Blogging can be a great way to showcase your expertise, gain valuable exposure, and even generate some income for yourself. While many people start blogs, only few succeed to keep them alive and thriving. Too many bloggers make the same rookie mistakes that cause their blogs to fail miserably. If you want your blog to succeed, make sure that you avoid the following five novice errors.
Error #1: You don’t write compelling content.
If you want your blog to succeed, you need to write content that will interest other people. Dedicated a blog to the cute things your kids do will not generate much exposure beyond your immediate family. If you really want your blog to captivate an audience and increase your chances of earning income or increasing your reputation, you need to make sure that you are producing content that interests a larger audience. This can include hot topics, such as parenting or finances, or you can make it specific to something you love, such as quilting or photography.
Error #2: You don’t proofread your work.
While generating great content is important, it’s also important that you proofread this content before you publish it. If your content is full of grammatical or spelling errors, it’s going to deter your readers from returning. Make sure that you’re using a spell checker and a grammar checker to proof your work. Using a combination of the checkers inside your word processor as well as third-party checkers, such as Grammarly, can help tremendously.
Error #3: You don’t post consistently.
It’s very important that you have a blog schedule created to keep you posting consistently. Maybe you post once a week, maybe you post every day. Either way, you want to make sure that you create a schedule and stick to it. Your readers will come to recognize your schedule, and they will start coming back to your site regularly when they know that a new post has been generated. If you don’t post continuously and your readers keep coming back to your site and seeing that your blog hasn’t been updated, they are going to stop coming back.
Error #4: You try to do too much.
Novice bloggers don’t realize the time and effort that goes into running a successful blog, and this can cause them to bite off more than they can chew. When you start your blog, be sure to start off slow. Start first by writing your content and getting it posted on a regular basis. Then, as you become more comfortable, you can start to add other features to your blog, such as selling ad space, becoming an affiliate or starting to guest post on other blogs.
Error #5: You don’t communicate with your readers.
Blogging is not only meant to share information and inform your readers, but it also serves as a way to be social and engage with your audience. Make sure that your blog enables comments, and listen to what your readers have to say. Answer their questions or issues politely, and notice any common questions or topics that arise that you can use as future blog posts.
