Top 10

Top 10 Blogging Mistakes & What To Do Instead

By skyforbes No Comments

I’ve made my fair share of blogging mistakes.

From spending too much time obsessing over numbers to getting caught in the comparison trap, to even doing free work for large brands, my own past blogging mistakes still make me cringe.

However, those mistakes were essential to my learning process. They were how I learned and grew this blog into a side business that makes me up to $8,000 a month on the side of my full time job.

To see if you might be making some similar mistakes as well as for things to watch out for, let’s go over the top blogging mistakes I most often see new bloggers make and what to do instead.

If you have not yet started a blog and want to, or are having trouble with where to start, check out How To Create A Self Hosted WordPress Blog. If you sign up for Bluehost with my link you get a free domain, free site builders, free 1-click WordPress install, 24/7 support and all for only $2.95 a month!

Top 10 Blogging Mistakes & What To Do Instead

As you look for guidance through each of the sections of this article, you can also sign up for our free Blogging Email Course:

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There’s nothing wrong with making mistakes with your new blog. Mistakes are apart of the journey and helps you evolve in your work, but they may slow your blog progress. The sooner you realize you’re making them, the sooner your blog can flourish.

Let’s dive into some mistakes you might be making and how to course correct the way that’s best for you and your blog. 

1. You don’t know your audience

Many new bloggers won’t 100% know their audience at first because you have to really build that relationship over time. Through interacting with and polling your audience, as well as sharing parts of yourself with that audience, you begin to gather insights and understanding on your audience, who they are, what they love, and how you can help them.

So if you’re not paying attention to what your audience and followers are telling you or the feedback you are getting from them, you might struggle with creating an impactful blog.

I went through this period and eventually I grew out of it the more time I spent on getting to know my audience. I blamed my social anxiety prior but realized it was an excuse I was making to avoid doing absolutely everything I could to bring this idea of mine to life.

The truth is – in order to have a successful blog, you need to know who your audience is and who you’re creating content for. If you don’t know who you’re creating content for, you don’t know what problems you are trying to solve and who for. This also becomes your niche.

Your niche is basically what your blog is and who’s it’s for. For example: I run a hiking and road trips blog for digital nomads who want to stay away from tourists.

2. No paid hosting or paying too much for your website

If you want to have any type of measurable success with your blog or make money blogging, you need paid hosting. Paid hosting ensures that you can choose the domain you want, own that domain, truly own the site, and control all operations.

Don’t end up paying too much for your website though.

Hosting providers I recommend:

  • Bluehost – Sign up for $2.95 a month for basic hosting with my link and get a free domain and SSL included.
  • Godaddy – Free domain and free email with WordPress hosting.

Both of these hosting providers have excellent customer service that will also work with you as your site grows. If they state a bump in hosting fees as the years go on or for the specific needs of your site, try negotiating with them to lower the pricing due to the fact of how long you’ve been a customer and your loyalty.

3. Aiming for perfection

When you have a clear plan for what you want to do with your blog, get to know your audience, and get into the habit of writing, it will be easy to form your posts and stay consistent.

Don’t spend hours writing your post because you are going over it time and time again. Proofread your posts with little effort using Grammarly. It is 100% FREE and makes sure your post is clear, effective and makes sure your spelling and grammar are correct as you go. I absolutely love grammarly and is one of my favorite tools that I have used to boost my blog productivity.

Never spend too much time trying to make anything perfect with your blog. Perfection doesn’t exist and it slows your progress even more. You end up wasting much more time trying to make things perfect than if you pushed something out in the world and measured the feedback instead.

This will be difficult as blogging can become an obsessive activity as you take pride in the content you create with your creative energy. Remember to continue to find ways to stay grounded and balance in your life and work.

4. Comparing your blog to others

When you compare yourself to others, you start striving to be like them or have an idea of ‘perfect’ in your head and will never be satisfied about where you are with your blog. This also hinders your ability to be 100% your authentic self and will show in your content quality.

There is no need to freak out and try to be like all the other bloggers out there. Do your research but also follow your gut about what you need to do and what you need to write. Keep an ear open when your audience asks questions or gives feedback on your content, this will help you put together future content and build that relationship with them.

You should never underestimate your intuition and authenticity in the creation of your blog and its content. It is what they say – “the secret sauce“.

5. Not treating your blog as a business

If you are wanting to make money with your blog or your blog is already bringing in an income, you have to track that income so you can both measure your growth and be prepared for taxes.

The same goes for expenses too.

Let’s face it, having a successful blog is never actually free. I don’t care who told you that you can have a successful money making blog for free, but they are lying to you. Whether it is just hosting you are paying for, or paying for email marketing, scheduling tools, social media marketing, ads, etc, you need to track your expenses.

Quickbooks is what I use to track everything that is coming and going for my blog and freelance income. After linking up your accounts in the tool, you can easily categorize all your transactions and track your profit. It’s one of the best accounting software tools for bloggers and several online business owners that help keep their operations secure.

6. No email list

If you don’t treat your blog like a business, you probably don’t have an email list either. You need an email list to consistently communicate with your audience, track what is working and what isn’t working with your audience, and secure repeat visitors to your blog.

I said it before and I’ll say it again – It is important to build a relationship with your readers. Without an email list, you never get the opportunity to build a relationship with your readers and keep them engaged.

I use Convertkit for my email list and is the best email marketing platform I have worked with. I tried all of the free options and absolutely hated them. They were complicated and a hassle to use. To me, staying productive with my blog is very important as I also have a full-time day job. Convertkit has made it very simple to manage my email list and keep an open on-going relationship with my readers.

An amazing way to stay organized with your email list is with using GMass, a mail merge product that lets you send and schedule mass email. So if you want to communicate with different categorized list of subscribers that your email list may be composed of, you can stay on top of it and organize those communications seamlessly with GMass.

Additional features of GMass that are included but not limited to are:

  • Use Gmail to send mail merge campaigns with automatic follow-up emails.