“Blogging isn’t about publishing as much as you can. It’s about publishing as smart as you can.” – Jon Morrow
There’s a certain allure to the art of blogging. One gets to speak his thoughts in writing and eventually becomes an authority on the topic they chose to talk about. Moreover, you don’t need to pay for anything just to get started.
However, just like any other craft, blogging is a process. You need time to build a name and a consistent series of quality content to gain your readers’ trust. If you have been blogging for some time but are not getting enough traffic on your blog, then you must be guilty of the following notorious mistakes that are sure killers to your site’s traffic.
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Writing about anything
You can have several interests, but effective blogging requires you to focus on only one. Writing for a variety of interests confuses your readers and makes it difficult for you to become an authority on something. If you are blogging about interior design, for instance, don’t go writing about gardening or landscaping.
Stay focused on your niche.
Focusing on quantity over quality
You must have heard experts say how important it is to produce a lot of quantity so Google will notice your blog. Unfortunately, while quantity is an important factor, it should not come in the expanse of quality. It’s always better to invest in quality writing. Your speed will follow later on.
Failing to understand your audience
A basic rule of thumb when blogging is to clearly understand who your readers are. What are their interests? What age range are you targeting? Understanding their needs and wants makes it easier to craft posts that will appeal to them.On the contrary, disregarding their profiles only makes you one of that online noise that they disregard.
Bad writing
Let’s face it. Accurate grammar is necessary for blogging. You might miss a few things like punctuations, spelling and subject-verb agreement especially if you’re blogging in a foreign language. However, bloggers are always encouraged to improve.Bad writing ultimately affects your credibility and reputation.
Weak headline
The hard truth is, if you don’t get your audience’s attention on the title, you most likely will not encourage them to continue reading. Crafting a good headline is a challenge considering its minimal length, but it is necessary.No matter how good the content is, if your headline sucks, readers wouldn’t mind.
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Inability to engage with your readers
Part of good blogging etiquette is to reply on comments, reblog relevant posts and like what other bloggers posted that you find appealing. Interaction makes your blog human, a crucial factor to maintaining good traffic.
Failing to edit
Many like to write, but not all of them necessarily love editing. Dealing with edits is tiring. It’s technical and uncreative. With this said, it’s easy to fall into the temptation to immediately hit ‘Publish’ without rereading your post.
Responsible bloggers don’t. They recognize the importance of editing and put their attention in polishing their work before sharing it with other people. True, you might not achieve a perfect post since there is none, but at least you did your best to improve the style, punctuation, and other grammar issues on your post before letting others read it.
Inconsistency in providing content
Being inconsistent is a constant struggle even to seasoned bloggers. Imagine, you will need to continually provide content on a regular basis. Many new bloggers find an excuse to postpone writing, and before they know it, they have already missed so many chances to connect with their readers.
Being consistent doesn’t mean you should write every day. You can settle for two times a week. The key is a commitment to write every week and providing value to your audience.
Language incompatibility
We are not just talking about the barrier between those who speak a foreign language and the local ones. By language, we mean the terms you use when writing. For instance, if you are someone working for a web design company in Manila and run a blog about web designing, you are expected to use jargons that other designers and developers will understand.
The inability to use appropriate terms creates a feeling of detachment and can arouse distrust on your credibility as a blogger. This is exactly why experts encourage bloggers to write about the things they love about. This likely increases the chances of you, having a more profound knowledge on the topic of your choice.
Writing solely for SEO
Ranking high in Google analytics increases your chances of pulling more audience to your blog. But there’s a catch. You need to convince Google, and doing this requires you to understand how search optimization works and how high ranked keywords are strategically placed inside a post.
While understanding this technicality is important to generate more social presence and potential shares, it also has the tendency to make your articles sound robotic.The best tip from experts is to always write for your audience first before optimizing.
Blogging takes time and effort, but when done right, the benefits could be great. Start your blog right by doing away with the mistakes we have on this list!