This post may contain affiliate links. See affiliate disclaimer here.
This post may contain affiliate links. See affiliate disclaimer here.
When I first started, I was the Queen of Blogging Mistakes. I just started to write without any thought, game plan or purpose. I was all over the place, my images sucked (to be honest) & I didn’t get why readers weren’t flocking to me. Silly right?
I want you to learn from my mistakes so you don’t repeat them on your blog. Because why not skip the awkward teen years of blogging and head straight into the cool, money making years?!
Here are my tips to getting it right the first time:
NOT HAVING A GAME PLAN
When you start blogging you are doing it for a reason, right? You want to talk about your favorite subject whether that be your family, your fave recipes or even showing people how to make money. Having a niche is so important – it makes your writing flow easier & your content will be cohesive which will make you legit in the eyes of your reader.
THINKING IT SHOULD BE FREE
You can definitely start a blog for free, that is true. Free platforms are great if you are looking to connect with family and friends.
If you are looking to blogging as a serious tool to make extra cash or be a full-time income, you will have to invest just a little in your blog space. And when I say just a little, I mean it! I am self-hosted on Bluehost for $3.95 a month which covers buying my domain, 24/7 help chat, 1-click WordPress setup, a site builder & a ton more. I wrote a step-by-step guide on how to create a money making blog here to read more.
IGNORING COMMENTS
The most fun part about having a blog (for me, at least) is getting to chat & interact with people I would never have met otherwise! I respond to every post comment I get & I try to do it relatively quickly.
Interacting with your audience is the best way for them to get to know you & to get them to keep coming back to your site.
NOT CHECKING SPELLING & GRAMMAR
Have you ever read through a blog post and counted the amount of spelling or grammar errors? Or just thought the post was sloppily done without a second thought? I have and it is an immediate turn-off. I don’t know if it’s the English major or the avid book reader in me, but I can’t stand having to read through a ton of mistakes.
My favorite weapon to make sure my posts are written well is Grammarly. It is a completely free tool (you can upgrade to premium) that checks your posts right in WordPress. You can download it for free here.
NOT SOUNDING CONVERSATIONAL
This is one I struggle with the most. Especially since my blog is more on the informative side, I find it a little harder to make instructions conversationally but I’m trying! Writing like you speak is important because readers like to view something with a little personality. And when they like your personality, they’ll keep coming back and be invested in YOU.
NOT HAVING A SCHEDULE
This is kind of an extension of rule #1 – having a solid game plan. Having a schedule is so important for a couple of different reasons. You want to have blog posts done in advance so you are updating frequently enough & so that you have time to really invest in each post. Seeing your posting schedule ahead of time will also give you a better idea of what topics your blog still needs to cover.
ONLY BLOGGING ABOUT PRODUCTS
Though I am a huge fan of affiliate marketing, don’t expect to make every single post about promoting a product. People will get tired of promotional talk & feel you only care about trying to sell them something.
NOT PROMOTING
You write the perfect blog post but there isn’t enough traffic and no one sees it. How do you get people to stop by your blog? Promoting it on your channels! Pinterest for me is my favorite channel for gaining traffic to my blog. Check out my post on how to skyrocket your blog traffic with Pinterest here.
EXPECTING INSTANT SUCCESS
I hate to break it to you, blogging success will not happen over night. Success, whether you think that is viewers or money, take time, dedication & a bit of hustle. But don’t get frustrated! Hard work will get you where you want to be.
NOT WORKING ON AN EMAIL LIST
Growing your email list is as important as promoting on social channels. Why? You want people to get n invitation to come back and read with every new post! Signup for Mailchimp or ConvertKit & get your email list started asap!
WRITING A WALL OF TEXT
Very few readers will click onto a blog post, see a huge wall of text and want to actually read it. The trick is to space your text out and use different font sizes, images, colors, bullets or headers to create an appearance of text breaks. This will be more inviting & easier to read.
Was this list helpful? Have any more tips for new bloggers? Let me know in the comments below!
This post was proofread by Grammarly