Blogging has several benefits. It offers bloggers a chance to express themselves while sharing their passions. Other than that, it is an opportunity to make a difference. Blogging is a powerful tool for sharing the knowledge you possess.
Are you interested in refining your writing skills? Blogging allows you to do that and more. Despite all those benefits, though, bloggers are prone to a few mistakes that they should avoid at all costs.
If you make these mistakes, your readers will spend a few seconds on your blog before quitting to do something better.
1) Selecting Wrong Topics
Before writing the first article on your blog, you must select your topics carefully. More than that, make sure they are relevant and useful to your target audience. Are your topics answering your clients’ questions? Do the articles encourage them to make specific purchasing decisions? If not, then you are blogging the wrong way. Remember, readers, browse your blog to find answers to some of their problems.
For this reason, your articles must tackle topics that offer solutions. Therefore, spend time choosing topics that appeal to your audience. Here’s few tips for a successful creative blog, follow them.
2) Ignoring Social Media
The world has more access to the Internet than at any other point in the history of humanity. Social media has increased the need and demand for further accessibility. Based on this, you would be committing a serious mistake by ignoring social media.
Therefore, include links to your social media profiles on the blog. As you do that, you will benefit from increased penetration.
Social media penetration keeps increasing with each passing year. Furthermore, social media helps to spread your blog’s visibility.
3) Wrong Choice of Blogging Platform
Today, you have a wide choice of blogging platforms. For this reason, it is important to take your time choosing the best. Despite that, many bloggers have no idea how to choose their preferred platforms. Finding the best is not as difficult as you might imagine. First, you must consider your domain.
Next, identify the most suitable host. Remember this; the platform you choose determines whether you end with a causal blog or a serious revenue-generator.
Bloggers who are in it for fun should choose from a list that features:
- WordPress
- Blogger
- Tumblr
Bloggers who want to make good money from their efforts should learn to differentiate between WordPress.org and WordPress.com.
4) Undervaluing the Role of Comments
Does your blog need a comment section? The number of bloggers who underrate the comments section is absurd. Blogging is not a one-way street. Those who believe it makes this classic mistake. You are blogging for your clients.
Blogging offers you a chance to share your knowledge with the audience. It also allows you to know what they think.
The comments section allows you to discover their sentiments regarding your brand. While creating the section, remember to comment on other blogs too. Create a positive buzz with your comments.
5) Writing Unnaturally
Blogging involves plenty of writing. To succeed as a blogger requires dedication to improve your writing skills. Natural writing simply means writing the way you talk. Assume that your audience is listening to you. Use the right tone too.
Do not force your words through. While blogging, it is important to realize that you are not writing a thesis or term paper. Term papers and these are not enjoyable.
Blog posts should be fun, interesting, and warm. Therefore, go with a style that encourages effortless reading instead of one that forces your readers to scratch their heads.
6) Ignoring Security and SSL
Once more, this touches on the issue of your preferred blogging platform. Some platforms are secure. Others are not so. Regardless, you can never afford to ignore the security of your blog. You can do this by investing in cheap COMODO SSL certificate. The SSL certificate is one of the most powerful components of your blog. Ignoring it is akin to sounding a death knell for the blog.
If you operate a small blog, COMODO Essential SSL is best to choose. It comes in cheap prices with best data protection.
7) Failing to Monetize the Blog
Learn to monetize your blog by selling advertising. To do this, you must start by learning to pitch to various businesses and companies. The essence of pitching is to convince them to advertise on your blog.
Alternatively, consider signing up on Google Ads too. Through Google Ads, you will connect with advertisers who are always searching for popular blogs to advertise on. That is not all, though. Open the space up to fellow bloggers. Many of them look for extra ad space. To achieve this, you may want to embrace karma blogging.
8) Failure to Hire a Blog Manager
It is not easy to churn fresh, interesting content all the time. Consequently, it would be wise to consider hiring a blog manager. The manager must be somebody with the ability to take full ownership of the blog and its contents. A good manager understands his responsibilities well. These include researching and creating an editorial calendar. Other duties include writing and editing.
Excellent managers are also quite competent at publishing blog articles and posting fresh content on social media sites. Look for a manager who understands his/her role well.
9) Publishing Shallow Articles
Earlier, you learned the importance of writing the way you talk. However, that does not give you a license to post shallow articles. The worst mistake you can make is to waste your audience’s time. How do you avoid this? First, publish only user-focused content. Improve your research skills. Next, put your point across well and articulately. Fill the content with enough images, including graphs and stats. Avoid posting content that lacks substance too. Provide answers through the blogs.
Finally, you understand these mistakes, you should do all you can to avoid them. Fill the blog with detailed posts. Create articles and titles that appeal to your target audience too. If you are too busy to post regularly, hire a blog manager instead. Do not publish errors. Avoid grammatical mistakes. Again, ensure that your content is always fresh. Therefore, implement these measures to maintain your blog’s integrity.
