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Giving the thumbs down, disapproval sign

There is nothing like having something that you’ve created fail to reach the popularity you had in your head when you first started out. No one ever starts a project with the intent to fail, nor does anyone start out thinking that their brand will be ignored. Too often though our ideals and actual reality are never aligned, perhaps due to lack of follow-through or proper promotion.

Still, as writers, our blogs our the extensions of the minds we hold so dear. Our thoughts, ideas, fears, and hopes. We grant access into our minds every time we post an article for the world to read. Not necessarily something everyone is comfortable with, but we exist because we long to share. This is the vital crux where success and failure is determined, the motivations we have will either make us sing or swim, and today I will discuss the Top 5 motivations that will sink not only your blog, but all of your efforts.

5 Reasons Why Blogs Fail

Here are motivations that bloggers should be focused on when developing income, community and notoriety for their blogs.

1. Focusing only on getting to the front page of Reddit, Digg, or StumbleUpon

I can’t tell you how often people will write with this mission in mind. That’s putting the cart before the horse as they say. There is nothing to be gained by writing with this goal as the sole reason for your post. There can be no respect for someone who puts the reader on the back burner for the sake of a few new eyeballs. While driving traffic to your site is important, quality content is what keeps readers on your site, people that come via promotions will just pass through if your content is not engaging.

2. Basing your success only on initial analytics

Sure fire ways for your blog to die

It happens too often, but people do not have patience to make their passions happen. A site may not gain popularity on the initial launch, but there is something to be said about perseverance. Sticking with your site, pushing forward with quality content, and finding ways to increase readership are all duties that one must undertake. Over time you will gain the popularity you seek, but initial analytics should not be considered indications of what your future holds.

3. Lack of quality content

Quality content can be hard to come by, but innovation is key in making what you do different. There are a lot of blogs in the blogosphere, some are more popular than others, but finding the right niche and make a big difference. By providing the right people with the right information, you increase readership, readers stay on your site longer, and people are more willing to share your site with others. If you are just posting for the sake of posting, to fill up space, or meet a quota, all of that is sure to doom your efforts as a blogger.

4. Keep your blog in one place

Once a community has come together to support a site, the blog takes on a life of its own, one in which the community now has a stake in their efforts on your site. A sure fire way to fail and even lose the community is to change the location of your site. It’s one thing to transfer your site from one host to another, some downtime can be expected, but you’ve not really changed the face of your site. But if you plan on changing the name, which will in turn change the brand, your community may lash out and maybe even disappear. Plan when you choose a name, plan when you decide to build your brand, all this is key to ensuring never having to experience this failure.

5. Cluttered sites, means readers leave

Are you the type of person that likes spinning, flashing, dancing, and glowing buttons, banners, and icons on your site? STOP! The whole idea if you being a blogger is to share information. It does no one any good if they cannot find your content because they are busy investigating and being confused with irrelevant distractions. Keep your site clean, easy to follow and manageable. If you need lots of content, consider links and tabs, believe me your readers will love you for it.

Photo Credit striatic, Scott Ableman, Fire Monkey Fish

Luis Sandoval is a media professional and consultant who shares his insights on social media and technology on his blog The Daily Slackr.

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