It can be easy to make mistakes when just starting out blogging. Many new bloggers make mistakes that can waste their time and their money. I’ve made a few mistakes myself over the years. Blogging is just like picking up anything new, you learn as you go and as you fix the mistakes you’ve made.
In this post I’ve outlined some of the most common mistakes new bloggers make on their first blog.
Blogging Mistake #1: Choosing the Wrong Blog Niche
If you choose a blog niche that you are not passionate about your blog is going to suffer. How are you supposed to write blog post after blog post about something you don’t care for at all?
Many places will tell you to pick something based off the money that subject and it’s respective keywords can bring in. But if you care nothing for that subject you will not be able to bring in that money because your readers will be able to tell you just aren’t into it.
You also won’t be putting in the needed effort to make sure you can get the proper SEO, promote on social media, and keep your audience engaged.
When you choose your blog niche make sure it’s something you have interest in and you’re not just chasing the money.
Choosing profit over passion is not a way to spend your time. You would be better off just working a regular 9 – 5 and forgetting about trying to make your living online and be in business for yourself.
How To Choose a Blogging Niche
Blogging Mistake #2: Not Posting Regularly
Blogging requires consistency to keep putting out content not only for your readers, but also for SEO purposes.
Writing a blog post can take a lot of time, especially when you are new to blogging. New bloggers aren’t always used to writing regularly, and nerves often play a role in a reluctance to put content out there.
Disappearing for months at a time because you can’t think of what to write or let nerves get the best of you will cause a decline in readers on your blog. Readers want regular content and so do search engines.
What to do When You Can’t Think of a Blog Post Idea
Blogging Mistake #3: Giving Up on Blogging Too Early
Successful blogging is a long game. Many bloggers give up in a matter of months because they can’t quit their job and make a living off their blog right away.
You have to remember being a successful blogger is not an overnight success. Many of the top blogs started out by cranking out content constantly to see a return on this down the road and not for an instantaneous fat check. These bloggers did not give up, they kept on going and it paid off big time.
It can get demoralizing not seeing big numbers for either web page hits or income from your monetization, especially when you see so many “I made a million gajillion dollars on my first month blogging” or even the more realistic ones saying just a $100 on the first month. Truth is even $100 in your first month blogging is rare, unless you are very experienced and know exactly what you are doing.
Make smaller goals for yourself if you need more motivation. Make a goal of 10 email subscribers by the end of month one, and $10 and 20 email subscribers by month two. And if you don’t hit these goals don’t beat yourself up. Remember this is a marathon not a sprint.
Blogging Mistake #4: Not Choosing a Good Blog Design
We talked about the eyeball ninjas. If you don’t have a good user friendly blog design, your readers aren’t going to stick around. And lets face it they’re what’s important for successful monetization of a blog.
Unless your goal is to try to get them to click off your site via an ad as soon as possible. But lets be real, they’re more than likely to use that little x and be gone for good.
Choose the Right Look For Your WordPress Blog
You want to choose a design for your blog that makes it easy for your audience to read your posts and navigate through your blogs topics gracefully.
Blogging Mistake #5: Ignoring SEO all together
SEO can be daunting. Its shrouded in mysterious algorithms that Google and other search engine companies keep changing. While you need to build your email list to keep up with your regular readers and people who want to hear what you have to say, you can’t ignore the SEO monster.
SEO for Blogging: What is SEO and What Affects Your Blogs Search Rankings
Search engine traffic is still important. While I don’t follow every SEO golden rule to the T, I still try to do what I can to feed the SEO monster. Getting traffic without actively trying to get readers to the blog 24/7 is a great thing.
I have always found that there is a happy medium between the golden rules of SEO and what can keep readers on the blog.
I don’t know about you but the 2,000 to 3,000 word per post rule isn’t one that I make sure to reach. I have yet to land on a blog that does this and actually stay to read what they are saying, I start to zone out. When bloggers are trying to reach these numbers they tend to babble on and on and it’s just not interesting.
Get your point across in your blog posts and that’s it. If you reach the 2K+ mark by doing this great, if you’re sitting at 800 that’s ok too. The more you write blog posts, the you will find hitting 1k – 2k words per post will get easier the more posts your write. Like everything else in life, it takes practice.
Blogging Mistake #6: Not Revisiting Your Old Content Soon Enough
Even if you just wrote your post last week, things change fast. Especially in today’s fast digital world. There might be more thoughts you would like to add to your post. Or maybe a great article came out that you think would be a good link from your post.
It is never too soon to go back and do some housecleaning on your blog. You are going to change day by day and week by week as you keep working on your blog and polishing your blogging skills.
Blogging Mistake #7: Going With a Free Blogging Platform
It can be tempting to start with no upfront costs for your blog. But if you want to go somewhere with your blog and especially if you are looking to make money from your blog, do not go with a free blogging platform.
It is always in your best interest to buy a domain name and set your blog up on a host. This way you own everything dealing with your blog and you will not have to be restrained by another platforms rules and limitations on what you can and cannot do with your blog.
I know many blogger recommend hosts that require a year or more paid up front. You might not want to shell that out right away, or maybe you just don’t want to commit to one host that long. And that’s ok, there are options available to have a month to month plan. HostGator is the host I have used for over a decade and never had to make a full year commitment too.
Blogging Mistake #8: Not Choosing a Good Domain Name for Your Blog
It is very important that you choose a good domain name for you blog.
Tips for Choosing Your Blog’s Domain Name
Not choosing your domain name can affect everything from SEO to people remembering how to get back to your blog.
Pick something that’s easy to remember and identifies your niche. If you can get some keywords in with that, take that bonus for SEO.
Blogging Mistake #9: Not Having a Niche
Some bloggers start their blog and don’t choose a niche. When you don’t choose what your blog is going to be about it doesn’t help keep a returning audience.
Of course you can always start you blog and have it be about everything and anything. But 99.9% of the time these blogs are not successful.
So if you want to be successful, not having a specific topic that your blog will be about is going to be a mistake.
How To Choose a Blogging Niche
Blogging Mistake #10: Writing too Stiff
It’s awkward when just starting out. You might not be used to writing down what you have to say, and you may feel nervous putting your voice out there for strangers to read. Trust me I get it, I felt that way too when I started my first website.
When you write your blog posts, write like you are just talking to someone that you are having a conversation with. Write like you talk and that way you won’t sound like you’re being too stiff in your blog posts.
Nothing will turn readers away more than feeling like the person who wrote your blog post is the teacher form The Wonder Years.
If you need help with it, speak to your pet while you’re typing stuff out. They think you’re really paying attention to them, and your writing will improve, win-win.
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Get Your Blog Started – Step By Step Guide
Tips for Beginning Bloggers
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Great list of mistakes new bloggers make!! They are absolutely on point! All bloggers should be aware of these mistakes. Even experienced bloggers still make these mistakes, I’ve seen.
Great post! Thanks for sharing!
Glad you enjoyed the post!
Love the advice about talking to your pet as you write! I wish I had a pet I could practice that on! I do find that some of my best posts are when I read them aloud to someone or have a conversation about the post first.
Great post! Also, do you have an article on how beginners should start off with SEO? I see so many articles on it…like a step by step maybe? That is the ONE thing on this list I am doing is ignoring SEO, and even though I only launched a few weeks ago, I know I have to get started on it! Thanks again for an upbeat informative post!
I am currently working on a SEO series of posts. It’s such and indepth topic it’s taking awhile to get stuff together for it.