At first glance, blogging is fun and looks like everyone can do that with ease. In fact, they can, but there are just too many mistakes to trip over. You don't want to spend your time on things that bring no results and exposure, do you?
Then you'd better do things right from the very beginning and avoid these dreadful blogging mistakes on your way:
Some bloggers tend to think they are the experts in everything and thus choose niches they are not well aware of. As a result, the topics are too vague and the posts do not bring any significant value to the readers. To prevent this disappointment on your blogging path, choose niches that you care about and where you can express your emotions, no matter whether you are going to write for your own blog or for your customers. If the niches are boring to you and you can't express your own opinions about them, it's time to change your niche(s) into something you feel more comfortable writing about.
Practically anyone who starts blogging is confined to stiff language, complex constructions, and long sentences. But in reality, the blog post is nothing like research paper at all. Even if you need to do some research to cover the topic, make the language simple and your tone conversational. Try to write as if you are talking to a friend and have to tell him/her something really impressive or important. Readers like emotional stories, tutorials, or news. Don't bombard them with boring descriptions they can hardly understand for the first time. Keep your writing tone natural and get to the point before they decide to leave.
No one is going to read your post if it's visually non-attractive. Poorly formatted posts without distinctive structure are unlikely to impress the readers who tend to scan the articles before reading them. If the structure is inappropriate for scanning, the chances are your post will lack desired attention. Divide your post into different sections, use catchy subheadings and insert images where relevant. Start each post with creating the plan and you will see that all is left is just to fill the gaps. Good structure is the half-way-done job for your article. This is the way to avoid blah-blah writing and disordered flow of ideas.
Lots of bloggers think that adding informative posts to their blogs is enough. But they fail to attract readers if they disregard the importance of socializing. Sharing your posts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social networks will make them viral and drive desired traffic to your blog website. Don't use your blog as the only publishing destination - publish your posts to popular article submission websites, add links to your blog and write a few words about yourself as an author. If you write useful stuff, readers will come to your blog to get more.
Do Check - Top 30 most popular Instagram hashtags - InfographicNovice bloggers usually think that it's too difficult for them to master SEO skills and thus decide to concentrate only on their writing expertise. However, being a blogger is not just about writing. A skilled blogger should have at least basic SEO knowledge to make sure his/her posts are indexed by search engines. The search for appropriate keywords and using them with the optimal density as well as the use of relevant subheadings and meta-descriptions are the major SEO skills that every blogger should have. Otherwise, there is little point in writing posts that are not shown to visitors. Also Check - 10 Ways to Use SEM Rush to Improve Blog Traffic
Non-experienced bloggers often fail to understand how cooperation between bloggers works. As a result, they do it all alone and fail to attract a sufficient number of readers to their blogs. What they should do instead is to join blogging communities or other places where they can get their blogs reviewed by other more experienced bloggers, publish guest posts on their blogs with the link to your resource and let them do the same on your website. This kind of partnership tends to double or even triple your blog visibility and doesn't let you stay in a standstill. Do Read - How to be a Self less Blogger and a Successful One Too
When bloggers write only about themselves, their companies, their products, and services, the audience does not have any reason to read it. The goal of any blog is to engage readers, give them valuable pieces of information and advice that they can't find anywhere else. An ideal company blog is not going to promote company's products and services - it needs to show to its existing or potential customers that it's an expert in something and thus worth dealing with. As a blogger, you should analyze your audience and know what information they are looking for and what they would share with their friends.
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A rule of thumb says that if you reach out to everyone, you actually reach out to no one. In the same way, trying to cover everything, you usually cover nothing. In other words, if you want to include too many ideas in one post, it will be destructive for your writing. Narrow your topic to something very specific. This is one of the best ways to show yourself as an expert in the niche. In addition, if your topic is narrow, it will be much easier for you to create a plan for your content. Need to write about hand-made products? Tell readers how to start with creating hand-made stuff or how to earn money by creating hand-made jewelry and where to sell them.
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As a rule, all bloggers agree that they need to publish posts regularly. They even decide to write posts once or twice a week. However, without an editorial calendar where the dates of their upcoming posts are clearly indicated, they are unlikely to follow the plan. Whenever you start as a blogger, create an editorial calendar with the dates of your publications and allow no excuses to skip these dates. As soon as you miss one date, you will quickly miss another and so on. That's why you should be very strict with yourself about your blog publication calendar. Otherwise, the chances are high that you will blog once a month or even less frequently.
When in a hurry or feeling too confident in one's writing capabilities, bloggers might skip the proofreading stage and hit a 'Publish' button. But even the most professional bloggers find inconsistencies, typos, or some stylistic mistakes when they read their writing. It is even recommended for a writer to ignore grammar rules in the process of writing only to keep the ideas flowing. The proofreading stage is critical - leave at least 30 minutes to paraphrase too long sentences, complex constructions and look for any discrepancies. Some bloggers tend to write without the spellchecker because they are too confident in their typo-free writing. But as stats show, noticing all the typos in your own text requires maximum concentration. You'd better use this concentration for improving your text structure and readability.
That was a lot to cover, but building the blogging expertise is an endless process. What would you suggest as an 11th dreadful mistake that prevents bloggers from the desired success? Please share your own experience in the comments. Contributed by - Richard Nolan is a blogger from Kansas City, Kansas, USA and a private tutor of English and Russian , sharing his experience in spheres of education, self-growth, and psychology. He has learned Russian for 4 years when he lived in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Nowadays writing for numerous blogs and gives useful tips for bloggers, students, and teachers.Must Read - 5 Essentials to be a Professional Blogger, No Matter What Niche You blog
