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Advice needed: What to do with a 5 year old blog that has flatlined?

by gwenhwyfar37
15 replies
Hello fellow marketers,I'm a blogger with mid-range level of experience. just really needing some guidance on what direction to go in with a website that is 5+ years old (registered in 2016) that is, in a nutshell, making no progress in growth,, audience engagement, you name it. My video channel view counts are horrendous, and I've only got 4 email subscribers in the past two weeks.

I've had it audited in the past and I have followed the advice I was given, tweaking some of the layout, images, SEO, etc.

The only thing I can think of is that when I began this blog I kind of started with the more general niche of arts/crafts, but as time went by I wondered if that wasn't a mistake and too broad so I narrowed it down, starting last year, and just focused it on "acrylic painting" As other bloggers have told me, "Go an inch wide and a mile deep"

Yes, I did delete some of the posts that no longer fit the small new niche, but I made sure to direct them to a 410 page so I wouldn't have a bad UX or a bunch of errors.

I thought having a more narrow niche would improve matters, but still, it has not changed things one iota. I'm thinking seriously about selling the site as I've been feeling too burned out lately to think of anything more I can do with it.

I don't know if I've done the most damage with my niche, or something else is seriously amiss.

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Thank you in advance for any tips you can offer.
#advice #audience is too small #blog #blogging advice #flatlined #needed #niche anxiety #website advice #year
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  • Profile picture of the author savidge4
    Originally Posted by gwenhwyfar37 View Post

    Hello fellow marketers,I'm a blogger with mid-range level of experience. just really needing some guidance on what direction to go in with a website that is 5+ years old (registered in 2016) that is, in a nutshell, making no progress in growth,, audience engagement, you name it. My video channel view counts are horrendous, and I've only got 4 email subscribers in the past two weeks.

    I've had it audited in the past and I have followed the advice I was given, tweaking some of the layout, images, SEO, etc.

    The only thing I can think of is that when I began this blog I kind of started with the more general niche of arts/crafts, but as time went by I wondered if that wasn't a mistake and too broad so I narrowed it down, starting last year, and just focused it on "acrylic painting" As other bloggers have told me, "Go an inch wide and a mile deep"

    Yes, I did delete some of the posts that no longer fit the small new niche, but I made sure to direct them to a 410 page so I wouldn't have a bad UX or a bunch of errors.

    I thought having a more narrow niche would improve matters, but still, it has not changed things one iota. I'm thinking seriously about selling the site as I've been feeling too burned out lately to think of anything more I can do with it.

    I don't know if I've done the most damage with my niche, or something else is seriously amiss.

    [Link removed by moderator]

    Thank you in advance for any tips you can offer.
    I think there were some mis steps along the way..BUT that was then and this is now..no snese crying over spilled milk... and if you are given lemons... lets make lemonade right?

    So lets maybe get you in the right direction... you say your niche is "acrylic painting". Fie thats cool... BUT thats is more a topic than a niche.. BUT we can work with this.. we just need to start focusing in a bit more. What exactly do you do with acrylic paint? Do you do landscapes? City Scapes? Portraits? Abstracts? Still Lifes? and on and on and on.

    You can then get even deeper and discuss brush strokes Acrylic paint, or specific brush strokes for Acrylic paint landscapes... or the different types of acrylic brushes.

    Because you are involved with YouTube... You want to start searching the topics on google, not the specific titles of your videos and see how they might be ranking on Google.

    Part of a greater issue here maybe not so good titles? The searching above might give you better insight into that.

    Hang in there... you have made it this far... you just need to be patient and work through this... you got this!
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  • Profile picture of the author Devilfish168
    I guess your domain is fresh. This is why a lot go scout around expired domain partly it already have " instant traffic " but bad side a lot " hidden bad backlinks " , etc. left behind.

    It take some times to clear up , check etc. I feel is about patience. Everyday so many fresh sites come out + those expired domains which people buy. Competition come blogging is indeed tough, Next the Big guys up there , big company , establish ones will always rank up there.

    One thing sometimes I like Google updates, partly they make it a " fair " game come website. Anyone can rank in the first place sometimes.

    summary , If can just keep posting who knows next 5 years your site start to shine among the crowd?
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    • Profile picture of the author gwenhwyfar37
      Originally Posted by Devilfish168 View Post

      , If can just keep posting who knows next 5 years your site start to shine among the crowd?
      Oh gosh, I don't know if I can wait THAT long....Thanks for the encouragement though.

      Ah, these art niches are tough....If I could uncover a very small and underserved niche in the art world, I might have a shot. I know it doesn't help that so many art bloggers/vloggers put together very high-end and jazzy tutorials on YT and Tiktok. All I've got is my android phone and a little tripod with which to make videos.

      As far as small sub-niches go...Rock painting? Painting pours? I see those are popular, I don't know how competitive they are on their own.

      I know I have a good handle on things like SEO and titles, meta tags, etc....Some of my posts do rank well (although it's mostly older posts that I'm getting the most traffic from)

      Such is life, I guess, Oh well. I do have other projects I'm thinking about in the meantime.
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      • Profile picture of the author savidge4
        Originally Posted by gwenhwyfar37 View Post

        Oh gosh, I don't know if I can wait THAT long....Thanks for the encouragement though.

        Ah, these art niches are tough....If I could uncover a very small and underserved niche in the art world, I might have a shot. I know it doesn't help that so many art bloggers/vloggers put together very high-end and jazzy tutorials on YT and Tiktok. All I've got is my android phone and a little tripod with which to make videos.

        As far as small sub-niches go...Rock painting? Painting pours? I see those are popular, I don't know how competitive they are on their own.

        I know I have a good handle on things like SEO and titles, meta tags, etc....Some of my posts do rank well (although it's mostly older posts that I'm getting the most traffic from)

        Such is life, I guess, Oh well. I do have other projects I'm thinking about in the meantime.
        So is your ability in this direction?:

        http://www.youtube.com/embed/4UAraCqJmvM

        Do you think you could produce 1 video a day for 30 days? Its a huge commitment - get it. At the end of each day i would post the newly painted rock on eBay or Etsy.

        The back end of this is then each of the 30 videos... 30 posts to go with the 30 videos.. the best 5 in video and a post... you could edit each and every one of the 30 into shorts and or tiktoks Where to source the rocks... etc etc etc

        30 videos could turn into 120+ pieces of content in a short amount of time - on a specific topic

        You could then turn around and do something like 30 Canvas paintings in 30 days and if you are an Amazon Affiliate you could link to this: ( https://www.amazon.com/Canvases-Pain...80163504&psc=1 )

        Have you ever watched a Mr Beast interview? Please do and seek out the ones where they talk about his early years saying "Logan Paul" 100,000 times

        The art world is ripe for someone to come in and start taking up the bar... as I am writing this you could probably start with 7 rocks or 7 4x4 paintings in a row... allowing you to then get to the 30 mark.

        and when we are talking 7 or 30 of something... you could shoot and edit all of them before you dripped them in daily succession.

        So maybe loo at one upping what the current content consists of. Look at "Paining Rocks" and see where you can push content over the top... Painting rocks day 1 of 7 Painting rocks day 2 of 7 Painting rocks day 3 of 7 etc etc Then you can release the time lapsed version of your 7 days of painting rocks and the 7 shorts / tiktoks of your 7 painting rocks videos.

        This type of method... ( content stacking - that I refer to as "hay bailing" - in reference to silo structure without all the structure ) is going to signal Google - in written blogs done at the same time as well as YouTube with the videos that you have a knowledge base on said topic - with a succession of very similar content - and then to replicate the same pattern with say 4x4 canvas paintings over 7 days and then 7 days of whatever else will probably better than creep your content higher.

        It wont take 5 years to get back in the right direction a couple of adventures in the 7 day of consistent content will get you headed in the right direction.

        Hope that Helps! and the best of luck!
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        • Profile picture of the author gwenhwyfar37
          Those rocks are beautiful! I probably could do something like that, but I don't have the right kind of software (all these art videos must have something used to speed up certain parts,I don't know if it's time-lapse, or what) I know about royalty-free background tracks, just not the editing and splicing parts of it.
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          • Profile picture of the author savidge4
            Originally Posted by gwenhwyfar37 View Post

            Those rocks are beautiful! I probably could do something like that, but I don't have the right kind of software (all these art videos must have something used to speed up certain parts,I don't know if it's time-lapse, or what) I know about royalty-free background tracks, just not the editing and splicing parts of it.
            Its Free ( https://filmora.wondershare.net/film...RoCGOoQAvD_BwE )

            there are tons of youtube videos to learn everything you would need to learn and then some.

            Your only as limited as you think you are... YOU are creative, and should see your world outside of the act of making art the same way. Its not that you cant or dont have... you are choosing not to.
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      • Profile picture of the author dee4d
        Originally Posted by gwenhwyfar37 View Post

        Oh gosh, I don't know if I can wait THAT long....Thanks for the encouragement though.

        Ah, these art niches are tough....If I could uncover a very small and underserved niche in the art world, I might have a shot. I know it doesn't help that so many art bloggers/vloggers put together very high-end and jazzy tutorials on YT and Tiktok. All I've got is my android phone and a little tripod with which to make videos.

        As far as small sub-niches go...Rock painting? Painting pours? I see those are popular, I don't know how competitive they are on their own.

        I know I have a good handle on things like SEO and titles, meta tags, etc....Some of my posts do rank well (although it's mostly older posts that I'm getting the most traffic from)

        Such is life, I guess, Oh well. I do have other projects I'm thinking about in the meantime.
        You actually said your old posts are getting most traffic. Stick in there, you have a unique niche, don't think of quitting.

        Keep on adding quality content, and work towards optimizing on your keywords.

        Was wondering, are you continually doing KWR?

        You have a blog right there, if you think of dropping it, believe me, that will be the wrong choice.
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      • Profile picture of the author Devilfish168
        Originally Posted by gwenhwyfar37 View Post

        Oh gosh, I don't know if I can wait THAT long....Thanks for the encouragement though.

        Ah, these art niches are tough....If I could uncover a very small and underserved niche in the art world, I might have a shot. I know it doesn't help that so many art bloggers/vloggers put together very high-end and jazzy tutorials on YT and Tiktok. All I've got is my android phone and a little tripod with which to make videos.

        As far as small sub-niches go...Rock painting? Painting pours? I see those are popular, I don't know how competitive they are on their own.

        I know I have a good handle on things like SEO and titles, meta tags, etc....Some of my posts do rank well (although it's mostly older posts that I'm getting the most traffic from)

        Such is life, I guess, Oh well. I do have other projects I'm thinking about in the meantime.
        SEO yes but sometimes you can't really control either due to " Exciting " Google Updates. Just recently they update their algorithm some claim come Nov or dec again surely have one . Is endless now a days come Google updates.

        This is where by even you done the " best SEO stuffs etc" not say your site can rank even higher etc is hard to say.

        I also got a site but only one. I only send traffic via email marketing beside social media post.

        Backlinks wise I don't build much now a days.
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  • Profile picture of the author PlatinumPen
    I think you need to give a bit more info / context to get good advice.

    You mention the blog has "flatlined", but without numbers, this statement alone doesn't tell us much...

    Even the most successful businesses can plateau. Are you saying the blog is / was successful but just hasn't grown since 2016? Or are you saying the blog has never been successful?

    Giving us some ideas on the number of posts, traffic volume and traffic sources would help. For example, if all your traffic is organic, I'd ask if you are targeting a keyword(s) with good search volume for every post?

    You mention your video view counts are "horrendous". But what is "horrendous"? 10 views per year, 10 views per month, 10 views per day? One man's trash is another man's treasure. What you see as horrendous might not be horrendous to someone else. And where do these videos fit into the blogs? Are they on another platform and intended to drive traffic to the blog or vice versa?

    Finally, you ask if it's the change in niche which has caused the blog to flatline. The answer to this is in the keyword research. Are there enough people searching Google for acrylic painting and sub topics? It might be that the niche is there, but the posts are just not well optimised so you're not getting traffic...

    From your post I would suggest improving your SEO knowledge. The ability to do Keyword Research will help answer some of the questions right off the bat.

    More details will help us to give you more details...
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    • Profile picture of the author gwenhwyfar37
      Originally Posted by PlatinumPen View Post

      Are you saying the blog is / was successful but just hasn't grown since 2016? Or are you saying the blog has never been successful?

      Giving us some ideas on the number of posts, traffic volume and traffic sources would help. For example, if all your traffic is organic, I'd ask if you are targeting a keyword(s) with good search volume for every post?

      You mention your video view counts are "horrendous". But what is "horrendous"? 10 views per year, 10 views per month, 10 views per day? One man's trash is another man's treasure. What you see as horrendous might not be horrendous to someone else. And where do these videos fit into the blogs? Are they on another platform and intended to drive traffic to the blog or vice versa?

      .
      Well, I thought I was starting to make some progress around the 2 year mark (but I was also getting some help from a Facebook group I was getting blogging education in, so I don't know if that skews things. My coach always said I needed to focus on a "micro niche"

      My videos I've done in the past 2 couple of years probably get between 1-20 views...that does suck. Some of my older videos probably get around several hundred views (lifetime) Also some of my non-art videos get a lot more attention. heck, even my cat mogs me, I did a short clip of her for 30 seconds just for grins and she got almost 1K.LOL.

      To date, I have a total of 101 posts. Now back when I was spread out in too many art topics, I probably neared 200...but now trying to focus on quality over quantity. Most of my traffic is organic, and the rest I get mostly from Pinterst. I average around 4-5K P/V's a month. Bounce rate kind of sucks too, at 80-90%.
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  • Profile picture of the author reverseads
    The best and easiest is just to move on. Call it a failure and build something new, prevent any previous mistakes. I think many webmaster, bloggers and entrepreneurs are spending too much time on something that they know that is failing, instead of concentrating on projects that work well and progress.
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    • Profile picture of the author savidge4
      Originally Posted by reverseads View Post

      The best and easiest is just to move on. Call it a failure and build something new, prevent any previous mistakes. I think many webmaster, bloggers and entrepreneurs are spending too much time on something that they know that is failing, instead of concentrating on projects that work well and progress.
      The Best? Oh my.... It is flat out the worst... thinking you have failed and moving on... and then expecting not to repeat the mistakes... geez maybe not ALL, but damn near ALL will have no idea what the failure points are.

      As much as Success is a pattern... so is Failure... jumping from one to the next to the other is that pattern.

      Start 1 thing and thick or thin stick with it until there is a point you might call success. You can THEN and only then jump to something else and repeat the success you have EARNED by working through the tough times.

      Go read this thread: ( https://www.warriorforum.com/main-in...spire-you.html ) and then do a search for posts made by Bkelly301... it goes back YEARS... stuck to it, does what he does FULL TIME - He EARNED it... he didnt give up, he pushed and pushed and pushed.

      FAILURE is saying "oh that didnt work" and jumping to the next. SUCCESS takes time... there is without question a learning curve to success.
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      • Profile picture of the author GordonJ
        Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

        The Best? Oh my.... It is flat out the worst... thinking you have failed and moving on... and then expecting not to repeat the mistakes... geez maybe not ALL, but damn near ALL will have no idea what the failure points are.

        As much as Success is a pattern... so is Failure... jumping from one to the next to the other is that pattern.

        Start 1 thing and thick or thin stick with it until there is a point you might call success. You can THEN and only then jump to something else and repeat the success you have EARNED by working through the tough times.

        Go read this thread: ( https://www.warriorforum.com/main-in...spire-you.html ) and then do a search for posts made by Bkelly301... it goes back YEARS... stuck to it, does what he does FULL TIME - He EARNED it... he didnt give up, he pushed and pushed and pushed.

        FAILURE is saying "oh that didnt work" and jumping to the next. SUCCESS takes time... there is without question a learning curve to success.
        Re: Bkelly301, and his recent mind set change...One has to wonder where he would be if 5 years ago, he actually took the advice offered up on running paid ads? And that 5 years was after his initial post about reluctance to spend any money on advertising, when he had some money to work with:

        From Oct. 2013:
        I do have money in my savings account , roughly $10,000....but I'm also self-employed with a mortgage to pay, so I'm very hesitant to dip into that unless absolutely necessary. I don't want to piss any money away if I can build up a following for free.

        So, sure there is persistence, and then there is just stubborness too.

        Just one opinion, 7, 8, 9 years seems a long time to get that education when it may have been learned in two?

        Maybe the OP just needs to retool and think hard on the advice rec'd.

        GordonJ
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        • Profile picture of the author savidge4
          Originally Posted by GordonJ View Post

          Re: Bkelly301, and his recent mind set change...One has to wonder where he would be if 5 years ago, he actually took the advice offered up on running paid ads? And that 5 years was after his initial post about reluctance to spend any money on advertising, when he had some money to work with:

          From Oct. 2013:
          I do have money in my savings account , roughly $10,000....but I'm also self-employed with a mortgage to pay, so I'm very hesitant to dip into that unless absolutely necessary. I don't want to piss any money away if I can build up a following for free.

          So, sure there is persistence, and then there is just stubborness too.

          Just one opinion, 7, 8, 9 years seems a long time to get that education when it may have been learned in two?

          Maybe the OP just needs to retool and think hard on the advice rec'd.
          I think Its a matter of VALUE... did Bkelly301 NEED to be using ads at the time? As I recall he was nothing short of ecstatic that he was making an income - making guitar lesson videos.

          As I have followed his journey... everything over the years has had an order... he struggled with pricing for the longest time - a matter of VALUE.

          In this instance as it relates to the OP... There is a VALUE issue... and maybe some self doubt and ability. Yes something I might say, or you or anyone else is intended to reduce the time to a better chance of success... but if the person we are giving the advice to is simply not ready to hear the advice, because they do not see the VALUE...then it is what it is. You can lead a hrse to water, but you cant make the horse drink.

          Things happen in due time, when the person sees the VALUE in doing whatever it is - can it be made a shorter amount of time? Sure it can... but again if the person isnt ready for the advice that puts them on the short track... then for those giving the advice and face palming, it becomes a lesson in Patience Confucius once said "Patience is rewarded with Patience"
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    • Profile picture of the author WF- Enzo
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      How easy is it to move from this blog tho?

      Originally Posted by reverseads View Post

      The best and easiest is just to move on. Call it a failure and build something new, prevent any previous mistakes. I think many webmaster, bloggers and entrepreneurs are spending too much time on something that they know that is failing, instead of concentrating on projects that work well and progress.
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