There’s a ton of information out there about blogging. So, reading many blogs with different views may confuse you. There are two kinds of information on these blogs – true and not so true. (Some blog posts are merely personal views.)
With the excess of too much info. it’s hard to find the difference between right and wrong.
So, What’s a myth? It’s a common false belief which many people believe to be true. Do you think there are many myths in blogging?
If the same question had to be answered by me, I would say – “Yes!” There are a lot of myths about blogging. Anyone who owns a blog finds many blogging myths at the start of their journey. And believe them to be true.
If you believe these blogging myths for a long time it can be harmful. (For your blogging career.) New bloggers follow these myths until they find themselves in the same place where they started even after a long time.
So, without wasting your time, here are 10 of the most common blogging myths that you should avoid –
10 Most Common Blogging Myths – Debunked!
#1 Blogging Is Very Easy!
It’s a common practice for new bloggers to jump into blogging by seeing the top bloggers sharing their earning reports. I also did so (to some extent). But, they assume it’s very easy because many bloggers are earning decent money from their blogs.
That’s where they are wrong! Blogging is not so easy as it looks. There will be bloggers telling you blogging is very easy so you can purchase something from their affiliate links. (So, they can earn a commission.)
It takes years to make money from a blog, although some start making money in less than 6 months, those are rare cases. Most of the bloggers won’t tell you so. For one successful blog, there are a thousand blogs that have failed.
And, Yes! Blogging is damn easy when you’re doing it just as a hobby. But when you want to make serious money from blogging, it’s difficulty level goes beyond the hard mode. Making money on the internet isn’t as easy as it looks.
To become a great blogger and make money from it you’ll need to put on a lot of efforts. It’s as difficult as starting an offline business. (If not more.) So, if you still think that blogging is easy then you need to think about it again.
#2 I Should Avoid Sharing Other Blogs, Else I Will Lose My Readers.
It’s a common myth that including external links will decrease your search engine rankings. Many bloggers even think that linking out to other sites is bad & they’ll lose their readers. Guess, they’re wrong both of the times.
Linking to other sites have no harmful effect unless you’re linking out to low-quality sites. (Or selling links from your blog.) It’s clear from many studies that linking to high authority sites (outbound link) increases your rankings.
Remember this, you should only link out to reliable sites in your niche. There are many benefits of linking out to other sites. The biggest advantage being – to get the higher position in the Google. And, there are also other benefits.
Like with proper references, your blog post looks more reliable. After all, we all love to read well-researched blog posts. (I love them.) It’s easier to back up your claim with stats. You will also gain the trust of your readers. And, you won’t lose any reader.
But, you must have great content. (Or you’ll not see the positive results with linking out to other sites) I also link out to 5-6 sites in my blog posts. You should link out more to authority blogs in your niche.
#3 Having Great Content is Enough. (Content is king?)
So, how many time have you heard that content is King? A lot of times, I guess? I must say that it’s not a complete myth (true to some extent), as you must have great content on your blog and without great content, no one will visit your blog.
But, only having great content isn’t enough! Content without promotion is like a king without his queen. (It’s of no use when no one is going to read what you have on your blog.) Long gone are the days when only having great content was enough.
There are a lot of bloggers who think – if they put enough content on their blogs, readers will come on their own. Well, Good luck with that! Almost 2 million blog posts published every day. And, you think people will find you on their own?
Even successful blogger & founder of CopyBlogger, Brian Clark, says that only words alone aren’t enough if no one reads them. And he is 100% right. You need an audience to share your ideas with, or else you’re only writing for yourself.
Does it even matter writing one blog post & giving it your all and no one reads them? Many new bloggers think “content is king!” & spend all of their time in writing blog posts. So, always take time to promote your blog posts.
#4 You Can Write On Everything You Want.
Well, it common for new bloggers to write about anything they want on their blogs. They’re told that they can write on almost every topic ranging from how to draw or building a gaming pc, etc. It’s a wrong approach to blogging. If you’re serious!
You can write about everything you want if don’t want to blog in a serious way. It’s ok. But, if you want to become a successful blogger you need to select one topic that you can stick with for a long time. (Or, else you’ll leave blogging in no time.)
There’s one reason that every blogger says – “It’s important to select your niche”. They know how important it is to select the right niche for your blog. Selecting the right topic can lead your blog to success.
You can start a blog on any topic that you think will be the best for you. (And, you don’t need to be an expert in it.) It’s one of the things you need to know before starting a blog. You will become an expert in your topic after some years.
When you start blogging, there will be times when you may think that another blogging niche is much better, and this cycle will continue for a long time. It’s better to blog on a single topic and become an Expert!
#5 I Don’t Need Paid WordPress Themes, Free Ones Are Enough.
Many of us think “Why should we purchase paid WordPress themes when there are thousands of free themes available?”. I also thought so, about 2 years back when I started to blog. But I later found out it wasn’t a good idea. Why?
Free themes are great only when you’re just starting out. (Or, just blogging as a hobby.) But still, free themes are not up to the mark when you’re serious about blogging & want a good looking blog.
Even if there are thousands of themes in the WordPress directory, not a single one can get the work done. Only 4-5 decent free themes are there and they’re also freemium ones. You will need to pay for them to get access to all the options.
The main problem with free themes is that – you can never customize them as you like. The only way to customize them is just you start learning to code and then editing them according to your will. But why go through all of this?
You can just purchase paid themes which can be customized easily. First, you will need to select a good WordPress theme for your blog. Then choose the one which you think will fulfill your requirements. It’s that simple and, will only cost around 60-100$ max.
#6 Blogging Is Just A Hobby!
When you ask people about blogging, they assume you just write for yourself or have a personal blog. Most of the people still think that blogging is just a hobby and nothing else. People just don’t want to accept blogging as a career.
They think if someone has nothing to do then he/she starts a blog. Hmm, but it’s their fault that they’re missing on the bigger picture. There are many bloggers who earn thousands of dollars per month. But, if you’re looking for getting rich quick from blogging, then you’re mistaken.
Blogging is one of the hardest ways to earn money online. There’s a lot of competition among bloggers to rank much higher than others. However, it’s still a great career choice if you’re willing to put efforts on it.
No one can guarantee how much you will earn from blogging. Maybe you won’t ever become a high earning blogger who makes 100 thousand $ every month. But, you can surely make a decent income from blogging. (Many people are doing this.)
Blogging is going to stay for a long time. It pays well, you learn more skills as a blogger, it’s life-long learning and the most important thing you’re your own boss. Blogging has all the things that you would expect from a great career!
#7 It’s Better To Start With Free Web Hosts.
“Why should I pay 3-4$ for web hosting when I can get it for free!” sounds like you? If yes, then my dear friend you need to read further to know why it’s a bad idea. (If not, you’re ok!) Now, start reading & see if it changes your mind or not.
Many new bloggers hesitate to invest in quality web hosting and suffer later. The only reason for searching free web hosts is that newbie bloggers don’t want to invest in their blogs. They want everything for free – nulled themes, web hosts, etc.
There are a lot of problems with free web hosts. Some of the problems you will face with free web hosts are – no customer support, limited features, slow load times and much more. Free things always come at a price.
If investing at least 3.99$/month for quality web hosting if being too difficult for you then I doubt you would succeed in blogging. And, you need to invest in blogging (like in any other business) to grow.
If you’re just blogging for yourself & expect nothing then it’s fine. But, free web hosts can also shut down their services anytime and you’ll lose everything on your blog. Free web hosts are just not worth anything (and I mean it).
#8 Your Blog Post Shouldn’t Be Longer Than 500 Words.
Shorter is better? It’s a myth from the old days. People say your blog posts shouldn’t be much longer because people these days have an attention span of a fish. Well, they’re right on the attention part but absolutely wrong on the word count.
Surely, you shouldn’t stretch out your blog post if you’re writing on a narrow topic. On shorter topics, 500 to 700 words will be more than enough. But on in-depth guides, you need to go all out. (That’s what they’re for anyway.)
There have been studies that prove that longer content ranks much better than short content. But, it doesn’t mean you should be writing dull & boring content to make it longer. Many bloggers do this and their content is boring.
Your content must be interesting with a few jokes here and there but never forget what’s the main purpose of your blog post. An easy way to decide the length of your blog posts is to write only what’s needed.
Here’s a study by QuickSprout, by which you can know – the ideal length of a blog post should be around 1500 words. By now it’s clear that even longer blog posts are good (if not better) than shorter blog posts.
#9 If You Aren’t A Good Writer, You Can’t Become A Blogger!
You don’t need to be an expert writer to become a great blogger. Most of the people think that if you can’t write well then you won’t succeed. Also, there’s no need of having any writing background to blog.
Blogging is not just all about writing. Yup! You read that right, blogging can’t be described as writing only. There are a lot of other skills also involved in blogging. The difference between a good blogger & a good writer is a large one.
What’s more important is that you solve the problems of your readers. (Or, teach them what they want to learn from you.) Becoming a great writer is important, but not necessary. But try to improve your writing skills.
Not all bloggers are expert at writing, a living example would be “me”. I know that I’m not an expert writer, but I try to write perfectly. (To some extent.) Nobody is a born genius. Like I said blogging is a mix of skills. (SEO, writing, promotion, etc.)
With time you’ll also learn how to write amazing articles and become a great blogger. Read some blogs about writing. And also, make sure you’re writing daily, within 4-6 weeks you’ll notice that you’re becoming better at it.
#10 You Need To Write Every Day, Or You Will Lose Traffic.
Now, many bloggers are cursed with this blogging myth. They believe that posting every day will get them more traffic. The truth is you don’t need to publish blog posts every day unless you own a big news site.
Most of the bloggers write only 1 or 2 long, well-researched blog posts and still have over a hundred thousand visitors. On an average, you should publish 1 or 2 blog posts per week. Quality is much better than Quantity.
You also need to be consistent. Let’s take an example -Suppose you’re publishing 1 blog post every day for a month and see a spike in traffic (Spike of Hope), then you stop publishing. What do you think would happen next?
Of course, you’ll see a decline in traffic (Flatline of nope). The same applies when you publish 1-2 blog posts every day. If you’re thinking that publishing more blog posts will get you more consistent traffic, then you’re very much wrong.
Also, make sure whatever you publish is of the highest quality. Your readers will always come back to see your blog posts every week. And, if you get stuck somewhere it’s better to miss 2 blog posts in 2 weeks rather than missing 10 blog posts.
Final Thoughts
Avoiding these blogging myths is good for you & your blog. Once you start to blog while thinking of these myths as facts you are going to have some troubles. Worst case scenario – you will fail!
The amount of misinformation on the internet is damn high! You should know what it takes to build a successful blog and learn daily. There are a lot of reasons why most of the blogs fail. One of the reason is to believe whatever you read on the internet.
It’s a general problem – People think if it’s on the internet, it must be true. We as bloggers should know this very well. It’s not impossible to rank sites with false information on the top positions.
Now, what do you think if the biggest blogging myth of all time? Feel free to let us know in the comments below. (Also suggest, if I’ve not included something on the list.)
And, if you think the post helped you (or was worth your time), please share it with your friends. It’ll help in the growth of this blog.