Last week we did an exercise that led you through the process of rating your blog strategy. It was fun and all, but I know not everyone wants to go through a worksheet and do the math to figure out what they’re doing well or need to improve.
So today we’re going to go over 4 signs your blog strategy isn’t working for your business. No math is required, a lot of it can be told by general feelings you’re having, feedback you may (or may not) be getting from your audience, and your analytics.
1. Your website looks and feels unfocused
A lack of focus is the most common indicator of a struggling strategy. It’s also something that affects both you and your audience.
You’ll find yourself unsure of what to put where on your website, you’ll wonder how to get more email sign-ups, and you’ll struggle to lead people to your paid products and services.
It can be a tough problem to deal with for creative business owners because it leads to a lack of confidence in your entire online presence. You don’t feel like the expert you want to be. You wonder if people are taking you seriously. And it seems like your products and services just aren’t quite good enough.
This problem also affects your audience’s actions. If your website feels unfocused your audience will be unfocused. You’ll find that readers aren’t sticking around your website as long as you’d like them to. They do things like stop by to read a blog post and leave right away without staying to explore more of your website.
In doing so, they’re missing out on all the amazing value you have to provide!
If this unfocused feeling is something you find yourself struggling with, start by defining some high-value goals that you can begin to work toward.
2. You’re not moving any closer to your goals
You’ve probably heard me say it before, but I strongly believe that your website should be your best employee. While you still need to work to get your name out, your website should do the work of drawing people in, proving your expertise, and showing off your products and services.
If you’re stuck feeling like you’ll never reach that big goal you’ve set for yourself, it’s likely that your website simply isn’t setup to support it.
A website with a solid strategy has a reason for everything. Every item in your sidebar should support one of your goals. Each item in your navigation should be important for you and your audience. Your homepage should give a good first impression and give people a first step to take.
If you feel like your website isn’t supporting your goals, take a few minutes to clean up the distractions on your website to clear up more room for the important things.
3. New readers aren’t quite sure what you do
Pretend you’ve never been to your website before. Take a look at your homepage. Can you tell what you do? Now go to your About page. How about now?
If your new readers struggle to figure out exactly what you do and who you help, they’re less likely to stick around. As consumers, we want to be exposed to products, services, and content that directly serve and benefit us. If what you do isn’t clear, no one will feel like your brand is serving or benefitting them.
If your website isn’t clearly explaining who you help and how you help them, it’s time to make a few changes. Start by crafting an effective homepage and sprucing up your About page.
4. People aren’t being led to your products and services
If you have amazing products and services on your website and people just aren’t finding them, this one’s for you. This is a common issue for new business owners and one that I struggled with for a long time. It’s easy to create a page displaying your services, add it to your navigation, and wait for the clients to start rolling in.
Wouldn’t it be nice if it worked that way?
Unfortunately, that isn’t the case and creating an effective website takes much more work. You need to show your audience what you offer and why those things are important to them.
The best way to do this is to lead people through different stages of your content. Start them off on a blog post about a topic relating to a product. In that blog post, you can offer a content upgrade that leads them to a free course. This free course will give them the first step of your process, show them why what you teach is important, and eventually lead them to your paid product.
Doing it this way is much more effective than simply waiting for someone to stumble across your offerings. With this strategy, when people are presented with your offerings they’ll already understand why it’s important. They will also have gotten a quick win, making them want to continue making progress.
It’s definitely not a quick or easy thing to set up, but it’s necessary if you want to move your business forward.
How’s your strategy working?
What do you think after reading through these indicators? Do any of them lead you to believe your strategy isn’t quite working the way you’d thought?
10 Steps To Go From Hours Of Code To Development-Free Design
