These 11 Things Will Kill Your Blog Every Time
You have been warned! Publishing blog content that can engage your readers will require some knowledge, skills, effort, and constant learning on your part. If you’re not reaping what you sow, you’re probably making mistakes which may be undermining your talent as a writer.
Starting a blog is simple. There is a wealth of resources online that can help you start your journey as a blogger. However, the most challenging part is driving traffic towards it and ensuring it doesn’t crash and burn.
Statistically speaking, a lot of blogs are abandoned by their owners a month after they went live. Blog owners lose interest quickly once they realize that all their efforts to make their blogs popular are going down the drain.
The reason for this? It’s probably you. Truth is, most bloggers make the biggest mistake of not following a few basic rules of blogging which usually leads to them killing their own blogs.
If you want to impress your readers with amazing blog posts, it’s vital to know some of the basic blogging rules and avoid the common writing mistakes which a lot of bloggers make. These mistakes can ruin your reputation and affect not just your writing skills but self-confidence as well.
Questions to Ask Yourself
Before we dive into the details, ask yourself the following essential questions first:
➡Â Do your readers find your posts interesting enough to share and talk about them on social media? Are they generating conversations?
➡Â What’s the conversion rate of your blog? Is it good or do your visitors never come back?
➡Â Does your blog have active subscribers?
There are numerous reasons why your new blog is not picking momentum. And if you see yourself publishing content regularly on your website but suddenly things come to a sudden halt in terms of traffic and conversion, then it’s time to check your site and its SEO to determine the main cause of the problem.
So what’s the secret to all those successful blogs you’ve been following? It all comes down to the basics, starting with publishing killer blog posts instead of posts that get killed.
And what are the things that can kill your blog post? Read on to find out. Keep in mind that your road to success will be long and winding if you ignore them.
Using Confusing, Amusing, Cute, And Other Bad Headlines
Aside from the top of your blog posts, your headline will pop up everywhere, from search engine results to subject lines.
The main purpose of a headline is to catch the attention of readers, draw them in, and make them click your post link. You will not be able to do that by using cute, amusing, and confusing ones.
However, writing unique and very specific headlines that your readers will find useful and make them feel that it’s necessary for them to read the post will make them click your link.
Here are some examples to inspire you:
➡Â Very Specific: 6 Steps to Optimize Your Blog Posts for SEO
➡ Necessary to Read: Quick And Powerful Ways To Improve Your Website’s Conversion Rate
➡Â Useful: 10 Must-Read Articles For Divi Beginners
Copy-Paste Post From Other Blogs
Publishing content consistently plays a big factor in the success of your blog. The more blog posts you publish the more traffic your website will receive. But you’re just human, and it’s easy to get the writer’s block when you’re doing things over and over again.
This is when you might be tempted to copy-paste the works of other bloggers. It’s easy and effortless, and you’ll have something new for your readers right away. However, plagiarism is the fastest way to burn not just your post to ashes but your reputation as well. Always keep that in mind when the temptation kicks in.
Not Checking For Spelling And Grammar Mistakes
It’s your responsibility as a writer to ensure your posts are free from any typography, spelling and grammatical errors. These mistakes can dampen your reputation in the eyes of your audience.
Newbies are usually the ones prone to this. Experienced writers would write a number of drafts with a few edits and a bit of re-editing before publishing their piece. Publishing your content without double checking to make sure everything is perfect can spell disaster for your blog.
Inconsistency
You’ve set up your blog. You’re excited and always blogging.
However, you do have a life outside of your blog that may take your time away from it. There are also times when your interest and passion for writing will start to diminish if you don’t keep it in check. This often this leads to not coming up with posts on a regular basis.
Consistency is vital in the blogging industry. It helps develop dependability and a good relationship between you and your readers. They will lose interest if your site is not updated. As a result, your new post is less likely to gain traction.
One or two blog posts a month will not get you traffic. Traffic will also stop once you stop posting frequently. In addition, Google doesn’t like sites that don’t have regular content. And the last thing you want is for Google and other search engines to lose interest in you.
Writing Your Copy In Big Blocks
One of the most common mistakes writers make, both seasoned and newbies, is writing long, massive paragraphs. They’re not bad if they’re remarkably interesting and engaging. But most of the time, that’s not the case.
One of the most basic rules of blogging is writing in short paragraphs. You should also use simple words and avoid complicated ones in your sentences.
Long paragraphs can bore your readers and send them away to your competitors faster than finishing a cup of hot coffee. Short paragraphs, on the other hand, encourage readers.
Hard To Read Content
We’ve all stumbled upon an uninspiring and hard to read post or two before. Bloggers who come up with posts like this just blog for the sake of blogging and do not care about relevant information. They don’t care that there is a flow that they need to follow. These blogs will come crashing down much sooner than later.
As a whole, blog sentences should be simple and clear for your readers to read and comprehend to ensure their connection with you and your blog.
Cultivate your writing skills as if you’re directly speaking to your audience while keeping the importance of readability in mind.
Not Filling Out Page Title And Meta Description Fields
If you don’t fill out your posts metadata fields for the title and description, their chances of ranking on search engines will suffer.
These elements are vital when search engines crawl and index your website. Using the right keywords can also help those crawling spiders know what your blog post is all about.
There are SEO plugins available in WordPress that can make your life easier, so you don’t have to do it manually using codes.
Not Customizing Your URL
Using a domain name that does not make any sense is not a good thing for your blog. But using long URLs on your posts with random numbers and letters is a whole different story. Not only will your readers find it hard to read, but the search engines will have difficulty indexing it as well.
When creating your URL, make sure it contains relevant keywords that will inform your readers and search engines what your post is all about.
Here’s an example:
A good URL for What Your Home Page Must Have To Be Perfectly Optimized is:
https://www.b3multimedia.ie/what-your-home-page-must-have-to-be-perfectly-optimized/
Instead of:
https://www.b3multimedia.ie/category-one/?p=123
Not Linking To Your Older Posts
As an example, I’ve linked some of our past blog posts here which you’ll find relevant to the topic. Here are the reasons why you should do that as well:
➡Â Â It will help prove your point.
➡Â Â It will give those posts a new life by driving traffic to them.
➡Â Â If the older posts contain specific keywords you want to rank high in, linking them will be beneficial.
➡Â Â You will be able to direct search engine crawlers easily into your website.
➡Â Â You should never forget any blog posts you’ve published. No matter how old they are, they’re a valuable asset to your blog, and you can revive them with every link.
Overlooking The Importance Of Social Media
When blogging first started, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media channels were not yet that huge. Their power to leverage a blog or business was yet to be seen.
Fast-forward to today, and all that has changed.
Having a social media strategy in place can be very beneficial on your part. You can promote your content here for free, increase your readers, and so on. So make sure that each of your posts has a strong social media presence.
Not Inviting Your Readers To Share Their Thoughts
Readers comments are a way of showing new visitors that your site can be trusted. If your blog is new, it may take some time before getting that first set of comments. But following the tips listed here will help those comments come.
In addition, you also need to encourage readers to share their thoughts regarding your content. I do this on each of my posts.
Sometimes people will also ask you to explain a complex topic further. And that’s a good thing, as it shows interest and it shows they find value in your writing.
Aileen Cuaresma
Aileen is a Technical and Creative writer with an extensive knowledge of WordPress and Shopify. She works with companies on building their brand and optimizing their website. She also runs a local travel agency with her family. On her free time, she loves reading books, exploring the unknown, playing with her two adorable dogs, and listening to K-pop.
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I would like to add something to #4.
Whilst there is some truth to the fact that consistency pays out, I do not agree you should be a slave to Google and publish only for the reason that Google may penalize you if you don’t. There are already too many posts out there that are not worth a read, and I don’t think publishing for the sake of publishing is doing anything good.
Stay true to who you are and write when you feel inspired, and don’t worry too much what potentially bad could happen to you if you “break a rule” or miss a thing.
I agree with you that you have to stay true to who you are…that’s what will make your blog unique…but it’s not about being a slave to Google..it’s simply keeping its guidelines in mind to ensure you’ll be searchable…and yes you don’t have to post just for the sake of it…you have to come up with content that’s relevant with the times as well while taking care of your online presence…at the end of the day, if you want to keep your readers and gain new ones, it’s a good idea to stick with some rules that can help you and your blog without sacrificing who you are or your brand is… 🙂
Thanks for this great post! I think these 11 things you just give are fundamental for every beginner. I want to add one thing. The headings are also important. It helps readers keep track of your content.
Thank you Rosie! Headings truly are important that’s why it should not be misleading…it’s okay to be witty but headlines should always be consistent with your content…
I agree that it’s not easy to maintain a blog. I’ve applied most of your tips except the #10 Overlooking The Importance Of Social Media. In fact, my company social channels don’t have a lot of followers so I rarely promote content there. Do you have any suggestions?