Every blogger works hard daily to have their traffic soar, their blog theme better and their readers engaged. It’s part of a blogger’s life, they just want to excel and get so focused on the numbers that they lose sight of the bigger picture. There are many things a blogger should be doing, but today we will focus on the top mistakes every blogger makes as a means to help guide you away from those mistakes and work towards being a better blogger. Don’t get me wrong, I was also one of those bloggers, so I’m writing based on my experience. I did most of these things and sometimes occasionally I might still make a mistake or two, but my goal today is to encourage you not to make the same mistakes as a blogger.
Relying on giveaways and other shortcuts to get readers, while this is an effective way to increase followers on social media channels and readers; unless your blog focus is solely giveaways then you are building an incorrect audience base. When I first started, I did lots of reviews and giveaways. It seemed like I was doing at least 2-3 giveaways a week and while it did help with social media numbers, it really did nothing for my readership because people were only coming to enter my giveaways and not really sticking around to read what I had to say.
Instead: Try engaging your readers during a giveaway you have hosted, such as asking a question relating to the giveaway, or even why they return to your blog. You may also want to cut back on the million of giveaways and instead focus on your own content. Now I do possibly 1-2 giveaways a month and they are usually for items that I myself would want to win.
Writing content that doesn’t apply to you personally, such as talking about what you need for the gym when you haven’t hit the gym in years. There are many mistakes bloggers make when it comes to writing content, but the biggest one your readers notice are those unnatural blog posts that you wrote just for a quick paycheck. Blogging is a job for most of us and as with most jobs, we want to get paid. However writing about a product that you don’t truly believe in just for the money doesn’t show authenticity, which is another thing that I’ve also cut back on. I’ve cut back quite a lot on sponsored content as you may have noticed recently and surprisingly my readership has grown.
Instead: Start focusing on what you are passionate about and you will soon find more readers flock to your blog because they can hear the passion and knowledge of the subject in your written voice.
Not replying to reader’s comments, this is a mistake that far too many bloggers make. When you don’t take the time to reply to comments on your blog, you have lost return traffic. Replying to readers’ comments not only shows them you care about what they have to say, but it brings them back to your blog on a regular basis. This is also something that I’ve also worked on more this year as well and it has helped.
Instead: Make it a mission to reply to any comment that has asked a question and occasionally throw in a thank you for the comment reply.
Searching online for inspiration, sadly this can be a time consuming method. Bloggers who don’t have a consistent schedule for their blog end up losing motivation and inspiration. They spend far too many hours online researching other blogger’s posts for a sign of inspiration. That is not good business practice because you are wasting quality time.
Instead: Setup an editorial calendar where you always have at least two weeks planned out for content in advance. I currently have over 40 draft posts that I can publish at any time.
Not giving credit to the proper sources, you know we all learned this in English class back in high school. Many bloggers will quote sources, but then not cite the source. This happens non-maliciously and is just a frequent mistake many bloggers make.
Instead: Research how to properly cite your sources and start citing any resource you are fully quoting within any article.
Being obsessed with numbers, every new blogger that starts out finds themselves obsessed with watching the traffic on their blog. They dream about it, they have nightmares about it, you get the gist. Since they are making the mistake of being so focused on numbers, their content is lacking and their promotional efforts are spammy. This is also something I really worried about when I first started blogging, but just like with everything, it takes time. Don’t expect to get 100k readers within a month or two of blogging. Every blog is different and sometimes someone may just get lucky with a viral post. Your day will come.
Instead: Stop worrying about the numbers; your visitors that come on a regular basis are a loyal following. Focus on the content being amazing and new readers will arrive. Trust me!
Let’s discuss: Can you think of other mistakes that bloggers make that I failed to mention?
