6 Blogging Mistakes To Avoid

Worried that you may be making some critical blogging mistakes on your blog and, as a result, your blog is suffering? Not entirely sure what those blogging mistakes may be?

Inexperienced bloggers are prone to making mistakes in their early days. This is only natural. Like anything you undertake in your life, you need to learn it. Some things you will do well, and other things you could certainly have done better.

1. Failing To Have A Schedule

If you want your blog to be around for the long haul, then you MUST have a blogging schedule. Blogging when “you feel like it” or “when you have time” will just not cut it. Sorry to be blunt here!

There will always be temptations to interfere with your ‘whenever schedule’. Dinner with friends, going to the gym, watching that favorite tv show! Whatever it is, it is all going to hurt your blog!

For those of you in a 9-5 job, do you decide not to go sometimes because you just don’t feel like it? Of course, you don’t! You have a commitment to be at your workplace come rain or shine. That is where you must be. This is also true for your blogging.

Whether you choose to post daily, every other day, weekly, fortnightly, or whatever, you need to decide on this and stick with it! Consistency is what is going to separate you from others, not a ‘whatever’ attitude.

If you decide to post x times a week/month, then that should be your priority. Make it happen, and don’t let this be one of your blogging mistakes!

2. Failing To Provide Valuable Content

This is one of those blogging mistakes that you really shouldn’t ever make! Each post you write should be of VALUE.

Every single post that you write will add to your reputation as a blogger and to the value of your blog. If the blog is filled with lots of information that is not going to benefit anyone, what will your readers think? Are they likely to stay and read more, or do you think they might look to another blog where they do feel fulfilled?

Regardless of your niche, you can still provide valuable content. Don’t make the mistake of saying “my blog is about family life” or “my blog is about looking after dogs,” so what could I possibly have of value? Blog posts don’t need to be written in a teaching style in order to be of value to a reader. You have chosen your niche. Now fill your blog with valuable content relating to that niche.

Ok, so you are a mummy blogger who writes about your family. I can hear you saying now: “But, I just talk about what I’m doing every day. How can that be of value”?

To start with, it may be time to solidify your niche slightly! A broad blog may be fun for you to write, but what benefit will it give your readers? What is it about being a mummy that you want to write about? Is it the demands of working and being a mum? Is it the demands of looking after a toddler and their tantrums? Is it the challenges of raising teenagers?

Can you see how even your ‘mummy blog’ has a niche? Each of the areas here has questions attached to them, and those questions can be answered in your blog posts.

The answers to those questions are the VALUE that you are giving your reader. Does this make sense now?

In answering those questions, try and include some links to related and useful sources. This will not only help your SEO but will also identify you as someone that knows what you are talking about!

For example, if you are writing a post about managing your teenager, why not tap into some resources that you have found useful. You are instantly then providing value to your reader.

Think about your posts as answering a specific problem. What is it that you are going to write about today that someone else is searching for on Google?

3. Failing To Place Importance on SEO Or Keywords

If you are aiming for your blog to rank highly in the search engines, you simply can not ignore SEO. Regardless of your niche, ignoring SEO will doom your blog and is one of the classic blogging mistakes!

You MUST optimize each and every blog post you write and make sure you spend the time doing this. As you gain experience with this, you will notice an improvement in how your posts are ranking.

EVERY post you schedule MUST have a keyword!!

Many newbie bloggers fail to consider this and say: “I’m working on my writing rather than driving traffic.” But ask yourself this: Why bother writing if you are failing to get any traffic? Who are you writing for? Yourself????

Each post you write will help with your overall strategy, so start it right from the start. Don’t waste those precious blog posts!!

4. Ignoring Your Readers

Every time that someone leaves a comment either on your blog or one of your social media sites make sure that you take the time to respond to them! When you respond to your comments, think about how you can continue to engage with not only that reader but also others that will be reading the comment section. It is lovely to say “thanks for your comment,” but it is unlikely to gain any further engagement from your readers.

Try and expand on something that your reader has commented about, or answer their question if one has been asked. You can still thank the commenter afterward, but it is good to encourage more engagement where possible.

You don’t want your readers to feel like you are ignoring them, so don’t let this be one of your blogging mistakes! Having a comment section on your blog will allow you to identify with where your readers are at.

Take a look at the posts that are receiving a higher number of comments. There is something about those posts that readers are happy to engage with you about. Maybe write more on that subject!

Think about how you action your comment tab. Some blogs have it set so that you need to be registered to the blog to leave a comment. This can leave a lot of people running for the hills, so you might want to avoid this!

You may have seen that some blogs require you to tick a box to confirm you are not a spammer or enter a captcha. I personally find it very irritating when I have spent the time writing a comment, only to then have to enter one and sometimes two captcha’s for my comment to proceed. Think about whether this will put off your readers from wanting to bother to comment!

5. Choosing Blog Titles Too Hastily

This is one of those blogging mistakes that are all too often overlooked. Despite the fact that your blog title is very small compared to the rest of your post, don’t underestimate its importance!

Your title could make the difference between someone deciding to continue reading or not. The blog titles you choose will also carry SEO weight, so it is important to try and include a relevant keyword in all your blog titles. It must look natural, of course, so spend some time thinking about your title, and don’t just write the first thing that pops into your head!

6. Don’t Write For Robots

Of course, we all want our blogs to be indexed by Google. We wouldn’t be blogging if we didn’t want people to find us. But have a think about whether you are writing purely for SEO or for your readers? Writing for robots is one of the big blogging mistakes.

SEO is important for the search engines to find you, but ultimately it is PEOPLE who are reading your blog. The content on your blog needs to be readable and not keyword-stuffed. I have said it before, but write for your readers first and then go back and optimize your page. This will ensure that your readers remain your priority.

Conclusion

Whilst we have looked at six blogging mistakes, there is no need to panic because they can be easily fixed! Each and every mistake that you rectify can boost your readership and, ultimately, the longevity of your blog.

What blogging mistakes were you encountering when you first started your blog? Were you guilty of any of the above? Please share your thoughts with us below.