According to Technorati data, there are over 175,000 new blogs every day. Bloggers update their blogs regularly to the tune of over 1.6 million posts per day, or over 18 updates a second.
In what I come to notice, the majority of beginners that jump into the blogwagon have several commonalities. In this regard, they are more likely to commit one, if not all, of the 7 deadly sins of newbies.
Blame it on the “gurus” who are selling dream that blogging success can be achieved overnight with little efforts. Nowadays, a blog can be created almost at the snap of fingers.
You and I know that blogging is fun and rewarding and it can also be pretty frustrating at times. It’s also true that there is no such thing as instant success. It takes a great deal of commitment, time and efforts to see the fruits of our labor. Convince me otherwise.
This article is by no means the end-all and be-all of being an effective and better blogger, but hopefully it may shorten your learning curve and bring you closer to whatever your dream is.
There’s nothing more amateurish than seeing the desperate display of ads block on every possible space on a blog. Adsense aside, it’s pretty common to see 8 125×125 ads on their sidebar when 7 of them are empty. Why? It’s probably because John Chow has 8. If he has 10, they will have 10 also.
You see, there is no hard and fast rules when you should monetize. It’s a matter of personal choice. However, it’s advisable not to overdo it and distract your visitors’ attention away from your content with too many ads.
Pick the ads carefully in the beginning – if possible, make them relevant to your niche. For example, if you are doing finance, credit cards might be great. Suffice to say, content is one of those factors that either makes or breaks your blog in its early stage.
Deadly Sin #2 – Too passive
The best way to get yourself noticed when you are a new kid in the blog is to go out and introduce yourself to the blogosphere. I can even begin to say that how many beginners don’t do this but blog commenting is the most effective and powerful method of propelling yourself from an unknown to possibly a celebrity. A case in point is Caroline Middlebrook who is still the undisputed comment queen.
Gone are the days when people will come knocking at your door, you need to seek them out. So the next time you lament why you ain’t getting enough comments, don’t be passive, go commenting and be the next comment queen or king.
On the home front, make an effort to reply to your comments and reciprocate the same by visiting their blogs. It’s a time-tested and proven strategy to build relationship with fellow bloggers. As the saying goes, “No blogger is an island.”
Deadly Sin #3 – Wrong focus
In any marketing principle, product comes before promotion and it’s sad to see that most beginners are either unaware of this or simply be in hurry in pursuit of popularity.
Getting the visitors is the easy part (see #2), converting them to be your returning visitors (aka: subscribers) is probably the hardest part. Who would be interested in a new blog, let alone subscribe to it? It’s not the ideal first impression for first time visitors.
My point is to worry less about traffic, promotion or subscribers in the early stage of your blog. Instead you should focus on creating quality contents you and your visitors can be proud of.
Deadly Sin #4 – Ignoring basic SEO
One of the most common mistakes beginners are more likely to commit is to take for granted the importance of permalinks. It’s the easiest SEO trick yet overlooked by many. Frankly speaking, ignorance is not an exception here. If you are still at a loss, here’s 15 SEO Tips for Beginners.
Deadly Sin #5 – Not proofreading
No one is expecting you to be perfect always. Even in the best of times, we’re all make some unforced gramatical errors but that’s not the issue. The fact that you proofread before you push the ‘publish’ button does say a lot about you as a blogger.
If you can’t be bother to proofread your content which is esentially yours, would you be atentive enough to look after your’s readers? Would you be diligent enough to provide the most valuable and informative contents in the best interest of your readers?
* grammatical errors are not proofread on purpose
Deadly Sin #6 – Faking your subscriber count
Despite all the bad publicity, blogosphere is never short of fakers who proudly display his/her inflated subscribers count. I recently came across a site with a decent 950+ subscribers on its chicklet and an archive as deep as 2 months. I clicked away with smile on my face. We certainly need idiots like them to remind us of the value of honesty.
Faking your subscriber count is the lamest and dumbest marketing gimmick. Don’t fall into the trap, it’s a sure-fire way of losing your credibility fast. There’s a real good chance you’ll never get it back.
Deadly Sin #7 – Not subscribing to www.bloggingtip.net
It’s probably one of the biggest sins any beginners should avoid. It’s highly recommended that you subscribe now if you haven’t yet as the best of blogging tips for beginners is yet to come. Didn’t anyone tell you that before?
There you have them all – 7 deadly sins to avoid. Don’t commit those mistakes, I have warned you in much the same way God had warned Adam not to touch the forbidden fruit.
So God bless you and I love ya all
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