8 Reasons Why Your Content Goes Down The Toilet Drain Every Time You Hit “Publish”

Publishing high-quality content is an important part of developing a successful website. Not only does it help to attract viewers to your website, but it also establishes your business as an authority in the online space and can help improve your search engine rankings!

But what do you do if your content fails to attract readers? This article will identify 8 Reasons Why No One Cares About Your Content — and what you can do about it!

#1 — Your content doesn’t focus on the needs of the reader

Visitors to your website will only be interested in reading content that they find valuable. For content to be perceived as being valuable, it must be relevant to the interests of the reader and be educational, interesting or entertaining. If you are writing on topics that no one is particularly interested in, don’t be surprised if your readership drops off!

Find out what your readers are interested in by asking them questions on social media and in your blog comments section. You can also use Google Trends and BuzzSumo to find out which topics readers are currently interested in.

#2 — Your content isn’t unique

It is important to always write your own original content or hire a professional writer to do it for you. Not only will duplicate content be ignored by users — it may negatively impact your website’s search engine rankings. Although Google doesn’t issue penalties for duplicate content (unless the entire site’s content is scraped), your site will end up down at the bottom of page 10.

There are various tools available to help you find interesting and original ideas for articles, including Buzzsumo, EpicBeat, and ContentGems. Use these tools to find useful topics that your readers will enjoy. Even if your topic isn’t particularly unique, try to take it on from a different angle to give your readers a new perspective.

For instance, you can use a tool like Ahrefs to find best-performing content on other people’s websites and make a better, up-to-date version of it.

If you happen to have Ahrefs (if not, you can get a 14-day free trial), simply log-in to your dashboard, input a domain URL of any website and navigate to the left-hand sidebar.

You are then given a choice to see top content by links, links’ growth and social shares.

#3 — Your content is difficult to understand

When writing content, it is important to focus on readability. Because online users tend to scan content, they prefer text to be in small chunks that are easy to consume. That is why bullet lists and short paragraphs can make your articles more effective.

Additionally, you should keep your language simple when possible. Complex terminology and overly verbose prose will turn most readers off immediately. Learn how to make your content informative without it being unnecessarily complicated.

#4 — Your blog is too “sterile”

If your blog is very technical and does not read as if it was written by a human, expect readers to stay away. Most readers prefer articles that have a personal element to them, simply because the content is easier to relate to. For example, instead of reading about metabolic processes and the science of weight loss, users often prefer to read about someone’s personal experience and the weight loss advice that they have to offer.

While it’s always a great idea to pack lots of relevant facts and figures into your articles and blog posts, remember to maintain the “human aspect”.

#5 — No one can find your posts on social media

Many Internet users prefer to read content that reaches them via their social media streams. This is because they know they can trust the content reaching them via people in their social media network. If you are not promoting your articles on social media, you won’t reach these readers, and your content won’t be as widely circulated.

#6 — Your posts are too short and don’t delve into the deeper issues

Articles and blog posts should range in length between 800 to 2,000 words in length. There are a number of reasons for writing longer articles, but the main three are:

1. Search engines prefer long form content and rank it higher in search engine results. According to research carried out by Backlinko, the average word count of a 1st result in Google is 1,890 words.
2. Readers prefer longer articles that delve deeply into a topic
3. You will set yourself apart from competitors who are writing short articles that offer less value

If you are writing articles that are 200-500 words in length, it is unlikely that they offer much value, which will result in a gradual loss of readership.

#7 — You don’t write very often

Users will only return to your blog or website if you consistently produce valuable content that they enjoy. If you write sporadically, your readership will drop off, and it will be much more difficult to obtain traction from the content that you do write.

#8 — You focus too much on search engine optimisation

Too many writers create content that is focussed on ranking for a specific keyword or phrase. Unfortunately, this approach can result in poor quality content that reads like it has been purely written for Google bot. It is better to write exciting, original and useful content that is focused on being valuable to the reader. This kind of content is far more likely to be successful as it is usually shared via social media and mentioned by other websites.