Regarding Blogging Mistakes to Avoid, you should know other people have made these mistakes before you. Therefore, by sharing them with the world, you benefit from them. Furthermore, you can save considerable time (sometimes years) by not repeating these errors. The good news is that by taking these slips into account, you can correct them in a matter of minutes.
It shouldn’t take long to include new corrections in your blogging process. You may be making a few of these mistakes. Fear not; you’ll be on your way to being a pro in no time. I’m sharing 14 of these common and not-so-common mistakes next:
1. Lack of consistency
Let’s say you’re watching a series on Netflix, and a new chapter is online weekly. You wait for it patiently. Many of your readers have the same relationship with your content. Catering to their needs means being consistent with your publishing schedule. How often should you publish? At least once a week, and ideally many times per week.
2. Not choosing the right topics
You’re eager to share your hard-earned knowledge with the world, and it’s time to choose a topic for your blog post. You may feel the desire to write about a broad topic and create a definitive guideline for that. That content may be suited for an eBook or a course. However, since you may be too vague when writing those topics, you want to focus on a specific topic.
3. The content isn’t friendly enough
So, you’re writing for the web now. Forget about the guidelines you learned in school. They served their purpose. You can be warm if you want to reach a broad audience and delight them with your writing. You can address your audience with a “You.” Unless you have strict corporate guidelines, writing as if you were talking to a friend is the way to go.
4. The article isn’t exhaustive enough
Just a few years ago, you could get by writing “thin content” This meant you could write briefly about a subject and at the same time reach a prominent position on search engines. Today, with more advanced search algorithms, you can choose to write long-form content to be on the safe side. This type of content examines a topic in depth.
5. Content is not focused on the user
There is a mind shift when you begin writing for the user and not only for yourself. Your buyer persona should indicate what type of content your ideal customer wants. It’s easy to generalize the assumption that since you enjoy a particular kind of content, other people will do so too. You are blogging to fulfill a need, and not necessarily your need.
6. Time lost by not using an outline
Although this is not a visible part of writing, organizing yourself is essential for your productivity and well-being. When you have an idea for a blog post and start writing, your result will be stream-of-consciousness work. When you have an outline, the work practically writes itself. This is a great benefit you can enjoy again and again.
7. Lack of links to other content
The basic architecture of the world wide web can be considered as many hypertext documents interrelated by hyperlinks. This serves an essential purpose: That related content is ordered and connected. By adding links to your content, you provide more value, signaling to your reader they can find more information on your site or elsewhere. This benefits you, too, since your blog’s searchability improves.
8. The blog post is not formatted
Most Content Management Systems (CMSs) allow you to add the format to your articles and other content. You can add the following:
- Enough space between sections
- Headings
- Text in bold
- Bulleted points
Many readers don’t read your copy; they scan it. By ensuring the most important parts are highlighted, you will be making sure to increase the value of your content.
9. Your content is not updated
After you click Publish, you may find yourself forgetting your blog post. Maybe you’ve found content that covers most or all aspects of a particular subject. Let me tell you a secret: many blog posts become great resources because they get updated. This means you don’t forget about your blog post; you can revise it a year after writing it to ensure it’s still fresh.
10. Not using enough research, data, and examples.
I may write: “There are countless blogs on the internet.” Or I can write: “There are more than 600 million blogs on the internet.” The first example is vague and a lazy way of exposing my knowledge about a subject. The second one is recommended. In this paragraph, I shared an example and research data. Don’t you believe it sounds more credible?
11. No call to action
You can do absolutely everything right when you write your article, but if you don’t have a call to action (CTA), you miss many opportunities. For example, you can ask your audience to join an email list, visit a YouTube channel, share your content, click an affiliate link, etc. You should have a CTA on every piece of content you share on your blog.
12. Not enough proofreading
So, you just finished writing your article, and you’re good to go, right? Not so fast. You still need to proofread your content. Someone else can do that job if you work for a big company. Chances are you need to check your content is well written yourself. Make sure you are using high-quality software to spot typos and grammar mistakes.
But enough is enough. Once you are happy with your result, hit Publish. Perfectionism is just another mistake.
13. The title lacks polish
Just as some people judge a book by its cover, others judge a blog post by its title. Therefore, you can get more views and readers by having a catchy title that includes your desired keywords and an emotional appeal.
Many bloggers treat the title as an afterthought. Instead, you should take the time to make the title not only appealing but irresistible to your audience.
14. Your content is not repurposed
You can profit immensely from a single blog post. You can read it aloud and create a YouTube video from it. Extract audio from this video, and you have a podcast. Then, take a quote from your text and create an attractive image you can share on photo-sharing sites. As you can see, the sky is the limit.
Think about the opportunity every single blog post provides you.
Conclusion
Nobody is perfect. As you continue your blogging activities, you will get better as time goes by. This self-development process involves avoiding mistakes. It’s a rewarding process of trial and error (that you can shorten)
By considering these 14 Blogging Mistakes to avoid, you can add a slight improvement to your next blog post. You won’t be making mistakes, which will show in your results.
The only individuals who aren’t making mistakes are those who aren’t trying something new. Now that you know how to improve your work pat yourself on the back and reward yourself for acquiring new actionable knowledge.
