Let’s face it. Views are the name of the game when it comes to blogging. Nothing is cooler than being able to say, “I got 18,000 views on my last post.” Of course, getting to that level of writing takes a long, long time and a lot of perseverance. But even if you have a small blog like mine, averaging 115 views per post, you can still usually tell if your views are starting to decline.

This can be seen in a few ways. Firstly, you might see a decline in your average daily views. Last month, my blog averaged about 85 views per day. Not terrible, not amazing, but pretty much average. That took almost a solid year of work just to reach in the first place. If, for example, I checked my average next month and found that I only averaged 60 views per day, warning bells would go off in my head. Obviously, something would be wrong, and I would attempt to find an answer.

Another way to tell this is by looking at your comments/likes on a post. My posts average 21 likes and 17 comments, and I can usually tell if one is above or below average at a glance. If it’s below average, I’ll start thinking- is it the time I published? Did I offend someone? There’s almost always an answer.

Finally, the last way to tell if your blog is losing readers is by looking at your average post views. My average post gets around 100 views after about a week, since some readers can take a bit of time to read them. Of course, if you’re publishing wintergreen content on a regular basis (content that could be read in ten years), your readers will continue coming back, making this statistic irrelevant. If you, like me, publish half-wintergreen content, now is the time to check your average post views. You can do so by clicking the WordPress stats panel, clicking “Months” to show your monthly statistics, and scrolling down. Under “Posts & Pages”, you will find your posts ranked by views, highest to lowest. This can be a fantastic indicator of which posts do better than others. If my Africa posts were towards the bottom of the spectrum, and my SEO posts were nearer to the top, what does this say? Obviously, some posts are read more then others.

There is, of course, a way to troubleshoot this. But before we get to this, let’s take a look at four reasons your views are declining in the first place.

1: Your titles are lame

One of the hardest parts about blogging is coming up with new titles. Nothing is more painful then writing a massive piece of fantastic content, only to realize that your title is completely irrelevant and doesn’t make the least bit of sense. For hours, you agonize over a new title, creating and discarding ideas regularly. Finally, you settle for a halfway-interesting, moderately-descriptive title in the hopes that it will suffice.

Guess what? It won’t.

Creating titles is more than a talent, it’s a skill. Very few people wake up with the ability to create relevant, interesting titles, and for good reason- it takes practice. Luckily, there’s a solution. Go find the biggest bloggers in the game. Big names like Neil Patel, Derek Halpern, and Michelle Gardner all have fantastic blogs with even better post titles. Copy them! Find a title, think, “How can I make this subject better?” then go out and do it. Write a better piece of content with a similar title, and who knows? Maybe they’ll notice and give you a backlink. At the very least, you’ve published a great piece of content with a fantastic title, and your views should increase.

2: You published too little

As I’ve said before, no new blogger can succeed when publishing less than once a week. In other words: if you want to do well as a blogger, you need to be publishing at least once a week. This time frame gives you ample opportunities for social media sharing, marketing, and editing. Any less, however, and you’ll lose your audience’s attention.

3: You published too much

Many bloggers, unfortunately, make the mistake of publishing too often. Some publish every single day, which would be fine for a Christian blog publishing devotionals or something similar, but when you’re working hard and publishing 5 pieces of quality content, you’re wasting content ideas. Or, on the other hand, you might publish all five pieces of content on the same day.

Do not do that.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, is more annoying to a reader then 5-7 emails in their inbox from the same website. They will think you are spamming them and will delete you accordingly. Space it out, and if you want to publish over 4+ pieces of shorter content per week, make sure to publish different posts on different days, whether by scheduling or actually writing them beforehand.

4: You didn’t market

Blogging giant Derek Halper, the “psychology marketer”, talks about bloggers that don’t market. He likes this to a man acting out a wonderful play in a theatre- only to be watched by one random hobo that was in there for shelter from the cold. Sadly, this is true. Without marketing, you (as a blogger) are basically stuck. You could write the best piece of content, but have absolutely nobody read it. That’s the way the internet works. The world isn’t going to crowd to your door simply because you wrote a piece of outstanding content. You have to go out and get attention.

One of the best ways to do this is through social media marketing. No matter your platform, with enough work, you can garner a large amount of followers, all willing to read your excellent piece of content. I actually published an in-depth post on marketing, found here, if you’d like to learn more.

---

Even if your blog isn’t losing readers, these are some excellent ways to build traffic. Double-checking your sources of traffic is also a great way to find what your niche readers want. This really isn’t difficult. If you see a post on SEO got 100 views, but your post on cute puppies only got 20, this is an obvious indicator that your readers like posts on SEO. Give the people what they want! In doing this, you will build relationships and become friends with other bloggers in your niche.

Give your readers what they want!

Tweet

If you actually are losing readers, there’s only one way to troubleshoot it- find what worked and replicate it. Take your best, most-viewed posts and study them. You could rewrite them, start a series on the subject, or even just re-publish them!

Alright, that’s all for today. Thanks a ton for reading! I hope you enjoyed this post. If you haven’t already, be sure to click that Follow button below (or to the side). That way, you’ll get an email when I publish new content. Thanks again, and I hope you have a fantastic day!

Oh, and by the way- these were four of my favorite ways to build traffic. I posted the other five here.

Last Post: Two Awards- Sunshine Blogger 3.0 and Mystery Blogger 2.0

Featured Post: What The Holiness of God Taught Us About Speech