Setting up your first blog? Are you literally bursting at the seams trying to hold in the urge to publish your first blog post? Hold your horses. While your enthusiasm is understandable, you need to think things through to avoid the same mistakes many beginners such as yourself make. Here are some of the common blogging mistakes made by beginners.
- Setting an Impractical Publishing Schedule
You’re full of ideas and looking forward to implementing them immediately. It’s easy to start writing and publishing like a mad man in a bid to get all your fresh and exciting ideas out. However, this is not the way to go. You’ll crash and burn faster than you can say “blog”. The best approach is to set a schedule where you publish once or twice a week. Publishing 5 blog posts one day and then going 2 weeks without new content is a losing strategy.
- Failure to Use White space and Headers
Nobody wants to get on your blog and find a wall of text. You may have great ideas but nobody’s going to bother going through it. Make your work easy to read by breaking it down into paragraphs and using sub-headers. Keep sentences short and have a maximum of 5 sentences per paragraph.
- Not Using Images
The average visitor on your blog will only read 20% of your text. It, therefore, makes sense to use a lot of images in your posts. It makes the posts more attractive to readers and one will be able to get the gist of what you’re talking about just by looking at the images. Use infographics, charts, and images to break the monotony and make your work more visual. You can make your own or use stock images available online. Remember never to use copyright images without the authority of the owner.
- Not Answering Comments
Time and again, people will comment on your posts. Never ignore your audience. It’s just bad mojo to do so. You won’t grow your audience by ignoring them, will you? By replying to comments, you encourage people to post more comments. Your blog feels more interactive and your audience feels appreciated. The comments will, in turn, help you establish social proof and get new topics for your blog. The only comments you shouldn’t respond to are spam.
- Failure to Add Social Sharing Buttons
The reason you’re starting a blog is to share your interests and ideas with as many people as possible. You simply can’t do this without incorporating social media sharing into your blog. You want the people who love your blog to share it with their friends. Adding a sharing button makes sharing your great content much easier for your audience. Make sure you have all the popular sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Display the buttons prominently on your blog so that your audience can locate them easily.
Now that you’re aware of some of the common blogging mistakes you’ve been making, go ahead and make amends. If the blog is new, you’ll be in a position to avoid these rookie mistakes. Select a managed hosting plan and get started today.
