Prior to the domain 5NorthMarketing.com changing ownership in 2017, a wonderfully informative marketing blog lived at this address. Below is one of the archived articles from back then. Please note that the content below is not property of the current owners of 5NorthMarketing.com but, we believe, contains wonderfully written and insightful information worth sharing.
Posted on Jan 16, 2012
Blogging isn't about getting a few people to read a post every now and then.
It's about finding readers that like your blog enough to subscribe and read week after week.
The goal is to gain raving fans that can't get enough of what you write because that's the only way your blog will survive.
So how you do get more fans? How do you get readers who come back to read what you've so painstakingly written?
The answer is value.
If you want people to come back to read your posts, you need to provide them with something of value. There needs to be a benefit for readers.
Consider the Wall Street Journal. Why do people subscribe and read it every day? It's because they're guaranteed to get the most valuable business news delivered on their doorstep.
So people subscribe. Not because they feel charitable towards the newspaper owner. They subscribe because they're getting something that's valuable.
Copyblogger is another great example of this.
Thousands of readers subscribe and come back week after week because Copyblogger provides marketing and blogging advice that can't be found anywhere else. They produce quality content that offers incredible value.
If Copyblogger wasn't benefiting readers, would people make the effort to come back and read new posts? No, they wouldn't.
If you want readers to come back to read your posts and to give you permission to invade their inbox, it's important to provide value.
A blog that doesn't is like a burger without meat. What's the point? What else does a burger have to offer?
What else does a blog have to offer besides value?
Without writing content that provides a benefit to readers, there's no reason to come back, no reason to share, and no reason to subscribe. Since that's the case, how can a blog possibly survive without providing value?