So, you have decided that you want to start a blog? Great news! Blogs can be very profitable, with a lot of hard work and dedication. They can also be a lot of fun too! However, this is only going to be the case if you go about setting up a blog in the right way. There is certainly a lot to learn. With that in mind, read on to discover more about setting up a blog and the mistakes that you need to avoid if you want your new venture to be a success.
Assuming you’re finished once the writing is finished
This is a rookie mistake to make when it comes to the world of blogging. Once you have finished writing, you still have the editing to do, and a lot of it! You should take around 30 minutes to edit every blog post that you publish. Everyone needs to edit their work, no matter how good of a writer you are.
Improper copyrighted image attribution
Do you really want to get slapped with a legal lawsuit because you have stolen an image from elsewhere? You need to be incredibly cautious regarding the images that you use on your website. It does not matter if any of the following apply, you will still be liable…
- If you take down the photograph immediately once someone sends you a DMCA notice
- If you have a disclaimer on your website
- If the picture is not saved on your server and is just embedded
- If you have added commentary in addition to having the picture in the post
- If you have never claimed the photograph was yours
- If your site is not commercial and the photograph has, therefore, not been used to generate profit
- If you did it without intent
- If the picture was not full-sized
- If you list the name of the photographer and you link back to the source
You may think that the chances of you getting caught are slim, but you will be found out eventually. So, what are your options? Take your own photographs or pay for stock photographs. Some stock websites offer a yearly subscription, making them more reasonable than buying a photo every time you need one. Of course, there are free websites for stock photographs. However, the issue with these photos is that you will find them on virtually every blog on the web!
Publishing lots of short blog posts on a daily basis
For most people, they start out with a WordPress blog and they are the only contributor. A lot of writers assume that they need to churn out lots of blog posts per day if they are going to compete with the big bloggers like Huffington Post. Well, firstly, these sorts of blogs are not your competition. Secondly, they have an enormous in-house team, as well as voluntary contributors. Rather than posting lots of short blog posts, which are rehashed from other websites, post valuable content. Writing from an original perspective with unique blog posts will do way more for your traffic than lots of little blog posts will.
Assuming floodgates of traffic will open by adding high-quality content to your website
Many bloggers have unrealistic expectations with their blog, and then they are disappointed when they see the real results. The truth is that less than one per cent of created content generates more than 1,000 shares across social platforms. Content actually does not get shared as much as people think. This does not mean that you should give up, though. There tends to be two barriers that get in the way of content reaching a big audience. The first is your definition of content that adds a high amount of value. The second is that you are relying on only sharing your blog posts from your personal social media accounts. You need to create the right content. What does this mean? You need content that establishes you as an expert, you need content that gets you traffic from Google, and you need content that generates leads, traffic, and most importantly, profit.
Thinking about SEO first and your audience second
This is a massive mistake, and so many bloggers continue to make it. Gone are the days whereby you would write for SEO bots and climb up the search engine result pages with ease. Nowadays, Google values content that delivers benefits to the reader – not content that has been written with a machine in mind. What’s worse is if you deploy black hat SEO techniques, for example, keyword stuffing, using white text to slyly incorporate keywords into a page, and duplicate content, as you will only get punished by Google. You need to put your users first. Focus on gaining your audience’s trust first and foremost. Once you have done this, your SEO ranking will naturally improve, and you can start to perfect your SEO strategy so that you can achieve even better results going forward.
Not sticking to a schedule
One thing that all bloggers need to achieve is consistency. If you post three times one week, ten times the next week, and then you don’t post anything on the third week, you will be doing more harm to your blog than you realise. You can use an editorial calendar to make it easy for you to stay on track. If you know you are not going to have time on a certain day, write your blog post in advance and schedule it to be posted at a later date. You can also use social media scheduling tools so that everything is in sync.
Failing to shop around
Starting a blog is not going to be very expensive, but there are a few elements that you are going to need in order to get up and running. You will need to purchase a domain name, for example, and you will need a hosting platform. You should never simply go for the first or cheapest service you can find. Take your time to search for the best web hosting providers online and read reviews that have been left by other bloggers. After all, the requirements of a blogger are going to be very different when compared to those running large e-stores.
Not creating an email list
A lot of people underestimate the power of email marketing. The statistics do not lie, and it is still way more effective than social media, so you need to create an email list from day one. Email newsletters are easy to create, and this is a great way of bringing repeated traffic to your website. Not only this, but your email subscribers are engaged and loyal. They will be the first to take action on your blog posts or leave a comment, which is why they are so valuable. They also trigger the distribution of your content across social media.
Writing without a blogging strategy or defining your target audience
This is one of the biggest mistakes that new bloggers make today. They are so eager to get started, and so they rush in with little thought for what they are doing. You need to put a plan in place first. Who are you writing for? Are you writing for stay-at-home parents? Are you targeting high-income professionals? Will your target audience be predominantly female or male? What do you expect their age range to be? What are their pain points? By having a strategy like this, you will be able to ensure your blog is focused and that the content you produce is right for your audience. You need to know specific and relevant details about your audience if you are to create an effective blog. Not only does this help you with regards to choosing the right topics, but also with regards to the language you use and how you engage with your viewers.
Hopefully, you now have a better understanding regarding some of the most common mistakes that people make when setting up a blog. While there is a lot to take into account, it is important to do your research and to set up a schedule and plan for your blog. There is no need to dive right in – doing your homework first and putting the foundations in place correctly will give you a much better chance of creating a blog that is not only good to read but profitable too.
