7 Mistakes Beginning Bloggers Make

You have officially started your blogging career. You have your site setup, got a catchy name and some thoughts that the world needs to hear. Wonderful! And then reality hits. Blogging is a new world with lots to learn; there are mistakes around every corner. I have seen all types of blogs, and I regularly see beginning bloggers make these 7 mistakes.

1. Using a Domain Name like myblog.wordpress.com

Nothing says newbie like myblog.wordpress.com. People do judge a blog by its front page. No matter how good the content is the “wordpress.com” at the end of the name creates a lack of credibility for your readers. However, if you are not ready to dive into spending money creating a self hosted blog, there is a simple fix!

In my early years of blogging I realized that people were not talking my blog seriously, so I decided to purchase the domain jeremydillonblog.com and “mask” my wordpress.com domain. This was a simple upgrade to my blog for just $10 a year. Namecheap Inc. has even created a tutorial.

2. Not Enough White Space

I was saw that a friend had posted a blog on twitter, so I went to check it out. The post was well over 1,000 words of great content. However, he only used three paragraphs! Even thought it was great content, it was very difficult to follow because there was no “white space.” This means visually leaving room for the eyes to take a break from text.

The only reason I hung in there to read it because he was a friend. I would have stopped immediately if I had no connection.

Do yourself and your readers a favor and breakup your post into smaller paragraphs. I am not saying that you should write less, just hit that return key a little more often. Generally, I aim for 4 – 6 sentences in a paragraph for blogging.

3. Content Too Broad

The third mistake beginning bloggers make is a big one: their content it too broad. As strange as this might sound, you will have more readers if you narrow your topic. The more general your topic, the less readers you will have.

Too often—myself included—beginning bloggers want to be generalists. Talking about whatever is on their mind. This is great if you want your blog to be an online journal, not so great if you are looking to change the world with your content.

Here are some questions to ask yourself to narrow in your blog topics:

Where is my expertise?
How can I leverage my expertise on my blog?
What is the thing I am most passionate about in life?

For more information on this I would recommend Michael Hyatt’s Platform. In a few of the chapters, he shows readers how to narrow their blog for maximum impact.

4. Posting Too Little or Posting Too Often

There are two types of beginning bloggers, those who post too little and those who post too often.

For those who post too little (lets say, once a month), there is not enough content to build your audience. Again, if you desire to write for yourself and your friends, there is nothing wrong with posting once a month. BUT, if you desire to build an audience and change the world, you will have to blog more regularly. Maybe you need to check out mistake #3 and focus your blog. It may help you come up with more content.

For those who post too much (lets say, daily), you may be drowning your audience. There is nothing worse than empty words. People sniff out bloggers like this very easily. And they don’t come back to your site. CopyBlogger has this to say about writing too often:

Only write when you have something to say. Your audience would rather read one post that inspires them than 20 crappy posts with recycled content.

5. No Email Signup

To this day, email is the best way for people to keep up with your blog posts. Unfortunately, a mistake beginning bloggers make is not having a way for people to sign up to receive your blog posts in email format. I am kicking myself for not starting this earlier on my own blog.

It seems annoying or pushy at first, but let me ask this. If you believe that people should read what you are writing, then why does it matter if they read it in their email or on your blog?

Also, this may sound complicated to setup, but WordPress has many different simple solutions to sending out emails when you have a new blog post. It is really simple. You should just do it now, and you will thank me down the road.

6. Not Using Featured Images

People like pictures. It is that simple. Attaching a high-quality, relevant photo at the top of your blog post draws readers in. It gives your blog posts a good visual representation of your high-quality, relevant blog post.

But doesn’t that cost lots of money? Not at all. Recently, I have been using Pixabay, which has free high quality images. Their website describes Pixabay as, “a repository for stunning public domain pictures.”

Also, don’t just do a Google image search and take one from their photos. This is stealing. To make sure that you are not stealing others photos read up on creative commons and copyright laws.

7. Not Having a Solid About Page

In my experience, the first page that readers click on after coming to your site is the About Page. They want to know why you are blogging and if it is relevant to their own life. I have seen too many beginning bloggers have a weak About Page. You want people to walk away seeing your excitement for the topics you are writing on, not questioning the purpose of the blog.

Furthermore, as a blogger you want to have laser focus. A solid About Page can serve you, the blogger, as reminder for why you are writing.

For help with this, here are 10 Ways to Create a Better About Page from Michael Hyatt.

Always Improving

If you find yourself in the middle of these mistakes, there is nothing to fear. Tackle each mistake one at a time. All bloggers are improving and growing daily, so welcome to the club.

Would you add any mistakes to this list?

Other Resources from Bloggers:

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Nevertheless, I would not recommend something if I did not think that it was a good product or service. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”