If your business has a blog, your only current focus may be that of garnering new subscribers and building your readership base. But believe it or not, getting subscribers isn’t your only goal to content marketing—keeping your subscribers can be a whole new ballgame.
Although the idea of reader and audience retention for a business’ blog is no new one, it’s often times not a focus of thought for individuals and marketing departments. But the fact is, keeping subscribers to a blog is growing more and more difficult a task as today’s consumer learns to embrace information technology and then has to filter the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Many of you reading this might think everyone out there at this point knows the definition of a ‘feed reader’. But in reality, a very small percentage of the world has yet to learn what such a tool is. Heck, most people are still learning how and what it means to subscribe to a blog by email. If you don’t believe me, just take my father as an example, who recently asked me this question: “Does it cost anything if I subscribe to your blog?”
A Cultural Shift
But within the next 5 years , be rest assured that just about every consumer who owns a computer will understand how to subscribe to blogs, how to use a ‘feed’, and ultimately how to filter out what content is bringing them value versus which content has little worth. And with this shift, consumers all over the world will be left deciding whether or not your company’s blog merits a space in their ‘inbox’ or if it needs to0 be ‘voted off the island’.
Although there are many, many reasons as to why one might click the dreaded ‘unsubscribe’ button, I’d like to mention 6 here that I’ve found most prominent during my time as a content marketer /blogger.
1. Sell, Sell, Sell
There is a big debate online about how hard and how often one should leverage their blog for selling and pitching products. Such a debate can be argued and examined from every angle but this general principle typically rings true for almost everyone:
If Selling, Not Value, is the focus of Your Blog, Then People will Grow Tired of Your Blah, Blah, Blah Quickly
Not too long ago I subscribed to the blog of a person who has a substantial online following. This lady has formed quite a network with other well-known bloggers and has obviously made a good living ‘working in the clouds’. But after checking the blog out for about a month, I noticed almost two-thirds of all the articles were over-the-top sales pitches for her next class, seminar, product, affiliate, etc. After growing weary of this sell, sell, sell approach, I unsubscribed.
This is especially critical when dealing with true ‘business blogs’—similar to what I have with my swimming pool company. That blog is 99% about giving great content to consumers. And because of the trust and branding that is built through its content, sales ultimately result.
2. The Toby Keith Syndrome
I mentioned this in another article recently but many businesses and entrepreneurs turn their blog into an ‘I Want to Talk About Me’ remix, constantly talking about how great their company, their product, and their services are. In most cases, this is a huge mistake. In fact, here is a good maxim to remember for your business’ blog:
People Want to Know What’s in it For THEM First, Then they Might Care About YOU.
This is why I believe that the best strategy for most businesses is to earn trust through value (good content) on their website’s blog, and then on the rest of their website they can yap about their products, services, company, etc.
3. Post Too Often
Believe it or not, and despite what some people might say, it is possible to blog too much. Now granted, this varies drastically from industry to industry, which is why there is no set rule regarding post frequency, but the key to remember is that every audience has an average threshold.
For example, with my swimming pool business, I’ve found that any more than 3 articles in a week is overkill. Why? I’m not sure exactly why, but I can tell that if I post too often my subscribers will not pay as much attention to individual posts as they come out—hence the quality vs quantity battle.
Many bloggers and companies deal with this dilemma, but one thing is for sure:
Posting just to post, without value to the reader, will backfire and blow up in your face.
4. No Opinions
I’m not going to list as one of our reasons for unsubscribers here that a person’s writing ability isn’t good enough. Yes, it does help that a person can write/communicate effectively, but just because someone doesn’t write well doesn’t mean that they can’t have an opinion—and a strong one at that. Audiences and readers need to be moved. It’s good for them to nod their heads in agreement. It can be even better that they shake their heads in fierce disagreement. Either way, they’ve been moved, which is the goal of any teacher/writer/blogger/etc.
5. Language
I once read an article by a guy who did a guest post for a blog that I follow and was so impressed with his teachings that I immediately went to his blog and subscribed to it as well. But within a few articles, I realized that the guy’s writing style on his blog was nothing like the guest post he had written. Basically, most of his articles were laced with quite the arsenal of 4-letter words—a writing technique that frankly I’ve never understood.
As I mentioned in my previous post about communication etiquette, why would anyone fill their blog with curse words if they weren’t needed to further make a point? 4-letter words might bring a snicker or two from some readers, but they’ll also turn-off others, so why bother taking such a risk??
6. Keep Saying the Same Thing, 20 Different Ways
If you keep up with enough blogs, you know what I’m saying here. This problem is especially true in the self-help/motivation niche. I’ve seen writers just keep regurgitating the same points and thoughts with a few new adjectives and personal experiences mixed in. Remember, content needs to vary and maintain a sense of freshness. If subscribers feel like they are reading the same article each and every week then they’ll stop paying attention quickly.
So there are my top 6 reasons as to why readers unsubscribe from blogs. What have I missed? I’m sure there are many more out there and I’d love to hear your thoughts.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello Marcus,
Great article all of those points have true merit and should be respected.
I wanted to add my thoughts to point 1, about over selling.
What happens to many, especially those who are blogging with the one goal of making money, is that they start seeing that every time they write a promotional post, they make money. When they don’t they don’t.
Writing promo posts makes you feel like you actually can write money, you have your own printer just spitting it out.
It is very easy to get carried away.
What you have to do is remember why your consumers are there and why they are giving you this money. It is because they trust you, agree with you and want to hear more about what you think, but this means that you have to keep bringing value o the table, otherwise you won’t get any back.
//Daniel
.-= Daniel M. Wood´s last blog ..5 Ways To Motivate Yourself On A Long Day =-.
As always Daniel, you really add value to the conversation. Love where you said:
Writing promo posts makes you feel like you actually can write money, you have your own printer just spitting it out.
Man, great analogy…….awesome point Daniel.
I would consider this post a “must read” for everyone who blogs or who is about to start one.
Your story about that sales blogger reminds me of a woman on Twitter who is an author and just over promotes the heck out of her business. I stopped following her because there was an absence of value. What she, and many others don’t realize is that if we front end the value, build the trust, engage the reader then you have someone who by human instinct will want to know more about you, your company and even reciprocate in many cases.
The posting too often thing remains a huge question mark for me because there are some heavily subscribed bloggers out there saying to post often. Not sure I agree and heck, this is all new for me so I’ll most probably change my mind no less than a dozen times on that one.
One humble addition to your awesome list. People who ignore the comments of their readers soon find these contributors up the street commenting elsewhere. Everyone has a voice, a story and wants to be heard. As bloggers we can never be so fixated on content that we forget the conversation. .
You are an excellent example of someone who interacts with his readers my friend.
Keep up the great work!
With respect and appreciation,
Paul Castain
.-= Paul Castain´s last blog ..Leave It At The Office Dude- =-.
Uncle Paul, you’re too kind my friend, and your points are spot-on. I imagine you’re post frequency debate is one that thousands and thousands of bloggers are having this very moment– and it such a debate is understandable because the fact is that what works for me may not work for the next guy, and visa-versa…….And yeah, with you on the comments thing. If the conversation is one way, why bother with it??
Thx again Paul–