Your blog can be an important part of your marketing strategy, but if you don’t manage it properly, it can get in the way of your business goals instead of helping you achieve them. This guide will help you identify and correct some of the most common blogging mistakes so that you can use your blog to grow your business and advance your career. Start with these 10 common blogging mistakes to avoid.

Table of Contents

10 Common Blogging Mistakes

1 Not reading other people’s blog posts

Think of other bloggers as your community; readers are a blogger’s best friends. Even if you don’t comment on their posts, take time to learn from them and read what they have to say. Also, by reading other people’s content, you can avoid repeating common blogging mistakes. When in doubt about how to structure your post or what words to use, look for inspiration elsewhere! If there’s one thing all good writers have in common, it’s that they’re voracious readers. The more you read, the better writer you’ll become. It may seem obvious, but so many new bloggers fail to follow basic online etiquette when posting comments and sharing links with others.

Make sure to check out our guide to commenting like a pro , which covers everything from showing proper respect when replying to popular commenters (no matter how much of an internet jerk they might be) to not accidentally calling yourself a moron . But remember: just because something is common sense doesn’t mean everyone does it.

2 Not doing your own research

Before you write your next post, make sure to do some basic research on keywords and topics. If you’re going to spend time writing a post, it might as well be relevant! While there are plenty of people who enjoy writing without any background information, that’s not what professional bloggers do. Do a quick online search and make sure that there aren’t already countless posts about your topic on other blogs before you write one yourself.

You can even create an account with Google Alerts so that every time someone publishes a new piece of content related to your topic, you get notified.) It will save you valuable time later on. No need to reinvent the wheel.

3 Not knowing your audience

If you’re blogging for business purposes, then you want to make sure that you know who your target market is—and that they actually read blogs. Before getting started, take a step back and think about what sort of person would be interested in reading your content.

They might be bloggers themselves or they might work at a company where blogging is encouraged. Think about age, gender, location and occupation. Make a list of 5-10 people who could potentially be interested in your content; these are your potential readers or subscribers. If you can’t create an entire list from scratch (or don’t have time), use social media to find out more information about potential subscribers: Read their tweets or look them up on LinkedIn . Just make sure not to stalk them!

4 Inaccurate, sloppy data

If you’re doing anything that involves data, you better have it right. It doesn’t matter if it’s for a story about how many users Twitter has lost or a post on how diabetes affects certain populations — get your facts straight! And then double-check them. And then triple-check them.

Don’t fall into sensationalism: We live in an exciting time when nearly anyone can instantly share news and information to millions of people with just a few keystrokes. This is also a dangerous time because that same access to millions of people allows misinformation and junk science to spread at breakneck speeds as well.

5 No personal story attached to the content

It’s important to have a unique voice, and personal storytelling is one of your strongest opportunities to connect with readers. However, if you don’t explain why that story is relevant to your point, it can come across as self-indulgent rambling. Think about what you want your content to achieve and make sure you include an explanation at each step of your story that connects it back to what’s important in a way that makes sense for your readers.

Remember: Your audience doesn’t need to know everything about you – just enough to understand how it relates back to them. Give them some credit for being able to follow along!

Your blog can be an important part of your marketing strategy, but if you don’t manage it properly, it can get in the way of your business goals instead of helping you achieve them.

This guide will help you identify and correct some of the most common blogging mistakes so that you can use your blog to grow your business and advance your career.

6 Not reading other people’s blog posts

When in doubt about how to structure your post or what words to use, look for inspiration elsewhere! If there’s one thing all good writers have in common, it’s that they’re voracious readers. It may seem obvious, but so many new bloggers fail to follow basic online etiquette when posting comments and sharing links with others. Make sure to check out our guide to commenting like a pro, which covers everything from showing proper respect when replying to popular commenters (no matter how much of an internet jerk they might be) to not accidentally calling yourself a moron. But remember: just because something is common sense doesn’t mean everyone does it.

7 Not doing your own research

Do a quick online search and make sure that there aren’t already countless posts about your topic on other blogs before you write one yourself. (You can even create an account with Google Alerts so that every time someone publishes a new piece of content related to your topic, you get notified.) It will save you valuable time later on. No need to reinvent the wheel.

8 Not knowing your audience

They might be bloggers themselves or they might work at a company where blogging is encouraged. Think about age, gender, location, and occupation. Make a list of 5-10 people who could potentially be interested in your content; these are your potential readers or subscribers.

If you can’t create an entire list from scratch (or don’t have time), use social media to find out more information about potential subscribers: Read their tweets or look them up on LinkedIn. Just make sure not to stalk them!

9 Inaccurate, sloppy data

Don’t fall into sensationalism: We live in an exciting time when nearly anyone can instantly share news and information with millions of people with just a few keystrokes. This is also a dangerous time because that same access to millions of people allows misinformation and junk science to spread at breakneck speeds as well.

10 No personal story attached to the content

Remember: Your audience doesn’t need to know everything about you – just enough to understand how it relates back to them. Give them some credit for being able to follow along!

Bonus Tips

Not checking facts and figures

You may be able to get away with citing a less-than-reliable source in your school paper or a personal journal, but if you post something online that turns out to be false, it can become really hard to undo. So make sure all facts and figures are double-checked for accuracy before putting them on your site. Don’t forget to include as many sources as possible (and make sure they’re trustworthy!).

With so much information floating around in cyberspace, people love being able to back up claims by giving credit where it’s due. And always provide links if you mention another website—that way, your readers can easily verify your statements themselves.

Admitting defeat too early

It’s important to give your business a chance. Even if it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, you never know where a simple lucky break could take you; even Oprah had her doubts about her show before it became what it is today. Learn from your mistakes and don’t be afraid to try again, but learn from them in order to avoid repeating them.

Being boring

It’s true, being boring is probably one of your worst enemies as a blogger. It’s such a common problem because bloggers tend to value authenticity and honesty above all else. The problem with that is readers won’t bother coming back to your site if they feel like you’re just not bringing it. Readers want someone who tells them something worth reading—someone who entertains, educates, or inspires them in some way.

If you can be that type of blogger people will flock to your content and engage with it for as long as you write about interesting topics and tell stories people want to read about. Be yourself: One mistake new bloggers make is trying too hard to conform their voice and style to what they think readers want from a blogger.

Lack of creativity

Many bloggers fall into a trap of sticking to a template and never breaking out of it. Once you’ve found success with your formula, it can be tempting to stick with what works. However, as a blogger, you should always challenge yourself to try new things and constantly improve your craft.

Keeping creativity at its core is necessary for any type of writing—particularly blogging. You don’t want readers coming back week after week if they know what they’re going to get every time. After all, how exciting can reading another recipe post really be?

Conclusion

If you want to be successful at blogging, you need to avoid common mistakes like those listed above. It’s not difficult—just stay away from hasty and thoughtless posts that don’t contribute anything substantial to your readers. If a post doesn’t meet one of these criteria, it shouldn’t be published: readers want high-quality content that is helpful, engaging, or entertaining. You can definitely accomplish that—if you avoid these common mistakes.

10 Common Blogging Mistakes To Avoid | Experience Own