10 Blogging Mistakes To Avoid

Not Updating
It never fails. Somebody sets up a new blog and is all excited about it. We see a furry of posts for
the first few days, maybe even a few weeks, and then the number of posts starts to go down until
the blog is hardly updated at all. Nothing kills a blog faster than lack of updates. If you are going
to blog, then pick a posting frequency and stick to it. Whether it’s one post per week or 10 posts
per day, make a commitment to keep your blog updated. A non-updated blog is a dead blog.
Blogging Only For Money
If you’re blogging only for money, then you’re in for a shock. Yes, you can make good money
with a blog, but despite what that National Post story on me said, it takes a lot more than “no
effort.” 99% of blogs on the Web cannot make more than $100 a month. John Chow dot Com
makes money because I don’t blog for money. If the only reason you’re blogging is to get rich,
you will fail.


Rushing a Post
I am sure all bloggers have all been guilty of this - I know I have. A hot story comes up and you
want to get it out ASAP, but in your rush to get the post published, you forget to proofread and
just hit the Publish button. Whenever I’ve done that, there have always been mistakes in the post.
Before you hit Publish, take your time to double/triple check the post to make sure it’s free of
errors. If you spot an error after the post, correct it immediately.
Not Being Personal
A blog is not CNN or News.com. People read your blog to get your opinion and your point of
view. Give it to them.


Being a Copycat
What makes your blog stand out from the millions in the blogshere? Is your blog unique or is it
just another copycat? I am certainly not the first blog to write about making money on the
Internet, so what makes my blog stand out other than me posting pictures of my dinner?
You can write about the same thing as the next blog, but you need to add your own views to
make it unique. Don’t just copy and paste what another blog posted. Give your opinion because
that’s what blogging is all about. The most unique thing about your blog is you.


Not Replying To Comments
A blog is a two-way communication tool, but many bloggers forget that. When readers comment
in your blog, please answer them. If your readers don’t leave comments then try adding these
Two Plugins To Increase Blog Comments.
Not Giving a Full Feed RSS
Unless you make 10+ posts per day, there are really no good reasons for not offering a full feed
RSS. Since turning on my full feed RSS, my RSS subscribers has increased steadily. I expected
traffic to the blog to go down but to my surprise, it kept going up.
Yes, a RSS feed is harder to monetize than a blog, but many RSS readers will unsubscribe to a
feed if it’s not full. Not offering a full feed when you do only a few updates a day (or week) just
makes you look cheap.


Not Reaching Out To Other Bloggers
The best way to get your blog noticed is by saying hi to other blogs in your niche. The easiest
way to do that is to comment on their blogs. I check the comments on my blog all the time and I
visit the commentators' site. I have discovered many great blogs this way. Other ways of
reaching out to other bloggers includes linking to them, sending trackbacks and adding yourself
to their MyBlogLog community. If you’re really creative and have a bit of money to spend, you
can even try sending a Google IM.
Make Money Online With
John Chow dot Com
How I Went From Zero To $27,000+ a Month By
Blogging and How You Can Too.

Writing For Google Instead Of People
Too many bloggers get too caught up with stuff like key phrases, keyword density, making sure
your content is Google friendly, etc. The only thing I have to say about that is; write for people,
not for Google. You can have the most perfectly written Google optimized page in the world and
still not ranked number 1 because Google follows people. People won’t read a page written for a
search engine because it makes no sense.

Not Reading John Chow dot Com
I think everyone here will agree that this is the biggest mistake any blogger can make.