Have you recently launched your first blog? Or are you getting ready to start a new blog? Then we've got something you'll want. Unlike many other new bloggers, you must avoid several typical mistakes. It's critical to get your blog off to a good start and aids in the speedy growth and success of your blog.
So in this post, we are going to share 10 Big Mistakes That New Bloggers Make. (We also made these mistakes and rectified these mistakes over time). We are sharing these tips so that your blog gets a smooth start and gains a lot of admirers over a short time.
So without taking much of your time, let's move forward with 10 Big Mistakes That New Bloggers Make.
1. Choose Your Blog Name Wisely
The first step when you think of launching a blog is deciding what your blog will be named. Choosing a blog name can seem a simple task, but it can be a lot more tricky if not done smartly.
When you choose a blog name, create a name that will hold its meaning in the future. For example, if you have recently moved to the USA, naming your blog “David in the USA” may not be a wise idea. What if you move to a different country? The name of your blog won't make much sense to your readers now.
So before finalizing the name of your blog, consider all the possible niches that your blog may touch and then generalize the name of your blog around it. Try to ensure that your blog name stands out and is a unique one; I doubt anyone can forget or confuse a name like BORDERPOLAR.
2. Choosing an Unsuitable Host
Most of the new bloggers go for either cheap or well-known hosting companies. It may prove very hurtful for your blog, as some of these hosting companies don't provide efficient services.
For example, if your website goes down at any time, getting your website up and running can be a hassle for you. It may take you days to reach a person from customer service. And by this time, your website may lose its reputation, let alone the revenue.
So, the only way you can have a healthy website that never goes down or rarely faces hosting issues is to perform thorough research before subscribing to any hosting service.
Even some of the most popular web hosting providers may offer a downtime of 1-2%. Accumulatively this becomes a significant amount. Borderpolar is currently hosted on WordPress.com and while we have thoroughly described some of the negatives of the paid version of WordPress, the downtime has been 0%.
3. Using a Free Domain
If you are someone who takes blogging seriously, then don't go for a free domain. If you want readers to take your stuff seriously, you should also make your work look professional.
Also, the brands and other bloggers that you might be interested in working with may get repulsed by your free domain.
You must go self-hosted (or get a non-free plan on WordPress.com or other blogging platforms), if you want your blog to be an extension or fresh incarnation of your professional persona.
4. Launching Your Blog Too Early
I know as you finish your first post, it's tempting to share it with the world. But this is not a wise step.
The most effective approach is that you first finish at least a couple of posts for all the categories of your website. It will boost an impression of you being serious in your work. It will encourage your readers to subscribe, and you may gain some organic followers.
5. Writing Long Paragraphs
Most of the new bloggers repeat this mistake. Blogs filled with long paragraphs of information with few breaks overwhelm the readers.
Blogging is very different from writing a research paper. People in the internet era have a short span of attention. You have to keep them engaged to keep the bounce rate low.
The easiest way to do this is by breaking long paragraphs with headings, bolding, and photos that can make your blog easy to read so that the reader sticks with your blog post from the beginning to the end. This methodology significantly improves user experience and you will see it present on most popular blogs.
Readers become highly discouraged when they encounter walls of text, which will lead to reduced average time spent on your pages per session and increase your bounce rate.
6. Maintain a Balance Between the Quality and Size of Visual Media
Using visual media in a blog is very crucial. We are visual creatures, and social media gets increasingly centered on images. Visual media isn't just an ornament; it's essential.
But using a lot of very high-quality visual media can affect your website. Using a lot of visual media in your post can affect the page speed of your website. So, maintaining a proper balance between media quality and size is crucial.
The file size of the media used on a blogging website must be small so that the webpage can load as quickly as possible. Only optimize the media to a level where its quality isn't affected too much.
7. Copyright Violations and Plagiarism
Many novice bloggers are unaware that they cannot simply upload someone else's pictures on their blog and credit the source with a link. That doesn't make it any more acceptable than using it without permission.
Try to use your own images as much as possible. And if you need an outside image, look for royalty-free websites like Unsplash, Pixabay, and Pexels.
Violations of copyright also apply to text: do not republish other people's work. If you want to quote them, do so for a paragraph or two before linking to the entire text.
Borderpolar received a very hostile DMCA violation report a few months ago and since then I make it my priority to be extremely careful with my personal or my writers' writing.
8. Ignoring the Importance of SEO
Producing great content alone cannot make a blog successful. SEO is as crucial as your content. With SEO, you can attract unbelievable traffic from search engines. Search Engine Optimization may seem like a challenging thing to master, but believe us, it isn't rocket science.
SEO starts with simple practices like keyword research, framing the title of a post, adding Alt text to an image, and much more. SEO may require some heavy tweaks, but it is where the SEO tools come into the picture. These SEO tools help you perform heavy tasks with a click of a button.
So, try to subscribe to an SEO tool. It may seem a little too much of an investment, but believe us, the results will be very encouraging. Choosing a premium, accurate SEO tool, will greatly boost your ranking efforts.
SEO tools are just one part of the equation, though. No matter how good your on-page efforts are, you need to build a strong backlink profile for your blog to earn Google's trust. SEO tools can assist your link-building efforts, but typically you will have to rely on manual work to promote your content with content marketing and outreach campaigns.
Building a high-quality backlink profile is a task we highly encourage outsourcing to professionals.
9. Better To Publish and Update Than Postpone for Perfection.
Let me tell you the truth, your post will never be perfect. There comes a phase where getting closer to “perfect” yields decreasing benefits – and you'll never achieve “perfect” anyway. While you don't want to publish a piece that has factual inaccuracies and grammatical faults, a typo isn't the end of the world. It's unlikely to have an impact on the number of views and leads it generates.
Furthermore, if you (or your readers) discover an error, all you have to do is amend the post. It's not a huge deal. So take a break now and again – perfect is the enemy of done.
10. Don't Ignore the Long-Term Benefits of Organic Traffic
Concentrating on immediate traffic (from email subscribers, RSS feeds, and social shares) can prove to be detrimental to your website. As the half-life of social shares is less – a day or two, the posts attract traffic for a couple of days.
Instead of focusing on the rapid decline of short-term traffic, consider the organic traffic's cumulative potential. Given enough time, the traffic from day three and beyond of a single blog post will eventually surpass the large surge on days one and two, thanks to being found on search engine results pages via organic search. All you have to do now is wait.
Make sure you're consistently writing blog entries with long-term significance to help drive this long-term traffic. These are known as “evergreen” blog entries because they are useful, beneficial, and of excellent quality year after year with little or no care.