It’s common to feel a setback in your new company due to stiff competition. A founder needs to be flexible and willing to stand out from the competition. Being flexible and willing to make changes may pay off; just look at companies like Nokia and Groupon who were forced to evolve and it paid off into big success. It’s important to look at pivots and how they can bring success to your business like they have for these big brands. Here is a guide on learning from business pivots as a blogger.
Understand your niche and differentiate yourself
The popular social media platform of Twitter was actually once a spinoff from a 2005 podcast startup called Odeo. Users could create their own podcasts to share through the website but the lack of success from the idea quickly showed the founders that this wasn’t going to blow up into a podcasting phenomenon like they hoped.
Due to competition with Apple and others, Odeo couldn’t handle the competition which led the founders to work on a new product. During brainstorming and watching what the competition was doing that they weren’t, one of the founders came up with a new product idea known as Twttr, and it has led to enormous success since it hit the public in 2006.
The lesson here is that while you are not seeing success with your first attempt, look at what the competition is doing and how you can change your concept to beat theirs. Since Odeo couldn’t keep up with what the guys at Apple were doing, Twitter was born and that is one of the most famous social media platforms today.
Learn about the biggest players in your niche, keep up with their blogs and look at how yours is measuring up. By subscribing to other bloggers in your industry, you can see what they are up to and come up with unique ideas to stand out from the crowd.
Tune in to your audience
It’s important to listen to your audience. You may think your blog is going great and attracting plenty of readers but in reality, it may be able to do better. If you don’t listen to what your users are telling you about what works and what doesn’t, you may be missing out on something much greater.
Groupon once started out as a website called “The Point” which wasn’t making any money and the founder claims that the biggest lesson he learned was that he didn’t let the users tell them if it was working or not. After seeing members of The Point trying to get group discounts on product, the investors realized what users wanted and Groupon was born.
The lesson here is to listen to your blog readers. Your Groupon or Twitter could be born if you listen to your users and pay attention to how they are using the site. Are you listening to your audience and finding out what they want to read about? Which blog posts are the most popular and what difficulties are people commonly having with your site?
Read and respond to all post comments and interact with your users through social media, email and conducting surveys. Just be careful not to let anyone bring down your spirit if everyone is fighting you on something you believe in, otherwise had others done this, a Twitter or Groupon site may have never come to life.
Gather inspiration
Lastly, you want to make sure you are gathering your ideas anywhere you can. You may find ideas from unlikely sources like a trip you take, a person you meet or a website you come across. Don’t focus on those who are closest to you but instead, subscribe to blogs on various topics and start capturing ideas in a notebook everywhere you go. In fact, Starbucks was born because the marketing director fell in love with European-style coffeehouses in the 80s and decided to recreate it in the states.
Use these tips to avoid pivots in the blogging world so that your blog can become something great despite challenges along the way. Even with pivots, you can overcome them and become a successful blogger.
