9 Mistakes That Even Experienced Bloggers Make

Kevin Ocasio

October 24, 2017

9 Mistakes That Even Experienced Bloggers Make

Blogging is a tough but rewarding occupation when done correctly. The most experienced bloggers can attest to that. It’s a long process that also involves making mistakes and learning from them.

Some people immediately know that they want to start a blog and make money. Others take a bit more time to figure out what they want to do. Bit of trial and error here and there before they come to a solid decision.

Even experienced writers can sometimes commit mistakes that one would normally expect from newbies.

Which of these mistakes have you made or are currently making?

1. Not making plans to monetize your blog before you start

On practically every forum or Q&A on topics related to blogging, there would always be at least 1 or 2 threads where people have heated discussions on whether or not monetization is the goal of blogging.

Any self-respecting successful blogger would agree that that concept of not earning from serious blogging is both naive and wasteful.

There are 5 types of bloggers:

The Hobbyist
The Part-time blogger
The Full-time blogger
The corporate blogger
The blogging entrepreneur

4 out of 5 among these aim to use their blog to earn money or gain revenue.

If you find blogging as a profession enticing, you’d better do your homework on monetization before you even start a blog. No matter how good a writer you are, there will always be tough competition.

There will always be better writers than you. Plus there will always be people who started way ahead of you. You cannot rely solely on your writing skills to have your blog generate enough income for you.

Not planning monetization efficiently could very well leave you up that proverbial creek without a paddle. Especially if you made the premature choice of leaving your 9 to 5 job for your blog.

2. Not choosing a specific niche

Blogging is an ocean. Or an uncharted jungle. Or a galaxy. Insert other metaphors here.

Bottomline: it’s too vast to measure.

You won’t be able to cover all of it all at once, so not setting specific limits could get you lost.

When choosing a niche for your blog, it is of utmost importance to narrow down your niche of choice enough for you to be able to make your way through it without drowning.

Choose a particular niche and focus your content on it. Having your hands on too many topics and subjects all at once will not only confuse your readers. It might even affect your own mindset and and stall your momentum.

3. Neglecting to build an email list

The Blogging Buddha interviewed 37 seasoned bloggers about their biggest blogging mistakes. Topping the list in general? Not building an email list.

Of course, there are other ways of attracting an organic audience. You can, for example, promote your content on social media or utilize ways to optimize your content for shareability.

Still, nothing beats the effect that list-building has on growing your blog’s audience. Collect emails as early as you can. Use your network of friends, colleagues, fellow bloggers and the blogging community to build a strong email database.

However, be careful and make sure that your list consists of people whose interests relate to your niche and content. If not, you might be accused of spamming and lose visitors to your site instead of gaining them.

4. Writing too much for yourself and too little for your audience

Remember this and remember it well: your blog’s goal should be to provide value for your readers.

Repeat it when you wake up and before you go to sleep so that you don’t forget.

It’s understandable that you might want to write on things that you are passionate about. After all, it’s YOUR blog. But you also have to keep in mind that you have a responsibility to your audience.

They come to your blog because of the value that they can get from your content. Writing about topics that deviate from your niche can alienate your readers into leaving and not coming back.

I’m not saying don’t have fun while writing. What I’m saying is you should keep your content relevant to your niche and relatable to your readers.

5. Forgetting to format and proofread my content before publishing

When you’ve been a blogger or a writer for a while, it’s easy to feel complacent and self-satisfied about your writing skills. After all, experience is the best teacher.

However, one thing to bear in mind is that even the best of writers still make errors and mistakes. That’s why they have editors to go over their work before publishing.

Now, if you can afford that particular luxury as well, go for it. If not, don’t fret. Even long-time bloggers still trust services and apps like Grammarly and Ginger to smooth out kinks in their content that they may not have noticed by themselves.

Before you hit the Publish button, also make sure that your formatting is clear to read and easy on the eyes. That keeps it appealing for your readers.

Always double check your work before posting. When you have access to both skills and technology, there is no acceptable excuse for bad English. When you’re writing for a majorly English speaking/reading audience that is!

6. Not being consistent when publishing posts

This is not only common with beginner bloggers. It happens to even the experienced ones.

The longer the time you have spent in the blogging profession, the more responsibilities and tasks can pop up here and there. This could lead you to neglect keeping track of how many times you post your content and how often you do so.

This could be very detrimental to your ratings. Your readers come back to your blog at a specific time because they are expecting to access excellent content. If they don’t find it when they come looking, chances are they’ll leave and look elsewhere.

Plus, consistent posting of your content is one of the simple SEO strategies that could help raise your search engine ratings. Missing out on it makes you miss out on a lot.

Turn things around. Use social media management tools like HootSuite and Buffer to schedule your posts. That way, you won’t have to worry about the frequency of your posts anymore.

At the same time, you also free your hands for other tasks that are just as important.

7. Failing to ask for technical advice

Say you are an amazing writer. Very engaging, and well-followed. Experience has already taught you what skills to improve on and what innovation mistakes you should avoid to help your blog stay on top.

Regardless, things still have a way of just going wrong sometimes. For example, you could get malware on your site and Google’s filters prevent your audience from getting to you. Or worse, your blog could crash.

What to do? Get help. No matter how much of a premium our generation puts on independence, you don’t have to do it all alone. Especially if getting technical assistance and advice can make things a thousand times easier for you.

Make sure that the blogging platform and the web host you choose both have excellent technical support. Preferably with 24/7 availability and various ways to contact them. That way, whatever the situation, you know you have a support team you can rely on to help you fix things anytime.

You can also hire a skilled virtual assistant to take care of the more technical aspects of your website and blog. Your VA could also help you with other things, such as scouting for trending plugins and web apps that can help grow your business. That way you can focus on producing excellent content and not have to worry too much about anything else.

8. Not setting definite branding guidelines for yourself

As a blogger, you are your own brand. How your blog looks should reflect your own values and show who you are as a person and a writer. It should be distinct enough for readers to be able to associate the design with you.

As early as you can, visualize a concept that stands for your own brand. Experiment with themes, fonts, images, and styles to see what looks great and feels right for you.

Remember, people are fond of judging by appearances. A first glance at your blog should allow visitors and readers to associate your impeccable design aesthetics to excellent written content.

Live the brand that you are.

9. Not building relationships

This one, I placed at the very end for emphasis. I cannot stress enough how important building social relationships is to you and your blog.

Your blog could potentially eat up all of your time and attention. It happens fairly often to new and experienced bloggers alike.

As a professional blogger, a relatively healthy mind is your capital for your job. You have a responsibility to yourself to keep your mind in tiptop shape. No matter how good a writer you are, you can’t always do everything alone (cue lady singing “No Man Is An Island” in the background).

Seriously, you have to be in constant contact with other people. Join a blogging community. Contribute digital product reviews or participate in comments on other blogs as well as forums.

Platforms like Quora and Reddit are also excellent avenues to express your thoughts and share ideas with others. Connect with other bloggers and influencers in and around your niche.

Aside from the obvious benefits it provides for your well-being, widening your social network also opens you up to new insights that you can use to better your content. A blogging community can also be a valuable source of information, like great tips for local SEO, for instance.

Build strong social relationships, both on and off of the internet. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. There’s just no end to how beneficial and rewarding it can be.

Conclusion

We can’t all immediately be experts on everything. It takes time and loads of effort to achieve the kind of knowledge, skills, and experience that make you an authority on a certain field.

Good news is that expertise is definitely achievable. You just have to be willing to work hard for it.

Don’t hesitate to ask for assistance from people who are already where you want to be. Although not everything has the same effect on everyone, these experienced bloggers know what it takes to get to where you want to go.

How do you feel about this article? I know you have valuable tips you can share as well. Please feel free to let us know in the comments below. We’ll be glad to hear from you.

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