10 Common Mistakes Made By Bloggers Who’ve Just Started

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If you are just getting started or only considering taking the plunge into blogging, don’t be surprised if you make a few mistakes along the way. As with most jobs, running a blog or blogs will take a little time to adjust to. Most bloggers, even the really successful ones, have made a few mistakes along the way, so don’t expect your path to be any different. Still, there are things you can do to avoid some of the pitfalls that others have encountered.

1. Level of Expectation

It will take time to build a fan base and grow your blog site. Reading stories about bloggers who make tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars from their site won’t help bring you back to reality. You should be realistic when it comes to how quickly you can grow your site as well as how popular you will be initially.

2. Lack of Focus

To build your blog’s success, expect it to take a lot of time and effort. You can’t just set your blog up and wait for the money to start rolling in. This commitment can deter many people who expect running a successful blog to be easy, and they can become distracted, leaving their site to wallow in a slew of ads and inactivity. Maintaining your focus is key to keeping your blog popular.

3. Being Behind the Curve

Always being a step behind the competition can hurt your readership. Try to stay up on the most recent news when it comes to the subject matter of your blog. Being ‘in the know’ can keep your views up and activity steady on your blog.

4. Reliance Upon Ad Revenue

Sure, while you might love the subject matter you are posting upon your blog or blogs, you’re probably hoping to make a little cash at the same time. But don’t lose your fans in a plethora of ads smattered across your site. Too many ads can be distracting, detract from the actual information you are posting, and make your guests feel as though you’re only out to make a quick buck.

5. No Working Subject Knowledge

Just because a topic or certain subject matter is popular doesn’t mean you should be setting up a blog about it. While you don’t always have to be an expert in the field you decide to blog upon, having a working knowledge of the subject so that you can make your posts informative and interesting is critical to bringing people to your site.

6. Confidence

While you might not know it, people can often tell by your writing whether you have confidence in the subject matter you are discussing. Making broad, generic statements or never pinning yourself down to an opinion or point of view can make this obvious. While you don’t have to know everything about the topics you are discussing, it helps to have done your homework first.

7. Marketing

In all likelihood, unless you have the most unbelievable blog known to man, people aren’t going to immediately flock to your site without a little effort on your part.

You will probably have to put quite a bit of time into selling your blog by sending out invites to friends, family, organizations you have contacts with, etc. While you might not be into self-promotion, you’ll probably have to sell yourself and your site to get a base of followers, then, hopefully, if you have a worthwhile site, word of mouth will start to bring other people in.

8. Complacency

Once you have a decent size following, don’t get cocky. Just like a popular sports team, it won’t take much of a losing steak to hear the fans start to grumble, and ticket sales start to drop. Complacency is one of the quickest ways to lose followers and decrease their confidence in your blog.

9. Networking

While you obviously don’t want to give the competition a leg up, sometimes linking to other sites can be beneficial, especially if they are willing to return the favor. But choose your links carefully. You don’t want too many visitors flocking to the competition and you don’t want to send them to poor blogs sites, which could diminish your level of professionalism. Linking to posts on your blog or other blogs that you run can increase traffic and highlight some of your best work.

10. Being Too Serious

Remember to have some fun with your blog site. A bit of levity now and again can liven things up and give your site a more personal feel. Remember, you are writing a ‘blog’ post, not encyclopedia entries.

Tom is a writer and designer based in the UK working with a supplier of Epson Stylus ink, toner cartridges and paper. You can read more of writing on their blog, CreativeCloud.