It’s only natural to make mistakes when starting something new; especially if it’s something as multi-faceted as blogging.
As bloggers, we learn through our mistakes and become better as we overcome each one. Mistakes are bound to happen and, in all honesty, can be quite helpful for improving as you go along.
That being said, why wouldn’t a new blogger want to avoid making as many blogging mistakes as they can? I know I sure would have loved to skip out on some of my own mistakes!
To help all the new bloggers out there, I’m going to share some of the top mistakes you should avoid making so you can succeed quickly and with ease.
Here are a few of the blogging mistakes you should avoid making as a beginner:
- Spending too long picking a niche
- Not paying for hosting
- Procrastinating writing content
- Skipping out on SEO
- Not singing up for Google Analytics
Let’s go more into detail…
1. Spending too long picking a niche
Spending hours upon hours trying to pick the perfect niche is just going to keep you from achieving your goals sooner.
It’s completely understandable why you’d want to be careful while picking your niche, but it doesn’t have to take that long to settle.
Ask yourself these questions to easily tell if the niche you’re interested in is worth pursuing:
- Is there a demand for information in your niche?
- Do people search for information about your niche online?
- Could people benefit from advice, help, tutorials, etc. in your niche?
- Are people asking questions related to your niche?
- Are there other bloggers succeeding in your niche?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then chances are your niche is just fine.
But what if there are multiple niches that you’re interested in? No problem. You don’t HAVE to write about one single topic on your blog.
Take lifestyle blogs for example. Lifestyle blogs often include content ranging from food, fashion, travel, money and more. They still do just fine!
One of the reasons why people spend too much time worrying about their niche is because they’re scared to bite the bullet and purchase a domain name.
If this sounds like you, simply pick a catchy, general domain name that isn’t directly related to one particular topic. That way, you’ll be free to explore different topics rather than being confined to a single one.
2. Not paying for hosting
If you’re starting a blog purely for fun, then signing up for a free blog is completely fine. But if you want to start a blog that makes money, then paying for hosting is very important!
When you sign up for a free blog, you don’t actually OWN your blog. The platform you created your blog on is the true owner.
Not owning your blog will make it more difficult to monetize your blog. You’ll be limited in how you design your blog as well. And since you don’t actually own your blog, the platform you created it on can delete your blog at any point if they want.
But if you pay for hosting, you DO own your blog! You have full control over it.
You can monetize your blog in several different ways and you’re free to turn it into a full-fledged business if you want.
DISCLOSURE: I will receive a commission if you sign up for Bluehost through my affiliate link at no extra cost to you.
There are several websites that provide hosting services, but my favorite is Bluehost.
You can start a blog with Bluehost for just $3.95 per month. You’ll also get a FREE domain name for your first year if you sign up with them!
I’ve been using Bluehost for years and have never had a problem. Plus, their wonderful customer service team helped me get my blog back after I broke it by accident once, haha…
If you want to learn more, check out my step-by-step tutorial on starting a blog by clicking here.
3. Procrastinating writing content
Content is KING! You may have heard this saying before. it’s very true!
Your first priority as a new blogger should be writing and publishing blog posts.
Don’t procrastinate writing by worrying about what your blog looks like or if your social media accounts are perfectly set up.
Your theme, social media and other things like that may seem important in the beginning, but let’s face it… It doesn’t really matter what your blog looks like or if your social media accounts are set up unless you have people already lined up to visit your blog or follow your accounts.
The readers and followers will come with time and with CONTENT! You can edit your theme colors and social media accounts later, but focus on writing blog posts for now.
I know it may seem intimidating to write blog posts, but the more you do it, the easier it’ll get. You’ll become more efficient at writing as time goes on. Read my blog post on how to stay motivated to blog if you need a little more encouragement.
4. Skipping out on SEO
If there’s one thing a new blogger should learn as ASAP… It’s SEO.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Don’t worry if you have no idea what this is. There’s a lot to learn about SEO but the basics are very simple.
SEO is the process of optimizing your blog posts/website so they can be found through search engines such as Google.
The easiest way for a blogger to do this is to include keywords/keyphrases in their blog posts and blog post titles so their content pops up as a result when someone searches for those keywords/keyphrases on a search engine.
Here’s a quick example: If I want to write a blog post teaching beginners about SEO, I’ll think of some keywords/keyphrases that could lead people to my blog post. A good keyphrase might be “SEO for beginners”, so I would be sure to include “SEO for beginners” in my blog post title as well as a couple of times throughout my blog post.
Hopefully, Google (and other search engines) will notice my blog post and allow it to be a top result when someone searches “SEO for beginners”.
SEO is a great way to get traffic to your blog.
Why should a blogger learn SEO from the beginning? Because blog posts take time to show up on search engines. The sooner your blog posts are made SEO-friendly, the better.
I would highly recommend diving deeper into SEO if you’re a new blogger!
5. Not signing up for Google Analytics
Google Analytics gives you some fantastic insight on your blog such as how much traffic you’re getting, how people are finding you, how long they stay on your blog, what blog posts/pages are doing best and more.
You can use the information that Google Analytics gives you to your advantage!
Say you have a blog post that’s performing particularly well. You can use your analytics and the blog post itself to figure out why, then use that information to enhance blog posts that aren’t performing well.
Seeing which blog posts work and which don’t will also help you come up with better ideas for future blog posts.
This is only scratching the service. There are tons of great ways you can use Google Analytics to make your blog better. Plus, it’s nice to know these “behind-the-scenes” things.
Google Analytics is completely free! Here’s a short guide to help you get started if you’d like to sign up.
Avoid these blogging mistakes
You’ll have a strong start if you avoid these 5 blogging mistakes!
In summary: don’t spend too much time picking a niche, don’t create free blog if you want to be the true owner of your blog and make money without limitations, get started on writing blog posts ASAP, learn a little bit about SEO and sign up for Google Analytics!
I hope these tips help you get your blogging journey started on the right path. Please don’t hesitate to ask questions if you need any extra help!