7 Blunders to avoid when starting your own blog in 2015

To continue the series: “Blog writing from a Old School Internet Geek” We will be covering the 7 blunders to avoid when starting your own blog in 2012, this can also apply if you’re going to be making significant changes to a blog your already posting for.  One thing you should always remember is to keep the purpose of you blog clear and in your mind when you’re writing your posts. If your blog is a personal blog, where your readership is limited, this article may not apply to you; feel free to read on though!  If you’re interested in someday monetizing your blog, read on we have some great information for you!

1.       Making your Blog All About You

So I’ve been getting feedback from my last post’s and it’s been called to my attention that I blunder in this way quite often, after this confession I will be trying to focus on the topics and not myself J, Remember your blog is not an online journal, even though sometimes it can feel like it’s the best place to just share it all, be careful what you write, especially if someday you want to make some money with your blog.

Your target audience is not readers that are interested in your personal life, they are reading to gain information, and learn things on a specific topic, be sure to write for your readers, find topics to write about that will bring your readers back, keep in mind that even though you are writing the blog, it only exists because of your readers, keep them in mind always!

2. Writing About Every Topic Under The Sun

Even though you have many interesting items that you would like to write about, you want to focus on a niche, pick a broad niche like, technology, marketing, business etc. as you get more fluent in your blogging, you can get more specific and narrow your niche down further, try making a list of 20 possible posts you could write on your blog, you might find that you will run out of topics faster than you think, on the other hand finding a new topic with potential might surprise you.

3.       Confusing Your First Time Visitors

When a visitor comes to your site it will only take a few seconds before they form an opinion about what you’re offering, so you want to make this first impression as favorable as you can, keep in mind your visitors are looking for this information:

• What is your blog about
• Who are you
•  What’s in it for them

If your visitor can find this information quickly, and they like what they read, then you can rest assured they will stick around to see what else you have to say, on the other hand, if they have to search through a bunch of unrelated stuff, a bunch of Google ads, or unrelated content, they will browse on, and on this note, remember when choosing a name for your blog, use something that’s creative and catchy, something your visitors will remember, also choose your tag-line carefully, all these things will help your branding immensely

4.       Not Paying Enough Attention to Your “About Me” Page

I cannot express this point enough, from experience I can tell you, this is a very frequented page on any blog, once your visitors have decided to stick around, they will head for your “about me” page, they will want to know what feeds the engine, who’s writing what they are reading, let them know who you are, don’t get into your whole life, but share what’s brought you to here, share some things that make you a good resource for your niche, let them know what you can do for them as readers, this is your change to personalize your page.

5.       Writing Like Your High School English Teacher

What your visitors see in the first few seconds will keep them reading further, but your writing style and passion, will keep them coming back.  You don’t have to write a college essay, be yourself and don’t be afraid to learn from some A list bloggers who deliver with style. 

Headlines: Every bloggers dream is seeing their posts shared across Social media Channels, think about the articles you read, generally you see a headline that sparks your interest and you click
to read, headlines that arouse curiosity, make your reader curious, make them just HAVE to click.

Intro: Keep in mind, once you get your reader to click your headline, you’ll have to keep them interested, your reader is only skimming at this point, start with a story, a shocking statement, or a intriguing question, however you go about it get to your point quickly it will only take seconds to lose your reader.

Close: When you have finished sharing your important information, be sure to have a clear call for attention, tell your reader what they should do, should they leave a comment (Like I’m going to ask you to do at the end of this article), should they buy something, or maybe they should look for part 2 of your information, which is a great way to bring your readers back for more!

  6.  Not Embracing Social Media

So the saying goes, “If you build it they will come”, not true for bloggers, you need to be out there promoting your blog, if your serious about monetizing your blog you will need to be active on as many Social Media sites as you can.
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn are just a few, if you feel overwhelmed by using all of these at the same time, just start with one, once your all set up move to another and get that one set up, be sure to utilize the various options they give you for linking your profile to your blog, this is extremely important, as it lets your visitors share amongst their contacts what your offering. Word of mouth is an invaluable resource when it comes to promoting your blog

   7.       Ignoring Other Bloggers

Be sure to subscribe to as many blogs related to your niche as you feel comfortable, this will allow you to get the latest news and information related to your topic, participate in forums, and blog posts, this will help you develop relationships with various resources, you’ll get others to link to your blog, and you will have resources of information not otherwise available to you, you might even make a few friends along the way, and you might have fun while promoting your blog!!

Catch me here +Rich Armstrong 

So as we close on this posting, I would like to ask you share some of your blunders, and how you were able to fix them, I’m also interested in hearing any hints or tips related to what I have posted here, that may help our visitors promote their own blogs.  Thanks for reading!

Watch for our next issue "5 Great Tips to Getting Back-links" we will offer awesome tips and tricks to getting others to link to your blog!