So you are just starting a blog or maybe you have been blogging for a while well, most common blogging mistakes are not limited to new bloggers alone. Blogging is an over-saturated industry and what you see on the internet.
Post like “Start and run a profitable blog within 10 minutes”. Viola! with the skyrocket in the standard of living and almost everything, people are currently searching for an extra way to make. You are probably offered that and you want to blog too.
The truth is that I started that way and if I was allowed to start a blog there are several things I would do differently this time.
1. The Common Blogging Mistake of Starting with a Free Blog Hosting Platform
I have overheard people say “Why will I spend money on what I have no idea about” but common, a simple domain on Namecheap can be gotten for and hosted for as low as 2.8 dollars a month.
That’s not expensive and this could help you look like a professional until you finally decide the direction you want to trail.
I have come across several posts on Quora where people ask why their blog should be on Quora, Medium, Blogger and any other platform that allows you to run your small blog.
My reactions are usually “Roll your eyes baby”……
Reasons why you want to avoid the blogging mistakes of using a free blog hosting platform
1) You have no control over what happens: When your blog is hosted on blogger, Quora, Medium there are chances that they might wake up one morning and delete your blog or maybe they are out of business. They finally want to shut down.
You are left with the struggle of either starting afresh or moving your contents which I doubt for some platform will be possible.
2) Brands will not want to work with you: Just like most persons prefer giving a business contract to brands with a physical address. Brands want to trust with either advertising or helping them reach the right audience but most will not want to work with a brand who doesn’t have their proper URL like “Yourblog.com.
In 2019, no brand will want to work with a that looks like yourblogname.wembley.com or a blog on Quora or medium.
3) It is Limiting: I have so many reasons why I will choose a self-hosted WordPress over a blogger blog but if you are using blogger.
Do you realize you cannot have plugins even down to simple SEO plugins? If you must do anything extraordinary, you should be able to infuse codes to your dashboard. What stress?
Blogging is a very competitive industry and for you to grow, you need tools that will make your life a lot easier, you cant have that using a free platform.
A free WordPress blog wouldn’t allow you to install plugins, do you know about this already?
2. New Bloggers Fail to have a well-defined path:
If you are starting a blog, you must have a very clearly defined path; With so many information flying around the internet about starting a blog, many bloggers do not take time to find out what path they want to take.
Blogging is very competitive and if you must break boundaries, you need to have a clearly defined purpose and path. When you have a clearly defined path, you tend to make wise decisions and even create strategies that gear towards your goal.
E.g: Katie is a food and recipe blogger. She clearly defines her goals “My blog will talk about recipe and food. Also, I want to encourage other bloggers to make their recipes, they should be confident enough to sell their recipes even without studying in the best culinary school”.
This is a blogger with a clearly defined purpose and along the line, she may decide to create a digital course as a source of passive income.
The truth is that not everyone has clarity about what they want to do with their blog, including me.
It took me years to figure out what my purpose and path were. That’s why, if you are reading this, you are reading it because you need to start better.
This whole thing boils down to picking a niche that suits your personality type at the same time can also solve the problem of your audience.
Your Blog niche should be; Your Skill + Your Passion + Your audience problem = Blog niche.
In my free E-book how to pick a profitable blog niche, I explained all about how to identify your target audience and pick a profitable niche.
3. No brand identity, with little or no attention to branding:
Branding your blog may be one of the topics so many persons tend to leave behind but believe me, people love “Visuals”.
If you are starting a blog, one of the things you should consider is creating your brand identity.
This is one of the many mistakes I made as a new blogger. You need to have colours you want to be identified with, your fonts, the type of images you will have on your blog.
If you have very inspiring contents and the visuals of your blog sucks, not everyone will want to sit back and read through.
Simple Ways to avoid Blogging Mistake of Branding:
I) Have a logo or favicon
2. Choose your blog font: If you are using WordPress, you can upload the google font plugin. One of your fonts should be bold (Heading font) while the other should be normal.
3. Have your brand colours: One bold colour + One warm colour and a neutral. This most not be up to three colours, you can choose just two colours but maintain them.
4. The Lack of Proper Research Common Blogging Mistake:
If you follow the articles online where almost every blogger tells you ” How I made 3000 Dollars or 100 Dollars in my first month of blogging” you may think blogging is a bed filled with roses.
My friend, I want to tell you straight up, that if you do not have a good strategy on how to run a blog, you will get frustrated and probably think of abandoning your blog.
Why do you think most persons get excited about starting a blog, only to come back crying?
Blogging is an evolving industry. You should set out some time to look at the blog of those who have been ahead of you (you can call them competitors).
You should carry out proper research on the trends in your industry. In 2020, there will be new trends and for you to stay relevant, you need to follow these trends.
Example:
Whenever Google does an update, so bloggers find their traffic dwindling and this may affect you too. You need to set out days for research and learning new strategies fro others. One of the places where you can find a lot of valuable contents is Pinterest.
If you can set out 2-hours of your time in a month to research on new trends in the industry, you will learn things you need ahead of others at the same level as you are.
5. No Proper Landing Page- Common Blogging Mistake:
Despite people coming into your blog from social sites and other referral platforms.
A large percentage of your audience come straight to your blog using the home page link either through your profiles on social media or maybe because they saw the content from your blog somewhere.
Even when they come through a referral URL and they find your contents useful, they may want to navigate through the blog for more contents and your homepage will be their first place.
Dear blogger, please you need a quality landing page.
What are the contents of your landing page?
1) Easy navigation to your contents: You should have your categories clearly stated.
2) An Opt-in freebie: Your landing page should have at least one opt-in freebie. This will ensure the retention of your readers.
3) The Services you offer: Your landing page should clearly state the services you offer and what your blog visitor stand to gain if he or she sticks around.
4) What you are about: A little “about me” introducing yourself to your blog visitor should also be included and clearly stated.
If you have these above, you are sure of retaining at least 80% of visitors who visits your blog through your home page.
This will help you have loyal visitors, who you can send your latest content once you publish and your tribe will grow.
I am currently designing a landing page for the blog as I took down the other one because it wasn’t serving its purpose.
The new landing page will be up before the end of the next week. I am currently using the same formula above to design and place contents on the landing page.
5. The Common Blogging Mistake of Writing Inconsistently:
Inconsistency is a problem most bloggers make and not just new bloggers. Most new bloggers tend to make the same mistakes. Right now, you are just going with the flow and do not have a posting schedule.
I know you may be lost or stuck in the rut of creating more content. But what about me? After restructuring my blog, I am still here trying to build a content bank.
My first blog had over 1000 blogposts on Blogger before I decided to work on a niche that made me feel safe and fulfilled.
READ: Some Questions to ask yourself before picking a new blog niche.
So many bloggers are reaping the fruits of inconsistency and people will stick to a consistent blog rather than a blog with awesome tips yet so inconsistent.
The edge you should have over others will be the fact that you churn out consistent awesome content.
Solution
Write at least one or two blog post a week as a newbie, rather than posting five times a week and after some time, you will start struggling to post once in a month.
While trying to gain your audience trust and loyalty, create a posting schedule, at least once a week. If they can find new valuable content on your blog, they will want to stick around for long.
6. Common Blogging Mistake of Avoiding Or Not Using Your Blogging Voice:
Proper utilization of your blogging voice is one strategy that you can use to keep your readers connected to you. Your unique blogging voice gives a form of warmth and confidence to your readers.
Your unique blogging voice answers the question “why should I stick with you?”. But most new bloggers fail to utilise this power.
Have you ever visited a blog and you easily connected with the blogger?
Your blogging voice helps you to create a form of connection with your readers and if you haven’t found yours, you need to develop it.
Blogging voice make feel like you could hear the writer speak through reading their blog. That’s is the blogging voice speaking. Are you utilizing the power of your blogging voice to build your tribe?
Learn how to develop your blogging voice and find out what has been keeping you from developing your blogging voice.
7. The Common Blogging Mistake of Ignoring your email list:
Most bloggers are hoping to write at least 100 blog post before collecting emails or maybe have a blog with at least 1000 page views a day. This is why my first blog failed too and I believe you are not making the same mistake?
It is easier to convert those in your email list and drive sales compared to your social media platform.
When someone gives you their email address. It means they want another level of connection, they want something more. A connection that exceeds the blogger-reader relationship.
Why you need your email list?
- To drive traffic to your new blog post.
- For sales, just in case you decide to launch your product.
- For building a community.
- Just in case you need to pitch to a brand.
Email list Common Blogging Mistake Number 2
The second mistake most bloggers make when seeking for emails from their blog visitors is asking for emails with this (1980) pattern “Be the first to receive the latest tips and updates or Subscribe to our newsletter”.
That is so 1960, I underrated it above and my friend, that doesn’t work anymore. I tried using that strategy in ignorance and my list was stagnant for a whole year.
Oh my gosh……..
This is usually a very common blogging mistake amongst new bloggers or bloggers who fail to dig dip for information
If you want your email list to skyrocket, you need to offer something in return. Download a list of Freebies you can use as opt-in here or find out how to set up a resource library as an opt-in Freebie with this 10-minutes walkthrough video.
PS: Setting up a free resource library on your blog, adds credibility to your brand.
8. Using Low-quality pictures:
When creating stunning content and the visuals, readability and your general blog presentation is poor. People will ignore your blog post leading to an increased bounce rate. I mean, lot of persons appreciate proper organisation and visuals.
If you are still using googled images on your blog post, then you should have a rethink.
The images on your blog should be clear, clean and professional. Find out 18-sites that offer stock photos for free.
When I started blogging, I downloaded images from Google and most of these images were pixelated.
The second rule of creating a good blog post is to avoid using Pixelated pictures. Pictures that are warm, bright and unique will make people love your blog.
9. Focusing on just growing traffic while forgetting other important things:
If you ask every new blogger what is their major problem, they will tell you I need the traffic to my blog badly.
Most bloggers feel the more they put out more content, that’s when they will get noticed. My friend, I thought same too but honestly, the more you can get your content in front of so many persons that is what works fast.
One of the easiest tools to do that is using Tailwind for Pinterest. I used Tailwind free trial months ago before I took a long break from the blog. It was really helpful, so I decided to use it again and I upgraded my accounts.
Manually pining is great but using Tailwind to schedule pins was a game-changer for me. It helped my pin get across to my readers at the appropriate time.
It has been an awesome tool, as I have been experimenting with new strategies which I will share my results herein.
If you haven’t joined Tailwind, you can use this link to join Tailwind for free and you do not have to use your credit card.
10. You are not collaborating:
I have been trying to build relationships with my fellow bloggers and what I will say is that relationships do not happen automatically. Most new bloggers fail to understand this. You need to get out there and be seen, leave good and useful comments on the post of other bloggers.
Whenever someone in your niche posts something nice, do give them a reshare on your social media handle.
If you can guest post, ensure you do so. This helps to build relationships and most blogging relationships are useful.
One of the places where you can find lots of bloggers who may be willing to collaborate with you is on Facebook Group pods.
12. You are not using the Power of Storytelling:
Most bloggers especially newbies are scared of telling their stories.
You need to learn to use your personal story to pass a message across to your readers. One thing you need to have in mind when writing a blog post, an email to your subscribers is that they are not bots.
When you fail to realize that they are humans, they will not be able to relate to what you are about.
People love empathy, they love to absorb themselves into what they are reading and they can’t feel that connection, they will walk away.
I visit lots of blogs from Pinterest daily but, Stray Curls blog has stuck with me because she is so relatable.
Story Telling Has 3 Elements which tag as a human character, a problem, an action which leads to a solution. These elements you should be able t use to your advantage.
13. The Biggest Common Blogging Mistake of New Bloggers
In conclusion, making mistakes is also a part of education but some can be avoided with the amount of information rolling out each day.
The biggest common blogging mistake you can make during the cause of blogging is looking down on yourself due to lack of confidence in your abilities or letting your fears conquer you.
Never feel so discouraged to test an idea and you may never know what will come out of it.
This is a common blogging mistake usually triggered by excessive comparison. AS bloggers, we ten to compare too much all in the name of checking out your competition.
As a blogger aiming for the stars you should never be scared to try out your ideas and strategies.
Which are the common mistakes you have made in past and how did you fix them? Please share with us in the comment section.
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