These are the seven deadliest mistakes of blogging and what you should do about them:
Mistake #1: Not Using Your Own Domain
If you have a typepad.com or blogspot.com domain, migrate to your own domain as soon as possible.
Mistake #2: Not Promoting Your Posts
Are you one of those who think that if you build it they will come? Well, they won’t. You’ll need to promote your posts. Use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, forums, email and every tool you can think of to drive people to your posts.
Mistake #3: Faking It
Are you trying to impress people by using fancy words? Don’t. Just be yourself. People want to connect with you so open up to them.
Mistake #4: Using Boring Headlines
If you need inspiration for writing headlines, check out this blog.
Mistake #5: Not Asking for Help
Why would you want to do everything alone when having others help you is a lot easier and more fun? Ask experts in your industry to write for your blog, interview them and ask them to promote the posts you write about them.
Mistake #6: Not Making It Easy for Your Readers to Share and Subscribe
It should be obvious how to subscribe to your blogs by email and RSS. Don’t count on your visitors “figuring it out”. It’s your job to make it easy for them. Allow people to follow you on Twitter, Facebook and the rest of your social networks.
In addition, make sure you have links to share your content on the most popular social networks. I use the Sexy Bookmarks plugin and the TweetMeme plugin.
Mistake #7: Not Asking for Feedback or Not Learning from It
A blog is a two-way conversation. Don’t monopolize it. Ask your readers what they think; encourage the debate. And, when they give you feedback about your blog, listen and do your best to give them what they want.
Mistake #8: Posting Too Often or Not Often Enough
What is posting too often? What is not posting often enough? It depends… If you have a lot of information to share, posting once a day (or more) should be OK. Most people post two or three times a week. It’s important to be consistent; don’t post 20 times this week and only one next week.
And overall, pay attention. If too many people are unsubscribing, ask them why.
Mistake #9: Not Thinking About Search Engines
There is a lot written about making blogs SEO-friendly. In a nutshell, you want each post to have a keyword-rich link, a unique title and a unique meta description. I use the All-in-One SEO plugin for this.
Mistake #10: Not Linking to Others
Link to others as much as you can. You want to do this for two different reasons:
- Your readers will appreciate the resources you share with them.
- The people you link to will start paying attention to you and might even want to return the favor.
