Blog For An Audience… Even If You Have None

The beginning blogger tip I have for today involves a bit of fantasy.

Blog as if you have a large and passionate audience – even if you have none.

Not having an audience is a fact for most new bloggers. Once online, even if you write interesting, quality posts, the common reality is: very few people notice.

While this may be discouraging, I suggest pretending you have a huge audience of thousands that hang on your every word, day in and day out.

Why?

Because it will vastly improve the quality of your blog.

Consider how you would handle your blog differently if it had a huge audience, hanging on your every word:

• You’ll put more effort into writing quality content.
• You’ll put more effort into copy editing.
• You’ll check your facts.
• You’ll think twice about angrily ranting.
• You’ll reconsider writing pointless or “throwaway” posts.
• You’ll reconsider every detail of your blog’s design.
• You’ll redesign your blog for high traffic situations.
• You’ll finally tackle all those tiny, technical details that you’ve been ignoring.
• You’ll invest in your own domain name and hosting.
• You’ll finally create an “about” page.
• You’ll consider ethical issues like disclosure.
• You’ll engage your audience via posts or comments.
• You’ll procrastinate less.

All of these actions will have a positive effect on your blog – making it more professional, confident, and welcoming – and perhaps build the audience that you’re currently only imagining.

But there’s one last reason to pretend you have a large readership (even if you have none):

Things move quickly on the Internet, and traffic can appear suddenly, seemingly from nowhere. It just takes one submission to Digg or StumbleUpon, or a link from a well read website or blog, and suddenly you have thousands of readers checking out your site.

From my experience and reading other blogs, a sudden influx of traffic is nearly an eventuality. And it’s good – once you get a bit of attention, the snowball effect of many people visiting your blog and then linking to your site, brings many more.

You want to be prepared for this!

See Also

Old Blogging Sites That We Thought were Gone

If you’re currently blogging as if you have no audience, you may be sloppy. You might have random posts about dust bunnies, links that lead nowhere, a blog design that’s sloppy or confusing, or just a general, “I-post-when-I-feel-like-it” attitude. None of this matters when it’s just you and mom reading your blog, but all of this will matter when readers suddenly arrive.

A Party Metaphor

My point may be better illustrated through a “party” metaphor. Every blog post you write is an open invitation to a party in your home.

Perhaps in the beginning, nobody shows.

You keep sending those invitations out, but don’t expect anyone to actually show up. So you get a little sloppy. Soon, you’re sitting in your underwear with nothing to serve guests but lukewarm, flat soda and stale Doritos.

But one day (at three AM), a thousand people appear. They may notice (or even be irate) that you aren’t ready with drinks, entertainment, music, and food. Now you’re making ice runs after the fact – happy that people have finally shown up – but annoyed with yourself for slacking off.

I think it’s best to be as prepared as you can be. Pretending you have an audience is one way to do this. And through pretending, your blog will improve as a result. Even if no one shows up for those first posts.