Much of SEO is built around authority - eg people referencing your site back on specific topics / subjects.
This is where the human element really comes in, and from your description it sounds like your site's non-specific focus could be the root of the problem: jack of all trades, master of none.
In my experience white-hat SEO is a hard fought battle of link-trading, guest posting, methodically submitting to social media & search, and building an audience around a specific topic.
Beyond that, you've got to embrace the fundamentals - a very solid (free) guide was posted @ SEOMOZ back in June ->
That has been the common theme in everyone's reply and I think you are right with the "jack of all, master of none" comment.
Not sure if what I want is to really drill down on a specific topic though, so now it's an issue of re-evaluating what I want out of all of this with what it will take to be successful and I don't think those two lines intersect unfortunately.
I actually do not see SEO as the be-all and end-all to success. I actually had thought about this same problem myself, though I am not nearly as invested as you are.
It looks like everyone agrees that in order for people to visit, they need to know what to expect. Like when people visit a physical store, the store itself might not be particularly interesting, but the goods it carry is of interest to the visitor at a particular moment. However, people visit more than stores. We visit our friend's homes too, for instance. What do we get out of that?
Why of course it's a relationship. It doesn't really matter what you do together at home. Maybe you do not even offer water to them when they come (bad). They come because they have an interest in you as a person in one way or another.
Blogs are the same. If you depend on search engine traffic then yes, you need to be an authority on some subjects. Do remember, however, that everyone is an authority about him/herself. Does Google Bot care? Maybe not (yet). Do people care? Yes! Why fight with a robot when your goal is to be read by people?
For this reason I think it is not helpful to rely on SEO if you are running a personal blog. Find where people are, like online communities, social networks, and engage with real people. I'm sure you can find a circle that can be your starting point. From there, you may even get feedback that help you gauge just how popular or interesting you truly are, and build your character up so eventually, even Google Bot will love you.
This is where the human element really comes in, and from your description it sounds like your site's non-specific focus could be the root of the problem: jack of all trades, master of none.
In my experience white-hat SEO is a hard fought battle of link-trading, guest posting, methodically submitting to social media & search, and building an audience around a specific topic.
Beyond that, you've got to embrace the fundamentals - a very solid (free) guide was posted @ SEOMOZ back in June ->
http://guides.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-search-engine-op...
and more specifically:
http://guides.seomoz.org/chapter-7-growing-popularity-and-li...