I’m going to get a little personal with this post. As a blogger, I spend a lot of time reading blog posts. I see a lot of bloggers doing a lot of great things. And I see a few bloggers doing many not-so-great things. Most fall somewhere in the middle. Everyone can benefit from learning these blogging mistakes so that they can avoid making them. Let’s strive for perfection bloggers!
Here are some of the most common blogging mistakes.
Not thinking about the readers’ experience.
The first step is to take a look at the overall picture. When a reader comes to your blog, what do they see first? Too often I see multiple pop-ups that are difficult to exit, or blaring videos that I can’t find to shut them down (this is a new pet peeve of mine because they seem to happen much more frequently lately). Slow loading pages, a mishmash of colors, small print, or a confusing layout of ads will also tend to turn off your readers. Much easier to exit the page than to put up with these annoyances.
Note that I’m not saying you shouldn’t have ads. We all deserve to make a little money if that’s one of our goals. But, don’t sacrifice your readers for revenue. It won’t work in the long-term.
Not Editing or Proofreading
Before you hit publish, there are several things you need to do. First, read it through for content. If you’re like me, you rarely write a blog post without some type of interruption. That can lead to a disjointed feeling in your writing. Take a moment and read it through, make sure that it feels smooth, makes sense, and isn’t over-wordy.
Then read it through for mistakes. Check your spelling and grammar, and make your corrections. Then read it again. If you have someone you trust, have them read it too. It is so easy to miss your own mistakes. Now you can publish.
Quantity over Quality
I may be repeating myself, but too many bloggers feel that they have to post every day, and many, if not most, of them, sacrifice the quality for the quantity. As a reader, I would much rather read (and share) one great blog post a week than wade through five (or more), poor ones.
Inconsistency
The above being said, you do need to be consistent with your posting. A random post every couple of weeks, then three days in a row, will confuse your readers. You even risk losing your own blogging momentum and focus. Create a blogging schedule and stick (for the most part) to it.
Not Defining Your Reader
Do you know who is reading your blog? If not, how do you know what (or how) to write? If you try to write for everybody, you wind up sounding generic. Instead, define your reader, imagine that you are writing specifically for her. Your post will be personal and much more engaging.
Writing About Too Many Things
In my last post, I wrote to not worry too much about your niche at first. And you might think that by covering many different topics you may be appealing to a wide variety of readers. But if you write about everything and anything that enters your mind, you risk actually disengaging and losing those treasured readers.
Instead, write about topics that you know and love. Your readers will sense that and come to your blog because they know that they will learn from your own expertise and experience.
Not Engaging with Your Readers
My favorite bloggers are the ones with whom I feel like I have a relationship. Not only are they writing for me, about topics I enjoy, they respond to my comments, they answer my questions, and we actually carry on conversations. Just like people in real life. You really must respond to comments, particularly readers who have taken the time to express an opinion and add to the conversation. That is what makes your readers feel like they belong. Note: To really communicate with your readers, you must have some way to notify them that you replied to their comment. A plugin such as Comment Reply Notification will do the trick.
Not Engaging with the Blogging Community
The blogging community is awesome. They are the people who understand. How time-consuming blogging can be. How managing blog/social media/family life can be challenging. They want you to succeed. If you engage with the blogging community, they will help you succeed. Other bloggers will give you advice, share your posts, and give you feedback. Read other blogs. Join blogging groups. If you’re lucky enough to live near other bloggers, get together with them from time to time.
Bad Writing
Okay, not everyone can be Shakespeare. Nor would we want to be, because he probably would not succeed in the blogging world. Yes, blog writing is more casual than many other forms of writing. A blogger should, however, do their best to write concisely and coherently, with proper grammar and good spelling. Please.
Not Promoting Your Post
This is not a field of dreams. If you write it, they will not necessarily come. Promotion is key. Get the word out. Share, via social media, share groups, your email list, etc. Yes, it takes time. But the reward is a larger audience to read your great writing, so it’s worth it.
Not Using Keywords
Presumably, since you’re taking the time to blog, promote, and read this post, you’d like to find more people to read your blog. Make sure that your work shows up better in searches by using keywords sprinkled naturally throughout your posts.
Neglecting Your Headline
Your headline should do more than title your blog post. It should contain your keyword, be catchy without sacrificing the sense of what your post is about, and not too short or long. The Co-Schedule free headline analyzer can help you write a better headline.
Neglecting Your Permalink
Your permalink is the URL of your actual blog post. It includes your blog name, plus the title of your post. It will usually default to the headline of your post. That is not always a good thing, as it can lead to a long and confusing permalink. Fortunately, you can edit it before you publish. When you do so, include your keyword but keep the overall permalink shorter and easier to remember.
Avoiding these blogging mistakes will help you build your audience, engage your readers, and generally be a better blogger. What other blogging mistakes have you noticed? Are you guilty of any of these? I know that I struggle with some of them myself.
My weekly linkups! Please stop by and check out all of the great recipes, workouts, and information that all these awesome bloggers share every week!
Sunday Blog Hop with Jenn
Meatless Monday with Tina and Deborah
Meatless Monday with Annmarie
Inspire Me Monday with Janice
Anything Goes with Marilyn
Bonnie, the Pin Junkie
Tip Tuesday with Debbie in Shape
Coffee and Conversation with Pat and Candy
Wild Workout Wednesday with Annmarie, Michelle, Sarah, and Angelena Marie
Wednesday Wisdom with Nanna’s Wisdom
The Blog Booster Party with Kathleen
Friday Fitness with Jill
Grammar is a huge thing for me! If you do not re-read your posts and catch grammar errors (which included spelling) then you clearly were rushing and don’t care too much about your blog! Ha.
Also, keep blog posts to SPECIFIC TOPICS! If you keep rambling about 1000000 things, and have loads of words on a page, people tend to just skim and wind up just clicking out of the post!
Grammar is huge for me too. I’m n fact I once wrote a whole post about it.
GiGi you n I both teheheee Grammar…Oops You and I gal! Well Coach Debbie you have gone and done it. This post should be read by all budding bloggers and old ones with bad habits for sure. Blogging mistakes can take hold and keep one longer on the road to creating an income from their blog. Thanks for sharing at the Bloggers Pit stop.
I actually agree with GiGi on Grammar and keeping readers interested.
BUT I disagree on Quantity. And What a value packed post this is. Glad its chunky, meaty and yes LONG!
Yes there must be a load of quality in the quantity i.e. word count over 1500, yet its been proven that Search Engines love posts over 2500 words packed full of value and linking to lots of other resources online…! Now we are not talking about posts with 500 or so words and a Video or Audio or other visual addition to enhance the topic and value!
I see lots of bloggers pushing out posts 500 words or less, no real quality images, barely a link apart from their own giveaway and lots of adsense ads. And I wonder; are they really making a dime? Does anyone find value in that content! I think they are lazy bloggers and I really find I lose interest fast. I love em Meaty, chunky packed full of detail and pointing me to even more detail. I also produce em like that. The only people I have found who skim over posts and drop a barely value comment are newbie bloggers or selfish bloggers who are only looking for a reciprocal Comment so they can shoe brands how popular they are.
Great tips 🙂 number 1 is a pet peeve of mine too! Half way through your post (I’m on mobile) your subscription box popped upped. When I clicked out of it, it took me all the way back to the top! Usually that’d make me leave but I did wanna see what the rest of your tips were so I scrolled to find where I was at!
Lol, I guess I should follow my own advice! I am conflicted about that pop up. But my mailing list has doubled since I started using it. I have it set so it only pops up for a person about once a month.
once a month isn’t too excessive! I think it just looks worse cos on a mobile its hard to click out of it!
when I first started (ok now too sometimes :)) I was sooo into the writing I didnt THINK about what the reader saw when she was at my site. (featured image etc).
It’s so important.
There is so much involved in creating a GOOD blog. Lots of people don’t understand.
Great tips! I’ve been slacking on post promotion recently, but it’s definitely on my list of things to improve!
I notice a huge difference in my numbers after just a couple days if I don’t promote. More than if I miss a post. It’s so important.
these are some great tips and reminders. i absolutely dislike when blogs interrupt me with ads. i understand that it is the source of income but i wish they also respected that im there to read and have a good experience..that totally ruins it for me. im just understanding the importance of sharing esp in pinterest.
I’m using Pinterest a lot more these days and I’ve definitely seen an increase in my numbers from there.
Fantastic tips. I’ve been having issues with my ads recently, and I just switched to a new company which I hope with help with that. I’m also rooting around for a designer, as I know that the font on my blog is too small, and I can’t change it easily, which is really frustrating!
I recently switched away from Blogher because they changed their policies and I could no love longer ban certain ads (like ones for meat products). I haven’t switched to a new one yet, so I just have my affiliate ads for the moment. Not sure if I’ll get a new company.
I would love you more than I already do if you increased your font size. I usually read on my iPad, so I put it in reader mode, but still, bigger is better. 🙂
Awesome tips as always! Lately the pop up ads and videos are driving me crazy!! I actually don’t have any ads yet on my site bc I am afraid of losing oversight after I see what happens on some of the other blogs. I have co schedule but have not taken advantage of the headline analyzer yet. thanks for the tip!!
Lack of control was why I quit Blogher. They wouldn’t let me skip the meat ads anymore. It seemed like every time I looked at my own blog there was a huge ad for Foster Farms! Blech! Anyway, now I just have a few affiliate ads and Adsense (I took some of those down too because they’d play random videos..I hate that so much!).
I wish I came across this post when I first started blogging over 3 years ago! I have learned A LOT about blogging and still feel like a student! I used to force write everyday and I am almost embarrassed with the horrible content I put out there but I always thought post as often as you can so I did EVERYDAY! Now I really focus on 2 posts a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays and really put time into the photos and content itself! Thanks for sharing your tips and linkups 😉
It’s like a great weight off your shoulders when you realize that you don’t have to post daily, isn’t it?
Always telling you how great your posts are – I am probably doing some of these & more since I have less time to work on the blog & burning out a bit BUT ya never know – I may be back doing better! 🙂
I’m pretty sure that once November hit I won’t be around as much ch either. I’ve been off for the summer, which has been really nice.
Great post! Pop-ups and blaring videos are one of my pet peeves, too! Just let me read the post first…gah!
The videos especially drive me crazy. Those times when you have a bunch of tabs open and all of a sudden a video starts blaring and you’re not quite sure where it’s coming from? Arghhhh!
great post! Even though I do use ads on my site, I never use pop up ads or overlays because I personally hate them haha. I make less, but I would rather keep my integrity. Thanks for these tips xx
Thank you. I sometimes wonder if people ever look at their own blog. Some of the stuff is so ugly and annoying I can’t imagine leaving it up if you know about it.
It’s always so evident when people don’t proofread your post. It takes an extra 2 minutes, and it is SO simple to do…. Drives me nuts when people don’t!
It drives me crazy when I see typos that should have been caught (though I admit to reading an old post of my own once in a while and being shocked by a mistake I didn’t catch ☺️). I always wonder if I should tell them. Wouldn’t you rather know so you could fix it?
I love these tips. Please link up with us at Literacy Musing Mondays so my readers can read this too. I love blogging articles. Thanks. 😉
Thanks for the invite. I will!
I am terrible at proof reading and self-editing. I need to enlist Vegas. Ha! I think I’ve gotten better with titles over the years, but I definitely have to remind myself. Thanks for all these tips!
Thank goodness for Vegas! It’s good to have someone you trust to check your work.
These are great tips! I know I failed miserably on some of the tips mentioned.
It’s not failure if you take steps to improve 🙂
Hi Debbie! Great post! I love your blogging tips. I agree that the pop-ups are annoying, as well as any sort of a plug-in or large images that slow down a page when loading. I also don’t like it when a blog makes it difficult to comment. As far as everything else — I’m a total stickler for writing and grammar — but I try not to be too hard on people. Thanks for this one. I know I need to identify my reader a little bit better for sure …
I liked your quality over quantity comment. I have seen monthly challenges where you post once a day. At first I thought it might be a good idea, but feel that no one really wants to know what band with the letter “A” that I like. This validated that my feeling, thanks.
Love this list! There are sooo many things that go into blogging/creating a blog worth reading. I agree – about finding a blogging community too. Finding a group of people who can support and inspire the behind the scenes part of blogging has been such a huge thing for me.
Thanks for sharing!
This is great advice. I know there are a few things on this list that I need to improve on. Thank you for sharing.
This is really good advice, thank you.
It irks me when people have music on their blog. Sometimes I forget to turn my sound low after watching some videos, so it’s very startling.
My biggest struggle has always been consistency. I have an editorial calendar that I love, it works great…when I use it. My problem is I have so much on my plate at any given time that often my organic content suffers. I’ve been trying to remedy that, but first comes getting many other aspects of my life organized and under control (currently in progress!). Hoping it helps with my blog consistency!
I always read through my posts several times before I post to correct any spelling mistakes and to make sure it flows properly. I also make sure I do this in the post preview mode so I can see how it will look to someone who is reading it.
I also hate popups. #Anythinggoes
Thanks again for bringing a very helpful post to Fridays Blog Booster Party #26
Kathleen
I’m with you on #1, I hate pop ups and video ads. I’ve had so much trouble commenting on peoples blogs because of it. I usually send them a note though and let them know that a normal reader would probably have left! I need to get a little better about consistency as well. There are some weeks I post every day and other that it ends up only twice a week. It’s just hard to keep up sometimes with two small kids! I just do the best I can when I can.
Great tips! I’m glad to have my mother as my proofreader. Thanks for the reminder about perma links too. THanks for sharing!
All great tips, Debbie. Keeping the reader’s experience in mind is super important. I cannot stand when I go to read a post and pop up subscription boxes and ads get in the way of reading the post itself. That’s a quick way to send me away, and keep me from coming back.
Debbie,
Love your tips!
The other thing I hate is when music automatically plays in the background! I go crazy searching for the mute button (oh, yeah, I guess I could do that on my own computer – LOL), and by then I’m so frustrated I usually just leave.
Re: the proofing. after reading them over to myself, I ALWAYS read my posts out loud. Can’t believe how much I catch that way. Usually it’s poor or awkward wording…
The other thing I thought of was about sharing… I’d suggest you not only share your own stuff, but be generous and share others’ posts, too. Generosity is never wasted, and it helps build that sweet reputation that “us bloggers” enjoy 😉
Would LOVE for you to share over on our own Coffee & Conversation on Wednesdays!!
These are great tips! Making a schedule and planning ahead is very helpful in keeping the momentum going.
Thank you so much for sharing your post with us at the #AnythingGoes Link Party! See you next week.
Hi Debbie
Thanks for sharing such a wonderful article here with us.
Actually these are those mistakes which almost every blogger do.
I had also did so many mistakes like copying articles from other blogs.
I can remember those days when I was very much new to this blogging world and I purchased a domain name without thinking about the niche of the blog.
I purchased the domain name and then I thought that On which topic, I should make my website then I thought that I’ll create an another Wikipedia.. Haha lol
And I started copying articles from Wikipedia. After putting efforts so many days, When I saw that no result is coming out then I decided that I’ll make a top 10 lists site where I can list top 10 things of every topic and again I started copying articles from a site named Listverse.
I did like this till 7-8 months because I was very much new to all this things and I even don’t have any experience of writing articles. My English was also not good.
Haha I know It still not good But currently I am able to write few lines But at that time, It was so difficult for me.
I did copy pasting till 7-8 months and when I noticed that I am just wasting my time and nothing then I started finding the reason behind not getting traffic on my site.
Then somewhere I found my mistake i.e. Copying articles from other site.
On that day, I learnt that Google never ranks copied articles.
So I made a decision that I’ll never copy any article and will write article myself.
In starting days, It was so difficult for me to write an article. I first write article on my notebook and then later type in WordPress.
After doing this few days, I tried writing directly in WordPress and any how I completed my first article in WordPress. Later I continuously did practice and it became common and easy for me.
Now I am complete able to write in WordPress directly because Practice makes perfect. Right? 😀
There are also so many mistakes which I am still making which you have listed in this article and I am trying my best to stop doing those mistakes.
Thanks for sharing such a great piece of content with us.
Happy Blogging 😉
I love your tips. I have been a victim of not using heading tags in the article. As I am from a commerce background, I didn’t know how to use them and ended up getting no love from Google.
Lesson learned. I now use them. Thanks for the common blogging mistakes. It should be a good reminder for the beginners like me.
Great tips, thank you, so much to learn but mostly it’s good fun and I learn something new everyday which is great. Happy New Year one and all 🙂
Grammar is one of my weaknesses, I use a tool to help but I try not to rely on it too much. It won’t catch everything. You need to read your post out loud I find that helps a lot.
All great pointers for sure. Engaging with your audience is huge. Stopped over from Bloggers Pit Stop – see how right you are about sharing? lol Great article. Thx for sharing!
Hi Debbie, I am pleased to tell you that this post was among the most clicked in the Bloggers Pit Stop. Congratulations a feature on Friday 🙂
Hi Debbie,
I started my blogging career two years back, at that time I thought I will get traffic to my blog by just publishing the article on my blog and promoting it online, later I came to know the reality how difficult it is to get traffic to the blog.
Now I am concentrating on building community and increasing the email list, I think every blogger goes through these phases, it will take some time to understand the reality.
I really liked this post because it covered all the mistakes a new blogger will make, thanks for sharing this information, see you soon with another article.