Before we wrap up this short report, let’s quickly run through some common blogging mistakes.
This shortlist will help you avoid making these mistakes in your own business and making sure your blog is and stays an effective tool in your marketing tool belt and helping you grow your business.
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Hanging On To A Badly Designed Or Outdated Blog
Blogs change and with them, the design and layouts change. As you get more comfortable with your blog you find that some things work better than others.
Your layout may change and eventually, you’re going to contemplate a completely new design to make sure everything works well, is easy to use, and looks current.
By all means, do it.
It’s a mistake to hang on to the original design out of nostalgia or laziness.
Your blog is part of your overall business and often one of the first things new prospects see.
When creating your blog and writing your blog content, it’s important to keep your audience in mind. Click the image below to take a free assessment to understand your unique brilliance!
Make sure you’re making a good first impression with a blog that looks good and is easy to navigate.
Running A Cluttered Blog
A blog is a great way to share your passion for what you do. But with that, it’s easy to go overboard and write about anything and everything and create different categories for anything you can think of.
The end result can be a very cluttered blog that makes it hard to find what you’re looking for.
Add to that the tendency of new bloggers to add too many different widgets, banners, buttons, and various other things to their blog designs, and it’s no wonder we end up coming across all sorts of cluttered blogs.
Try to look at your blog with fresh eyes, or ask for input from family and friends.
What is really necessary on your blog and what’s clutter that should be trimmed off?
Your goal is to have a blog that’s clean, organized, and easy to read.
Not Blogging Regularly
One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to not blog regularly.
When life and work get busy, it’s easy to let blogging go by the wayside. And once you get out of your habit of writing 2 new posts per week, it’s easy to let weeks and then months go by without writing and publishing anything new.
As your blog goes stale:
- Search engines will stop sending lots of free traffic your way.
- Readers will stop checking in and with it, they will stop sharing your content on social media.
- New people who do come across your blog, will notice that there has been nothing new added recently, making them doubt that the rest of your business is up and running.
Not Updating Your Blogging Software (including Plugins)
Blogging software is great, but it has one important downfall… hackers are constantly trying to exploit weaknesses and find new ways to hack into sites and use them to their advantage.
That’s why it is crucial to keep your blogging software up to date. Not doing so can be a costly mistake.
Set aside some time each month to make sure everything is up to date, secure, and backed up.
It’s a lot easier than you may think and often involves nothing more than the click of a button.
If you don’t have the time or desire to do this yourself, hand the task off to a virtual assistant.
Using A Free Blogging Service
Another costly mistake you can make is to use a free blogging service like Tumblr, WordPress.org, Blogger, etc.
While these services and blogs are great for hobby bloggers, it’s not something you want to build your main business hub on.
You have no control over it and your account can be shut down at any time, causing you to lose everything you have on your blog.
Set up your blog on your own hosting so you have full control over it and don’t forget to back it up regularly. Your host may even be able to set up automatic backups for you.
Going Too Far Off-Topic
As you start to get into the swing of blogging, you may be tempted to stray further and further away from your core business and message.
While it’s certainly fine to branch out every now and again, don’t make the mistake of going too far off-topic and losing your focus.
Planning your posts ahead of time and sticking to no more than 5 or 7 main categories for your blog posts will help with this.
Not Promoting Your Blog
Like any other part of your business, your blog needs to be marketed and promoted.
This is particularly important in the beginning. You need to get the ball rolling and get the word out about your new blog.
Write some guest posts and articles, share your blog on social media, and do what you can to promote it.
Once your readership grows and people start to share your posts, you can ease up, but never stop promoting this important part of your overall business.
Not Marketing Your Business With Your Blog
Similarly, it’s easy to simply share great content on your blog, hoping that readers will seek out the rest of your business and come to you to spend their money.
This doesn’t work in other areas of your business and it doesn’t work on your blog either.
You have to actively market and sell yourself, your products, and your services on your blog.
Don’t be shy. You don’t have to sound like a used car salesman, but make it easy for your readers to spend money with you.
Please leave us a comment and share what changes you’re planning to make to grow your blog.
Here are some more blogging tips to help you get started and grow your business:
- How Blogging Can Help Grow Your Business
- 4 Positive Effects of Blogging
- 3 Steps to Follow When Starting a Blog
- Tips When Starting a New Blog
- Effective Strategies for Blogging
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