How To Avoid Common Blogging Mistakes … Solohacks RoundUp

 

One Of The Most Common Mistakes In Blogging Is Overdoing It, To Avoid Underdoing It. We Must Remember That Too Much Information Is Overkill.

It’s no surprise that most bloggers get the common advice all wrong. They are often advised to create valuable, content-rich blog posts. They get the “content-rich” part – and pack a lot in. They forget, however, to be valuable.

At Solohacks Academy, our roundups usually pick topics that most people would consider a question that begets inspiring answers. On a topic like avoiding common blogging mistakes, you’d be surprised how many times you may fall into unthinking ways of doing exactly the opposite of what your audiences think is the “right way”.

It often takes other seasoned bloggers to tell us where we may be going wrong, for we may be too close to our own blog posts to see our errors. That’s why we have chosen to collate suggestions from those who’ve got smart thoughts on the topic.

Our picks for this Solohacks RoundUp include 10 great quotes from the blog posts of Neil Patel, Lindsay Kolowich Cox, Cindy King, Dave Chesson, Shreoshe Ghosh, Henneke Duistermaat, Kate McCulley, Tiarna Adams, Kevin Phillips, and Ryan Robinson.

 

 

 

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1. You must blog daily … I dropped just a few posts from my schedule and noticed a dip in traffic of 10,000: Neil Patel

 

Neil Patel in the article “5 Common Blogging Mistakes (And How to Fix Them)”:

A huge mistake in blogging is not writing on a consistent basis. This problem also includes not keeping a regular blogging schedule. Blogging more often is crucial if you want to collect more leads and acquire more customers. The more you blog, the more traffic you get, and the more customers you acquire.

It’s pretty simple. Producing more content means you’ll be delivering more value. The more value you give away, the more leads and customers you’ll attract. I blog daily because I know that more blog posts mean more inbound traffic for my business.

I mean, look at Buffer’s traffic when they stopped blogging for just a short period: They saw over a 4% drop in traffic. That’s 40,000 fewer visitors! The same thing happened to me when I tested this a few years back. I dropped just a few posts from my schedule and noticed a dip in traffic of 10,000.

Sometimes, you have to learn these lessons the hard way. I will never make that mistake again. Now, I consistently post content every single day. But I also know what you’re thinking. It can be tough to post more than 16 times per month. There’s only so much you can write about, right? It doesn’t have to be.

Here’s how to fix your inconsistent writing and publishing troubles once and for all. Are you spending hours each day coming up with blog posts for next month? Getting blog post ideas is a huge help. But those ideas won’t do you any good unless you get serious and take action. Now that you’ve got your topics, you need to schedule your content so that it actually gets done!”

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2. Loosen up your writing. Throw in contractions. Get rid of the jargon. Make a pun or two. That’s how real people talk: Lindsay Kolowich Cox

 

Lindsay Kolowich Cox in the article “17 Blogging Mistakes to Avoid in 2021, According to HubSpot Bloggers”:

Writing a blog post is much different than writing a term paper. But when bloggers first start out, they usually only have experience with the latter. The problem? The style of writing from a term paper is not the style of writing people enjoy reading.

Let’s be honest: Most of the people who see your post aren’t going to read the whole thing. If you want to keep them interested, you have to compel them to keep reading by writing in a style that’s effortless to read.

It’s okay to be more conversational in your writing — in fact, we encourage it. The more approachable your writing is, the more people will enjoy reading it. People want to feel like they’re doing business with real people, not robots.

So loosen up your writing. Throw in contractions. Get rid of the jargon. Make a pun or two. That’s how real people talk — and that’s what real people like to read.

Even though people don’t really care that it’s you that’s writing the post, you can infuse parts of your personality in your writing to make them feel more comfortable with you. How you do that is entirely up to you. Some people like to crack jokes, some like to make pop culture references, and others have a way with vivid descriptions.”

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3. I cringe when I find formatting, spelling and grammatical errors littered throughout blog posts and articles online: Cindy King

 

Cindy King in the article “21 Dangerous Blogging Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)”:

A blogger’s objective is the same as any other writer: to find (and keep) readers. The more readers, the better. Having said this, there is one sure-fire way to turn off regular and potential readers: bad writing.

With the ease and accessibility of creating a blog nowadays, the importance of good writing in getting published has all but disappeared—online, at least. I cringe in disgust when I find typos in a $30 hardcover book from the bookstore, or a newspaper or journal article. Yet it’s not uncommon to find formatting, spelling and grammatical errors littered throughout blog posts and articles published online.

Not only do these mistakes make a post difficult and unpleasant to read, they make the point harder to get across, and ultimately leave the reader with a less-than-professional opinion of the blogger. Of course, good writing is more than grammatically correct sentences that have been spell-checked.

Good writing is concise, has a point to it and is accessible (in other words, easy to read and understand). But I would argue that half of the battle to gain readers comes down to simple, lazy mistakes that are easily fixed. Use spell-check; take time to research ideas, facts and concepts you’re not sure about; and most importantly, read over your work before posting. This can make a huge difference.”

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4. Make your article value clear in your headline … and don’t let your headlines write checks your articles can’t cash: Dave Chesson

 

Dave Chesson in the article “The 5 Biggest Mistakes Bloggers Make”:

It’s not enough for you to know your article is valuable, your reader needs to know it too. The internet is full of very tempting headlines — everything from celebrity gossip to get rich quick promises. While the articles behind those headlines might not be particularly helpful, they still get a lot of attention. If you want to rise above the noise, you need to stand out and do so quickly. The easiest way is by making the value of your article clear in your title and introduction.

When it comes to headlines, clear is always best. You can be clever and funny in the actual article, but in the headline, anything that distracts the reader from wanting to click is self-sabotage. That doesn’t mean headlines have to be short or boring. For example, here’s a recent headline on CNBC.com:

“Harvard professor says ‘winning a $20 million lottery won’t make you happier’ — but 4 things will”

That’s a super long headline, but it’s also clear and compelling — a lot more compelling than something bland like “4 Tips for Being Happier.”

And your headline isn’t the only place you should sell readers on your content. Your article’s introduction should reinforce your headline and deepen people’s interest. One strategy I love to use is including bullet points in my intro listing what people will learn. It’s a succinct way to show people why they should keep reading all the way to the end.

If you’re starting with the end in mind and writing compelling headlines and intros, delivering value in the article will become a lot easier. So I won’t spend a lot of time on this, but I do want to be clear: Don’t let your headlines write checks your articles can’t cash. Get the two in alignment before you click “publish.”

Every time you change your headline or your promises, make sure your article still lives up to them. And when you do keep a promise in your article, make it obvious and easy to find.”

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5. Customized specific blog content, that is based on buyer personas, can generate 18 times more profit than general content: Shreoshe Ghosh

 

Shreoshe Ghosh in the article “8 Blogging Mistakes Most Beginner Bloggers Make”:

For business bloggers, the most common blogging mistake they can commit is to blog without defining a target audience. The target audience for any business is the group of people who are most likely to be interested in your business offerings because it fulfills their specific needs.

For example, the target audience for an infant food brand will be new parents. So, whenever a new parent comes across your product online and visits your website to know more about your brand, they will come across blog posts that might be useful for them, such as posts on child nutrition, parenting tips, etc. This will help them relate to your brand more easily.

But, imagine blogging for the same brand without keeping your target audience in mind. Do you think people could relate to your posts and come back for more? Not really. In business blogging, it’s imperative to define your target audience first and then start blogging, or else your content will not resonate with the readers.

If your brand caters to a wide range of audiences, then you need to optimize your content according to the buyer persona. A buyer persona is the representation of your ideal customer, and it can be created by analyzing your current customer base. Depending on your business, you can have one or multiple buyer personas.

Once you have these personas in place, you can focus on developing specific content that appeals to these personas. Customized blog content based on buyer personas can generate 18 times more profit than general content. It also helps in getting more leads for your business, improves lead nurturing, and builds a dedicated customer base.”

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6. Boring text slaughters people’s appetites for reading … a good blog post is written with your passion and personality: Henneke Duistermaat

 

Henneke Duistermaat in the article “11 Common Blogging Mistakes that Waste Your Audience’s Time”:

If you don’t care, why would your readers care? Boring text slaughters people’s appetites for reading. A good blog post is written with passion. When your enthusiasm shines through, you invigorate your readers. But how can you get excited when you’ve grown bored with your topic?

• Talk to clients and understand how you can make their lives better
• Find a good salesman and ask how he or she would sell your ideas
• Look for an expert and learn about fascinating details
• Explore other topics and see how they can be related to yours
• Challenge yourself to write your most inspirational post ever
• Take up a writing challenge—come up with a new metaphor, write an ultra-short post, or write a poetic post

Write when you feel enthusiastic. Get blissfully happy and share your excitement. Get angry and passionately argue your case. You can’t make a dull draft exciting, but you can improve the structure and polish a text dripping with your enthusiasm.

When you share useful tips without letting your personality shine through, you become interchangeable with any other blogger in your niche. You become a “me-too” blog, a commodity.

Your personality, your experiences, and your voice make your posts unique. Your readers don’t just come back for more useful tips. They engage with you because of who you are.”

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7. Aim to make your paragraphs small and your photos big … people on the web have really short attention spans: Kate McCulley

 

Kate McCulley in the article “The Biggest Mistakes New Bloggers Make”:

Almost every new blogger I know makes this mistake. New blogs are filled with giant solid blocks of text without any dividers. Writing for the web is different than writing for other media.

You’re competing with Facebook and Buzzfeed; you need to remember that people on the web have a shorter attention span than people who are, say, grading a college paper or reading a novel.

People don’t have the attention span to read long paragraphs of text that aren’t broken up in some way. Again, it shouldn’t be the case, but that’s the reality of the world we live in today.

You want to keep people on your blog. Make it easy: motivate them to stay. The solution: Stick to short paragraphs and break them up with headings, bolding, and photos to make it easily digestible and smooth to read.

Also, most new bloggers, I’ve found, don’t use photos as they should: they either use small photos, poor photos, fit photos around blocks of text, or write an entire post without using a single photo.

We are visual creatures, and social media is becoming increasingly image-focused. Photos are not just accoutrements — they’re vital.
Instead, use photos often, and make them big — think the width of your blog. Don’t use tiny photos and don’t build text wrapped around photos. If you’re new to photography, consider reading guides or taking a course.

The solution: Use large photos liberally and often. Read on for using appropriate photos without violating copyright.”

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8. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to write a blog which covers too large a topic – and use specific data and research: Tiarna Adams

 

Tiarna Adams in the article “The 6 Most Common Blogging Mistakes”:

When you begin blogging it’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to write a blog which covers too large a topic. For example, trying to write a blog named, ‘Best Social Media Practices’ would be far too difficult since there are so many complex variables within the topic.

Best social media practices for who? What are you trying to achieve with these social media practices? Which social media platforms are we talking about here? You’re never going to cover all of these aspects in one blog – not without putting your reader to sleep anyways.

Something like, ‘5 Best Marketing Practices on Instagram’ is much more achievable and likely to engage your audience.

Sticking with social media related examples, imagine you were writing a blog entitled, ‘How to Create a Facebook Marketing Strategy’. Below are two variations on a sentence:

“It seems as though people use Facebook more than any other social media platform.”

“With 2.234 billion users, Facebook is by far the most popular social media app.”

Which sentence do you find more convincing? Obviously, the second one. Using data and research in your blog makes your argument more compelling and credible.”

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9. Whenever I visit a website, I always go to the blog … it’s disturbing how many of them are graveyards of forgotten content: Kevin Phillips

 

Kevin Phillips in the article “11 common blogging mistakes to avoid at all costs”:

“I’ve been blogging for months now and haven’t seen any impact on my traffic and leads. Does this mean content marketing doesn’t work, or am I doing something wrong?” Does this question sound familiar to you? Because it’s one of the most frequent pain points I hear from new clients.

These businesses heard blogging was the best way to stay relevant and competitive in the digital age, so they fired up a blog on their website, started adding content to it for a few months, but never saw much of an uptick in traffic to their site. Some of these businesses found their way agencies for help. But unfortunately, the majority of these companies dropped content marketing and quietly went back to their old ways.

Whenever I visit a website for the first time, I always go to the blog, and it’s disturbing how many of them are graveyards of forgotten content. Scrolling through their most recent articles, I’ll see blogs that were once published monthly, weekly, and sometimes daily come to an abrupt end.

Looking closely, I can even see the date on the toe tag for these deceased blogs: All you have to do is look for when they published their last blog article and count the weeks and months since. Often, I’ll even look at the last article’s title, and it’s something like Join Us August 8, 2018 for the 5th Annual Downtown 5K.

Yup, with content like that, it’s no surprise their blogs didn’t have much of a heartbeat and why they pulled the plug shortly after their race. But I don’t want to see that happen to your blog. It’s not too late to get it into the ICU, breathe new life into it, and see it make a swift recovery.”

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10. It’s good to have a narrow niche, but don’t pick something so obscure that people simply don’t ever search for it: Ryan Robinson

 

Ryan Robinson in the article “21 Blogging Mistakes to Avoid in 2020 (and How to Fix Them) When Trying to Grow Your Blog”:

This blogging mistake can be a bit controversial. You want to pick a niche that you’re passionate about and where you have some experience, but not if there are only a handful of other people who share your interest in the subject matter at hand.

If you’re not going through the activity of creating a blog business plan that eventually ladders up to making money with your blog, then there’s no problem in choosing a niche without a large audience.

Write about whatever you love — and connect with the small community of other people who share your interests. If you do want to make money blogging, however — you do have to consider the market value of your blog.

It’s good to have a narrow niche, but you don’t want to pick something so obscure that people simply don’t ever search for it. If you want to know the search volume of your particular niche idea, check out Google Trends as a starting point. Google Trends is an easy way to discover what’s trending over a long period of time.

And beyond just that quick check, I also recommend doing some more in-depth keyword research to validate whether or not there’s a large enough audience for your proposed niche. If your niche has had a moderate to high level of search volume at a steady rate for a long period of time, then it’s definitely a good option to blog about.”

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So What Are Your Thoughts? Do Share!

This post is incomplete without your input. The community of Knowledge Commerce solopreneurs would feel galvanized to hear from you … so do share your thoughts on this topic with us, in the comments field below this post.

 

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