Everyone makes mistakes (we are humans, after all). There’s even a quote – “Mistakes are proof that you’re trying”.
But, there’s an issue, while blogging you should not make too many mistakes or it will have an effect on the growth of your blog. Worst case scenario – Your blogging career will end, even before starting.
Blogging is more than just a hobby, it’s a career for many people (including me).
There are some blogging mistakes that everyone makes, even the pros made them. There isn’t a single blogger that can say that – Hey, I haven’t made any blogging mistake and yet I’m successful. ( LOL.. )
If someone says that they have never made a single blogging mistake (or any mistake) they are lying (100% sure).
Warning – It’s a long post, make sure to have a cup of coffee with you & some snacks. (More than 3000+ words)
Here I’ve made a list of some blogging mistakes that can be serious (if ignored for a long time) and their solution –
15 Dangerous Blogging Mistakes [ And How To Fix Them ]
#1 Not selecting the right “Topic”
When you are new to blogging, you think that “I should blog about everything”. It’s a common mistake that many newbie bloggers make.
But it’s a serious mistake. Why?
It’s bad for SEO and people, both don’t know what your blog is about at all. Just think for a moment – You visit a blog that’s putting every kind of articles, ranging from tech to fashion.
Will you ever be able to guess what kind of article to expect next? The answer would always be “No”.
That’s what also happens with other people and search engines. It confuses them. Your blog will die a short horrible death if you don’t stick to a topic.
How to fix this mistake?
This is a mistake that you should avoid right from the start. Why?
Because if you make this mistake of making a multi-niche blog you will waste a damn lot of time & money. It will be much harder to fix this problem later.
Even before starting a blog, take considerable time in finding the best topic that will never bore you.
#2 You’re not “Consistent”
Let’s be honest – It’s not an easy task to maintain the level of publishing blog posts that we have at the start when we create a blog.
Even I feel like that it’s damn hard to maintain the consistency of my blog posts. Every day I wake up then sit in front of my laptop and then procrastinate ( wishing that I could write 1 or 2 articles daily ).
It’s more like a problem than a mistake (that many people face).
But in the end, I take more than 5 to 6 days to finish an article. Even though I don’t work to the full of my potential, I am consistent in finishing an article in 5 to 6 days. Why am I telling you this?
Because it’s damn hard to be consistent (and without any income, it’s even much harder).
There are many reasons why it’s hard to be consistent. Some of the reasons are Writer’s block, lack of time, laziness ( like me ), lack of motivation, etc.
How to fix this mistake?
It is one of those mistakes that is not easy to solve. But you can fix any problem ( if you want to ).
One of the best ways to fix this mistake is – to make a proper blogging schedule. Even if you’re a part-time blogger, you must take out some time daily in which your sole focus should be on blogging.
And to avoid Writer’s block you can use some of the blog ideas generators like the – HubSpot’s Blog Ideas Generator. It’ll save you a ton of time and you’ll never get a Writer’s block again.
#3 You write like a “Robot”
Writing is a skill that not many people have ( as it’s hard to obtain ). Everyone ( at least on the internet) knows how to write, but the majority don’t know how to write in a manner that people get addicted to their writing style.
Let me tell you something – since schools whenever we (mostly all of us) write, we write like we’re a robot.
What’s the meaning of writing like a “Robot”?
It’s the lack of personalization (what my text would feel like right now since I’m trying to write like a robot). Do you ever enjoy reading articles from Wikipedia? I don’t.
They are the most complete source of information (on the internet), but they feel like they don’t have any human writer. The author can’t connect with me, it feels as if the article is dull. ( Right now, I’m trying to write without any personalization. You would feel the difference, right? )
How to fix this mistake?
You would not believe this, but its pretty easy to fix this mistake. Make use of “I” and “You” in your articles/blog posts ( whatever you like to call it ).
Using “I” and “You” instead of “We” feels much better. Doesn’t it?
Remember – You can never become a successful blogger if you can’t connect with your readers. It’s important that “I” write for “You”.
Don’t forget – you’re writing for people, not for robots.
#4 Ignoring the use of “Social Media”
One of the most common blogging mistakes that most bloggers make is relying only on one traffic channel i.e., Organic traffic (from search engines like Google).
We all know that organic traffic is the best but we forget if done properly, you can also get traffic (according to your niche) from social media.
It can take months or maybe years to get any visitor from Google (having more than 90% search engine market share), or any other search engine.
What will you do if you are ranking and suddenly got penalized by Google? Your efforts will go in vain, you won’t be able to do anything other than trying to remove the penalty (and of course, it will cost you a shit ton of money).
How to fix this mistake?
Start promoting your content in social media groups related to your niche. Make the most out of Facebook & LinkedIn groups.
Join groups which are related to your niche. Help the members there & build friendly relationships.
And if someone asks about a topic that you have covered in your blog, answer it and give a reference to your blog. You can also use Q&A sites like Quora to drive traffic to your blog.
#5 Not writing “Fresh Content”
There are millions of blogs on the internet, some of them are consistent in publishing new blog posts and some aren’t. It’s important to publish content or it will be seen as a dead blog, like some blogs which aren’t updated in years.
Some bloggers publish 1 or 2 blog posts a month, but they are still better than other bloggers who don’t update their blogs in years.
Some people write evergreen blog content, so it is not much of a problem for them because they are always updating their blog post from time to time. But if you’re working in a niche like technology or sports you need to publish blog posts daily (you can’t miss any latest news).
Writing new content is also essential for your blog’s success.
How to fix this mistake?
Updating your blog with fresh content on a regular basis is hard. But it’s important for your blog.
Here is an article from Moz telling what’s the effect of fresh content in Google rankings.
You can write fresh content in the following ways – publish more blog posts (but make sure they are of high quality), update your old blog posts, engage your readers, etc. You can also allow other guest bloggers to publish on your blog.
#6 Choosing the wrong blogging “Platform”
Selecting the right blogging platform is one of the most important tasks in setting up a blog. If you screw it up you may end up losing your blog (permanently).
There are many reasons why people start a blog, some start just as a hobby and some start it for becoming a professional blogger (I also want to become a pro blogger).
There are a lot of blogging platforms available. Some of them are as usual free to use and for some, you need to pay.
But remember, if you want to do blogging seriously, then the biggest mistake you can do from the start is to choose a free blogging platform like Blogger from Google.
These free blogging platforms can remove your blog anytime, without giving you any notice.
How to fix this mistake?
You should start your blog on WordPress (.org), it will be a self-hosted blog (you control everything on your blog).
To start a Self-hosted blog, you just need to purchase a domain name & web hosting. You can purchase web hosting from SiteGround [ 60% discount ].
There are many benefits of using a self-hosted blog. Some of them are – it’s highly customizable, 100% control, etc.
#7 You’re a “Copycat”
Stealing content from other blogs never work at all. Many of the newbie bloggers think that they can copy and never get away with that.
Well, good luck with that, if you steal content from other blogs then you’re bound to get caught. Even your readers can easily tell when you put the texts from other people’s blogs. How?
Because they are familiar with the way you write, they can tell if it’s your writing style or not. And, if you steal content from others then Google can de-index your site. (worst-case-scenario)
You may even face a penalty and a copyright infringement if you steal content from others. ( The real content owners can also sue you if you steal copyrighted information. )
How to fix this mistake?
First, make sure you don’t steal content from other blogs intentionally.
Sometimes, you may write something, but its already written by someone else, it may also come under plagiarism. To avoid these situations develop your own writing style ( there will be fewer chances of plagiarism ).
You should also use tools like Copyscape to check if your content is duplicate or not.
#8 Ignoring “SEO”
If you think that just publishing new blog posts is enough, and you will get visitors magically, then my friend you are 100% wrong. Google isn’t going to put your site magically on the first page.
If you are ignoring SEO then you are going to fail in future. Many people think that they can visitors from social media only, and that’s costing them way too much.
Sure, you can also rely on social media for visitors. But social media visitors convert way too less when compared to traffic from search engines. The best thing about organic traffic is that it only requires efforts & is free (rather than paying money for social media ads).
Ignoring SEO will only hurt your blog. You can’t always rely on paid traffic from social media.
How to fix this mistake?
Make sure that you’re doing SEO properly. You should use both social media & SEO to get the best results.
It’s a thing which you shouldn’t ignore from day one. Remember – SEO is a long-term game (it also requires a long time to become an expert at doing proper SEO).
Try to follow both the On-Page & Off-Page SEO practices. Some of the best SEO practices to follow are – keyword research, link building, optimizing images, etc.
#9 You’re too “Boring”
Nobody likes dull & boring content (also something that’s also full of grammar mistakes). Think for a moment, there are tons of blog like yours on the internet that cover the same topics.
What separates your blog from the others, why should people read your blog?
As I said above, writing like a robot makes content dull. But, the main thing that makes your content boring is that even you don’t have the excitement when writing an article.
When you write just for the sake of writing, it will be reflected in your writing. If you aren’t excited about your content, how can you expect others to be excited about it?
You can never make others interested when you don’t have the interest yourself. Write like you’re having a conversation with your readers.
How to fix this mistake?
One of the ways to solve this issue is to write whenever you feel like writing and when you’re at 100%.
And whenever you write, write whatever you want. Just don’t write because you need to fill space on your blog. (it’s not a good idea)
Even I also write only when I feel like I can write 100%. I never write whenever I’m bored because it’ll make my content boring (as I would just want to reduce my workload).
#10 Not Promoting Your “Content”
Most of think that the hard work lies in creating blog posts. But it’s not the truth. It’s much easier to write a blog post when we compare it to promoting them.
One of the most common blogging mistakes that newbie bloggers make is thinking visitors will come on their own. But they will never come on their own ( the sad truth ).
When we write a blog post, we never try to promote it ( thinking with time it will rank on its own ). If you don’t promote your blog posts then you’re missing out a lot of visitors already.
There are more than 2 million blog posts published every day. Your blog can’t be seen without the right content marketing strategy.
How to fix this mistake?
It requires effort to promote your blog post the right way (and it’s time-consuming too).
But there are a lot of ways in which you can promote your content –
Make use of email marketing (send emails to your subscribers), use Facebook groups/ads, use Pinterest, use Q&A sites like Yahoo! Answers & Quora, do guest posting, etc.
You should also follow the 80:20 rule, which is spending 20% of your time in creating a blog post and the other 80% in promoting it.
#11 You write only for “Yourself”
Now, when you start a blog, if you think that people care only about you & they come to your blog because of you, then you’re 100% wrong. People don’t care about you. What they need is a solution for themselves.
Writing more about yourself like I am the best, this blog is my kingdom & I’m its king, I did this or that etc. will only have a negative impact on your blog. Your readers haven’t come on your blog to read your stories.
You may think that your blog is only for you (it’s yours & still isn’t). How?
The most important part of a blog is your loyal reader base. If you can’t get readers how can you even call your blog successful? Like a business is by its customers, a blog is by its readers.
How to fix this mistake?
Just focus on delivering the most value to your readers. Create an amazing blog post so they feel that they haven’t wasted their time.
Make a habit of using more of “You” rather than “I”. Talk about yourself & even tell a story but to some extent.
If you want to talk more about yourself just make a personal blog. There you can tell all about yourself. But in your business blog, speak for your readers.
#12 Not building an “Email List”
Many newbie bloggers think that collecting emails is a waste of time, and who would even open emails nowadays. But they are again, a 100% Wrong!
I’ve seen a lot of blogs where there isn’t a single form to capture emails ( most people don’t know the importance of collecting emails ). Email marketing is and will be one of the most successful forms of marketing.
One of the most common blogging mistakes that almost all Pro bloggers agree that they have made is – not collecting emails from day one. All those who have made this mistake wish that they haven’t done it.
If you want to become a successful blogger, never ignore the importance of email marketing ( if you’re ignoring it ).
How to fix this mistake?
You can fix this mistake by putting email opt-in forms on your blog (since the first day). Even if you somehow got penalized by Google, your email list can help you get some visitors back.
Email marketing gives an ROI of 4,400%, that means if you spend 1$ for getting an email subscriber then it would generate 44$ in revenue.
Make sure that you don’t spam your email subscribers, or they will unsubscribe from your mailing list. An email list is one of the biggest assets that a blogger owns.
#13 Not liking out to other “Sites”
Most of the bloggers think that – it’s not good to link out to other sites. But they are not 100% right! (they are right to some extent.)
It’s a common SEO myth that if you link out to other sites than you’ll lose your rankings. Of course, linking out to low authority sites & spammy sites could decrease your Google rankings.
We all know the benefits of internal linking but hardly anyone thinks about outbound links. Outbound linking hold as much as importance as Internal linking.
If you think that linking to other blogs in your niche will be bad as it will pass link authority to your competitors, then throw that thinking out of your head right now.
How to fix this mistake?
Linking out to high authority blogs in your niche is helpful for ranking higher in Google.
You can also use other blog studies as a claim to your statement. Providing a source of information is good for your readers and they will notice that you’re not making up statements by yourself.
It will make your readers to show trust in your content (& Google will also find you as a trustable source). Here’s a great article by HubSpot (outbound link) on why using data is good for your blog posts.
#14 Having a “Slow” website
You know what pisses off your visitors and Google the most? Think about it. Ok, I will tell you. It’s the page speed of your site.
If your web-page takes a lot of time to load then the visitors will quit it. A visitors expect a site to be loaded in less than 3 seconds (we all are impatient). Just ask yourself, have you ever waited for a site that takes damn too much time to load?
Your answer without a doubt will clearly be a big “No”. (if yes, please master teach me the art of being patient.)
Page-speed is also one of the major search engine ranking factors. It’s important for user-experience that your site is not slow. Most of the bloggers focus only on making content for their blogs and never focus on its design.
How to fix this mistake?
Now, it’s a blogging mistake that has an effect on your blog, but there are many ways to fix it.
You can check your site’s loading time with tools like – PageSpeed Ingishts, Pingdom & GTmetrix.
Some of the methods to speed up your site are – choosing a good web host, using a good WordPress theme, using CDNs like CloudFlare, Optimizing Images, etc.
#15 Not selecting the right “Monetization” method
So, you’re getting decent traffic but not earning very much? If yes, then you belong to the majority of bloggers out there.
I’ve seen blogs which even with 300k visitors per month can’t make more than 600 to 700$ and some blogs with 10k visitors per month which make more than 1,000$ monthly.
That’s a damn huge difference. The blog with 300k monthly visitor uses AdSense whereas, the blog with 10k monthly visitor does affiliate marketing.
If done right, you can generate a decent income from your blog even with less traffic, but if you have no idea then even with good traffic you won’t be able to generate much income.
Like with the above example, you’ve seen how a change in monetization method can improve the income. (So, be careful & thoughtful while selecting).
How to fix this mistake?
The only way to fix this mistake is to – select the right method for monetizing your blog.
There are a lot of ways in which you can make money from your blog, some of the ways are – affiliate marketing, selling own products, selling courses etc.
Whichever method you choose, make sure you choose it according to your niche. Some of the niches work well with affiliate marketing but all niches won’t. For example, a niche like sports would be difficult to monetize with affiliate marketing, etc.
Final Thoughts…
Remember, a blog’s success depends on the blogger (that is you, my dear friend). If you’re doing mistakes and not fixing them, then you’re on the path of failure (sorry to say that, but the truth is always bitter).
Most of the bloggers quit their journey in the 1st year. Why?
One of the reasons is that they make silly mistakes and always think they can just continue without fixing them. In the end, they get frustrated because they won’t get any visitors.
Blogging is time-consuming, it’s not an easy task. It’s crucial to not screw up if you want to make your blog successful. Make sure to implement what you read (that’s right, my efforts in creating this article will go to waste if you don’t).
Feel free to suggest what you think is the biggest blogging mistake, and also share this article if you feel it was worth your reading.