5 Simple Mistakes All Beginning Bloggers Make (Plus how to Avoid Them)

So you’ve just started blogging, and you’re excited about the prospect of what lies ahead. And rightfully so! Blogging is an effective way to build your business, grow your brand, and attract the attention of your most desirable customers.

If you’re like most beginning bloggers, though, you’re going to make mistakes. Fortunately, some of these errors are minor, and they won’t harm your overall blog strategy. Some, however, are major and can put a significant dent in your blogging hopes and dreams.

With this in mind, here are the top five blogging mistakes beginning bloggers make, and how you can avoid them in your new strategy.

1. Writing like a salesperson

I get it – when you first start blogging, it’s tempting to say things like, “If you buy my helpful guide today,” or “Contact us quickly to learn more!” Unfortunately, these hard-sell tactics are out of date, and all they do is alienate current customers.

According to QuickSprout, today’s customers value trust and safety in marketing more than virtually anything else. Unfortunately, hard-selling your customers violates this trust and makes you come off more like a used car salesperson than a reliable friend.

With this in mind, cut the hard sell out of your blog copy and opt for a more approachable, helpful tone, instead.

2. Rushing to produce quantity rather than quality

While it’s true that companies who blog earn 67% more leads than businesses that don’t blog, it’s not smart to push out low-quality blogs just to have something on your site.

Here’s why: today’s customers are smart, and they’re discerning. If they see that your content is riddled with misspellings, incorrect facts, and awkward sentences, they’re just going to go somewhere else. The internet is loaded with high-quality content, and if your material can’t run with the best of the web, it’s going to get left behind.

The takeaway? Slow down and focus on the quality rather than the quantity of your blog posts. In the words of Steve Jobs, “One home run is much better than two doubles.”

3. Forgetting (or not knowing) your audience

When you consider that more than 3 billion people are using the internet today, it becomes apparent that trying to appeal to all of them is an impossible task. Fortunately, you can bypass this hardship by understanding your target audience from the get-go.

Rather than just writing a blog meant for anyone who will listen, the key to new blogger success is to research, understand, and speak directly to your target audience. The best way to do this is by building a target persona, or a set of target personas.

This allows you to pinpoint your target audiences’ main hopes, dreams, and fears, and ensure that your blog content is tending to it accordingly.

4. Not using visuals in your blogs

Did you know that blogs containing relevant images earn 94% more views than text-only blogs? Unfortunately, far too many beginning bloggers assume that a dense string of words is enough to capture audience interest. It’s not, though, and adding some visuals to your blog content can improve it drastically.

With this in mind, add in-depth screenshots, relevant stock images, or personal reports to your blogs. In addition to making them more attractive to look at, these simple tips will also help provide context for your points, and make your material easier for readers to connect with.

5. Failing to edit your content enough

While many people can write well, few people can write well for digital marketing. In the world of online content, the rules are a bit different. Good blog posts need to say what they mean in a quick, succinct way. They need to be devoid of “fat” or purposeless language. They need to use relevant sources and links and demonstrate a high level of expertise.

With this in mind, get good at editing your content. The more you can simplify and direct it, the better off your new blog will be.

Successful Blogging Starts Here

While building a new blog can be stressful, avoiding these five mistakes can go a long way toward ensuring your success and upward mobility – both now and in the future.

Dave is the CEO of Dave’s Computers Inc. He writes a weekly column for Daily Blog Tips covering the best tips about blogging and Internet marketing. You can also find him on LinkedIn.

Original post: 5 Simple Mistakes All Beginning Bloggers Make (Plus how to Avoid Them)

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