If you’re new to the blogging world, there are several common mistakes you should be looking out for. In this guide, we are going to highlight four of the areas that many beginners make errors that can harm their efforts. Take a read, and ensure that you action all of these tips if you want to make a success out of your blog.
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Lack of focus
First of all, what are you blogging about? You need to have some focus that helps you stand out from other people, especially if you are taking on a familiar subject. For example, there are thousands of blogs out there that are about being a mom or dad. So, if you were to go down this route, the competition will be fierce.
Instead, why not think about personalizing your situation a little more. Maybe you are the parent of twins, or perhaps your child is a genius. Refining your audience is a critical part of running a successful blog, and you have to have that niche in place.
Forgetting about your audience
If you want to realize your blog’s potential, you have to understand your audience. It’s the people that visit your blog that make it successful, not you. You’re just the instigator to its success. If you aren’t listening to your audience and keeping track of the topics they are interested in, then your blog will just become a vanity project.
Now, that’s OK if that’s what you want, but it won’t scale up your readership. You need to create engaging content that people like, and they will do the hard work for you by sharing it with their friends. So, always be aware of the most popular posts on your blog and make more content like that.
Not making money
As soon as you set up your blog and start posting content, you should also be monetizing it. Blogging is a lot of work, and you should think about getting some reward for your efforts right from the very start. Take a look at this great guide to making money online, or have a look around the rest of our blog for more tips.
Mainly, though, you will be starting small. But, as your blog audience grows, so will your advertising opportunities. Sign up and become an Amazon affiliate, or look into Google Adsense. As you grow, you can start to host ads on your site. It’s a great way to build up a second income – and potentially, a full-time income stream.
No email list
Email lists are the best way to gauge your blog’s popularity. Sending out a regular newsletter is a great way to get a better idea of where you are going right and wrong. It’s also the perfect tool for increasing the visits to your website. However, you have to be careful about the emails that you send.
For the best effects, look into conversion rate optimization. This is the process of getting the desired results from your audience. It looks at everything from opening your email to getting clicks back to your website. There’s plenty of info out there on the web, but we suggest you start with our guide to email marketing.
OK, so that’s all we have time for today. Enjoy creating your new blog and watch out for these mistakes!