Are you a blogger? Or do you just write sometimes? No matter your writing routine, you write on the internet for one purpose; For someone to read it.
With the growing number of people blogging daily, it's hard to stand out. Your piece must either be rare and helpful or something different that people might be missing but does not realize. Both ways, you have to deliver something new.
Usually, people know the gist of it but don't know how to present it better, or they simply aren't following the needed measures to gain traction. Using specific keywords, maintaining SEO, and delivering high-quality content help increase web traffic.
Mistakes cannot be eliminated completely, but you can always try and minimize them. Here are some blogging mistakes to avoid:
1. Lack of direction
When working on a blog, it is very important to clearly understand where your writing is headed. Writing with no sense of direction or proper ideation will not give your articles a good look and will be troublesome for the readers.
Writing aims to make a subject clear for people to understand. So, if you leave them more confused by the end, it's almost certain that they might not look for your blogs the next time they look for resources. Stick to an idea, expand on it with topics/sub-topics and follow a direction.
2. No inclusion of media
How often have you flipped pages of a book and stopped to admire some drawings and art in it? This is similar to that idea.
Adding media to your writings can be a great way of substituting the texts. Some people love reading, and some people don't. But if you include visuals in your writing, like infographics, flowcharts, graphs, and other interactive visual stuff, it can practically explain the topic you're talking about. It would also save a few keyboard presses and add colour to your text pieces.
3. Lack of consistent structure
One bad trait in writing is losing structure. If you're writing something, ensure that all the content falls under the main topic you're discussing. Do not divert into other irrelevant things that do not match the flow and direction of your articles.
It's easy to be swayed away when you're in the zone, but make sure you explain things that fall under the chosen topic. When readers look into your blogs, they expect an organized, clear layout that maintains consistency. However, if you do not organize and follow a direction, it might be difficult for the readers to understand the article, resulting in low user retention.
4. Irregular publishing routine
It's ok for your publishing routine to spread out when you start writing. But take this phase as an experimental phase and figure out what time and day of the week your readers are the most active. Use a tool to analyze these metrics and fix a routine for publishing regularly.
It might take some time, but this will create a loyal user base, and those who love reading your articles will try not to miss out on fresh reads. However, you need to push out quality content and be consistent.
5. Usage of complex language
Using intricate words when writing is not a problem as we discover new words from reading various materials. Reading is an opportunity to uncover more knowledge and build one's vocabulary. However, overdoing this practice might not result in the best possible outcome you might have been anticipating.
Do not overuse complex words and drive your readers away to web dictionaries for them to comprehend what your sentences mean. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, so try and keep it as simple as possible. This will open doors for your blogs as you can appeal to more than just your target audience.
6. Not interacting with the readers
If you've grown your blog site to the point where you get comments and feedback, RESPOND. TO. THEM.
Interacting with the readers can help you discover your weaknesses and improve your writing to write even better. Regular readers may request similar or different blog styles, which can be an interesting learning experience. This gives both parties an opportunity to grow.
Overall, it adds people to your network, who can be very beneficial.
7. Giving up early
How often do you feel like you're not doing well when trying to get into something new? Probably a lot and some of you may have also quit many things for the same reason. It happens all the time, and it's something I go through on a regular as well.
It's easier said than done but make such activities a habit rather than working on them like a task. Do not expect any returns when you're just getting started. Write consistently and push out content as much as possible because someone out there will read it and need it.
Moreover, make sure you like what you're doing, and make sure to not give up.
8. Not finding your element
Even in writing, there are a lot of areas one can explore. There are a lot of blog styles out there you can find today. Blogs under personal, lifestyle, tech, business, health and fitness, food, DIY, and news get a lot of attention these days.
Make experimentation a habit along with writing, and determine what works best for you. Because even the same sentence can be written and conveyed in different ways depending on the writer. Test out as many writing styles and techniques as you can and find your element.
9. Absence of blog outline
Outlines and excerpts are a great way to engage readers even without them reading the full thing. Write a short 1-2 line sentence to outline what the blog is about and make it as interesting as possible to grab the attention. Clickbait is a thing, but I recommend not settling for that option if you want to maintain authenticity with your content.
AI is becoming increasingly advanced, so leverage its capabilities and highlight the key elements of your article in a captivating way.
10. Direct posts
Reviewing what the writing looks like before publishing is a must. Never publish directly after finishing the article. Thoroughly read and edit the writing as it helps you find errors, if there are any. Most of the time, when proofreading, you find that many things are not making sense. Self-reviewing makes you aware of those little wrong details and saves a lot of damage from happening.
11. Lack of exploration
Social media and internet trends are ever-changing. It's impossible to catch up with everything, but you can do that occasionally and possibly secure your position in the top ranks. Research and look into what the current trends are all the time, and if it's something exciting to you, turn it into your version of art and wait for the magic to happen.
12. Keyword cannibalization
When multiple articles on your website have too many identical keywords, they fight for the top spot, and Google cannot identify which one deserves the spot. This can seriously impact the overall SEO of your website and the rankings of your blogs. Avoid this at all costs by writing more distinct and flavorful content.
If you have multiple blogs that are similar to each other, you can merge them into one and reduce the keyword clash. Organizing your blogs according to their topics and sub-topics can minimize this problem. Check your blogs' performance using an analytics tool and examine which ones are performing well and which are not. Some of these tools also have keyword checkers, which you can use to evaluate the usage of frequent keywords to avoid keyboard cannibalization.
Thanks for reading! Let me know if you've made any of these mistakes before by commenting below.