42,000 brand-new blogs are launched every day. That’s 2 blogs every single minute. With so many blogs popping on the scene, the question becomes – how do you make your blog stand out? What can you do to make sure your creation isn’t lost in the clutter?
The answer is actually simpler than you think. Here it is. Make sure your blog fills a need shared by you and your reader.
I call it blogging on purpose and when you get this right, you will find it much easier to attract a large audience and consistently publish posts that resonate with your readers.
Now we just need to uncover your blog’s purpose!
Here are 3 questions to ask yourself that will get you moving in the right direction.
1. What is My Obsession?
What are you absolutely obsessed with? Are you blogging about it? If not, why? Remember that the best blogs are a labor of love. They require months (sometimes years) of consistent and intense focus and attention. You can’t bring this type of passion unless you’re obsessed with your subject.
For example, I am obsessed with bass fishing. When I’m not writing about social media, I’m fishing. I can’t walk by a pond, puddle, or lake without searching for the best spots to catch a monster bass. So, It makes no sense for me to start a blog about marlin fishing. It won’t be authentic and I would burn out within days. But give me a bass blog – and I’m hooked (pun intended) for life.
Your blog’s purpose must be rooted in the same gut-level, heart-pumping spot where your obsessions live. Take the time to dig for this. Once you’ve found it then resolve to channel that raw energy into a blog.
2. What Problems Do I Enjoy Solving?
Human beings are natural-born problem solvers. When we aren’t solving problems, we are searching for more problems to solve! Think about it. At any moment, you are searching for answers to:
- What to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or late-night snack
- The quickest way to get back and forth from work
- How to save money or…
- How to make more money
- The easiest way to entertain your kids
- Where to find a date
And on and on.
Your blog’s readers are the same way. They are looking for solutions and are hoping that you can deliver. If your blog’s purpose involves solving your reader’s problems, then you have a winning blog in the making.
Frankly, this is where many blogs get derailed. They get trapped into commenting on the world’s ills without delivering any tangible answers. Readers get bored and the blog dies. You can avoid this fate by blogging about solutions.
By the way, you can get creative about the problems you solve.
For example, I hate how Whiteboards are designed. They are always a pain in the butt to hang and are never the right shape or size.
Recently, I came across a blog run by IdeaPaint.com. This awesome company sells paint that turns any wall into a whiteboard! They also publish a great blog on showing me all the different ways to use the product to get my creative juices flowing.
This shows that almost any great solution can attract an audience and provide the purpose for a great blog.
3. What Do My Readers Need?
Spend some time listening to your readers. If you are just planning your blog then find forums and other blogs to hang out at and do some research.
Ask yourself this question:
“What Job Does my Blog Accomplish for My Readers?”
Think about a mother with an autistic child. What job would she want a blog to do? How about offering information on how to arrange play dates with other moms, how to emotionally connect with an autistic child, or strategies for finding the best schools?
If your blog delivers it will become a trusted resource.
Look at your audience and brainstorm the jobs they need filled. Comb through comments, forum threads, and questions asked in Yahoo Answers or in Linkedin Groups. Make a list of these “jobs” and then look at your blog posts.
Are you getting the job done? If not, then you need to get your blog back on purpose.
How to Hit a Home run Every Time
You can put your blog on the fast-track to success by combining all three “Blogging on Purpose” criteria – 1) Have an Obsession, 2) Solve Problems, and 3) Fulfill Your Reader needs.
You can get by with just two, but go back to the drawing board if you only can meet one of the criteria.
If you are careful in the beginning you’ll see your efforts pay-off in the end. What do you think? How are you Blogging On Purpose?
The Discussion
Leave a Comment Read Again?Thanks great post. Yes people normally come to read blog to get proper solution. If you can provide then you’ll survive. But providing solution isn’t all. You need some help of luck too to be succeed.
Great post.
I was astonished to read that ’42,000 brand-new blogs are launched every day.’ Whoa, that’s a lot of blogs!
I really like your advice of blogging about not just what you like, but what you are obsessed about.
And then it’s all about offering solutions. Solutions to your readers.
Nabeel
This post delivered what I was looking for so apparently you work the as you preach
Next blog post I make I’m going to try to hit all those three sweet spots.
Excellent, go crush it bro.
Hi Stanford, those are some frightening statisitics for new bloggers hoping to find fame and fortune from their blog. You’ve got a good recipe there. Now it just needs a long sloooow cook to get your blog to rise to the top! Thanks for writing:)
Hey Stanford,
Nice article. I really like the point 1 “What are you absolutely obsessed with?”. Great post. I think fulfilling readers need is most important part.
Thanks for sharing this great Post.
~Dev
@Annabel Don’t get spooked by the stats. I bet that 41,000 of those new blogs won’t make it because they lack passion and purpose.
Thank stanford nice post. I really got surprise when you tell that 2 blogs is being created every minute. . .
With million of blogs out there,you have to be competitive and authority on your niche if you want to be successful and stand out from the crowd.
If you solve readers problems as you mentioned in the article then, they will become your loyal readers.
Great Post Stanford!
I agree if you don’t have passion then you don’t have a blog. No matter how good your marketing and writing skills are. It’s something you can’t fake either.
I like it, especially asking yourself the problems you like to solve.
Deep down I think a lot of us have this hacker mentality where we want to know what we work with from the inside out. You tweak your design, you work on a new projects, you love to solve problems.
There’s something infinitely satisfying finding a solution on your own. Even if there are documents readily available, diving right in is the way to go.
So then this mindset reflects back onto your blog. You can recognize problems that you and your readers have – then solve them
Hi Stanford,
Having a purpose for your site to give readers what they need to solve their problems is very important. I hope those 2 blogs that are created per minute have this intention in place, otherwise they won’t last long!
This is great advice that is simplistic but needs to be heard (and followed) by many.
Karen
Oh I love this post! I very very agree with the first point, what we are obsessed about, i am obsessed with wordpress so i blog about this too lol.
My aim is to help others or my readers building their blogs and share what i know about it.
Great post, not a new topic but i love the first point. Keep it up
Really great post,
Yeah! You are absolutely right. Your blog should be able to fill a purpose because that is what makes it stand out.
Thanks a lot for the great post,
-Onibalusi
While I’ll replace the word obsessed with passionate, I do agree; 100%
These three should not simply be asked in the beginning, but continually asked throughout; making sure you’re staying on the right path…..I speak from lots of experience going of course.
Quit right opinions and interesting information, thank You! I think, phrase “you can get creative about the problems you solve” is main and important.
Personally I create websites, and I want to start blogging.
I do not think about it as “blogging”, but more like sharing expirience and ideas. When I hear “blogging” my hair stands upwards. Specially if it’s a blog about blogging. Huh.
Blog about what you love and what kind of niche that you’re an expert on it. Don’t forget to learn some SEO and HTML to helps you blog better!
Excellent points and great post! Thanks very much for sharing your thoughts and the post for all of our readers! Thanx
This post is really helpful for those bloggers who are in a dilemma that they don’t know how to proceed further. One need to work hard in the beginning to enjoy the taste of success later.
-Sandeep
Excellent Post thanks for sharing great ideas.
nice share
tfs
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