Are You Making One of These Three Big Blogging Mistakes?

35 | Posted In Blogging by David

This is a guest post by Erica Douglass.

Most new blogs are abandoned in the first 6 months. Don’t let yours be one of them…

After several years both blogging and helping other bloggers, I’ve seen pitfalls that even experienced bloggers encounter. Here are three big blogging mistakes, and how to correct them before your blog falls by the wayside:

1. Thinking you have nothing to say

I ran a small blog coaching program last year, and what surprised me most was that my students were afraid to hit Publish. “My posts aren’t nearly as good as the top bloggers’,” they fretted.

This same bug hits me frequently, too. I wonder what people will think of my blog posts. Will they unsubscribe? Say it’s not of interest to them? Go away and never return?

The truth is that some people will do that. But here’s the key: they will do that no matter what you write! No matter what you write, you’re guaranteed to lose subscribers. But if you write nothing, and let yourself be silenced by the fears in your head, you’re guaranteed to never gain any new subscribers!

Recently, I turned off the unsubscribe notification emails from Aweber. I know that every time I write a blog post, a few people will unsubscribe (usually 4-8 people.) But when I write a new post, hundreds of new subscribers come in.

The more decent content you write, on both your blog and as guest posts on other people’s blogs, the more subscribers you will get. You can’t be too nervous about hitting that Publish button, though. Not every post you write will be a masterpiece, but that’s okay. Your loyal readers will stick by you anyway.

2. Trying to be like the big guys

This mistake encompasses a whole class of beliefs. The most common one is “I have to post every day!”

If you’re writing a news blog, you may have to post every day. But for most other blogs, it’s just important to write good content consistently. You can get away with posting as little as once a week…as long as the content is good, your blog will continue to grow.

If you post only once a week, however, I recommend you stick to a schedule. I post on my blog every Thursday, for instance. But that doesn’t mean I only write once a week, period. I’m hard at work creating content the other days of the week…but most of that content is for paid products I am developing.

I recommend you set a goal to create content every day. But most of that content doesn’t have to go on your blog. It can be guest posts, paid products, or staff writer posts for a popular blog. Then, post great content on your blog on a regular schedule–once or twice a week. Find a posting schedule that is workable for you long-term.

Another mistake I commonly see is spending hours setting up your blog, tweaking your theme, etc. You may switch themes because you see a popular blogger using a different theme.

Again, the truth is in the results…many popular bloggers have a pretty ugly blog theme! While it is true that changing your blog’s design can help you garner more subscribers, don’t sacrifice your content for hours spent poking around at your design. Good, consistent, “pillar content” will trump a classy design with no content every day of the week.

3. Not setting up an email list

This is my biggest regret. As a beginning blogger, I assumed that Feedburner would be fine. (Feedburner is a service that emails out your blog posts when you write them.) Unfortunately, you don’t have the capability to send out other emails to your list. This kills many promotional opportunities you have–to send out an email every day for 3-4 days about a new product, for instance. And since Feedburner takes up to 24 hours to send the email, you can’t do any time-sensitive promotions.

I now have hundreds of subscribers “stuck” on my Feedburner list. After nearly a year of using Feedburner, I switched to Aweber, which allows you to control the emails you send out. Aweber isn’t free, but this isn’t a place where you want to save a few bucks. My mailing list is hundreds of times more responsive than my RSS subscribers or my Feedburner email subscribers. It’s paid for itself thousands of times over.

I recently did a promotion to my mailing list that netted me nearly $4,000 in one day. This wouldn’t have been as easy with Feedburner and RSS.

Conclusion

It’s not too late! If you’re making any of these mistakes, it’s straightforward to change it up. Set a schedule and stick to it. Start growing your email list. Stick with your current theme and focus on great content.

It doesn’t take anything “special” that you don’t have to become a problogger. It just takes consistent good writing on a topic people are interested in.

Have you made any of these mistakes? What are you doing to course correct? Let me know in the comments!

About the author: After selling her online business for $1,100,000.00 at age 26, Erica Douglass “temporarily retired.” She now shows you how to grow your own business to $1,000,000 via erica.biz, her blog on starting your own business. Quick link: Download her free Blog Success Manifesto—30 tactical tips to grow your blog faster than you ever have before.

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  • http://www.gospelrhys.co.uk/ Rhys

    1. I write rubbish most days, so that doesn't effect me.

    Do agree with your #2. One person maintaining a 7 post a day blog – particularly a blogger with day jobs etc – is impossible. I post once a week on my blog, and even then I struggle :(

  • http://virginbloggernotes.com/ virginbloggernotes

    I made all of those mistakes but as I found my voice and connected with people #1 and #2 sorted themselves out. It took me a couple months to get on board with aweber, and I do need to step things up in the list building department. Overall, things are starting to rock though and I've moved on to a whole new level of mistakes :)

  • http://www.marsdorian.com/ Mars Dorian

    interesting experience.

    Yeah, you will always lose subscribers, especially when you have an original voice. Consistency is also vital – putting the hours in and keep rocking it. I believe that you have to reach a certain threshold before you really brand yourself into global conscious.

    cool cool insights, Erica, thanks

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    We all move on to another level of mistakes. Trust me. :-)

  • http://www.johnpaulaguiar.com John Paul

    Nice tips.. I see many new bloggers try to copy the BIG boys.. that have been around over 5 yrs.

    Understand blogging has changed ALOT in past few months never mind past 5 yrs.

    What worked for them then won't work for you now in most cases.

    Stick to the basics and stay consistent is all you need to do.. oh and build that list..lol

  • http://technshare.com Dev | Technshare

    Hey Erica,

    Nice Post. I see you every where doing guest posts :) !!
    I made the mistake of ” Not setting up an email list”. I know this is something that no blogger should miss. When i started blogging, i though i would do it later, and that was my biggest mistake on my part, since my blog could be much further along if I had built a list from the start.
    Though i started building mailing list, last month and i'm really getting some great results.

    Thanks for sharing this great Post Eric. Good Stuff.

    ~Dev

  • http://www.tonyteegarden.com Tony Teegarden

    OoOoOh the dreaded fear of pushing publish. I swear if you're not scared a little shitless no matter what level you are, you're not pushing the boundaries of your style.

    Now that I've let the fur fly on my voice and style I'm always a little freaked out pushing publish. I realize though my blog is roughly more personal development than anything and I'm very transparent with my personal life experiences, so it's different per niche.

    I went through the same experience and at times still do. But I'm quite ok with just putting it out there and letting “me” resonate with exactly who is supposed to be attracted to me and my content at the moment. We can't be everything to everyone.

    This is a hot topic and I'm glad you talked about it!

    Oh and I made the feedburner mistake for almost 2 years when I first started. OUCH.

  • http://www.tonyteegarden.com Tony Teegarden

    “…branding yourself into a global conscious.” I REALLY like that idea Mars. ;-)

  • http://nathanhangen.com/blog Nathan Hangen

    ain't that the truth :)

  • http://www.slymarketing.com Jens P. Berget

    I did all the mistakes with one of my first blogs. I am a vegetarian, and I thought creating a blog about vegetarianism and share my views and my daily routine when it comes to food would be a good thing.

    Then, soon after I created the blog I couldn't find anything to say. It was really hard. I didn't set up an email list, because I didn't know what to offer as a bribe, and I didn't know what kind of information to send to the list.

    I abandoned the blog after a few months.

  • http://keithbloemendaal.com Keith Bloemendaal

    I don't use a schedule, it just doesn't fit my style, I do try to remain consistent by getting several articles a week, but I write when I have something to say, and I publish when I finish.

    I do regret not starting to build a list sooner, and also messing around with free services like Mail Chimp.

  • http://website-in-a-weekend.net/ Dave Doolin

    I didn't know you had a list… hint hint hint

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Yeah, I think that happens a lot. What I usually recommend is:

    (1) Make sure you only go into a niche if you're really passionate about it or can recruit other writers (or both).
    (2) Set up a substantial idea file before delving in. If you have a hard time coming up with at least 30-40 ideas for posts, you'll eventually run dry.
    (3) Reduce post volume. No need to go too often. Just puts added pressure on you, and leads to premature burn out.

  • http://website-in-a-weekend.net/ Dave Doolin

    That's interesting what you say about Mail Chimp. I have people ask me all the time “Which is better, Mail Chimp or AWeber?”

    Since I haven't used Mail Chimp I say something like “I haven't used Mail Chimp but I am very happy with AWeber.”

    Often as not I get a “Thanks, I'm using Mail Chimp.”

  • http://keithbloemendaal.com Keith Bloemendaal

    The biggest problem I had was not being able to make the web forms for opt ins, standard was very plain and boring (Mail Chimp)

  • http://virginbloggernotes.com/ virginbloggernotes

    Yeah, stay tuned for my free download . . . 'The Ultimate Slacker's Guide to List Building,' to be released . . . um, sooner or later.

  • http://twitter.com/bluepop13 Eric

    I didn't set up an email list for a long time… About 7 months and after reading so much about how great it was to have one, I decided to do some improving of my blog and finally did get one. I'm using MailChimp myself and am ok with it but have a heard a lot of people say AWeber is much better.

  • http://www.MavenDiary.com Wendy Maynard

    Hi Erica, I think that a lot of bloggers do get scared of hitting the publish button. Often the posts that they are the most scared about are the ones that their readers will find most compelling. Just. push. the. button.

    Best, Wendy

  • http://erica.biz ericabiz

    I've found that requiring myself to have a post every Thursday helps out immensely with this.

    -Erica
    (I'm the author of this post)

  • http://erica.biz ericabiz

    Hey Dev,

    Yeah, I ran three this week on three different blogs, and I think you've now commented on all of them! LOL! Congrats on making a trip around the blog circuit. ;)

    -Erica

  • http://erica.biz ericabiz

    Hey Rhys, don't feel bad. Sometimes Wednesday comes around (when I write my Thursday post) and all I can think is “****!” Those are the times when I usually just write what's going on in my head, and those sometimes turn out to be my best posts!

    -Erica

  • http://erica.biz ericabiz

    Agreed. Also, there's a common fear that since their posts aren't all 2000 words, or since they can only figure out “8 ways to…” instead of “10 ways to…” that they shouldn't publish the post. Publish it! Go for it. You can always revise, revisit, or update the post later. :)

    -Erica

  • http://erica.biz ericabiz

    It happens in fits and spurts. I've been trying to write a guest post every week in addition to my post. It just so happened that three of them ran this week on three different blogs. So you get someone like Dev (comment above) who reads all three of those blogs and thinks “Wow, Erica is everywhere!” But really, it was an odd coincidence.

    Guest posting is one of the best ways to get people to say “Hmm, I've seen her before…”

    -Erica

  • http://www.OptimisticJourney.com/ Jarrod – Inspirational Words

    Right on David! I launched my email list about a month and a half ago and I'm glad I did. Thanks for providing key information to help me stay afloat! It's great to know that I'm on the right track!

  • http://www.smartpassiveincome.com Pat

    Haha – hat trick for Dev!

    Really though, well done Erica. You've had a great week I can tell. Great post. I used to be afraid of hitting publish all of the time too. Now, I'm a bit trigger happy ;)

    Cheers! And David if you're reading this – hello to you too! Cheers!

  • http://impulsemagazine.net Impulse Magazine

    I always try to be like the big boys because if it worked for them, then it might work for me to

  • http://www.superawesomedating.com IamDavid

    I respectfully disagree with parts of number 2.

    I write quality 1,200+ word articles every other day consistently with my own unique voice on a unique design and I have seen no growth. I get 110-150 visitors even though my site is a year old, I have over 110 posts, 2000+ backlinks. My bounce rate is is 80-85%. My problem is people dont actually read my site, they just make a snap judgement and leave.

    I just don't know what to do. I may just call it quits with this site all together because it is taking up to much of my time and I am getting no rewards for my work.

  • http://www.acidzen.org dandellion

    nice post.

    Connected to 1) I'd like to add that one never knows which post is going to work and how. Quite recently I was to abandon writing my post about the Lost finale. Luckily, my SO was insisting on me finishing and publishing it. So I did though I thought nobody will be interested in it. So many things were already said about Lost and I thought that the blogosphere is already saturated with the subject. Guess what? It peaked my traffic and brought new subscribers. And even more important, having that post is great so I can put a link on other blogs discussing the same theme. And that's a valuable asset.

    I have a question. You said that you turned off unsubscribe option from your newsletter? Isn't that illegal and is it wise. I know I'm not the only one that treat email without unsubscribe link as spam. If I want to opt-out I'll do it. If there's no regular way to do so, I'll just hit spam button.

  • http://www.newbizblogger.com Michele – NewBizBlogger

    Some good points here Erica. I'm glad I learned early on the importance of having an email list and how to use that to my advantage in business.
    “It doesn’t take anything “special” that you don’t have to become a problogger. It just takes consistent good writing on a topic people are interested in.” – so true!I know it's that matters for me when I read other blogs; only makes sense to follow that same approach with your blog.
    Thanks for sharing!

  • http://evengrounds.com/blog Julius

    I think fear of hitting the publish button is the most common mistake people do, myself included. I personally manage to overcome this by considering the fact that there's always someone who would want to read about the topics I'm focusing on, and having the desire to help and reach out to those people.

  • http://www.rezdwanhamid.com/ Rezdwan Hamid

    Hello Erica, I'm guilty of point no.1 and no. 2. For point no. 1, I was initially afraid to hit that publish button especially when I thought of the backlash that might come from a controversial blog post. I quickly got over it just like you said. Number of readers subscribing for publishing a blog post will outweigh the number of unsubscribers.

    For point no. 2, I am guilty of constantly tweaking my blog design before the blog actually went live. The constant tweaking really wasted a lot of my time. When you are new to blogging, you can't help but try to create an impression right from the start. The thing is, all of that is just in your head. My advice to new would-be bloggers is to focus on your content first.

  • http://www.memorybits.co.uk/ usb flash drive

    I think a lot of bloggers get published for fear of hitting the button. Positions that they are often the most fear about that will get your readers are most compelling.

  • http://www.ppcadvertisingpro.com/ pay per click

    everyone trys to be like the big guys, not only in blogging

  • http://www.bestblogs.asia Giles in Asia

    I also

  • http://www.bestblogs.asia Giles in Asia

    Oops I mean to write I also can relate to all three. I use my web stats to see what people are searching for and create a custom post…works all the time.