20 blogging mistakes to avoid

Bloggers are human beings; they make mistakes like the rest of mankind. While some are excusable, others could mean the death of a blog. In this article, I share 20 of the most common mistakes in the second category.

Lack of consistency

Most beginners expect to receive a lot of traffic quickly. When it does not happen — which is almost always the case — they grow restless and frustrated, and finally give up without even trying to rethink their strategy.

Successful bloggers know that consistency is key.

Not being indexed in search engines

If you want people to find you, your blog must appear in search engine results. Write frequently and fill your articles with good keywords. Also, add your URL to Google, Bing, Yahoo and the Open Directory Project.

Not knowing the real purpose of a blog

Do you remember the time when blogging was all about personal thoughts and daily routine? Now, blogs are much more than that. They are the places where experts are born, discovered and trusted. Basically, a communication hub where visitors can interact with you.

Not paying attention to typos

Would you read a book or a newspaper whose content has not been proofread and is full of misspellings and grammatical errors? I doubt it. So make sure that you do the same with your blog.

Not promoting your blog

Publishing your content and not letting anybody know about it is one of the biggest mistakes novice bloggers make. If you do not promote your articles, you cannot expect people to read them…

Not seeing the big picture

More and more companies and entrepreneurs understand the usefulness of a blog. They can reach Internet users in a meaningful way and offer services and products that meet their particular needs.

Ask yourself the following questions: What do I want to achieve with my blog? Where do I see myself in five years?

Thinking that people only want to read about you

People do not care about you — unless you are Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Janet Jackson or Ashton Kutcher. They visit your blog because they are looking for useful and relevant content. If your blog screams ME, ME, ME in every article, you may want to lower your traffic expectations.

Thinking that blogging alone will make you rich

“Learn to make real money blogging.” We see that kind of ads daily on Twitter and other social networking sites. This fallacy needs to stop!

Blogging alone will not make you rich. What it will do is facilitate brand visibility, which, in turn, will help you sell your products and services.

Not choosing the right blogging platform

If you want to play with the best, choose the best. The wrong blogging platform can lead to complete failure.

Amateurs use Blogger. Professionals use WordPress — self-hosted. Period.

Not understanding RSS feeds and social networking

RSS (most commonly expanded as Really Simple Syndication) is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format. An RSS document (which is called a “feed”, “web feed”, or “channel”) includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favored websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place. (Source: Wikipedia)

Subscribers to your RSS feed can read your new content in a feed reader or directly in their Inbox, without having to check your blog all the time. A service like Feedburner is perfect for that purpose.

Also, share your articles on major social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, Digg…) and curation services (Scoop.it, for example).

Not providing well-researched content

Serious bloggers know the importance of thoroughly researched and documented content. Back up your statements with reliable links or resources whenever you can.

Not providing useful content

Providing reliable content is a great thing. However, it is even better if it is useful. Run a survey on your blog: Ask visitors what they want to read.

Not knowing your niche

Do you know who your readers are? What is their average age? Where do they come from? What do they do for a living? Which social networking sites do they use? How did they find your blog on the Internet? What keywords did they use? If you cannot answer all these questions, you do not know your readers.

Not linking to other blogs and websites

When you find great content from experts in your niche, do not hesitate to share it — even if it is only a link. You may also want to write overviews or reviews of products and services offered by other companies and bloggers. People like entrepreneurs who are not afraid of stepping back when needed.

Not wanting to bother with SEO

Visitors do not find a blog by mistake. Search Engine Optimization plays a major role in this department. If you use WordPress, there are tons of great plugins. The one I recommend is the All In One SEO Pack. You may also want to try the following: WordPress SEO by Yoast, Google (XML) Sitemaps Generator for WordPress, Platinum SEO plugin, SEO Title Tag, and Simple Tags.

Not including images in your articles

Adding images to your articles increases your chances of being found on the Internet. Do not forget to alt-tag the pics!

Not paying attention to your blog’s template

If you want to increase traffic to your blog, pay attention to its design. Choose a template that complements your content.

Never commenting on other blogs in your niche

Successful bloggers monitor keywords in their niche. As a result, they are aware of new articles and usually very active on other blogs, where they leave comments. Do the same.

However, go beyond “Great articles” or “Good job”. Show that you actually read what others have to say. Why do you like it or not? Where do you agree? Where do you disagree?

Do you know other common blogging mistakes? Share them in the comment section below.