance between my own personality, the niche of the blog and my audience.
Hi Alexandria,
That’s the wonderful thing about having a blog; there is always something to do with it to keep us busy. ๐
With such a varied amount of personalities that visit our blogs, it’s not easy to please everybody. However, I do feel there is a happy medium that we can reach with colors, layouts, and content.
We do the best we can, Alexandria and hope that our visitors appreciate the time we spend writing for them and creating a pleasing unison between blog design and the written word.
Since I have visited your blogs in the past, I think you’re doing a great job so keep up the good work!
– Bonnie
Bonnie,
You’ve made some good points about what our blogs should contain and how they should look. We often make “our” blogs with ourselves in mind, but we really should consider the visitor’s point of view.
Hey Cynthia,
I recently visited your blog and noticed quite a few changes. What was the inspiration behind your decision to change how the theme looks now?
Did you survey your visitors to find what they did or didn’t like about your blog before you changed things around?
– Bonnie
Bonnie I was just ready for a more updated look. I’m still not finished with the design. There are some other elements I want to add.
I’ve learned a lot about branding through a recent 6 week course, so I’m also working to develop a brand for the website and the name.
Hi Cynthia,
Well, regardless of whether you’re done with the design or not, I still like what I see, and I am sure your visitors are pleased with what you’ve done so far.
It’s wonderful to hear that you took a 6-week course about branding. I would love to know how much it has helped you, and if you don’t mind, I would love if you could share a link for others to get the same type of branding help.
It’s exciting to hear about your journey with Internet marketing. I’m going to keep an eye on your progress and wish you all the best. You deserve it!
– Bonnie
Hi Bonnie,
I definitely agree with you about this topic. Oftentimes people will say that the content is enough but there are some very impatient people online today and if the blog itself is not pleasing to their eyes they won’t give the content their time.
I’ve read a bunch of posts on this subject and I have to agree that the theme needs to be clean, pleasing to the eyes and simple. The formatting of the post needs to be done well and the subheadings need to be evenly distributed throughout for the skimmers.
The topic I think should stick within your given niche but of course from time to time it’s okay to veer off topic. I put some personal things on my blog because I want my readers to get to know me. Sticking with a consistent schedule is much better than being sporadic. I don’t mix my content up enough but you’re right about that.
I did create my own design for my blog and although I’ve had it awhile I still like it and I still get compliments. So for now I say don’t fix what’s not broke. I’m sure though that down the road I’ll want to finally change it up a bit. I definitely need a new picture of me.
Thanks for sharing this and hope you’re enjoying your week.
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne,
Aside from a pleasing theme, I’ve heard many complaints from blog visitors that they leave blogs because the loading time is just too long.
Since we know visitors are impatient at times, we need to make our blogs load fast, too.
Yes, pleasing visitors is imperative, but if your website loads too slow, the pleasant design won’t matter. In addition, I agree that subheadings need to be evenly distributed, but I also believe they need to be relevant to the content that follows them.
Like you, I try to stick to the topic as much as possible, but I want my visitors to become loyal friends and fans of my personality. I want you and others to get to know the real me and that’s just not possible unless I include videos where I provide off-topic conversations.
I didn’t create the theme for my website, but I did manipulate the design so that it didn’t resemble another blog running the same theme. You can do great theme edits with color and layout.
Right now, thanks to Carol Amato, I am trying out heat maps to see where my visitors click the most. With the final analysis snapshots, I will be able to change the blog to suit the tastes of my readers.
I work with Photoshop quite a bit, so if you have a picture that needs the background removed, I would suggest sitting in front of a white background and don’t wear white in your outfit.
A graphics person should be able to remove the white background quite easily,. A busy background makes it much harder to remove.
Thanks for stopping by! I love hearing from you.
– Bonnie
Bonnie, you\’re so sweet and thank you. I\’ll be sharing what I learned in upcoming blog posts and videos. I\’ve got so much to share! My goodness! LOL
Thanks again BG!
You’re welcome, girlfriend!
It sounds like news worth hearing! I can feel the enthusiasm in your words, and it feels good to know you’ve learned so much that it makes you bubble with excitement!
I’m not sure if you missed my question about the branding, but if you could share a link with me on who you learned from, I would appreciate it. Send it privately if you want.
Thanks!
I tried to add the link in the last comment, but was told I had too many links so I had to remove it. LOL I’m going to do a review on it soon. I’ll send the link over on FB to you.
Hi Cynthia,
Oh… don’t let that stop you, girlfriend. When that happens again, just place the full domain name followed by the dot com, net or org and that will take care of the link problem. ๐
I would love the link and use your affiliate link if you have one.
Thanks!
– Bonnie
Hi, Bonnie,
I completely agree with all the points you made, and can absolutely resonate with the importance of blog design, blog content and topic as well. Excellent job. ๐
Blog design is the first thing that smacks me in the face when I land on the site. LOL Yes, less is more. With regards to animated graphics, I actually hate them and can only stand one, very slow-moving animated graphic in the space that I’m in. I think they detract and cause the reader to lose focus on the written word.
A friend of mine started his blog with dark blue background and white font, and I told him over and over again it was difficult for me to read, much less commentโฆ He basically told me that blue is his favorite color, so whateverโฆ Well, 5-6 months later guess what? He changed to white background with black font. Classic design just plain works and increases conversion rates.
Content is king, but if it’s not laid out in an eye-appealing way, then itโs worthless.
I agree with you about staying on point with blog topic. I think the exception can be when the blog owner has something personal to share like I did with my move to Tampa post. Folks are interested in learning about the business owner behind the blog, and these are usually very popular posts.
Loved your article, Bonnie, and hope you have a great weekend.
หCarol
Hi Carol,
I agree about animated graphics. Less is more! I think they detract from the more important real estate, such as article content. My belief is the same about blogs using background music.
I don’t think music has a place on a website unless it’s a part of a video. I dislike websites that have music in the background with no method to allow me to turn the music off.
I don’t write for my blog with the television running or the radio. Noise breaks my concentration. The same is true when there is music on a blog.
I like to read, but I find it hard to comprehend what I’m reading when there is music playing in the background. I can’t switch the music off in my head. ๐
I enjoyed your Tampa post. I read the entire explanation and loved the horse video you included on the page. I love horses, by the way, did I ever tell you that?
I would love to learn more about bloggers, but there are so many that refuse to open up and be transparent. I wrote a post once that explained blogging was similar to making friends in high school.
It’s not easy when you first enter blogging, but it gets easier as time passes. It’s the same when you enter a new school year. The first couple of days may seem strange, but as you get to know your classmates, the conversation gets easier and happens more often.
I don’t understand why some adults forget what it was like to make friends in high school. If they did, blogging would be so much easier or more enjoyable!
– Bonnie
Hi Bonnie,
Great post here.
Blog design is something that a lot of people don’t actually pay attention to but it’s carries so much importance.
No more are the days of putting up any and everything on your site. Flashy ads, graphics, etc. People love a clean looking site that welcomes the readers.
Nothing too distracting is what will always do best.
Blog content and topic are two important things as well. I agree with what you said about mixing it up once n a while with audio, etc. but perhaps people opt out of doing that because it’s very time consuming. And they figure that a text post is easier to manage and wouldn’t take so much time. Just an assumption on my part.
Great post here with some great points.
All of us have to do what we can to make our blogs as appealing as possible to our readers … and your points are an excellent place to start.
– Andrew
Hi Andrew,
Thank you for sharing the fact that you liked the post. I am happiest when I know I am delivering information that gets praise! Please share this post with your social media buddies, if you would. Thanks!
I agree that blog design helps your audience feel at ease and distinctly plays a valid part of the emotions of your readers.
Distraction is never good when you want people to LISTEN to what you’re teaching instead of them clicking on advertisements that take them away from your blog.
If people are clicking ads instead of reading the content, it’s sure sign that you aren’t holding the reader’s attention. Naturally, this is disturbing news, but it’s also a sign that it may be time to change your delivery method.
Add stories or enthusiasm to the mix, and you may find that you can hold the reader’s attention, longer. While it may be time-consuming to add video or audio to a blog post, we must remember that some individuals prefer these mediums over the typed content.
And, if you want to please people within your niche, strive to include several different teaching mechanisms while you address an audience.
Lastly, let’s not forget that some people are consuming your information by using a mobile device. Holding those small screens makes it tough to read the screen while the car is bouncing down the highway.
Giving mobile users audio information, rather than written content, could be the ticket you need to get your comment section buzzing with newfound activity!
Thanks for stopping by and sharing a part of you!
– Bonnie
I think its important to know what your genre is and make it accessible to your readers so that you don’t get pigeon holed so that you run out of steam. Also every once in a while its good to check in with the readers so that you know what they wanted to hear about it.right now I am working making sure the site also looks proffesional without it people will never stay to read the material
Hi Martha,
If you pace your writing, you should never run out of steam.
How is your professional makeover coming along for your blog?
– Bonnie