Which Comes First: The Blog or the Readers?

Scott Stratten, author of the bestsellers “Unmarketing” and “Unselling,” didn’t start blogging for his company until he’d already built up a substantial Twitter following. When he discusses his strategy in interviews, he says that there’s no point in creating content when you don’t have an audience waiting to read it. He suggests that it’s a waste of time to create a lot of content and to try to pitch it when you have no leverage.

Stratten’s approach might be a little extreme, particularly if you’re blogging because you’re passionate about a subject or passionate about writing. However, his stance raises an important point that too many bloggers ignore: If you’re blogging without building an online audience, then you’re sending your work into a black hole. To be successful, you need to find the right balance between creating posts and building your readership.

Create Better Content: Write More, Post Less

If you read advice from writers who are great at their craft, the first thing they’ll tell you is that “writers write.” If you’re passionate about a topic — which is hopefully why you’re blogging — then you’re probably highly motivated to share your ideas. By writing about your ideas consistently, you tap into a fountain of material that will get better and better over time. In fact, you might not find your best ideas until you’ve written through your bad and average ideas.

Think about musicians who perform in world-famous orchestras. These musicians probably have a lot of natural talent, but they also spend lot of time practicing. Although the technique and musicianship that they demonstrate on-stage is built through many hours spent in a practice room, most musicians wouldn’t want anyone to listen to a recording of their practice sessions. In the same way, bloggers might not want everyone to read every post that they write, but creating a lot of work, even when they decide not to post all of it, gives them more and more practice at the craft of writing.

Stratten argues that pressuring yourself to post all of the time could cause you to post mediocre material. Your stream of content might increase your search engine referrals, but once readers arrive at your blog, they won’t want to read or share what you’ve written because it won’t be that good. Write consistently for the practice, but don’t post anything until it’s performance-ready. When the audience does come to check out your posts, theyshould find only your best work.

Find Your Readers: It’s Better to Give Than to Receive

If you feel successful and fulfilled as a blogger, then you’re probably writing about your passions. As marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuk says, “If you love Alf, do an Alf blog. You collect Smurfs? Smurf it up!” Somewhere in the digi-sphere, there are other people who love Alf and Smurfs as much as you do. Those people are your audience, and you need to spend as much time finding these people as you spend writing for your blog.

To find readers for your blog, go to where your readers hang out. You don’t have to book a trip to an Alf convention — although that might be a great way to network — when you can find your audience online at no cost. Participate in forums where people are dedicated to your passion. Join LinkedIn or Facebook groups dedicated to your subject. Monitor social networks for hashtags related to your subject, and join the conversation. Find active Pinterest users who are passionate about your subject. Your audience is online, and you don’t have to pay anything to find them.

Once you’ve found your where your audience spends their time, don’t push your way in and start selling your blog. Instead, find ways to build real relationships with people, and be generous about sharing their material. Share their links, retweet their best tweets, and comment on their blog posts. Over time, you’ll build credibility and leverage within your community, and you’ll find an audience for your work.

It’s Both, Not Either-Or

In most cases, it’s best to build both your blog and the readership simultaneously. Post your best material regularly, and dedicate time to building your audience. As you work on both, you’ll begin to see where you need to invest your time. You’ll build a great blog, and people will actually read what you’ve written.