We all know that blogging is not for everybody. Many people fail at blogging while others are intimidated and don’t know where to start.
The good news is that with dedication and planning, you can start a blog that can someday supplement your income so that you can quit your full time job. This is because blogging is risky and does not involve a significant amount of financial investment. If done correctly, blogging can be rewarding. The profit margin has no equal which is why it’s good to start blogging right now.
Reasons Why You Have A Sucky Blog
However, before you expect to make thousands of dollars per month, make sure to avoid the following blogging mistakes.
No Objective
For many bloggers, the goal of blogging is to address issues that concern them. For example, if your blog is about people who want to lose weight; your content should be related to weight loss. The same is true if it’s for cat lovers, then it should be about cats. If your blog is about cats and then you post weight loss tips, readers will leave your site.
Before starting a blog, find a niche you’re interested in. You should be passionate about the subject you want to blog about so that you can effectively communicate what you want to say to your readers.
Thinking That Blogging Is Easy
This is perhaps the most common misconceptions about blogging. Many people think that because there are many blogs on the internet, it must be easy so they think that spending 30 hours per week on a blog is insane.
The truth is that blogging requires a lot of time and effort. You don’t only want to write quality content; you should also spend time promoting your blog. After all, what’s the point of creating great content if nobody reads it?
More importantly, more and more blogs are being created every day. This means more competition in an already crowded space. Not promoting your blog can make it irrelevant.
Before starting a blog, take time to figure out how much time you’re willing to devote to your blog. The more work you put into your blog, the faster you will reach your goal of having a passive secondary income stream.
Choosing A Niche
Blogging takes a lot of trial and effort and sometimes feels like a full-time job. So before you choose a niche, make sure that it is something you are truly passionate about. This means that if you don’t like to cook or don’t know how to, don’t start a blog about cooking or baking. If you’re not into fitness, you shouldn’t start a blog about body building.
This is why you should only blog about topics you know about. If you like basketball, you should start a blog about improving your jump shots, free throws or dribbling abilities.
No Domain
Web addresses like yourblogname.wordpress.com or yourblogname.blogger.com is basically telling your readers that you’re not a professional. There are some bloggers who succeeded using these types of URL but they are one in a million.
It’s better to start a blog using your own domain. Luckily, there are many hosting providers that offer affordable solutions for bloggers.
Nobody Can Find Your Blog
What’s the purpose of writing quality content if nobody reads it? One of the most common reasons why blogs fail is that bloggers think they only need to write good content and people will automatically know how to find it. This is not true because blogging is 30% quality content and 70% promotion. Google and other search engines won’t rank your blog high just because you launched it.
There are many ways to promote your blog. You can use social media, guest blog or get syndicated.
Believing You Will Be Rich Overnight
As we said above, you can’t expect to make thousands of dollars after just a month or two of blogging. The truth is that there are blogs that make over $5,000 per month but it took them at least 3 years of dedication and hard work to reach that level.
But don’t give up. Try it for at least a year but make sure that your dreams are realistic. $5,000 salary per month is worth the effort so make sure that you dedicate time and effort to our blog.
Being Inconsistent
Readers will expect regular blogs once they become regular visitors to your websites. So if you want to be a successful blogger, you need to stick to a schedule.
You have 2 options when it comes to posting regularly: promise yourself that you are going to post on a regular basis or write a large number of blogs ahead of time and use an auto posting app to update regularly.
Bad Design
Design is just as important as content. As they say, first impressions count and you only have 1 chance. Before guests read what you have to say, they have to take a look at how your blog looks like so if it looks like it’s designed by a 5-year old they’re not going to take you seriously.
Invest in a paid theme rather than a free one. Make sure that the colors complement each other and the font as well as the typeface is readable.
Having Ads
Having ads on a brand new blog makes it look spammy. Yes, ads mean money but it also affects the trust and recognition of your readers. Unless you’re an established blog, readers will think of ads on a blog as spammy.
Stay away from ads until you have around 50,000 readers. This number might seem large but remember you only get 5-50 cents per ad click so unless you have massive traffic, it won’t matter anyway.
No Opt-in Or Subscription Forms
When you start a blog, start building your email list too. Email should be a priority because people don’t always remember what website they’ve been to and an email can help them remember your blog.
Make sure they subscribe to your email list by asking them through popups, slide-ins and opt-in forms. They might seem intrusive (especially the popups) but they are really useful.
One of best ways to ensure that your blog gets noticed not only by readers but also by search engines is through SEO. An SEO Company from Sydney can help you optimize your website so that you don’t only have blog readers but customers too. They have a wide range of strategies and services so that your blog gets noticed by the right people.
