Blogging has become one of the most popular ways of building online revenue while illustrating your passion.
The blogging environment has witnessed a significant expansion over recent years and the competition has severely grown in every possible niche.
For that reason, new bloggers must raise their standards and understand the difficulty that lies behind the idea of “running a successful blog”.
There are so many factors that will influence your blog’s performance, and before you get started, it would be wise to acknowledge them properly:
As a new blogger, you might be overwhelmed by the number of responsibilities you face. You might be thinking “am I doing it right?” or “should I proceed differently?” at every step of the way. The lack of knowledge and experience will make you doubt yourself, and that’s what triggers most of your issues.
To give you a hand, in today’s post, I’ve listed the 8 biggest blogging mistakes that you might be regularly doing as a new blogger. Pay attention, take some notes, and make sure you start improving your blog immediately!
1. You don’t have specific goals
If you expect a project to be successful, you’ll need to assign goals. A blog is not just a project, but rather a business that needs a specific direction. Many bloggers fail to set precise goals, and that’s when the chaos begins. Without a roadmap, you’ll never reach the destination.
Therefore, the best way to ensure your blog’s stability and long-term performance is to decide long-term goals and split them into smaller chunks. Establish milestones, create deadlines, and stick to your plan no matter what.
2. You don’t truly understand your target audience
A great understanding of your target audience is absolutely critical if you want to succeed in the blogging environment. After all, a blog is a place where specific people spend time in order to solve specific needs or satisfy specific problems.
The keyword here is “specific”. If you don’t focus on satisfying a specific audience, your content’s relevancy will drop and so will your blog’s performance. Now you probably understand why most bloggers fail…
Relevancy is key, and you can only become relevant if you have a strict and efficient plan on how to approach the people that will be truly interested in what you have to offer.
3. You lack knowledge and skills
Lots of successful bloggers are now focusing on teaching other people how to create a thriving blog. Most of these “gurus” are omitting many important facts such as the necessity of knowledge and skills. They’ll promise big results without asking for significant requirements.
There’s no magic pill that you can swallow to make your blog successful overnight. You will need industry knowledge and relevant skills in order to thrive, so imagining otherwise might only sabotage your self-confidence as the time goes by.
4. Your content is average
As Michelle Digweed, CEO at a successful Term Paper Service suggests, “To set your blog apart, you’ll need to develop amazing content that offers true value. Well, that’s easier said than done. You can’t impress people if the information you share is average. If the topics you choose to cover have been discussed a million times before, don’t expect huge results.”
Generally, people are looking for original blogs that don’t follow the crowd. If your passion and commitment are pronounced, you’ll find ways to surprise your audience with original insights and a different value proposition.
5. You don’t have a well-developed marketing plan
How are you going to make your blog popular? Many bloggers start their activities without planning ahead. Well, as I’ve mentioned before, standing out from the crowd is harder than ever, especially because of the big competition that all of us have to face.
An effective marketing strategy is absolutely necessary for your blog’s success. Here are some techniques you can use to bring new, targeted traffic to your blog:
- Optimize your content for the search engines (SEO).
- Build a social media presence and consistently share your work.
- Use influencers to improve the reach of your blog.
- Be active in niche forum communities and offer value through your comments.
- Collaborate with other bloggers and exchange backlinking opportunities.
- Leverage guest posting to gain extra traffic.
6. Your headlines don’t attract enough attention
The role of a headline is to attract and inspire readers to click. Many newbie bloggers fail to understand the role and importance of a well-developed headline, so they simply post their content without giving it too much thought.
“Blogging Tips for Beginners” vs “5 Insightful Strategies to Improve Your Fresh Blog”
“How to Gain Motivation” vs “Motivation Essentials: 5 Ways to Change Your Mindset”
Can you notice the difference? Before you post your next article, make sure you find a specific, interesting, and attractive headline.
7. You’re not engaging with your audience
How do you make your blog extremely popular? Make people fall in love with your content, give them the necessary appreciation, and show them your personal side.
One of the biggest mistakes you can do is ignore your prospects, followers, and customers when they get in touch with you. For example, if you receive a negative comment on one of your posts, you should immediately answer it diplomatically. A bad product review? Again, you’ll need to ensure that you’re answering the prospects’ concerns.
The reason is simple: if more people see that you’re not interested in solving other people’s problems, they’ll understand that you lack reliability and professionalism and they’ll never want to deal with you again.
8. You’re not properly measuring your performance
A blog is very similar to a business. If you want to keep its performance steady, you’ll have to consistently analyze your website traffic, measure the KPIs (key performance indicators), and seek optimal solutions that’ll improve your users’ experience and ultimately your blog’s traffic.
Without analytics, you’ll be working chaotically, never knowing exactly what you’re doing wrong and what you’re doing right. Well, if you didn’t know, Google Analytics is the biggest analytics platform, and it comes for free.
Here are some of the insights you’ll get by consistently analyzing your blog:
- You’ll understand what topics your audience prefers.
- You’ll find out how people are finding your blog (social media, search engines, etc.).
- You’ll see how users tend to navigate your platform.
- You’ll understand how frequently people bounce off your site.
- You’ll find out the average time people spend reading your posts.
Takeaways
There are hundreds of useful tools and resources that teach blogging. Starting your own platform is one thing, making it successful is another.
Everyone can start a blog, create a few pieces of content, and then sit back and relax. However, very few bloggers are truly committed to raise their standards and stand out from the crowd by offering true value.
To succeed in this field, you should establish specific goals, set your expectations high, fix your mistakes, and improve your performance on a constant basis!
Guest author: Mary Whitman is a writer and blogger based in Adelaide, South Australia. In her spare time, she enjoys talking about Sustainable Development and Art.