14 Blogging Mistakes To Avoid

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blogging mistakes

I’ve been blogging for ten years. My Money Chronicles has been around since 2019. I made so many blogging mistakes during those first few years. If you are a new blogger or want to create a blog, I don’t want you to make them.

Over time, I learned from successful bloggers and became a better blogger. I’m still learning as well. In this blog post, I will review 14 blogging mistakes to avoid. If you want to make money blogging or if blogging is just a hobby for you, make sure that you pay attention to these mistakes. 

14 Blogging Mistakes to Avoid

Not Being Self-Hosted

Starting your blog on a free provider is fine in the beginning. It should be self-hosted to take your blog to the next level. If your site is self-hosted, you can control everything, including the design or theme you want. You can monetize it better and also have your personalized domain.

For example, if I didn’t go the self-hosted route, my site’s address would look like MyMoneyChronicles.wordpress.com. To keep it real, that would suck. Those were only a few of the reasons to be self-hosted. When I first started, I used Bluehost to host my blog. There are many hosting providers, but Bluehost is a good option for beginners. You can even get a free domain with them.

If you want to learn more about Bluehost, check out my step-by-step guide on starting a blog.

If you want a more hands-on hosting provider, look at Big Scoots. Their hosting is great, and they have excellent customer service. They can help you get started with your blog.

Small Posts

You must consider writing longer posts to take your blog to the next level. Two or three-hundred-word posts won’t cut it. Trust me, I know from experience. When I first started blogging, I struggled to get my posts to three hundred words. Those articles weren’t gaining any traction. I started paying attention to what other bloggers were doing and saw that many wrote between 700 – 1200 word articles.

Most of my posts these days are at least 1000 words. Many of them are over 1200. My audience is enjoying those posts more than my old ones. I have been creating great content. They stay on the site longer than they used to because the posts are more informative. The analytics shows it. I wish I would have paid attention to this one sooner.

No Share Buttons

Next on the list of blogging mistakes is a big one. Bloggers need to remember to add share buttons to their sites initially. Share buttons are a must for your blog. They make your posts easier to share on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. That drives traffic to your website. More traffic equals more money and opportunities. There are several share plugins available in WordPress. I use Scriptless Sharing and Shareaholic. It lets you see how often your articles have been shared on social media platforms.

No Niche

You have to have a niche or two for your blog. Everyone may not agree, but as a blogger, you need to have two or three things you should focus on and discuss on your site. If you blogged about 20 different topics, getting your readers to stay and subscribe might be more challenging. Your niche should be something that you are passionate about. My main niches are side hustles, personal finance, and travel information. Having a niche blog will help you in the long run.

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Trying to Post Every Day

I’ve seen new bloggers try to post something every day. That rarely lasts, especially if you run your blog by yourself. There isn’t enough time in the day to do that effectively. You may also run out of blog post ideas. If you are starting, I’d post a couple of weekly articles if I were you. That way, you can ensure the content is valuable and not just thrown together. Once you find your groove, you can start posting more.

Not Promoting

If you build it, they will come. While that may be true for some things, that’s BS in blogging. People won’t just show up to your blog. You won’t automatically get traffic. You have to promote it. There are several ways to promote it, such as through social media or word of mouth. This is one of the biggest blogging mistakes to avoid. Feel free to promote your stuff.

No Email List

A lot of bloggers don’t start an email list in the beginning. I “started” my list six months after my blog was live. I put quotation marks around because I didn’t promote actively, and my lead magnet was terrible. When I finally got a few subscribers, I let them sit dormant for two years. Don’t be like me. Email marketing is essential. Start your list ASAP. Create a lead magnet that can help people in some way. When they sign up for your newsletter, they will get that lead magnet sent to them. Below are a few ideas for lead magnets.

Ebook – If you are an expert at something, you can create a small ebook for your subscribers.

Free Course – A lot of bloggers offer free courses. There are hundreds of topics to choose from.

Webinar – Do you like making videos? You can record a webinar. I recently did a webinar on five things to sell on eBay. I added it as a new lead magnet a couple of weeks ago.

Printable – Does your audience like charts or checklists? Create some printables for them to download.

Appearing Perfect

When I first started blogging, I made the mistake of trying to look perfect. I tried to be 100% by the book (whatever the hell that means) and not myself. I quickly found out that wasn’t going to work for me. My blog started growing when I showed some personality and kept it real. I used a little slang and even cursed a little bit. You don’t have to curse, but always be true to yourself. Don’t try to appear perfect. Nobody is perfect, and your audience will know the difference between the real and the fake. This is one of my favorites on this blogging mistakes to avoid list.

Be Consistent

If you’re going to run a blog, be consistent. You should have a posting schedule. It would be hard to build a good following if you post once or twice monthly. I publish new blog posts at least three times a week. Occasionally, I’ll post a fourth one, but three posts a week are enough for me. Some bloggers publish more, while others only post once a month. It depends on your schedule and the amount of content that you have.

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Getting Mad That Friends & Family Not Supporting

When I started blogging, many friends and family didn’t support me. Back then, that used to piss me the hell off. I’m the type of person who shows love and support to my family and friends whenever possible. After talking with a blogger at a conference a few years ago, she told me that family and friends won’t always support me. It will happen. They aren’t your target market in a lot of cases. When I looked at it like that, I realized she was correct.

I stopped getting frustrated when certain people didn’t support me and continued blogging. A crazy thing happened. People that I didn’t know started reading and supporting the blog. They did that because they were my real target audience. My posts resonated with them. Over the years, more of my family and friends have started reading and supporting more. If you are a new blogger, don’t let having minimal support bother you. Keep writing dope shit, and continue to promote your articles. If you do that, you will reach the right people.

Wrong Theme

When I first started blogging, I had yet to learn there were different themes. I just used the default WordPress theme. After a while, I realized that there were other themes available. At first, I was afraid to change my theme because I didn’t want to mess up my blog. After researching and finding a theme I liked, I finally switched.

It was a scary experience, but it turned out well. I recommend switching to a new one if you’re still using the default WordPress theme. There are so many great themes available now. Many of them are even free. Just make sure that you do some research before you make the switch.

Using Wix or Squarespace instead of WordPress

The problem with Wix or Squarespace is that they can shut your website down anytime. If you use WordPress, you own your website. That’s not the case with Wix or Squarespace. I’ve heard horror stories about people who have had their websites shut down by Wix or Squarespace with no warning.

If you want to blog, I strongly recommend using WordPress. It’s the best platform out there. You can use your hosting and never worry about someone shutting your website down.

You also have the freedom to do whatever you want with your website when you use WordPress. You can use widgets and customize your blog how you want. That’s not the case with Wix or Squarespace. You’re free to monetize your site however you want with WordPress. You’re also free to use whatever plugins or themes you want.

Not Researching Topics Before Writing

You must ensure that you’re writing about topics people are interested in. The best way to do that is to research your topic before you write about it. There are a few ways that you can explore your topic.

The first way is to use Google Trends. You can type in a keyword or phrase and see how popular it is. Consider writing about something else if it’s not popular.

The second way is to use paid tools such as Ahrefs, Keysearch or a free tool like Ubersuggest. These tools will show you how much traffic a particular keyword is getting. Consider writing about something else if it’s not getting any traffic.

The third way is to use social media. You can use tools like BuzzSumo to see how popular a particular topic is on social media. The number of people talking about a subject is a good indicator of how popular it is.

Not Updating Content

You can’t create content and not expect it to go stale at some point. That’s why it’s essential to update your content regularly. That means you return to your old posts and update them with new information.

You probably see product reviews when you search for an item or service on Google. The title almost always has the current year in it. You want to revisit some of your old posts and update them with new information.

You should check your old posts at least once a year. If you’re not, your website will eventually become stale, and people will stop visiting it.

If you are a blogger, you’ve made some mistakes. Now that you know the blogging mistakes to avoid, you should do better. You should be able to learn from them and move on.

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Jason Butler is the owner of My Money Chronicles, a website where he discusses personal finance, side hustles, travel, and more. Jason is from Atlanta, Georgia. He graduated from Savannah State University with his BA in Marketing. Jason has been featured in Forbes, Discover, and Investopedia.