Confessions of a Six Figure Professional Blogger

8 Mistakes Too Many Bloggers Make

February 22, 2010 | Blogging

I have compiled a quick list of 8 mistakes I see a lot of bloggers make. At least in my view, they are mistakes.

  1. Not evaluating the niche of the blog before starting it, then coming in AFTER the fact to figure out how to make money with it.
  2. Packing so many banner ads onto a blog that none of them work. Too often, this comes from the mistaken assumption that you can maximize revenue by simply packing more on the page. Don’t underrate white space on your blog. You don’t have to fill every corner of your theme with a visual component and it is often a bad idea to even try.
  3. Not posting often enough. No clarification needed.
  4. Writing in long, justified paragraphs. There is nothing harder to read than a super-long paragraph which is justified on both the left and right. Instead, use short sentences and short paragraphs. Break points up with headers and make use of bullet points.
  5. Not having a real mailing list for your blog. And, no, Feedburner doesn’t count.
  6. Not offering a bribe to get people onto your mailing list. Something like “Subscribe to get cool stuff” doesn’t work. Would YOU subscribe to your own list if you saw your blog? Probably not.
  7. Not writing with any purpose. Some blogs are just brain dumps of the blogger. No rhyme or reason to the content on the site, just whatever is interesting that day. Doesn’t usually work for building a loyal audience.
  8. Mis-using social media. Some bloggers do nothing by auto-tweet their posts to Twitter or (worse) pre-schedule tweets from their blog archives to tweet all day. That is no different than Twitter spam. If you are a blogger and are not using social media to be SOCIAL, then you’re making a mistake.

So, do you have any you think should be added? Do you take issue with any of them?

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  5. Why Bloggers Should Start a Mailing List
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  • Seems to me you hit it on the nose, David. When you think about it, it's actually simple, common-sense concepts that tend to get missed. It's called lack of research. Although I can appreciate diving head first into something without looking first :-)

    Running a blog is like any other business...it takes knowledge, the right tools, and a bit of patience. Thanks for the post!
  • Good post. I think the biggest one is the banner ads one. That is just terrible
  • mkakan
    you raised some of these points in your 6 figure blueprint and i must confess that i have failed in a few and will try to make amends...thanks for pushing out great stuff..and congrats,say hi to Nathan.
  • Great list here David...

    Personally I don't think necessary it is a bad thing doing some of these mistakes.. I think I have done a couple of them.. But the mistake start hurt you when you keep repeat it over and over again until it become a habit...

    To me every mistake I make is a valuable lesson that allows me to plant a new seed for my blog...

    I know I have done some mistakes, and I know I will do more mistakes.. But this will not stop me trying to achieve my goals..

    So to me the biggest mistake is to give up just because you experienced some adversity.

    Cheers.. Are
  • "Not blogging often enough...." that is pretty vague. What is "enough?" Twice a week? Everyday? Every other day? Once a month?

    There are bloggers that don't blog on a regular basis that still have and retain their readership. The real issue isn't how often you are saying things...it is what you are saying in the first place.

    That is just my opinion though. I personally think that blogging daily is highly over rated and prevents most bloggers from doing what is more important- developing strategies that will increase their visibility across their market.
  • hola-found my way here when was googling coz my feed for my blog aint working for the last 3 posts -nor google nor feed burner...i did all i could-left a complain at loads of forums and google and pinge and burned another feed and tried re sunch but nothing helped -am even following my own blog to check////yet am jus stuck......
    am so hopefull u'd be able to hwlp me coz u have a site where what ur doing is actually helping everybody...
    thanx a ton for ur time....
  • Writing short sentences and paragraphs also ensures every visitor, regardless of their reading level, will understand and appreciate your content. Using only the necessary banner ads can also prevent your pages from taking a long time to load.
  • The mailing list is something I am really missing out on, I am researching now and trying to implement this on my site, I am still working on my bribe though...
  • As for mis-using social media, I just unfollowed someone because they were sending out as many as 5 tweets an hour. Talk about Twitter spam, I could not read other peoples tweets because he took up all the space.

    As for the banner ads, if I go to a page and it has tons of banner ads I immediately click away. Four banner ads may be okay but my experience is the pages that have way too many banners ads do not have good content.

    - Rick
  • This is a great post. I would love to start a mailing list, but I struggle with what information I would send out. I agree it is a mistake, but it is one that I'm currently working on correcting. Thanks!
  • I think a lot of people just don't get it. They finally figure things out after months of blogging. At first no one really gets it unless you understand what's needed and THEN start your own blog.
  • I agree with most of the tips, but what bugs me is people who don't proofread their articles and allow obvious typos with bad grammar to be posted. It's not that hard to turn on spellcheck.
  • I agree Karen. I'm the same way. There's one blogger that comes to mind that does this a lot and it really sets my alarm off, lol. I hate when people misuse "they're", "their", and "there". Urghh!!! :-)
  • Thanks for all the tips. Now I have figured out how to make some real money. Where I can get a script for that flying opt-in box that many bloggers use to collect emails. I also need one year worth of emails to load it in my AWeber as follow ups. After that, I can start sending emails every day to people to buy stuff from me. Can somebody, please, suggest where I can buy one year worth of emails (I am lazy and not a good copy writer. Don't know how to press the emotional button of people to pull out their credit cards) for making money niche. Thanks
  • Two questions:

    1) I feel like I'm talking to a wall with Twitter. I try to send out messages responding to what people are saying, or saying something interesting, and I never hear back from anyone. How do you reach critical mass with this? Just keep talking into the well, until the well talks back?

    2) I haven't started a mailing list because I don't know what I would put on the list that's not already on my blog. What content is useful in that format?
  • Pete,

    I understand your frustrations with Twitter. I never really understood Twitter until recently. I used to just tweet my posts, and read posts that were tweeted by people I was following.

    I soon realized the power of @reply to other Twitter users. This really gets the conversation going. It adds a personal touch. I see so many tweets from people on their timelines that is obviously a reply to something, but you can't make heads or tails out of who they were talking too.

    Fortunately for me the gaming blog community is pretty good at the whole social networking thing. A few of us made Gaming Blogger Twitter lists. These lists are great for anyone to follow because you will automatically be following fifty gaming bloggers.

    I have personal conversations with many every day, and it has truly built our friendships beyond just our blogs. You may create your own list of bloggers who are on twitter, and make the list public that way anyone can follow it. Make a post about it on your blog about how people can follow your bloggers list on Twitter. It is no different than posting a link for people to follow you individually.

    Another idea is to use Search on Twitter for something in your niche. Start following as many as you can. Each day add a few. Be sure to weed out the spammy ones. Start replying to some of their tweets. Eventually make a Twitter List of Auto Repair Niche, or Credit Repair Niche, or whatever your niche is. Let everyone know about the list who you have been having conversations with.

    The next thing you know you will have a great community. Just remember that people in your niche should be your friends, and not taken as competitors. Be friendly to everyone.
  • Hi Pete. I'm in the same boat as you when it comes to Twitter. It definitely takes some getting used to. I also comment and try to reach out to people, but like you stated, it is like talking into the well. I'm interested in hearing some responses you may get in regards to this.
  • Nice list. Blogging is def a new animal in 2010, there is alot more to do then JUST post great content.

    Like you have said, blogging has to be run and treated like a business, with a lil Internet marketing thrown in, with a nice filling of social media too.
  • paulroekle
    Well said,

    Especially about the list. Building an email list is far different than building a list of RSS subscribers. If you truly want to be successful then build that list up!

    -Paul
  • Ray
    While I don't disagree, I might point out that there are exceptions to at least some of the rules. Steve Pavlina practices #4 with great regularity, but his readers don't mind. I think it has to do with the complexity of his messages. They just take longer to convey. But that isn't what I criticized him for on my site anyway. Good luck with the new arrival, David. We will be expecting pics.
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