Stay away from these 6 worst mistakes new bloggers make. You don’t want to harm your progress before you get started on your road to success.
When you start a blog, you have to make sure you are clear on why you started blogging and what your end goal is.
Then you have to stay on track and follow your outline.
Let’s get rolling and find out what the 6 worst mistakes are.
1. Not Defining A Reason For Your Blog
What is your why or your reason for starting a blog? Are you doing it for fun, or are you hoping to make money with it? Or maybe you are doing it to reach the world or to use it as a daily log? Do you want an MMO (make money online) site or a product niche site?
There is no right or wrong answer. You don’t want to put in hard work and spin your wheels. Without a clear vision of your reasons or purpose, you will burn out. You will run out of ideas and feel defeated.
Your reasons for starting a blog may make or break your success. While you can choose many reasons, it is crucial to choose a niche that supports one reason.
2. Poor Choice Of A Niche
This mistake closely relates to #1. If you’re starting a blog for fun and you won’t need to monetize it, then your niche is not that important. But if you want to make money with your blog, then choosing the right niche can be a game-changer.
You will need to research a niche and choose one that is in high demand. It is easier to work with one you know something about or happen to be passionate about, but if that niche has a very small audience, your earning potential will be limited.
So, please choose your niche carefully. If you are fortunate enough to have a niche that is a passion and in high demand, then snatch it up and run with it. All of this will take time but is well worth the effort you put forth.
The more demand for your products, the more traffic, and the higher revenue that it will generate.
3. Continued Use Of Free Domains
You can create a blog or business on a free domain, but it will only take you so far. Paid domains will carry more weight. When you are creating a website that you will transfer soon may be an excellent time to use a free domain.
Using a free domain to monetize your blog can have a considerable price to pay. You do not own any free domain. The company that set up the free service owns your website.
You will lose your freedom to do what you want with your site on a free domain. You do not control your blog. If they decide to delete your blog, your entire work will go down the drain.
Don’t take the chance of losing your work. It is better to purchase a domain for $13 or $14 a year so you can own your website.
4. Not Updating Your Blog Regularly
Not updating is a biggie for so many reasons.
Your followers/visitors want to see regular content added to your site. By regular, I mean at least 1-3 times a week. You want to keep them interested. Your visitors will come to your blog, looking for new information. They follow you for a reason, and it is up to you to give them reasons to continue.
Another reason is SEO optimization.
Google wants to see that you are serious about your blog. Google wants to show your blog through the search engine only if you create valuable content regularly.
With consistent content produced, Google will rank your site higher on their algorithm and show your website to more people. Again, the more people who see your site, the more clicks with a purchase, and the higher the revenue.
Also, the more content you have on your blog, the higher the rankings are. Google loves to see a website blog with 100 or 200 posts on it. So when you post new content regularly, you will reach 100 posts quickly. Google loves a bunch of content on one blog site.
5. No Images Or Improperly Labeled Images For SEO
Today we are a visual society. Without images, we become bored and click out of your article. Your post may be the best written on the internet, but without images, it will not keep people’s interest.
Neil Patel suggests the use of one image per 150 words. Your images need to be relevant to your post. If you have a post about dog toys, then a photo with a dog playing with a toy would be appropriate.
Use a featured image to grab the attention of your readers at the beginning of your post.
Properly use SEO measures to rank each photo. When you download an image to your post, it has an area to place alternate text. Google checks these for ranking. When you label, your photo do so as if you are explaining the picture to a blind person. Be very descriptive.
Wrong-way, a dog holding a toy
Correct way, a golden retriever is looking at the camera holding a yellow stuffed duckie and sitting in a field of yellow flowers with a smile on his face.
6. Being Lazy About Generating Traffic
You may have the best blog site on the internet, but without traffic to your website, no one will see your incredible work.
Actively drive traffic to your site with forum posting, blog commenting, article marketing, and possibly video marketing.
You can actively drive traffic to your site. You will again need to SEO optimize your posts with specific markers such as metadata, descriptions, and images that are labeled correctly
Both driving traffic and optimizing your site are crucial for improving your blog.
Conclusion
These 6 mistakes are fixable. Follow the suggestions here and begin your business on the right foot. Treat your blog as your baby and take time to do the right things the first time. It will pay off in the long run.
Hello, Laura, and thanks for this spot-on article. Your advice is top-notch. Anyone who wants to build a profitable blog/niche website must do all that you have said here.
If they need training, WA is the best there is. I know that sounds biased, and it is but, it’s because it’s also an honest evaluation because I have seen what’s inside. There are many success stories in the WA community that give testimony to the value that is WA.
With that said, as good or great as WA might be and is, if one really wants to make it happen in the online business world, they must do what you have mentioned here and do it consistently. They must keep their eye on the prize and never give up.
Real online success will take time. Perhaps 8 – 12 months or maybe 18 months maybe longer. WA does not promise overnight success. They DO promise that if you are willing to work hard, as in any other business, your hard work will pay off in ways one could hardly imagine and live the dream you have.
Work, consistency and, the right training are the keys,
Wayne
Wayne, You have stated this so well and spoken with the honest truth. I agree that one will have to do the work to become successful. If they started a brick and mortar business and did the work, it would be longer to reap the rewards and more costly.
It is worth every second we put into it. I am also happy to hear that Wealthy Affiliate is your #1 choice also.
Thank you for this remarkable insight on what NOT to do when we have a blog. I know I am guilty of inconsistency with posting and generating traffic. Running an online business is time-consuming. But it is also manageable if we focus. I want to stay focused and become more consistent.
Do you have any advice on how to stay motivated? I would also love to learn how to generate more ideas to create content.
Stephanie, To stay motivated is a difficult task. But within the Wealthy Affiliate community that I spoke of, there is incredible support and people who will help to motivate you when the going gets tough. I would recommend you check it out. Step inside for 7 days free to see what you think.
As for creating content, I am so happy you asked. I wrote a blog on this subject just yesterday. Here is the link.
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.co…
I wrote it in response to your question and hope it helps.
Hi! I have been trying to choose a niche, but I have been struggling for two weeks. It’s difficult because some experienced affiliate marketers advise us that we should choose something we’re knowledgeable in and also feel a passion. Others suggest that we should adopt an evergreen niche. The point is that these don’t match for me. So which criteria should I use above the other?
I am so so happy you asked this question. As you have said, this subject is controversial. Here is my opinion is. When you are a beginner, your success is dependent on having knowledge in or a passion for your niche. As for evergreen, in the beginning, you need to develop your business skills. To only choose evergreen products is not imperative.
Now, if you can adopt a niche that you are passionate about that also has some evergreen products to promote, then you have done well.
Last night I finished a 2 part article on “How to Find A Business Niche.” I will publish it later this week.
Please watch for both to publish within the next week at https://resignwithmoney.com under the blogging tips heading.
If you go to the top of this post on the left and sign up for my emails, I will send you the posts when I publish them.
These are great reminders for those of us who blog for money and for those considering a future in affiliate marketing. Being able to make a lot of money online is very much possible with a blog based around a specific niche, but if you are not really into creating consistent content, this can be a problem. Even a slight disruption can be bad in the beginning.
Of course this only applies to blogs that you create to make money with. As you have said, if your intent was to not make money with a blog, choosing the best niche is not as important. But one thing is for certain, SEO is necessary for both types of blogs because traffic is needed whether you make money or not. How do you feel about people not being patient in waiting for monetary results?
You are so right in your assessment of the online blogging business.
In response to your question:
“How do you feel about people not being patient in waiting for monetary results?”
I get sad when I see people give up when I know that blogging can be a lucrative passive income. I wonder if they came into the business thinking it was going to be a get-rich-quick situation.
So many online businesses promote this today. Wealthy Affiliate is a real training platform, and they are very clear about working to reap the rewards. I so wish people would pay attention to this part because they may be giving up at the very moment their business is getting ready to snowball.
Hi! These 6 points are beneficial, and I have been careful of not falling into these mistakes except for one. I’m guilty of not driving traffic to my site. I have always wanted to comment on other people’s posts with useful comments and leave links back to my website. But I don’t want them to view me as a spammer. What could I do?
Thank you for finding this post useful. When you comment on posts, if you leave a valuable and grammatically correct comment, the owner will not consider you spam. It is easy for most of us to see a spam comment.
It is essential to do it and take your chances. If they think you are spam, they will delete it, and you have not lost anything.