Let's Attempt to Disregard some Issues about Blogging

In today's article, I'd like to share a very informative article which was written by another professional writer. Read this article throughly and enjoy the knowledge.

How to Avoid the 12 Most Common Blogging Mistakes

By Sally Ormond
"This is a quote"...
Submitted On October 31, 2013

"Why should you blog?

For starters, it's a great way to position yourself as an expert in your industry, boosting your profile and, of course, its very effective as part of your search engine optimisation strategy.

Getting started is easy, possibly too easy, which is why so many people get it wrong.

Here are a few of the most common mistakes made by bloggers:

1. Not understanding your audience

This is one of the most basic requirements.

How can you write stuff your audience will want to read if you don't know who they are? Think about what they want and give it to them.

How do you know what is important to them?

Simple. For my blog I write about all things copywriting, marketing and social media because the audience I'm writing for is (in general) small businesses looking for advice about marketing their businesses. That's why I stick to the topics I mentioned earlier.

If I suddenly started blogging about my favourite recipes or what my dog did at the weekend, my readers would soon get fed up and look elsewhere for the information they want.

2. Ignoring your niche

Don't try to be all things to all people, it will never work.

A powerful and successful blog is one that knows its market and what it wants. Writing about something you understand will result in informative blog posts that are relevant to your readers.

Find your niche and stick to it.

3. Blanket writing

This is the result of ignoring your niche.

Before you realise it, your blog is awash with posts about all manner of topics, none of which gel. You might think you're doing your readership a great service by taking this 'all encompassing' approach but all you're doing is confusing them.

If you want to write about 2 very different subjects, get 2 blogs.

4. Being inconsistent

The quality of your work can never slip.

When you start out, fired up with enthusiasm, your posts will be top notch. But as time goes on and you squeeze your blog writing between other things, you might become a little careless; errors will start to creep in and the general standard of your writing might slip.

That is the first sign of a dying blog. Quality is everything so you have to keep your standards high.

5. No commitment

If you want to start a blog you must be committed to it.

When you're sat in front of your computer writing your blogs you probably see each post as an unrelated entity. But your readers see them as a series of factual and interesting posts. They expect great things from you and on a regular basis which requires commitment on your part.

It takes a lot of stamina and hard work to make run a blog, if you're not 100% committed it won't work.

6. Focus on quality

As I mentioned in number 4, the quality of your posts must be consistent.

To make your blog work well you should ideally be posting at least 3 times a week. Every one of those posts has to add value to your reader and must be thought through and written well.

The mistake many bloggers make is they are so conscious that they have to keep generating posts, it's not long before quantity becomes more important than quality.

If the quality of your work slips you'll get known for your bad writing rather than your great information and you really don't want that to happen.

7. Writing for yourself

You're not writing for yourself.

Writing about stuff you find interesting is OK but not if no one else is interested in it. If you want your blog to be successful, identify your audience, discover what they want to know and write about that.

8. Poor headlines

No matter how great your writing, if you come up with a lame headline for your blog no one's going to read it.

Most people will just look at your post's title. If it doesn't immediately grab them they won't read on. So make sure you come up with strong headlines for every post; something that will draw your reader in and make them what to find out more.

9. Blatant self-promotion

The whole point of a blog is to add value to your relationship with your reader.

If every single post you write is a thinly disguised advert for you and your products, your readers will see through you and walk away.

Sure, you can link out to your main website from your posts but only if it adds value.

At the end of the post you can always add an author bio with a link to your site.

10. No engagement

Every post you write must engage your reader and make a connection.

All that means is that you must write conversationally and in the second person (using you and your - just like I have done in this post). Your post will then be 'talking' directly to your reader, making it personal.

11. Unresponsive

When you start getting traffic to your blog you'll start to get a few comments coming through.

You have a choice; you could ignore them and come across as someone who couldn't care less about their readers. Or you could respond and interact with your readers.

It doesn't take Einstein to work out which is the best option.

12. No promotion

How is someone going to read your blog if they don't know it exists?

Promotion is the name of the game: push an RSS feed through to your website, promote your blogs through Twitter and forums.

Basically shout very loudly to anyone and everyone about your blog and they'll start to take notice.

They are 12 of the biggest mistakes new bloggers make. If you manage to avoid them you'll be well on your way to being the owner of a successful blog.

Have I missed anything?

If you can think of anything else that could prevent a blogger making it big? If so please leave a comment below.

Sally Ormond, Briar Copywriting, is a professional copywriter, SEO website copywriter and advertising copywriting with extensive experience in both B2B and B2C markets.

To have a chat about how she can help you send an email to sally@briarcopywriting.com or call +44(0)1449 779605.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sally_Ormond

Thank you, Sally for allowing us to share this valuable information with our readers.

If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact me directly for a free "no obligation" consultation.

"Let's Build a Powerful Business Together"

Adrian C Sheffield - Author, Mentor and Consultant

Private Line: 214-221-5689

See Yesterday's Article For Additional Helpful Tips.

Author Resource: Adrian C Sheffield - Author, Mentor and Consultant in assisting customers with their writing issues and wants to promote their site to "Top Positions with the search engines". Phone: 214-221-5689, Skype: acsheff20

How to Avoid the 12 Most Common Blogging Mistakes

Adrian C Sheffield Author, Mentor and Consultant

online marketing,marketing,blogging,article writing,search engine optimization,search engine marketing,mentoring,adrian sheffield

How to Avoid the 12 Most Common Blogging Mistakes