Blogging can be personally rewarding, build brands, and even sell products. It is often these very benefits that draw new bloggers into the blogosphere. Yet, even new bloggers with a lot of potential frequently fail to establish themselves because they fall victim to a handful of avoidable mistakes. Here are five of the most common.
Ignoring Basic Rules of English
A blog post stands somewhere between texting and print articles. While this ambiguity might make an acronym like OMG permissible, it should not be read as permission to ignore basic grammar and spelling. Grammatical and spelling errors make the writer look unprofessional and undercut the chances of securing paid advertising from a sponsor.
Random Post Schedule
New bloggers tend to post frequently during their first few weeks only to discover they can’t maintain that writing pace. After the first few weeks, posts become sporadic and readers that were visiting daily abandon the site out of a feeling of betrayal. Less frequent, but consistent, posting will help secure a loyal audience.
Too Much Personal Information
New bloggers often fall victim to the temptation to over-share about their personal lives when it is not relevant. Unless a personal experience helps to demonstrate a point that is core to the blog topic, it probably doesn’t belong there. On the whole, the level of personal information that is appropriate on a blog is the same level of personal information that is appropriate for a casual acquaintance.
Picking the Wrong Niche
Some new bloggers get into blogging specifically to make money. They do the keyword research, find a niche that they believe is underrepresented, and start a blog. What they lack is a personal investment in, and often expertise about, the niche topic. This leads to uninspired, generic content that leaves readers cold. A new blogger should pick a niche they are invested in, have expertise in, or both.
Ignoring Non-Writing details
New bloggers often get so caught up writing the blog that they ignore other details of successful blogging. They neglect to format posts into shorter paragraphs for easy reading. They don’t submit their blog to search engines. They fail to offer sharing options for social media. Managing these details helps to build and keep an audience.
Author Bio:
This post is written by Kenson Goo, cofounder of Sidepon.com and HandCellPhone.com. While he is not busy looking for online discount codes to help people save money when shopping online, he writes articles about mobile and Internet technology.
Excellent and relevant info. Nicely done. Thanks.
Your tips really helped a new blogger like me! Thank you!
Jen