“What’s the most common mistake made by new bloggers? How can we avoid it?“ – asked on Twitter by @alisonkerr.
Here are a few quick mistakes that I see new bloggers making (some of which mistakes I made myself). They’re listed in no particular order and I’d love for you to continue the list in comments below:
- Giving up too early – blogs take time to take off
- Putting off starting a blog – waiting until everything is just right before launching can mean you never do it
- Echoing what everyone else is talking about – say something unique and share your opinion
- Not blogging on your own domain – I know some swear by using hosted blogs but if you want ultimate control of your blog it is best to do it on your own domain and hosting.
- Irregular Posting – you don’t have to post every day but try to establish a regular rhythm of posting
- Being too apologetic – ‘sorry I haven’t written for a while’ can end up being the most common type of post on a blog – yes apologize if you’ve messed up but don’t be too hard on yourself – keep investing your time into building your blog up rather than highlighting it’s problems.
- Focusing more upon Quick Traffic than Loyal Readers – there’s nothing wrong with a big rush of traffic from social media or another blog – but just as important as that is building reader loyalty. Sometimes growing one reader at a time is more fruitful than getting spikes of traffic that never returns.
- Clutter – too many buttons, widgets, navigation elements
- Great Posts but Terrible Titles – don’t short change yourself by investing hours into writing great content only to slap a mediocre headline/title onto it.
- Not Defining a Topic – the most successful blogs have a well defined topic/niche (or they target a certain demographic)
- Choosing a Topic you have no Interest in – for your blog to be successful you’ll need to blog regularly on your topic for years – if you want to sustain it choose something you have an interest in or love for or you’ll run out of steam.
- Too many Ads – I don’t have a problem with ads on a blog from Day #1 but when they overpower the content and push it down the page too far they hurt your chances of building a loyal readership.
- Being too Insular/Expecting Readers to come to You – many bloggers starting out fail to realize that the more you put yourself out there and interact with other bloggers the more chance you have of being read.
- Blogging about Making Money Blogging (as a first blog) – I’ve lost count of how many bloggers I’ve seen start blogs on the topic of blogging for money when they’ve never made money blogging. Start with something you know.
- Not Being Useful – blogs that meet needs and solve problems are blogs that people will keep coming back to and which they’ll spread news of to their network.
- Writing for Search Engines Before Humans – you can always tell when a blogger discovers Search Engine Optimization for the first time. Suddenly titles don’t make sense, keywords appear in posts for no real reason, links to other pages on the blog that are irrelevant to the post keep being used. Learn SEO – but keep your readers as your #1 priority.
- Becoming a Stats-a-holic – the lure of checking your stats is understandable and common to new (and older) bloggers – but it can become an unhealthy obsession that leads to distraction and depression.
- Link Baiting with Personal Attack – taking pot shots at other bloggers might get you some quick traffic – but hate breeds hate and the type of readers you attract and the culture it’ll breed on your blog could come back to bite you. Plus you’ll get a reputation that you might not want to live with.
- Not Knowing Why You’re Blogging – while most of us don’t really know what we’re doing at the start – the faster you can work out what the purpose of your blog is the sooner you’ll start moving toward achieving that purpose.
- Not Selling Yourself – one thing I don’t think many bloggers get is the power of blogs to sell yourself as a blogger. There’s nothing wrong with monetizing a blog with ads – but maybe a better long term strategy is to use a blog to advertise who you are and what you can offer readers.
- Thinking You Have to Know it All – one of the best things about blogs is that they’re a great medium for involving your readers in the process of learning. Leave space for others to interact, share what they know and contribute.
There’s A LOT more to be said on this topic – what mistakes do you see new (and older) bloggers making?
Hi Darren,
Nice post.I understood many things from this post.
Keep it up
regards
Salman
http://www.tips4blogging.co.cc
Great stuff. I really appreciate you guys posting this type of information and I often incorporate into my own blogs.
Brent Riggs
http://www.brentriggs.com/blog
These are some great points…
I come from the SEO niche, so my 2 cents on the related points:
Great Posts but Terrible Titles: This is so common! We need to understand that titles entice readers into reading a post, or they can also put them off!
So, it is very important to craft the titles well. It is also from SEO point of view, as search engines give a lot of importance to them. The title is also important as that is what the readers see in the search engine result pages.
Writing for Search Engines Before Humans: This can’t be stressed enough! Let’s remember that in the long run, good search engine ranking can only be a by product of good content.
So, write great content that people love, and search engine rankings would follow.
Also, my experience about “Not Selling Yourself”. I firmly believe that advertising can’t be the only source of revenue for a blog.
Of course, advertiging can give good revenues, but selling your own stuff (service or products) is a much better way of earning.
I do have advertising on my blog, but apart from that, I offer “SEO Analysis Report” and “User Experience Analysis Report” for blogs and small websites.
Thanks for this! I totally agree especially with #8 and #12. I hate this stuff!
Syoung
come see me at http://20-20faithsight.blogspot.com – my new blog.
The most common mistake I see is giving up too early or expecting too much too early.
Blogging takes time, need to patient before we can achieve someting.
Certainly done a few of these blogger mishaps, but learning all the time. I think you have to go through these growing pains in order to be a better blogger. We can’t all be perfect like you Darren (-:
Nice reminders for any blogger to catch up on!
Thanks for the read
Great points, I had bookmark it and this should be one of my blogging reference….
One more for the list: Getting Serious Too Early!
Some people don’t want to do anything unless they can go all the way with it. (I’m one of those people…lol.) I am constantly finding that I have so many things I want to do with my blog but so little time (and know-how). So, for people like me, you have to pace yourself. You have to be smart and strategic – it can be frustrating not going like a bat out of hell but it’s worth it to be consistent. And lastly, you can only work to the knowledge you have – if you try to race ahead beyond your understanding or capability then you’ll have a big mess in the end.
That’s my two-bob ;)
Great post, yet a bit bitter knowing that I fit some of the descriptions there *sighs* then again like Bill said, we are not perfect, then again if we focus on just monetizing and ads on the blog then it becomes a failure.
I’m absolutely guilty of #10 – on purpose :) I have a variety of interests and didn’t want to be constrained by a niche. However, I did this with the realization that it would be difficult to grow a reader base at first.
I refer to my site ( http://www.observingcasually.com/ ) as a web magazine rather than a blog – making the distinction that it contains stories on a variety of topics – news, sports, entertainment, short fiction stories, etc).
#1 – You definitely need to avoid giving up too early. If you write quality content, you’ll eventually find a reader base. I’ve been writing every day for the past 3 months, and the base is growing, ever so slowly. Luckily, I am very patient.
#2 – I’ve always enjoyed writing, but I stopped for about a decade before a friend told me his secret – that he was a fairly successful anonymous blogger. It was great motivation for me.
#4 – The same friend convinced me to start blogging on my own domain. There were some growing pains, but it was the right decision.
#5 – In the month of May, my team (myself and two writers who each write one article each month) managed to post new content every single day – the first time we have done this.
#12 – I have used “Who Sees Ads” to turn ads off for regular readers. The occassional readers and search engine traffic still see them.
Great tips.
Nice summary for beginners! As to No. 1, despite thousands of new blogs are coming up everyday,
” … the ‘average blog’ has the lifespan of a fruitfly….”, if you can stick to your self and keep posting, you are already a winner against 80% bloggers.
Several studies indicate that most blogs are abandoned soon after creation (with 60% to 80% abandoned within one month, depending on whose figures you choose to believe) and that few are regularly updated. — according to Calson Analytics Blogging
This was great! I have a friend who is just starting out blogging, and I will be passing this link along and help him to start on the right track.
I appreciate your insight. Thanks for sharing!
Since recently starting my blog, I can relate to this post a lot. Thanks for sharing!
As always Darren, this is awesome and one. I would add – trying to reinvent the wheel. When I first started out, I thought I could make up new rules to blogging. And while of course that’s true, there are things the pioneers have established that it would do any newbie well to follow.
That’s a very thoughtful list of mistakes. Some of them I too have done, but most of them I am aware of and feel the same way as you do about it.
As a pretty new blogger, I appreciate the advice! Especially when it comes to finding a “niche” – which I’m still working on. But I’m finding that the more I write, the more comments from readers I get – which then helps me discover what folks are truly interested in, and what keeps them coming back!
“Putting off starting a blog – waiting until everything is just right before launching can mean you never do it”
Oh man, am I kicking myself for this one. I try my best to avoid all the others (reading this blog goes a long way), but I really regret not jumping in early. I had major analysis paralysis.
To any bloggers whom are thinking about getting started…
JUST DO IT!
Man you nailed #1 for being number 1…never, never, NEVER give up too early. If you’ve chosen to blog, commit at the minimum 6 months I’d say a year personally to what you are blogging about…and be consistent with your new blog posts, whether that be weekly or 3 times a week.
Timothy Carter
Yes, I agree with all your points.
1. (Giving up too early)
I have seen a lot of people do this. If they have noticed, most successful blogs are over a year old (Of course, you must be dedicated in order to achieve this).
4. (Not blogging on your own domain)
Yes, this is another common mistake bloggers make. .blogspot domains seem so unprofessional. It means to me that the blogger is not serious into blogger.
8. (Clutter)
They slow down load time and drive impatient visitors away. Please cut down unnecessary items in the sidebar.
16. (Writing for search engines before humans)
Search engines are just robots. They do nothing but rank your blog. Your blog will be ‘lifeless’ if there are no real people.
By the way, back two months ago, I wrote a guest post on the “5 most common mistakes” that not only beginner bloggers make, which I thought might be a good read for you.
http://thoushallblog.com/5-most-common-mistakes-by-bloggers/
;)
Excellent tips, thanks. My first blog that I’m sticking with (been a month or so so far) and luckily most of the mistakes you’ve mentioned I’ve (hopefully) managed to avoid so far :)
Keep up the good work!
Thanks Darren,
This is an awesome list and an excellent post I will continue to reference to make sure I am on track!
One thing I have found is that people are getting stuck on “how do I make money” and “I don’t know what to write about.”
Being stuck in this mindset leaves people at your top 2 points -quitting too soon and starting too late.
Wish you the best,
Robert Avila
Persistence is *so* key. It sound simple but if it was easy, then 60%+ of all blogs that fold within a month would still be around…
Everytime I see a short comment, I think about the bog you posted about leaving the right comment.
Being roughly 2 1/2 weeks into my latest adventure/blog, I’ve been lucky enough I guess to not fall into any of these traps. The one most likely me? 7. Focusing more upon Quick Traffic than Loyal Readers .
I was excited that on the FIRST day we opened, we had nearly 80 unique visits. How many comments were left? None. Other links clicked? None.
Great list and it’s something that I’m going to put up next to me before I write every blog. Thank you for this.
One thing that I’ve seen recently is bloggers way overusing the “end your blog post with a question to encourage reader comments” tactic. Some blog posts and topics seem naturally written in a way that lend themselves to such an invitation to readers. Some are not. Bloggers shouldn’t just drop a stock question at the end of nearly every post effectively saying “That’s what I think, what do you think?” As a reader of many blogs, it is starting to feel disingenuous when such a question is just thrown in at the end.
This post itself might be an example of that. I don’t mean that to be rude, because overall this is a fantastic blog, and this particular post is an example of the great content here. But my two cents is to just beware of overusing “The Question” tactic.
Hell ! I almost made majority of these mistakes.
@ Jensen Most of the times the blogs are created for the sake of trying. Those who are serious about blogging would fall in the 40% category.
Giving up too soon. That seems to be the hardest hurdle, and its the first…
http://www.smartwallet.org
I enjoyed learning about the most common mistakes! Thank you! In my opinion, another common mistake is the usage of wrong grammar or continuous spelling mistakes…Not too hot for a good blog! I know it happens to many of us, but it’s worth being more careful, don’t you think? I have a question, though: How can we learn about hosting our own blog? Thanks again, Denise Zaldivar
I have one: Spamming for traffic on other blogs on your first day. This can truly hurt the future of your blog.
One common mistake is starting too many blogs at once. Working on one at a time until it builds up a nice groups of loyal readers is better than shortchanging the focus ton spread it over many blogs at one time. This can also benefit bloggers later on when they start a new blog because it can be easier to grow a second one if you already have loyal supporters on the first one who can help promote the new one.
I do “recognize” your title of this post as one of the Headlines examples listed on Copyblogger. Either he pulled from other blogs such as this one to create the list of headlines OR you read the blog as a resource for ideas OR this is mere coincidence in which case, you know that popular phrase “great minds think alike” ? well, that may apply to you and Brian.
A trap I fell into but then pulled out of was spending too much time on design/theme rather than focusing on content.
This was very helpful to me as a newbie blogger. I am enjoying your book too.
Lucy
postpartumillness.com
Thanks for the advise !
I would like to have my own domain but i do not know how to move all my blogs there :(
I do not even know how to get a domain :D
Poor me :P
Great post, now I know what I have being wrong all the time. I think this post shows all what I have being doing wrong. I think own hosting and domain is certainly a good one. Thanks for sharing.
I am curious, how much of the quick traffic converts into loyal visitors?
I have recently published a big rumor (I happen to learn about it by accident) which was caught up by a LOT of other photography and Mac sites.
Basically, from one day to the next my traffic was x15-x20. I realized that a big chunk of these people are never going to come back to my site but I am wondering how many will?
Anyone has experience with this and what I should expect? My site has a lot of relevant content for its niche and I update frequently. These are the two basic ingredients for attracting readers and they have been increasing steadily by about 5-10 unique per day for a while but now that I see this massive influx of visitor I have to admit that it gives me a very warm feeling and I hope that at least 20% of them will stay.
Reading a recommendation about not putting too many ads in a blog while at the same time trying to ignore 10 blinking ads some pixels away with 4 more ads below and one more at the top.
Darren, such a great list, excellent post. So true, it really is all about these little things that stack up. In terms of lists, you’re my in my top five favorites, man. Always inspirational, always to the point.
#7 is something I have focused on, almost too much. I spent time reading and commenting on all the blogs of those that read and comment on my blog that I wasn’t taking time to go out and find new readers. So, if some of my current readers left I don’t have replacements.
So, I am working on getting back out in the blogosphere and making new reader friends. :)
I made many of these mistakes and i stopped blogging but after some time i regained confidence and started a new blog and continuing to write on it.
Great post though
regards gautam
http://www.bloggodown.com
I would also say: “Not to copy the post of the other blogger!”.
Alessandro
Great list of tips. I’m gradually learning the benefits of some of these first hand, although I need to work on them.
I would add the following to the list:
Being useless or boring — a.k.a. thinking you’re Ashton Kutcher. I have no use for a blog that details the minutiae of the life of a stranger. If you want your blog to be a journal, that’s fine, but don’t expect others to read it. The reverse is also true: If you want others to read your blog, don’t use it as a journal of your everyday life.
Asking bloggers you don’t know to trade links without giving them a reason — Every so often I get a message saying, “Nice blog, want to swap links?” From that message, I have no way of knowing if you are a legitimate blogger in my niche, a boring journal writer (see above), or a spambot programmed to tell everyone they have a “nice blog.” At least tell me what you like about my blog, and/or tell me what I would like about yours.
Getting swept up into memes that don’t fit your blog — I made this mistake early on. Not sure what my niche would be and desperate for ways to get my URL out there, I participated in a meme about household hints, which has nothing whatsoever to do with what I ended up focusing on. I am embarrassed to even have those posts in my archives, yet I hesitate to delete posts other people have linked to.
To be sincere i’ve found that i was legible for about 5-6 points there :) However, i really think that the most important is number 1. Finding the motivation NOT to give up when few people read your posts.
Thanks for the ideas. I just launched my blog a couple of weeks ago and am deep into learning how to do it right and develop something of value. I’ve subscribed to you and will continue to learn from you I am sure!
Once again, your articles never fails to enlighten me. I am fairly new at blogging and topics like these are quite helpful for guys like me.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful post. More power to your site always!
Great post.
One of the oversights which I think happens, is not shaking it up enough; bloggers not don’t branching out and writing different types of pieces e.g. interviews, book reviews, a personal insights, etc.
It’s fun to write all kinds of different pieces, and keeps the creative juices flowing.
Debbie Hemley
http://www.impressionsthroughmedia.com
This is a great list. I love numbers 2, 7, 11 and 17, and can’t give them a loud enough AMEN (at least not over the interwebs).
I really believe that writing captivates people only when the writer is captivated by story or subject. Trying to figure out what people want to hear, or what’s currently hot, is a hopeless endeavor.
Along those lines, I do have issues with point number 15, “Not being useful.” I’ve even blogged about it before. Who defines what’s useful? Just helpful tips about getting organized, better parenting and how to leverage social media in your line of work? I think a really good story can be useful, or something that makes me laugh, or makes me think about things in a new way.
Sloppy content. By sloppy, I mean the post / blog has great, engaging content, great design, ad placement good, etc–but then the post gets published like this: “Hey guyz, I wents to hte market and then I made joke; lolctz my blog looks like!” Unless that format is the point of the blog, remember to edit, edit, edit!
I just wrote a post on that subject here: http://www.igomogul.com/blog/2009/05/18/your-eyes-4-eyes-more-eyesedit-edit-edit.html”
Sara @ iGoMogul
Thanks for another great post Darren. I’m learning… I’ll try not to make these mistakes, anyway.
Its amazing, how all the points resonated with me. May be every one goes through the same phase, I am glad to have started the blogging process and graduated to my own domain. Will try to follow some of the other tips that you have mentioned for my site http://truvoipbuzz.com
Thanks for the info, I’ve often struggled with being assertive about driving people to my site.
Jon
Hardballcoach.com