Written by:
2009/09/17 08:58 AM 

I don’t care if you are a seasoned A-list blogger or a 3 week beginner, we all make mistakes. Lets learn from ours and others to the end of bettering our blogging experience as well as producing something worthwhile for our readers.

Here is a list of some blogging mistakes to avoid and or correct.

1 Underestimating the time commitment

When I first started blogging, I thought it would be a quick 20 mins in the morning. How wrong was I?. Blogging takes time and effort. It’s not just about writing, but about research, interaction, relationship building etc. All of which involves huge amounts of time.

2. Irregular updates or lack of updates

Nothing kills a blog faster than lack of updates. If you are going to blog, then pick a posting frequency and stick to it. We see many blogs start of with a flurry of posts, but then wither away into the blackness of cyberspace.

3. No comments on other blogs.

It’s part of the blogging game - and critical to your success to comment on others’ blogs. It’s part of the Blog culture. Its about building relationships. Read my article on Your comments make content more valuable

4. Lack of commitment

There’s no doubt about it, lack of dedication is the number one reason for struggling blogs. How many hours do you devote to your blog a day? No matter what event or what job you’re in. If you have no passion, and show no commitment then you will fail.

5. You are are not giving.

Blogging is all about serving your readers. It’s about giving. It’s not all about money, or trying to sell something, or just trying to bleed your readers dry. If you can fill a niche or solve a problem, people will beat a path to your door and hold it open for others!

6. Not linking to others.

This one floors me. Why is it that people are so stingy with their link love and the so called PageRank? Not linking out with good anchor text shows people that you are selfish and self centred. If you want people to link to you, share their PageRank, direct traffic to you. Then you had better do the same.

7. Writing for Google instead of people

There is so much hype about SEO, Keywords, PageRank, SERPs that bloggers have forgotten who they are blogging for. It’s PEOPLE people. You can have the most perfectly written Google optimized page in the world and still not be ranked number #1.  People won’t read a page written for a search engine because it makes no sense. Content is King. Write for your readers and Google will find you.

8. Not Defining a Topic

The most successful blogs have a well defined topic/niche (or they target a certain demographic). Don’t be tempted to write about every topic known to man. Your blog then becomes a sewer of useless information no good to man or beast.

9. Too many Ads, too much clutter.

When all you want from your blog is to make money, then you have missed the boat. Although many have made blogging into a business, it’s primary goal is Social not business. If blogging for money is your only reason, then you’re in serious trouble. Money is certainly a nice by-product. People can tell when all you’re interested in is their traffic so that you can till up the add revenue.

When ads overpower the content and push it down your throat. You kill any chance of building real reader relationships.

Clutter is another killer. When readers cannot distinguish the real content from all the many buttons, widgets, navigation elements that invade their screen real-estate, it’s a sure sign to bolt and never come back.

10. Not reading my blog.

Wow what an arrogant thing to say. But it’s true. Not interacting with other bloggers, reading their blogs, making comments will soon lead to your total isolation. The best way to get your blog noticed is by saying “hi” to other blogs in your niche. The easiest way to do that is to comment on their blogs. I check the comments on my blog all the time and I visit the commentator’s site. If you want more traffic to your site, start by leaving a comment on mine, I will certainly visit yours. Then go to the next blog and do the same.

What are your blogging mistakes? Can you list some of the mistakes you’ve learnt from in the past? Share them with us in the comments below so that we can all learn from them.

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