9 Blogging Mistakes I Made When I First Started
Not Having a Niche:
On my first blog, I mostly wrote reviews on books I read. My blog did not have a definite niche and it was just random musings. I realise now what a big mistake that was.
Even after watching a bunch of Jordan Makelle’s videos, I kept putting off the idea as I had different plans. My son was supposed to start school and I was to go back to freelance writing. But, when the pandemic started and everyone around the world was confined to their home, I just couldn’t wait. I had been working from home for quite a few years and had some tips and tricks to find my way around to have a productive day. So I thought I would put that to good use.
Find out what you are good at and think if you’d be okay if you learnt about that particular topic for years to come. If you are good at home organisation and the thought of new organisers in the market excites you then ‘home organisation’ is your niche.
You may be good at one too many things and if you are, try to think of how you want the world to see you. If you would connect yourself to one thing what would it be?
Paid Vs Free Blog:
Out of all my blogging mistakes, this one is big. I had a free WordPress site. Not many people were reading it. That was mainly because many did not know I had such a blog in the first place. A free blog does not offer you much visibility and you won’t be able to optimise it for SEO.
A carefree attitude also comes along with a free domain and you won’t be able to take yourself seriously.
Though it is always better if you use a paid domain and hosting, you can also test the waters before taking on blogging on your own platform. Use blogging platforms like Medium, Hubpages and Substack when you do as they offer good visibility. You can also be a writer who writes on these platforms alone.
Article Vs Blogpost:
When I first started blogging, I did not know that writing for magazine articles and blog posts are different from each other. Having written for magazines and newspapers for many years I followed the same article pattern. But later realised that blog posts are like writing for a friend and changed my tone. If you have trouble differentiating between the two, here is a table to help you.
Not Having a Business Plan:
Yes, though I stress this everywhere, I too started off without a business plan. But thankfully, when I came to know about its importance I had some help in formulating a good one.
Your blog is your business so, if you haven’t been treating it like one it is high time you do and create a business plan. Because without one you will not be sure of the kind of content to produce and who your ideal audience is.
If you are wondering how to create one, download our business plan template and create one that is tailor-made for your business today.
Ignoring Branding:
Whoever thought that the colours you choose for your business and blog matters? Turns out, it does. Your colours are your identity and if you want to stand out among the sea of content creators you need branding.
Below is a list of colours with what each colour symbolises. Choose colours that speak about your brand. For example, a hospital or a baby product brand might use white as it resonates with purity. Think about what you want your brand to convey and choose your colours. It is recommended that you choose 3 (a primary, secondary and contrasting colour) This is just to get you started.
Not Using Social Media to Promote Content:
Promoting myself and my content made me uncomfortable and even scared at times. It took me quite a while to start and even then I would overthink and start to procrastinate. But you really need to hear this. It is okay if you sound a little braggy. It is okay if you sound a little salesy. It’s your content and you are allowed to be a little proud of it.
Make use of Social Media to promote yourself, your blog posts and your products. It is a highly competitive market. With so many others like you, try to make use of any opportunity to shine a little light on yourself. Everything you post does not have to be perfect. Just go for it. You deserve this.
Overlooking The Email List:
Having an email list is the most important thing for a beginner blogger and yet many make this mistake when they first start blogging. So did I. But I found that newsletters are an excellent way to bring in more readers and drive traffic to old content. When your readers miss visiting your blog, you can remind them to come back and check out your highly valuable posts. Newsletters are also more personal than blog posts and help you to connect with your readers.
SEO and Your Audience:
Articles all over the internet tell you to focus on SEO if you are a blogger. Every video, podcast and blog post tell you how important it is for your blog. But you need to know this. As much as you create good SEO based content while carefully selecting your keywords, you can also sometimes forget about SEO.
You should be writing for both your audience and for SEO purposes and not just aim for SEO alone. Aiming for SEO alone can be mundane and readers can sense through that. An example of a reader-focused post other than this one would be the one on self-care I did months ago.
Creating Short Content:
Google loves long content more than short ones. Though our attention span might be getting shorter we also love a good long read especially if it has something to offer. Now imagine this. Would you like to know about high paying freelance jobs in 9 different posts one by one published every week or would you like it complied together in one post? Long post, right?
No one thinks of how long the post is but rather of the value it provides. Therefore it is recommended to create comprehensive posts with all the information you can give.
Plan your content and remember to keep writing. You can see your blog grow. Do you run a blog? What were your mistakes when you first started? Please share your experiences.
