5 Blogging Mistakes Most Beginner Bloggers Make

You have your website up and running and now you want to add blogging to your marketing plan of attack. It’s something many people think about doing, but most of them simply don’t know where to begin. That's okay – it happens to pretty much every new blogger. Luckily, it's pretty easy to get going once you know the roadblocks to avoid.

Mistake 1: Your writing's too dull.

Don't think of blog writing as a boring school assignment. Make it fun! People want to be engaged and enjoy what they are reading. Write casually, your readers will spend more time on your site and feel like they are gaining some insight. In fact, write as if you are addressing a friend. Is your post something you would want to read? Be helpful, be honest and write from the heart.

Mistake 2: You don't blog consistently.

You want to be found online. One step to garner attention for your website is to blog consistently when you're just getting started. If you publish five posts in one week and then only one or two in the next few weeks, it'll be hard to form a consistent habit. And inconsistency could really confuse your subscribers.

Mistake 3: You blog posts are all over the place.

Just because you have an idea doesn't mean it will serve your purpose. Before you begin your blog, make sure you have a goal and consistent voice in mind. You don't want to confuse your readers so try to make sure your subjects are in line with your end goal.

It will be helpful to jot down the topic you want to discuss and make an outline of what points you need to cover. Be clear and to the point.

Section titles and headers are a great way to break up your post, make your content easy to digest, and organize your thoughts. Most importantly, make sure that you are answering specific questions or problems your readers may face in their own business. They will appreciate your information and be grateful for the help. Win - win!

Mistake 4: You chase the competition.

So many companies are comparing themselves to their competition and spending countless hours tracking and analyzing what they are or aren't doing. But here's a little secret for you: the competition doesn't matter.

It's so easy to fall in to the habit of checking up on your competition. You start checking their blog, set up Google Alerts to track them or follow them on Twitter. All so you don't miss out on their next big move.

But here's the problem: doing this puts you perpetually one step behind. It makes you reactive instead of proactive. Instead, focus your energy on being helpful. Offer solutions to your customer's problems. 

Focus on solving the problems of the customers you have (or the customers you want to have). What your competition is doing is at the bottom of the list of things you should care about. 

Mistake 5: You post too fast!

Please, please, PLEASE if you take away only one tip from this post, let it be this: take a few minutes to reread your writing before you hit post. Everyone, including the most seasoned of writers, needs to edit their writing. It is far too easy to make a grammatical error or a simple misspelling. Make sure your story flows just as well as it did in your outline. Take the extra minutes to fix those pesky typos, run-on sentences, and accidental its/it's mistakes. Your readers will appreciate you more in the long run and your blog will be better for it.

Good Luck and Happy Blogging!

CONCLUSION:

Regardless if you are a small business, or a multinational company, blogging is integral to your online content marketing strategy. Avoid these common pitfalls and you will be well on your way to creating killer content, increasing SEO and developing customer relationships.  Go get 'em, tiger!