The Blogging Troubleshooter

March 5, 2008

Problem:

I have no readers / subscribers of my RSS feed.

Solution:

• Write more original content
• Ask readers to subscribe to your RSS feed
• Comment constructively on other blogs

If that doesn’t work, try also:

• Advertise your blog
• Use Social Media sites to get your blog seen by others
• Incentivize subscribing to your feed (its corny, but it will give you some readers)

Problem:

I have some readers / subscribers, but I am not getting any new ones.

Solution:

• Write more original content
• Ensure that your website is visible to spiders/search engine robots
• Try the other solutions to the problem above

Problem:

I have some readers / subscribers, but they are unsubscribing faster than they are subscribing.

Solution:

• Email readers personally to ask them why they unsubscribed
• Address any issues that the readers you emailed responded with
• Write more original content

If that doesn’t work, try also:

• Reduce the number of posts you make that are purely link-love, or that don’t add value to the reader
• Reduce the proportion of posts that are clearly paid reviews
• Reduce the number of ads on your site, as readers may be being overwhelmed
• Ensure that your feed is a full feed, or that readers have the option of a full feed as well as a partial feed

Problem:

My readers aren’t commenting much.

Solution:

• Ask leading questions at the bottom of your posts
• Write a linkbait post - hook them into commenting
• Respond to comments made by the users to create a community feel

If that doesn’t work, try also:

• Use a Top Commentators plugin to provide an additional incentive to comment
• As a last resort, get a friend or family member to write some comments to start the snowball effect

Problem:

I am getting too many spam comments.

Solution:

• Install a spam catcher like the Akismet Plugin
• Set the moderation level of comments higher so that you must approve the comments the first time a user writes

Problem:

I don’t know what to post next - I’ve run out of material.

Solution:

• Start brainstorming - think about what you have posted previously, this will give you ideas you can develop
• Read other blogs to get some inspiration
• Turn your computer off until you think of an idea - don’t sit on the “write post” screen building up your writers block

If that doesn’t work, try also:

• Use a blogging notebook so that you can record the ideas you have, when you have them
• Take a holiday from your blog to reset your mind and reduce your stress

If all else fails:

• Change your blog topic to something you are more familiar with if you’re completely out of material

Problem:

People are stealing my content by scraping it.

Solution:

• Assess whether the theft of content attributes you as the author or not - if it does, then it doesn’t really matter
• If there is no attribution, put links to your blog or to other posts in your posts
• Alternatively, use a plugin to put links back to your blog into your feed

Problem:

People are criticising my blog.

Solution:

• This may be a good thing - at least they are reading!  Apply any tips they give to your blog and see if it helps
• If they are just bashing you, then ignore it
• Get someone else you know to read the blog and judge if the criticism is justified - you may be too upset to do this yourself

Problem:

My ads are earning nothing!

Solution:

• Check that your ads are displaying with the correct code to refer back to your ad account
• Place your ads high on your page and not pushed off to the side - make sure they are visible
• Check that you aren’t violating the ad network’s terms and conditions

Problem:

My ad network just banned me.

Solution:

• Email them to find out the reason - address it and see if they will re-admit you to the network
• Often they will not reverse their decisions, so start looking for new ad networks to use
• Make sure you don’t violate the ad network’s terms and conditions next time

Problem:

My affiliate programs are not earning me anything.

Solution:

• Check that your affiliate ID is correct and that you are using the correct code on your website
• Market the affiliate program more aggressively, and put the links into your posts whenever you talk about it
• Consider trying a different affiliate program if you still don’t make any money

Problem:

My Alexa Traffic Rank is too low.

Solution:

• Download the Alexa toolbar so that the times you view your own site start to count
• Encourage your readers to also use the Alexa toolbar
• Don’t worry about it too much because it isn’t that important

Problem:

My Technorati rank / authority is too low

Solution:

• Blog more frequently and link to other peoples articles to attract Technorati’s attention
• Build incoming links by writing original content and asking people to link to it
• Wait patiently because Technorati updates a little slowly
• Don’t worry about it too much because it is not that important either

Problem: 

My Google PageRank is too low

Solution:

• Build up your incoming links by getting other people to link to you
• Try to get links from sites with a higher PageRank than your site
• Keep writing original content that people will want to read
• Ensure that you follow Google’s guidelines

Problem:

I have been dropped out of the top pages of the Google index - my site used to be ranked higher.

Solution:

• This will happen from time to time for no known reason - some think that it can happen when Google’s algorithm is updated.  Don’t worry about it too much, and your site will probably be back in few days or weeks
• If your site doesn’t reappear in the index, or it stays poorly ranked, start worrying.  You may have violated a Google guideline or rule
• Make sure that your site doesn’t use any “black-hat” SEO techniques that could get you dropped out of search engines

Problem:

I’m not on the front page of a search engine.

Solution:

• Write more original content on your site to make it more appealling
• Get more, and better quality, incoming links to your site
• Link to other blogs to get linkbacks and pingbacks - the traffic this brings may like your site and link to it
• Place your website in web directories and submit it to the search engines

Problem:

Robots / Search Engine Spiders are wasting my bandwidth.

Solution:

• Create a Robots.txt file to block certain areas of your site from crawling
• Reduce the different URLs that can be used to access your content
• Block multimedia content (Sound, pictures, video) from search engines using your Robots.txt file

Problem:

I’m not getting Dugg or Stumbled (or another Social Media site) enough.

Solution:

• Make it easier to Digg or Stumble your site by putting their widgets in your posts
• Use an AddThis or ShareThis plugin to enable users to quickly bookmark your content
• Write more original content

If that doesn’t work, try also:

• Write to the style expected by Digg or Stumble users
• Digg or Stumble your own posts to start the ball rolling

Problem:

EntreCard is wasting my time.

Solution:

• Don’t bother dropping more than the 300 card daily limit 
• Stop dropping if you aren’t getting good ad click-throughs from EntreCard
• Don’t keep dropping if you aren’t going to use or give away the credits

Problem:

I liked this post and I want to read more like it.

Solution:

• Please Digg/Stumble/bookmark this post if you enjoyed it
• Please subscribe to my RSS Feed to get all the updates and many more posts like this one
• Please link to this post or this blog if you enjoyed it
• Please feel free to blog about this post, as long as you link back to the post and attribute me (Andrew Messer) as the author

Posted in Blogging