I Won’t Read Your Ad Filled Posts & Other Amateur Blogging Mistakes
When it comes to amateur blogging mistakes I’ve made many of them myself.
In this post I’ll share with you what I’ve learned with blogging on WordPress for business since 2005.
#1: Adding too many plugins
WordPress has an impressive amount of plugins available for free.
Plugins add functionality to your site but they can also bog it down, cause conflicts and create potential critical weaknesses on your site that can make it easier to attack (hack).
So best to use only the plugins you need. Keep them clean and updated. Trust only reputable plugin developers and go on your merry way!
#2: Writing like it’s a journal
When I first got to blogging in 2005 I took it to be an online journal and I just wrote out my thoughts.
I had no clear message, no direction and no goals with my blog writing.
While that might feel good and fun and help your mental health a bit it’s not going to get you to a profitable blog.
Your blog should be written for readers and what THEY need.
Be clear and to the point. Don’t have too many points, either, or you’ll likely lose your readers.
#3: Loading your blog with ads
Before we go too far please note that I write this with the highest respect for the work and art that goes into writing. This post is meant to present an opinion from the view of a reader, a blogger and a marketer.
I totally get it that you have to earn a living for your work.
My opinion really is biased because I am an email marketer. I sell digital products to email lists and I never use ads. If I did, however, I wouldn’t want those ads to interfere with the quality of my content OR the relationship that content builds with my reader.
As a reader of many blogs, especially the ones I’ve found on Pinterest, I NEVER return to the blogs loaded with so many ads that they interrupt the flow of my reading and confuse me about whether I’m looking at the content or an ad. It’s just too interruptive to my goal of finding out the info I came for.
If you are going to put ads on your site please consider the reader. That way you won’t sacrifice the immediate ad income for the long-term value of a returning reader.
#4: Not focusing on SEO
I can say this is the biggest of the amateur blogging mistakes I made.
It was more than 20 YEARS before I finally learned SEO. Unfortunately I found it boring and I thought that SEO would totally disrupt the process of writing so I wasn’t willing to do it.
Now that I AM focused on SEO I actually think it has greatly IMPROVED my writing!
I love Yoast SEO plugin and it’s little happy smiley green guy. When you use this plugin your smiley guy goes from red to green like this:
It’s such a simple thing but those happy green faces are very motivating! And these are the guys you don’t want to see:
As I said it was 20 YEARS before I took blogging seriously and I really think it was because of Aisha Preece of OutandBeyond.com. You can follow Aisha on Instagram here for some incredible tips on SEO Blogging.
I learned the SEO I’m using from Aisha’s course on SEO Blogging here.
I’m sharing these links so enthusiastically because I am so incredibly grateful that I was finally able to get SEO! I know so many others don’t even bother to try because it seems too complicated. Another reason I didn’t was because I didn’t want to play “the game” with Google.
I’ve learned, through Aisha’s teachings, that you can still be incredibly authentic to yourself, focus on simple yet effective SEO without chasing Google’s algorithm’s all over town. Now do blogs lose traffic? Yes… but also as an email marketer I intend to build an audience from that traffic and provide a safeguard to that as well.
That brings me to the next BIG mistake I see bloggers making, amateur and even experienced…
#5: No email list
I’ve seen blogs for sale with tens of thousands of visitors per month and no email list to speak of.
Traffic to your website can become subscribers to your list who in the very least can be return visitors to your site and at the most can be long-term customers. By long-term customers I mean they will buy from you for years and years!
I created a video training specifically about this topic called Turn Traffic Into Email Subscribers (use this link to get it for only $10).
Building your list from the start as a blogging is building in security. Your list can’t disappear like Google traffic could if there’s a change and your site loses ranking or has any other issues.
It’s just a great idea to start connecting with the people who’ve shown an interest in learning more about your blog, your topic and you! The relationships that can be built by reaching out and telling those people “I’m here” is powerful… and can grow your business.
#6: Poor Writing
I am sometimes a fan of the ramble-on email to a friend and sometimes I even send the occasional rambling email to my email list.
When it comes to blogging good writing is important.
That doesn’t mean you should write as if you’re a college professor. Good writing is easy to read, has a specific point or goal, engages the reader and leaves them satisfied they got what they came for.
Good blog writing also includes SEO keywords, elements to capture the “skimmers” attention and includes relevant links to other blog posts and websites to help your reader in the best possible way.
Learn and study good blog writing.
Those tips will get you started into the world of blogging. If you’re looking for more blogging help I highly recommend this course on how to make money blogging so you start off with profit in mind!
You might like these other blog posts about blogging:
Ang ❤
Updated Aug. 22, 2023
