5 Blogging Mistakes All Beginners Make

Most people have a perception that there’s not much to blogging. You simply write what interests you and subsequently publish it for others to read.

Contrary to popular belief, successful blogging usually requires a set of rules to be respected and it’s these rules that differentiate rookies from professionals.

Every beginner blogger has made mistakes that gradually led to less traction and attention. And while mistakes like these can be a valuable learning experience, there’s only so much you can figure out on your own, especially today when people just don’t have the time to experiment with their blogs.

We’ll highlight some of the most common rookie mistakes regarding blogging and what you can do to fix them.

Writing Too Many Articles in the Beginning

One of the most common issues revolves around being full of ideas, so it’s only natural to write one article every day, right?

Wrong.

You won’t have that much to write about once the starting period’s over, and by then you’ve set up a schedule that you can no longer keep up with.

Sure, you can publish your articles unpredictably, but just ask yourself: would you constantly check whether your favorite TV show has aired if you had no idea when it’s airing?

This is why it’s recommended that you publish realistically at a pace that you’ll manage to fulfill. Most bloggers don’t publish more than 2-3 articles per week, so if you don’t have a starting point – let this be it.

And try to never, ever, publish more than one article per day. Just let it breathe (unless, of course, you’re into publishing news or other time-sensitive content).

Being Unaware of Who Your Audience Is

This mistake isn’t necessarily exclusive to beginners. In fact, plenty of bloggers have absolutely no idea who they’re writing for.

The main problem is not focusing on a narrow niche that they’re specialized in, which makes it difficult to figure out who’s reading your blog.

Additionally, most people don’t use surveys to actually ask their audience who they are and what they like. Sources like Google Forms and Survey Monkey can greatly assist you with this.

Your Blog Isn’t User-Friendly Enough

The best way to make sure your visitors leave the blog early is to have something wrong with it, whether it’s too slow or they feel overwhlmed while navigating it. Here are a few ways to make sure your website is user-friendly:

• Navigation – almost every blog reader out there wants to browse as easily as possible. This means having a noticeable navigation panel – preferably toward the top of the page – that won’t disappear as you scroll.
• Speed – Most people leave the page on any website if it won’t load in under 3 seconds. You can use this Google tool to figure out why your speed is lackluster.
• Bad usage of whitespace – This one’s extremely important, as whitespace decides if an article is readable or not. Every creative agency would also recommend you to break the paragraphs with an occasional image as well.

Not Being Proactive About Promoting Your Blog

While it’s clear that high-quality content is the most important asset of a blog, there’s not much use if no one even knows it exists.

Rookie bloggers are usually shy about their articles and opt not to share it on social networks, or rather – they won’t share it enough.

At the very least, you’ll want to email your blog subscribers whenever an article goes live.

If linking to another blog, you can contact said blog owner and ask to share the article; they’re usually happy to spread the word as it promotes their blog as well.

You can even use Facebook Ads for advertising purposes once your financial situation allows.

Too Many Popups

It’s true that popups are generally better than banners when it comes to yielding clicks. But too much of a good thing can sometimes be a bad thing, you know? Remember user experience (UX) is highly important.

Even more important is to keep them relevant to the content, otherwise your overall conversion rate (and reader loyalty) will suffer in the long-run.

Bottom Line

The sooner you get good at blogging the more hyped you’ll be to continue doing it. Avoiding these mistakes won’t only save time, but you’ll also spend/use fewer resources while trying to figure out what works.

Always try to focus on a niche and write about it, as focusing on too many things might cost you the trust of potentially targeted readers.

Damage to reputation isn’t something that can easily be fixed, so do your best to avoid these traps and you’ll be just fine.