Many individuals find inspiration in professional bloggers who earn a living through their work. Reading their success stories motivates others to pursue a career in the blogging world. However, it is important to note that creating a successful blog and attracting significant traffic is not as simple as it may appear at first glance. As the saying goes, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
To create a successful blog, it is crucial to address various key elements. Many of these tasks may be simple but hold significant importance. In this post, I will highlight common mistakes made by inexperienced bloggers and provide effective solutions. These errors often lead to discouraging outcomes and ultimately result in bloggers giving up.
Table of Contents
1. Networking with other bloggers
Networking for your blog online is as crucial as networking in person. Connecting with other bloggers establishes your reputation, and often, when your blogger friends appreciate a post you’ve written, they may mention it on their own blog, providing you with backlinks and increased traffic within your niche.
2. Cheap or free WordPress Theme
Paying for a good theme is not recommended, but it is important to check for faulty ones, whether they are free or not. Investing in a quality WordPress theme is worthwhile as it improves loading speed and ensures compatibility with regular WordPress updates. Consider using the default WordPress themes and, when ready to upgrade, consider the Genesis Framework by Studiopress.
3. Choose a Topic from Your Niche
Selecting the appropriate topic within the niche of your website is crucial. When visitors come to your site, they anticipate content that aligns with your site’s specialty, and deviating from it may drive them away. If you have a compelling topic in mind, consider guest posting on a relevant website or even launching a new one.
4. Poor Web Hosting
Always choose a reliable web host that guarantees uninterrupted service and can handle high traffic. Server downtime can be detrimental to your blog’s success. Numerous affordable options are available, such as hostgator.com, godaddy.com, and bluehost.com.
5. Over-Advertised Blog
Advertising is typically the main income source for bloggers, but it should never be excessive. An abundance of banners and promotions can give your site an unprofessional and spam-like appearance, potentially deterring users from returning. Hence, it is crucial to maintain a moderate number of advertisements.
6. Your Blog is not Mobile Responsive
Having a mobile responsive site is crucial to ensure a seamless reading experience for mobile users. Switch to a mobile responsive theme to replace your current one.
If you want to test a few pages, you can use the Google Mobile-Friendly Test.
7. You don’t Write Consistently
Consistent writing is essential. If you publish articles sporadically, readers may assume you’re planning to abandon your blog. Creating and publishing fresh and unique content consistently is valued by Google.
8. Simplify your writing
Simpler, well-written blog posts are preferred by readers. Unnecessary and complex vocabulary can complicate your message and give a negative impression of your blog.
9. You are writing for search engines
SEO is important for your blog, but it should not be the sole focus. Your readers can easily tell if your post is poorly written and keyword-stuffed, and search engines also dislike such posts. Focus on creating high-quality, well-written content and search engines will naturally give them good rankings.
10. Security of your blog is a low priority
Web security is important, and while WordPress improves its security, it may not cover everything. Enhance site security by adding features such as IP filtering and reducing login trials. Protect your blog by installing the iThemes Security plugin.
11. Lack of research
To impress readers, it is crucial to thoroughly analyze your topic and convey a comprehensive understanding. Give your readers the impression that you are well-versed in the subject matter.
12. Your post lacks an introduction
When writing any type of post, whether it’s a list or a paragraph, it is important to include an introductory paragraph or two. This gives readers an idea of what the post will be about.
13. Your website doesn’t have a sitemap
A sitemap is the structure of your site, which is submitted to Google Webmasters Tools for indexing. Without a sitemap, the contents of your site cannot be indexed. You can use the Yoast plugin to generate and submit a sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools.
14. Publishing lots of posts
Publishing a large number of daily posts is unproductive. Generating numerous articles compromises quality for quantity. Prioritize a few well-written, high-quality posts over a multitude of low-quality ones. Avoid overwhelming yourself and maintain article quality.
15. You ignore what readers comment on your posts
Ignoring reader comments demonstrates a lack of concern for others’ opinions. Whether comments are positive or negative, expressing gratitude and addressing concerns fosters engagement and reassurance. Responding to every comment showcases a strong commitment to readers.
16. Your heading is boring
The heading is crucial in distinguishing between a successful and unsuccessful post. It should always be intriguing, capturing the readers’ attention and compelling them to click on the post. Ideal headings are brief and attention-grabbing.
17. Long paragraphs
Readers prefer short paragraphs and bullet points over longer ones. They are easier to scan and maintain a reader’s interest in your blog post.
18. Non-moderated comments
Comments should be moderated to prevent spam from both bots and human spammers seeking backlinks or traffic. Each comment should be carefully monitored and only valuable contributions should be allowed.
19. Non-scannable content
Many people scan blog posts before reading them in detail. To engage visitors and turn them into readers, it is crucial to present well-written content with a strong introduction, informative paragraphs, relevant visuals, and a helpful conclusion.
20. Check your post before publishing it
Proofreading your posts is crucial as publishing error-filled content creates a negative perception of your blog. You can observe that professional bloggers rarely make mistakes in their posts. They consistently proofread before publishing online.
21. Your blog lacks an “About” page
Sharing your personal story can forge a strong connection with your readers. Include an opt-in box here to gain more subscribers as visitors often explore the about page on a new blog.
22. Discard unnecessary plugins
Take the time to search for unnecessary plugins and remove them. This will help improve your site’s speed. Go to Plugins, then Installed Plugins, deactivate any unused plugins, and then delete them.
23. Catchy Logo
Design a concise and impactful logo that establishes your brand’s identity. Craft a logo that leaves a lasting impression on users, ensuring they recall both your blog and its logo.
24. Stop checking your web page analytics
Checking your analytics excessively can harm your productivity. Limit yourself to checking them a maximum of 2-3 times per day.
25. Don’t have a favicon for you blog
A favicon is a small image displayed next to your blog’s title on the browser’s tab. It adds a professional touch and enhances recognition among other open tabs. When designing your logo, ensure to request your graphic designer to create a favicon for your site as well.
26. You don’t do internal linking
Internal linking has two advantages:
1) It improves bounce rate by signaling to users that there is additional relevant material available.
2) It enhances SEO. Ensure to regularly link your older posts to any recent relevant content and develop a habit of doing so.
27. Installed WordPress in a subfolder
It is advisable to change the subfolder during WordPress installation to avoid an unappealing blog homepage URL such as “http://www.myblog.com/wordpress”. Install WordPress in the root directory instead of a subdirectory.
28. Put social sharing buttons
Social media is an effective way to drive targeted traffic to your blog. Having a substantial number of likes or subscribers on your blog page can significantly enhance search engine-friendly traffic. Installing simple and user-friendly social sharing buttons can quickly amplify the number of shares and likes on your page. If your blog is hosted on WordPress, you can easily install dedicated plugins designed for this purpose.
29. You don’t write how-to’s
How-to tutorials are popular among readers who search for solutions to specific problems they face. If someone searches for a problem you have addressed in a how-to post, it is highly likely that they will find your blog.
30. You use pop-up ads
Placing specific ads on your blog can be irritating for visitors, especially if you have pop-up ads that block all your written content. Furthermore, these pop-up ads provide no long-term benefit and are not worth reducing your visitor count.
31. Having so many categories
The main purpose of categorization is to organize and list things in a more efficient manner. However, creating a new category every time would complicate the process and make it harder for readers to find relevant material. It is best to create a few distinct categories, around 4 to 5, and be precise. Only define a new category if necessary.
32. Slow site speed
A slow-loading site leads to a significant user drop-off, specifically 40%. SEO relies on user experience, and a slow-loading site indicates user dissatisfaction, resulting in poor SEO. This is due to users generally lacking patience. To address this, first, assess the reliability of your web hosting. Second, improve site speed by installing a cache plugin.
33. Find the right audience
To achieve a high conversion rate, focus on your niche audience. Attract visitors who have a genuine interest in your niche in order to maximize your conversion rate. Advertise your blog on relevant forums or websites.
34. Blog lacking a contact form
Improve user experience by implementing a contact form on your website. This way, all visitors will receive email notifications and have the option to contact you for advertisements or sales. Ensure that the contact form is simple and user-friendly, without the need for complicated captchas.
35. Analytic tools
Tracking daily site visitors is crucial as it provides valuable feedback on performance. To obtain reliable web traffic analytics, sign up for Google Analytics, which is renowned for its excellence and, best of all, it’s free.
36. Change your default tagline
If the mentioned tagline is also yours, configure your blog and change it as it is the default tagline of WordPress. To fix it, go to Settings, then General. Identify and modify the tagline.
37. You are not storing your images locally
In the past, webmasters would host images on external sites and often encounter the message “Image is unavailable.” However, storage is now inexpensive and web hosting offers unlimited storage, giving us more incentive to host and store our own images. Therefore, upload all externally hosted images to your WordPress media.
38. Using the default username and password should be avoided
It is advisable to modify your default username and consistently use a unique one. Ensure that your password is strong, incorporating a mix of symbols, letters, and numbers.
39. Not testing site features
Always test new plugins and widgets to ensure proper functionality on your site.
40. Broken links
A broken link is when a reference in your article no longer leads to another site. These links have a significant impact on user experience, so it’s crucial to identify and address them. Install a Broken Link Checker plugin to regularly monitor your links.
41. Get your images optimized
Using a large image on your website can negatively impact its speed, as the larger file will require more time to load. To improve site performance, it is advisable to reduce the size of your images. WP Smush.it is an excellent plugin for resizing images.
42. Indexing unnecessary pages
There may be unnecessary pages on your blog that do not serve your purpose and should not be indexed. To de-index a page, configure it on Robots.txt to limit web crawlers from accessing it. If a page has already been indexed, you can remove the URL using the Webmaster’s URL removal tool.
43. Background music on your blog
Including background music on your website may be unfavorable as you could be the sole individual who appreciates it. This could deter users from visiting your site, as they may be unable to disable it. It is essential to avoid imposing any music on your blog.
That’s all. It’s a lengthy article. To be concise, I won’t provide a long conclusion since everything is already well-explained above. Please let me know in the comments if I have overlooked anything.
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