7 Common Blogging Mistakes to Avoid

Blogs are an important part of the internet today with over 410 million people reading more than 17.6 billion blog pages every month. People who are just starting out may have received some bad advice on how to become as popular as their largest competitors. It is essential for any new or veteran blogger to understand the common time tested blogging mistakes to avoid and how to fix less then ideal situations.

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Infographic Summary

One: Blog Every Day

The hype – blogs that don’t post every day wont have enough fresh content to keep people interested.

• Why it’s wrong – researching, writing, editing and publishing a new blog post every day can burn a blogger out.
• Trying to do too much too quickly may tempt bloggers to cut corners by not doing enough research, writing quickly or sloppily or not editing their work carefully.

Do this instead –

• Post regularly – That might be 2-3 times a week or once a week. The key is consistency.
• Take the time to create well-written content – Researching, writing and editing a quality article can take several hours.
• The average copyblogger blog post requires 5-7 hours to make.

Two: Search Engine (Over) Optimization

The hype – Blog posts need to have a certain number of words/keywords/links, etc. for search engines to pick up on them correctly.

• Why it’s wrong – Keywords are important, and linking to other websites helps with page trustworthiness, but Google’s (and other search engine’s) algorithms are very advanced.
• Spamming keywords or writing according to some “perfect” formula won’t automatically improve a post’s search engine ranking.

Do This instead –

• Write content for the end user, not just a search engine.
• Be funny/informative/thought-provoking.
• Pay attention to SEO, but don’t go overboard.
• A particularly helpful tool for WordPress bloggers is Yoast’s SEO plugin.
• Making sure that your site is optimized for sharing is at least as important as making sure it is optimized for search engines

Three: If you write it, they will come

The hype – Writing a quality blog post is all a blogger needs to do for it to become successful

• Why it’s wrong – Nobody will read a blogging masterpiece if they never hear about it. Quality is important but so is marketing.

Do this instead – 

• Spend as much time sharing posts as writing them.
• Some sources recommend spending time 20/80 writing/sharing. Others recommend 50/50.
• Experiment with what publishing methods lead to the most views.

Four: Blogging is an Easy way to make money

The hype – setting up a free website and cranking out a few blog posts is all a blogger needs to do to make a comfortable living off their blog.

• Why is wrong: – Making a living from a blog typically requites more than just quality content, but also a way to make money from one’s audience such as through: Advertising, affiliate marketing or e-commerce.

Do this instead –

• Take advantage of the many ways to monetize your blog.
• Pay per click, sponsored content, webinars, in person presentations, ebooks, physical products.

Five: No one uses email lists

The hype – Social media is the only thing a blogger need in order to promote their posts and connect with their audience.

• Why it’s wrong – Social media is great at communicating with a large group of people and making an initial connection with people who may not know about a blog.

Do this instead – 

• Make it as easy as possible for readers to opt-in to an email list. Use popups or slide ins to bring people’s attention to the list.
• Email allows bloggers to connect with their existing readers on a more personal level
• Create exclusive or premium content for those on the email list

Six: Only write short posts (or long ones)

The hype- People don’t have time to read long posts. Writing posts that don’t require the user to scroll down will ensure they read the whole thing.

• Why it’s wrong – Readers crave variety. Constantly writing posts of the same length can grow boring.

Seven: Trusting every blogging resource you find

Plenty of people offer “expert” advice on what will make a blogger successful, but every blog is different and requires a customized strategy. While there are many common practices that work across all of blogging, always dig into your data and understand what is truly working and what efforts are yielding little traction.