Blogging is the strong foundation of the marketing plan, and every business should have a website on which the content is updated with informative, valuable, and educational posts. But every person or blogger makes some common blogging mistakes that ruin the entire effort from scratch.
For some people, starting a blog is a passion and also a source of income. But it is also true that only passion can’t make you successful. Blogging should be one of the top priorities in marketing strategy. However, 70% of marketers are lacking in making successful content strategies.
In reality, millions of blogs are published on Google; hence it is tough for a person to get ranked on the first page. Getting reach or leads is more complicated than producing unique content for the blog. That’s why making a prominent content strategy for blogging is essential. The blog content should be authentic and bring organic traffic to your website.
Therefore, in this blog, we have mentioned what are the most common mistakes bloggers make.
10 Most Common Blogging Mistakes That Bloggers Must Avoid
There are millions of bloggers outside who are producing excellent content but at the same time competing for the attention of the audience. Therefore, it is important for you to know what are the mistakes for blogging beginners and how to avoid these mistakes that cost them a fortune in the future.
1. Publishing Thin Content
Thin content means not adding practical value for the blog or web page readers. But to rank on Google’s first page, the content must be helpful, even if it is less in quantity. However, Google’s primary aim is to deliver beneficial information to users. The thin content can also be flagged as spam.
Some examples of thin content include more links than content, duplicate content, images with wrong alt text, or automatically generated content.
2. Lack of Keyword Research
Many bloggers notice that their content is struggling with getting traffic. They just select a random topic and start writing without doing any keyword research. Therefore, one of the worst blogging mistakes is publishing content without keyword research.
If any blogger wants to attract organic traffic, selecting the right keyword will help them. However, even SEO is impossible without proper keyword research.
Additionally, targeting keywords will increase the relevancy of the content and enable it to get ranked on Google. Keyword research also gives new and profitable content ideas. This way, it also helps optimize the SEO content for the target audience.
If you’re looking for an effective and affordable keyword research tool to find low competition keywords, try KWFinder by Mangools!
3. Inconsistency
Consistency is the key to a successful blogging career. Being consistent while writing, publishing, and promoting quality content will help you succeed. But if you are lacking or inconsistent in posting the content on time, it will ruin the hard work and even be frustrating. Hence, stick with the deadlines and publish the content regularly, as it builds a habit for your readers to visit your website regularly.
Every new blog post gives people more ways to share the content on different sharing portals, and it is also a better chance for you to share the content on social media and increase the awareness of your blogging website. It also helps in creating a solid relationship between you and your audience.
4. Not Targeting The Right Audience
If you want to engage the right target audience, your content should resonate with them. The most common blogging mistake any blogger will make is posting content that is irrelevant to their audience. It will ultimately lead your target audience to take actions you don’t want them to take, such as unsubscribing your blog.
The only solution to bridge the gap between you and your reader is to define the target audience and the most critical factors associated with them. Here are some of the significant benefits of targeting the right audience:
- Enables them to keep coming back to your blog
- Leads to more conversions
- Builds trust in your industry
5. Skipping Social Media Promotion
After publishing content on your website, now it is time to grab the attention on social media. If a piece of content gets likes or shares on social media, it will signal to Google that the content is valuable and helpful.
This way, it helps your blog rank on the SERP. However, avoiding social media sharing is one of the most common blogging mistakes that should be avoided at any cost. Therefore the blogger should consider creating a compelling presence on social media.
Due to its changing algorithms, the more accessible portal to get traffic to blogging websites is Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. You can generate the interest of the audience by posting interesting stuff. However, it is also true that publishing high-quality content regularly on social media is a challenging task.
Some helpful tools help you publish engaging content on different social media platforms in just a few clicks. They also provide analytics under the same dashboard, which eases the work process for you.
6. Not Having a Proper Blog Format
There are chances that sometimes the readers will immediately move forward even without reading the content. It happens due to improper content formatting.
Usually, on average, a typical user spends only 15 seconds on a website, and the proper formatting will immediately grab their attention and guide them to CTA on the blog. Any readers will first scan the blog, and even the catchy headlines and quality content can’t save you from the consequence of poor formatting.
Here are some tips on how to write an influential blog and make it engaging:
- Break your content into subheadings
- Emphasise on CTA
- Perfect writing style
- Use short paragraphs
- Add the bullet points within the content.
7. Avoid Using Images Direct from Google
It is one of the costlier blogging mistakes that most bloggers make. However, it is easy for you to take images directly from Google and use them, but it creates copyright issues for you in the long run.
If any blogger uses the images without taking permission from the person who posted them, then you are violating copyright and can be sued in the future.
If you want to use images in your content, it is advisable to get permission. If there is no choice besides using images, utilize any editing tool and give them a unique look. However, there are some fantastic websites that will provide you with “copyright-free or royalty-free photos”, and these are:
8. Failing to Cite or Link to Source
Have you ever used any quote, statistic, or citation that somebody has already claimed on Google?
Well, did you put the source link to that piece of data?
It is one crucial step that bloggers should never avoid, while it takes only one second to cite and link to the source. However, there are some benefits to linking to the sources:
- It is calculated in good writing practices.
- It builds credibility and authority.
- It can save you from getting copyright strikes.
It also can ruin the reputation and cause a far-reaching issue that leads to a loss in sales. Many savvy online writers and businesses monitor the blogger’s reputation and content. If you have linked your blog with other relevant content or website, it will address the reader’s concerns and issues.
Here is how to add citations to your content:
9. Conducting Less Research Than Needed
Before writing on a given topic, it is essential to research it in-depth. The content should have sufficient facts, examples, and illustrations to help your content get more attraction. The readers usually look for well-researched content to gain better insights into the topic.
To help you understand better, let’s take an example. Suppose you’re writing about – ‘Whether digital is a good career option?’
Consider the content mentioned below:
- Digital marketing is a highly demanded career skill, and the employment rate is very high in the upcoming years.
- Digital marketing is a highly lucrative skill, and Neil Patel also recommends it. On average, a digital marketing manager’s salary is $60,000
Evaluate which content is more attractive?
Of course, the 2nd answer!
It is because it includes the specific name of the top digital marketer and the annual salary of a digital marketing manager. Therefore it is the power of the data-driven argument.
It is also recommended that you should not include any lousy opinions in the content. Rather than this, add research-backed data to the blog and make it unique from your competitors. This is one of the most common blogging mistakes that can help you stand apart from your competitors.
10. Neglect to Monetize your Blog
Many people initiate their blogging journey out of passion, but only writing for passion will exhaust you one day unless there is no reward. As a blogger, you should be completely aware of the monetization strategies. There are two popular monetizing strategies, i.e., ads and affiliate marketing.
Sometimes there is conflict in the blogger’s mind about whether to monetize the blog from the beginning or wait for the traffic. But it is advisable to monetize it as soon as possible, even with little traffic.
When you have little traffic, people are engaging with the content. In today’s time, you never know when your blog will go viral, and if your blog has affiliate links, then the chances are higher.
If you’re looking for some ways to monetize your blog, then check out this tweet. Here I have shared 8 different ways that helped me monetize my blogs and generate an income of $350k.
I went from zero to $350k in blog income in 3 years.
— Himani ♠️ (@Himani_mh) September 2, 2023
If you're a blogger, here are 8 different ways to monetize your work:
Wrapping It Up
In your writing or business journey, blogging is the best way to aware the readers about your business. Although it demands so much time, effort, and passion to build a successful blog, it is achievable.
You may have made many blogging mistakes, but you should keep in mind to avoid them after reading this blog. Creating compelling, quality, and engaging content is not easy, and it takes time, but it is worth it in the end.
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