When we start something new, we make mistakes right. It is like inventing the wheel. I can tell you from my experience, this wastes a lot of time. Instead of that, it will be better to avoid some mistakes which can be avoided to some extent. I will tell you a few beginner blogger mistakes which can be avoided to some extent.
When you start something new, you will make mistakes for sure. Here are a few which I made and don’t want you to make the same mistakes. Believe me, you will be far better in your blogging career.
1. Starting your blog on a free platform
When you are on a budget, you are tempted to start your blog on a free platform. With a free platform, you will have less control, and your hard work may be lost. Again, when you think of making some money from your blog, you have to move everything to a paid hosting plan.
Fix: To save yourself from all this hassle, never start a blog on a free platform. always start a blog n a self-hosted plan. If you are on a budget, start with the basic plan from the blue host. You can sign up with Bluehost here. You can have your blog running under $100.
How to start a self hosted blog
2. Not searching the topic
This is the biggest mistake I made with my blog and regret it. I am in a position where sometimes I think of closing down one of the blogs, and then I think of losing all the hard work I have done. But the situation is that I don’t want to work on that particular blog anymore.
Fix: If you don’t want yourself at the position where I am, search your topics before starting a blog. Well, written posts or posts which you can update later will help you to stay with your blog
3. Writing short posts
If you have just started your blog, and if you are not a writer-type personality, it is a possibility that you will write short posts. This is not a good idea for SEO as well as User experience.
Sometimes you cannot go on writing very long posts for a particular Keyword, aim for at least 500 words for those posts.
Fix: Write longer posts that will engage your audience. Posts, which are around 1500- 2000 words, are considered to be best because they are great for SEO purposes and are of nice length for readers also.
4. Writing long paragraphs
In this fast time, people don’t read full-length posts, rather they just skim the post. Writing heavy text and not having enough white space is not good for the eyes.
Fix: Break your paragraphs into 2-3 lines and never write very long paragraphs.
5. Not starting an email list
Not having an email list can cost you a lot. You might have heard that money is in the email list. That’s right my friend. Google algorithm can change, Social media can change, but your email list will be your own. Think that somebody came to your blog and found something special to give you their email id.
You can make a connection with your email list to find out their pain points. Creating and selling products will be much easier for you.
Moreover, you can get traffic whenever you publish a post and send an email newsletter to your email friends, though getting traffic should not be the purpose of your email list.
Fix: Sign up with an email responder like Convertkit and start building your subscribers since day one.
6. Not taking SEO seriously,
This one is important, but when you are starting out as a blogger, there are so many things that can make you overwhelmed. SEO is one aspect that seems to be very difficult when you are at the beginning of your blogging journey. Creating a blog and blog posts which are SEO optimized will help you in the long run.
I will not ask you to go too much into this one, just make sure to follow on-page SEO and search your topics. You will be able to have a better understanding of SEO after some time.
Fix: Make sure you are following at least on-page SEO. It is not very difficult and can be easily followed.
7. Not promoting your content
When you are starting out, blog tasks can make you overwhelmed, which means that you don’t have time to market your blog. You write blog posts and think that people will come to read your blog.
It is said that your blog efforts should be writing 20% and marketing 80%. This will help you in marketing your blog and making other people read your blog.
Fix: Promote your blog posts on different mediums, social media sites, and on-page as well as off-page SEO. Read here, how to promote your blog.
8. Not optimizing your images
Images take up a lot of site space, which makes your site load slow. Google loves fast loading websites, so optimize your images. This swill increase your site speed.
Fix: There are a few plugins that can help in compressing the images to load faster without compromising the quality.
The only Plugins you require for proper functioning of your website
9. Having tiny fonts
Your fonts should be big enough to read on a mobile screen. Choose a theme with big fonts or the one where you can change the fonts. There are many ways to change the fonts, but if you are not a tech person, it will be difficult to do it by changing codes. So the next option, in my opinion, is to choose the theme with big fonts.
Fix: I love the Genesis Framework, but the problem is I don’t have coding knowledge, so my preference is always to have a theme with big fonts.
10 Not having a clear idea of whom to write
It is a need of today’s blogging that you should know whom you are addressing. We all have a different set of problems at different phases of life. Choosing a specific audience will help you keep track of what to write.
In other words, create an Avatar for your blog. It means you should have a specific audience in your mind when you want to write. You cannot write for everybody.
For example, I write this blog for mothers with kids. It is because I am in a similar position and know how difficult it is to squeeze time for your own work. I want to address the mothers who want to start a blog and want to work from home.
Having an Avatar helps you create your content around the avatar and what your Avatar want. Avatar is your audience. So your audience will be more interested in your stuff if you will write to them. It is okay to write about experiences in between because when we read about the problems and solutions from others, we get inspired.
Fix: Create an Avatar for your blog. This avatar will be your audience and whatever you write will be about this audience
11. Writing Inconsistently
Having posting schedules and writing consistently can help you grow fast and keep momentum. I am guilty of this one too. Whenever I start something, I always have a lot of excitement and enthusiasm. But this excitement vanishes after some time. I don’t know if this happens to you also. But I have to push myself hard to keep the momentum.
If you are a person who loves sprints then slows down, then change your habit because blogging is like a marathon. You will win only if you will go on working consistently.
Fix: Create a blog plan and stick to it. Always publish a blog post on scheduled time.
12. Not breaking text into headings
Breaking your text into headings and subheadings is good for both readers and SEO. Writing a long-form text without breaking into headings can hurt your reader’s interest, and SEO rankings( later of course)
Fix: Break your text into H1, H2, and H3 headings. Writing your post in a proper format will enhance your on-page SEO.
13. Not writing catchy headlines
Not paying attention to headlines and writing boring headlines can hurt your blog. It is said that people click on your post by reading the headline. Some people are naturally good at writing clever headlines, but some like me are not so good at writing clickable headlines. One more important thing, don’t write clickbait. Deliver the content to justify the headline.
Fix: If you cannot create snappy headlines yourself, go to Coschedule and start writing your headlines. It gives you a score for your headline on a scale of 100. Your headline will become better as the score move towards 100
These are a few mistakes that I made with earlier blogs and don’t want you to make the same mistakes. Stay consistent and motivated and avoiding these basic mistakes that can save you a lot of time in the long run.
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All the wishes and love for your blogging efforts
Gursimrat