Like working with your hands, riding a bike or cooking, the more you blog the better you’ll be at it. If you don’t believe me just back date and look at my older blog posts. Although blogging is easy (no really, it is), and necessary (no really, it is), that doesn’t mean it doesn’t come with a bit of a learning curve and your blogging mistakes will likely be plenty.
Although there is nothing wrong with making common blogging mistakes, it is important to learn from them so your blogs become stronger and stronger as time goes on.
With some exceptions, there are a handful of standard blogging mistakes most newbie bloggers can find themselves regularly committing. Some are obvious, some may not be so much. Here are 4 basic blogging mistakes and advice on how to avoid them, or at the very least learn from them.
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The content is too stuffy
A blog is an informative piece, no doubt. Informative articles often become associated with textbooks, term papers, and other such scholarly articles. So, when it comes to writing a blog post, there is often an instinct and temptation to play it straight and copy that style of writing in a blog. But, let me ask you something: did you really ever WANT to read a textbook? Now, I was a pretty decent student and I enjoy reading. But I will tell you, I never ever wanted anything to do with boring old textbooks.
Blogs are informative. However, informative doesn’t have to be boring. Instead of trying to write like a professor, just write like you! Every blog you write should be written like you were talking to a client or customer, explaining it to them in person with very little understanding of the subject. This is particularly important in industries that are filled with jargon. If you write a blog as if it were a textbook, it will be of no use to a reader looking for information.
Not only will writing a blog in a more causal or conversational manner make it easier for you to write, it will also make the blog much easier to read for visitors to your site.
The article is too hard to read
Clicking a link to a blog post only to be met by a gigantic wall of text is an intimidating and unwelcome sight to most folks. Without a feeling of immediate guidance, many visitors will spend only a few seconds on the page before immediately turning tail and looking for answers elsewhere. With information so easily and readily available on the internet, folks don’t want to try very hard to get it. If getting the information is too hard to obtain, they’ll go somewhere where it isn’t.
When you are writing your blogs, be sure to break them up with headlines, sections, and/or images as often as possible. These break-ups give your blog rhythm, make it feel less cluttered, and can serve as markers that guide your reader down the page
Also, with the short attention span or limited amount of time someone has, headlines serve as markers to aid in skimming. When they hit the page, they can immediately find the section relevant to their curiosity and get the information. Ideally, you would like them to read your entire blog. However, wouldn’t you rather have someone read some of your blog than none of it at all?
The topic is too broad
This can often happen right when you start blogging. You have an empty blog and you have no idea what to start writing about first, since you want to have plenty of content available in your blog. So, you decide to write about everything. You write a blog post that talks about everything under the sun and uses lots of keywords that you hope will get you noticed quickly. The only problem? Now you’ve just got a bloated mess.
When you try and blog about a bunch of loosely related topics at once, your blog loses all focus and can become easily jumbled. A blog that bounces around back and forth between a handful of topics is incredibly hard to read. And sure, you’ve likely hit a lot of keywords, but since you stayed so broad, the keywords are also likely broad themselves and are in heavy contention with literally everyone else. Your chances of being seen are much lower.
Instead, focus on niche topics. Niche topics are more focused and therefore much easier for you to organize. Niche topics also have much stronger SEO value. Even though a niche keyword may not get the hits that something broad will, there is less competition, meaning when people do search it, they are likely to find you. The people making these searches are likely to be quality visitors as well.
The blog doesn’t hold a secondary purpose
So a reader has reached the end of your blog – now what? They leave? That doesn’t help you very much, now does it? A blog isn’t just something that can be used to inform and educate. A blog should be a catalyst for someone interested in your goods or services to learn more about you. Although you won’t be able to catch everyone, every blog should have a tease or incentive for visitors to stick around.
Finish off your blog posts by encouraging discussion. Ask readers for comments or to leave their thoughts about the topic you’ve presented. Maybe someone who enjoyed this article would find value out of a similar blog you’ve written? Give them the link to the blog. The longer someone is on your website, the more likely they are to contact you.
Blogs can also be a point of lead generation! If it makes sense, put a button linking to your contact or request an appointment form at the bottom of the blog. If you have a white paper or download related to the topic of your blog, it would be right at home being included on your blog. Use a button or a graphic at the bottom of the page to direct them there.
You can do this! You can write terrific content if you take the time to avoid these simple blogging mistakes. Use this handy content calendar to schedule your posts
