I’ve been blogging for almost 3 years for my company and almost a year independently. I can honestly tell you I am constantly learning. While my followers and site traffic have continued to grow due to shamelessly promoting my work on any platform I can, there are some mistakes I’ve made that would have made a huge different in the first few months of my blogging journey.
Here are blogging mistakes I made you should avoid.
I let my hatred of Facebook socially stop me from falling in love with Facebook professionally
There are over 500 million people on Facebook and because I felt like I had reached some higher level of self-worth (or whatever nonsense I was thinking, you can read about it in my article My Month Without Facebook…that turned into my months without Facebook) that I didn’t need to use it to help me reach the 500 million people on Facebook. It took me 2 months of relying on Twitter and sites like Stumble Upon and Medium to grow my blog before I realized how many readers I was losing by avoiding Facebook. Currently to make a Facebook page for you do have to have a personal Facebook account but that doesn’t mean you have to return to being a Facebook junkie. You can maintain a successful Facebook marketing campaign for your site without subjecting yourself the mundane personal aspects of the site. Since I started actively marketing my blog on Facebook I have seen a 53% increase in my readership
Not using external links correctly
Connecting your site to other more successful sites is a great way to grow your blog, if you do it correctly. I would input links into my blogs about events or other relevant pieces of information but not selecting one little box was raising my bounce ratio. I wasn’t setting links to open in a new window… so anytime I wanted to share something with a reader I was basically kicking them off my site :/.
If someone was reading a post and liked it enough to check out the link they would click on it and leave my site. Make sure external links open in a separate window so that readers are more likely to return to your site after viewing links.
I didn’t always treat it like a real job
When you start blogging you are so excited to share your writing with the world on your own platform. You make a blog schedule and then life happens, your boyfriend is being an ass, your friends want to go to happy hour, Game of Thrones returned, whatever it is, it’s easy to get distracted and let your posts, marketing or newsletter get behind. It’s so important to make a schedule you can and will stick to. Blogging can have a lot of benefits and if you aren’t maintaining your blog you are missing out on opportunities to make income, receive free swag and share your story with the world. If you aren’t using a free blogger service and have paid for a domain or hosting company, you are essentially ripping yourself off by not maintaining your blog. You’ve made the decision to invest in yourself so you owe it to yourself to do your best to return on that investment.
Consider it the same as your day job, you go to it and perform your responsibilities so you can get paid. When you host a blog you are the owner of your own business. You are the boss and you have to hold yourself accountable.
I was shy!
My friends are my biggest supporters but I was very slow about letting people in life know that I had started blogging and freelancing. It took me months to share my blog with my friends, I was worried people would make fun of me or troll me. I marketed myself like crazy and talked to any bloggers that would listen to me on Twitter but I didn’t let the people I knew be there for me. Once I shared my page with my friends, my readership and comments exploded. I’d run into people and they would tell me how much they loved my blog or ask me how they could get started. Even my gynecologist asked me for my card!
Quantity over quality
I was so eager to grow my blog I thought the best way to get and keep people interested was to post constantly. When you are churning out new posts every day you risk bringing down the quality of your posts, as well as burning yourself out. One of the best pieces of blogging advice I’ve heard was not to over post. When you first start out you probably don’t have a huge following. If you have a website with 50 decent posts it doesn’t matter if no one is reading them. Focus on creating great content and marketing that to build an audience. If you create strong, relatable and informative posts you will engage the people who do stumble across your content and they will be more likely to share your content and return for more.
I Spammed Myself
You have to read to write. You have to keep reading to spark emotions and ideas but you have to balance. I wanted to support everyone. I subscribed to a lot of blogs I came across… this was hell on my inbox. It’s great to support other bloggers but try to use a different email address than your primary blogger email address for subscriptions this way emails about submissions and other business conversations aren’t muddled down by newsletters and subscriptions.
What are some mistakes you made when you started blogging? Are you guilty of any of these?
Sarah
These are some really great tips, thanks for sharing them. Now off to check if I’ve got my external links opening in new windows. 🙂
Avil Beckford
Some great tips in the post, especially spamming yourself. You can sign up for too many blogs and newsletters, and too many voices can cause you to procrastinate!
Aishwarya S
Making a note of these points! Very well thought. 🙂
Petra
This is love all these tips! Thanks for sharing them!
Dia
Once I realized what I was doing I felt so silly! I really have seen an improvement on my bounce rate.
Dia
Yes it would take me days to clean out my inbox because there would be all of this blogger content (great writings but still a destraction) by switching my subscriptions over to my non business email address I’m allowed to decided when I want to sit down and dive into all the good reads in my inbox. If you only have one mailbox (and want to keep it that way) you can also set up folders to make it easier.
Emily Rose Thrasher
Thanks for the tips and sharing your experience. I am used to Facebook, but Twitter was foreign to me. I have been hesitant to get started with Twitter, mainly because I didn’t understand hashtags and the way twitter works. I have now forced myself to take the time to learn about a variety of social media sites and I am trying to branch out. I appreciate your advice and I will keep them in mind as I continue to be a blogger!
Link to my Blog: http://psychandmom.blogspot.com/
Dia
Thanks for stopping by Petra and for sharing 🙂
Dia
Thank you!
Dia
I had used Facebook for years but really wasn’t a fan, hence the break I took from it. I’d always been more of a twitter person. My challenge as far as learning a new system was Instagram. I had never had one and when I was at Blogher 15 in July a friend was like, “You’re a blogger and don’t have an Instagram!” Lol so I went ahead and got one. Thanks for stopping by. Good luck with you blogging 🙂
Kate
I am guilty of all of these in one form or another. Great post. Thank you.
Hilary | For the Love of Basil
Wow, I have been using external links wrong! Yikes! That you so much for sharing.
xx. Hilary
fortheloveofbasil.com
Dia
Hope it helps. Thanks for stopping by!
Dia
It is such a small thing but can make a huge difference for sight retention and bounce rates.
hayli
Yes! These are all great tips
Brittany
Great post! I was guilty of being shy, too! I didn’t want people I actually knew to make fun of me so I was hesitant at first to share it with them. I also was not as good at sticking to a schedule. Since I have begun posting more regularly I have definitely noticed a more steady and increased traffic to my site.
Erica
Great tips! I love how you mentioned linking correctly. Every time I see someone link incorrectly from their blog- I want to scream. So many people do not do it correctly.
As a blog reader- Whenever I follow a link in a blog post, I want it to open up in a new tab because I hate using the back button if they did not link correctly. Sometimes it just doesn’t work.
From the blogger’s side- You can really lose website visitors by linking incorrectly. When readers are taken from your site… they may never return.
melanie
These are great tips. I am definitely going to be putting them to use!
lauren | talk of the trains blog
Woah! I have never thought about the external link thing. Going to have to check that out for sure! Love your tips on growing too…I have been a bit awkward with my friends too, but am really focused on growing now and have seen a positive response. I am moving to WordPress this week (deep breaths and no panic attacks!) and am hoping to share, boost and really get this thing going!!! Eeeeek! Send me tips if you have them!
Davina
Hi Dia,
This was a lot of great advice. I can relate to your hatred of FB, because I avoided it like the plague when I started blogging. However, now that I have a page and have involved myself in groups, I can see a huge shift in traffic. Thanks for sharing.
Dia
The groups have made a huge difference! I remember checking my status hourly and going from like 27 visitors a day to hundreds. Thanks for stopping by.
Dia
Good luck with wordpress. I’ve worked with it for about 3 years and really like it. I feel like it’s user friendly and because there are so many users the messages boards are great. I’m no expert but if you have any questions. I’ll do my best to help!
Cherie
One of my biggest pet peeves is going to a website or blog where the links don’t open in a new window or tab! Drives me bonkers!
I definitely made some of the same mistakes… not using Facebook enough for the blog and not treating it like a job. Blogging is definitely a hobby for me, but it’s something I’m passionate about and so I’m trying to commit more time/effort to it than I did before. It’s hard, but it’s rewarding!
Good tips! I feel like blogging is a constant learning experience and we’re always discovering new things!
JenniferDawn
TOTALLY in agreement! Which is why I made a Facebook page today!
Dia
Oh congrats! Whats the link? I’d love to check it out!
Dia
So very true. I am working hard to monitize my blog so I need make sure I’m treating it as such. The external link thing is so silly because it’s so easy to do but if you don’t know you are really just hurting yourself. Thanks for stopping by!
Caroline
Great tips. I am always glad to see other bloggers having gone more than a year and still pumping awesome content!
Kim Smith
Yes , agree with that “new window” and I guess we all learn that the hard way. And using a different email address is so important so that everything is buried. It made such a change when I switched out. Great ideas.
Eryn
Fantastic tips! I’m definitely doing the same thing with my links that you were! Going in to adjust all of them. Thanks for sharing!
Dia
Yeah it’s a mistake you want to check. It’s hard enough to get people on your site sometimes. You don’t want to kick them off of it. Thanks for stopping by Eryn
Dia
Hahah this is one that I was a little embarrassed to admit and then when I realized how many people had done it too I was so glad I shared
Dia
Thanks Caroline!
Ashley
These are great tips!! Thank you for sharing, pinning this for later!
Jenny
These are all definitely true!
Thank you for sharing.
xoxo, Jenny
Claire
Great great tips! The world of blogging is difficult to figure out so help like this is much needed!
Tamar
I made the exact same mistakes!!! I avoided Facebook for the first 4 month’s of my blog’s existence, tried forcing myself onto a posting schedule and followed/commented/signed up for any blog that crossed my path! Still not promoting to my friends as much, and you convinced me to make a point of it. Awesome advice for all newbie (and even not so newbie) bloggers out there!
Dia
Oh yeah it’s a lot of trial and error. Especially since some stuff works for some people but not others. But yeah I just hated Facebook so much I didn’t want to deal with it, now I mostly only get on it to blog. Thanks for stopping by Tamar
Dyana
I find myself making all of these mistakes. I boycotted Facebook years ago and I am so much of a recluse that I hide my blog from my loved ones. Blogging is definitely trial-and-error.
Dia
I was the same way Dyana but when I went for it I was so glad.