Blogging is deemed as an easy job by general people but once you start blogging, you can feel the pain. Beginners always seem to mess things up. That's okay because everyone learns from mistakes. But, if you sit back and analyze, these mistakes can be avoided easily and quickly. Here, I present you with 5 common blogging mistakes most beginners make and some tips to avoid them or the solutions as well.
1. Topics of Interest
Most of the new bloggers seem to write on subjects which they find interesting. While some of those topics might be of general interest, you need to know that you are not the only one to read those contents and hence you need to write on topics that your targeted audience want to know about.
The one and only goal of blogging is to create awareness among the public about some products and benefits or provide solution to one of the issues they are searching for. You should do a lot of research to find out the issues of your audience group and then address the ones you can.
2. Writing Method
Most of the new bloggers seem to write blogs as if they are writing some term papers, "straight to the point". That's not the way a blog should be. Most of the readers don't even read your entire article. It's you who have to persuade them to read the entire article in an artistic way.
Make your blog personal that reflects your personality. Add some emotions, case studies and your stories to it with some puns. Make your readers feel like they are listening to you in person instead of making them feel like they are reading some survey reports. Write exactly the way you talk to people and that'll make your article effortlessly readable and enjoyable.
Always plan your content prior to writing which helps to keep your content organized and the flow logical. Break up your content into sections with headers that cover specific areas which makes your post easier and enjoyable to read.
Most of the new bloggers seem to make more mistakes while writing contents which are further subdivided below.
i. Content Titles
Most new bloggers tend to choose broader topics and titles to cover on their posts which are impossible to cover in a single article or can't really have a proper answer. Although these topics can attract a large number of readers, the quality fo the readers will be low and the conversion rate even poor.
Choose specific titles with less areas to cover which attracts targeted audience group which might be relatively smaller but the conversion rate would be amazingly high. It's much easier to write on smaller topics rather than those broad titles as well.
ii. Statistics.
Most of time times, new bloggers don't use statistics in their blog contents and make plain arguments only. Adding statistics in your articles make them more convincing and compelling. You don't need to make people see matters your way but persuade them to take some actions.
Use statistics to introduce your argument and its relevancy to the readers while ending the post with some suggestions for the readers to take some action. You can find statistics about the topic you want to cover on sites like research.hubspot, pewresearch, marketingsherpa, etc. which can prove to be some great resources to add value to your posts.
iii. Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a big "NO" in the blogging industry. Whatever you write on some topic, readers can figure out that you have copied it from other sources because of the use of words that contrasts to the regular flow. In some cases, you might also add phrases or words incorrectly. Copying contents from other sources might get your site penalized by Google as well which will make all your effort worthless.
Whenever you feel the need to include contents or ideas from other sources, cite them. Make the readers know the source from where you extracted it, It'll build the trust among readers instead and save your site from being penalized too.
iv. Drifting
Although, it's totally normal to drift away from the main subject for a long time and come back while telling stories to listeners in person, it's a "Big NO" in blogging because readers become impatient, loose interest and might quit reading your article.
Repeat your point multiple times from the beginning of your blog to the end to prevent loosing your audiences. Add relevant stories while trying to keep them short.
v. Review
Most of the new bloggers publish their posts once they are done with their writing. That's a big "NO" as well. You need to proof read your article for typo and grammatical errors. Go through each phrases and sentences, some of them might need to be rewritten. Check out, if you have drifted far away from the main argument while adding stories. If that happens, trim your story and remain on the main argument. Most often than not, you'll need to edit your posts a bit before publishing them.
You may find spaces where you can add more statistics, infographics or even rephrase your sentences better. You can try as hard as you like to make them better but still there remains a lot of areas for improvement, Don't get obssessed to be a perfectionist though which will apparently come with time.
3. Consistency
Consistency is the key in the blogging industry but sadly is lacking in beginners. Most of the bloggers start blogging as a hobby and then think of making it their mainstream carrer choice if they get good number of readers and followers which won't happen overnight. So, they really never have a plan or schedule in place to blog consistently which is the key to low traffic. You can't get a good number of readers or followers with one or two topics covered unless you are a gifted writer and write articles on controversial topics while raising your voice on the matters.
You need to make bloggig a habit and schedule it in your daily life. Plan your topics ahead of writing and collect resources to support your argument. Publish at least one or two posts a week while you are just starting out and get a good number of readers. Once you reach a good number of readers and followers and a fair number of posts already published, you can publish once in a fortnight or get them automated. The term automated here means getting those jobs done by others in the same schedule and keeping consistency.
4. Analytics
Most of the new bloggers keep on tracking analytics from the moment their blog is published and promoted via emails and social shares which hikes for a day or two and then collapses. These people get frustated within a short while and a lot of them even quit because they think it as a failure.
The most trustworthy traffic in fact starts to increase from the third day or so as search engines need that time to get your blog indexed and listed in search engine result pages. That's the source of your organic traffic which gradually increases your followers rate. If they liked one of your posts, then, they might check each of your previous posts and come back again later to read your future posts. Make sure that you write contents that remain valuable for a long period of time.
5. Subscription
Blogging is not just about getting new visitors to your blog but also about remaining in touch with each of your previous visitors. Add a subscription section on your site at the end of the post for optimum result and grow your email list. Share your new contents with them which will help you get a good traffic in the early days. You can also share the most recent posts or some striking previous posts once in a while.
Conclusion
These are the common mistakes everyone starting out in the blogging industry makes. So, you don't need to panic if you made most of them or even all of them. All of us learn form mistakes and in the blogging industry, you'll get better as you age and start to get the benefits. Avoid these mistakes from now onwards and step up to see the changes. At the end of the day, you'll realize that blogging is well worth of all your time and effort as you can find bloggers making millions a year but keep in mind that didn't happen overnight.
Let me know, which of these mistakes have you committed so far and what lessons have you learnt from them. I'm sure there are a lot more areas that could be covered but to keep the post short and sweet I needed to trim a lot of them.
Which mistakes do you think I should have included? What are your thoughts about all the blogging mistakes shared here? Did you like them? If yes, share it with your friends so they can benefit as well.
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