If you’re starting to blog, you’ve probably read hundreds of tips ad tricks for having a successful blog. The trick is to figure out which ones actually work for you. Moreover, a lot of blogging tips are just widely accepted myths based on other people’s experiences and they won’t do much in terms of helping you out. While you’re in the process of figuring out which tips work for you, you’re bound to make a few mistakes. Here’s 5 of the most common mistakes that you have to make sure to avoid:
Mistake #1: Blogging For Yourself
This is great if you want to start a personal blog and don’t plan on monetizing it. But if it’s a professional blog meant to attract readers and potential customers, this mistake will cost you. When you’re blogging professionally, you’re blogging for an audience. You have to understand this audience and cover topics that they find interesting. Like all professional content, you’re content represents your brand or company. Having a personal touch is important but you need to be wary of over-sharing or disclosing personal details. Beauty blogs are a good example of professional blogging, they strike the right balance between personal content and professional/ product focused content. If you read a beauty blog or any other professional blog, you will notice that they focus on the product/ service but they still add a bit about their day or use jokes and anecdotes to lighten the mood or give context.
Mistake #2: Not Creating a Strategy
All professional blogs have an end goal – be it signing up for newsletters or buying products/services. To achieve this goal, a strong strategy must be put in place. Without this, your content will lack direction and also confuse your readers. Imagine if you saw a random, personal post in the middle of a company blog, will that not be confusing? Blog strategies are created for a reason and using these strategies, you can direct your readers and yourself towards the end goal. Blogs that follow a strategy also tend to get more referrals. The best way to do this is to write about topics that revolve around your services/products but not in a promotional way.
Mistake #3: Not Organizing
Now that you have planned a strategy – you have to organize your blog. If you look at professional blogs, they release a certain type of content on a particular day. If you own a beauty blog, you could have a day of the week where you talk about your beauty haul or pick another day to write about your favorite products under $10 etc. Creating a blogging calendar is very helpful in planning out your blog and meeting your deadlines. You can plan out everything from future topics, when they get posted, where to get images from etc.
Mistake #4: Covering Too Many Topics
A lot of bloggers make the mistake of covering topics that are within their niche but have nothing to do with their services/ products. This kind of content is OK to create on a rare basis, but if it becomes a regular habit, then the focus is shifted away from yourself and your audience. The more passionate your audience is about your niche, the more valuable they are. If you’re a fashion blogger focusing on design, writing about the lives of the models you cover is not valuable to your audience. Using tools like DrumUp can help you get relevant topics. Reducing the number of posts but sticking to your topics, will do a great deal for both you and your readers.
Mistake #5: Not Promoting Your Blog
There are a ton of bloggers that wait till they have “enough” posts before they start promoting their blog. By doing this, you lose out on the opportunity to have your readers hooked from the beginning and keep them waiting for the next one. It’s almost like a TV show, you want the readers to be blown away from the first episode. There are some bloggers who don’t promote their blog at all, other than the obligatory, single Facebook/ Twitter post. This is senseless as you’re expecting views without any publicity. It is important to share your posts multiple times on different platforms. Guest posting on more popular sites is also a great way to promote your own blog.
Bonus Tips:
- Avoiding SEO is not an option. You have to make sure that your post is Search Engine Optimized in order for it to become relevant.
- Consistency is key in all forms of marketing. If you’re using your blog professionally, a lack of consistency will drive users to other creators.
- Join blogging communities that exist within your niche. This is a great way to build contacts and get ideas for your own content.
- You don’t have to do everything by yourself. Once your blog grows, you can hire help to handle certain aspects of your process. This will help you focus on your writing better.
- Hone your craft. There is no such thing as flawless writing, especially for beginners. Look at and learn from the more respected members of the blogging community.
Blogging seriously is far from being an easy task – you have to be willing to put in the effort in order to become successful. Most beginners think that they will get rewards immediately – this is false. Blogs take a lot of time, effort and consistency to grow.
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