Guest post by Tom Walker
In “Field of Dreams”, Kevin Costner was told “If you build it, they will come.” In reality, it takes much more than just building something, even a blog, to keep it healthy. Unfortunately, many would-be bloggers out there make the same mistakes repeatedly. The secret is to learn from mistakes – those made by yourself and others.
1: Lack of Focus
Keep your blog directed at a specific subject. Do not write about about politics, religion, blu-ray players, and baseball. Remember that when someone comes to your blog to read about baseball, that is what they want to read about. If they find only one post on baseball, they will quickly leave and never come back.
2: Getting Your Facts Wrong
If you have an occasional factual error, that is simply human error. If your facts are continually wrong and tainted with personal opinion, it will not be long before readers figure this out. You will lose credibility and soon be left without readers. When addressing facts, keep personal opinion out of it. Remember, you want readers to see you as an expert so give them reason to believe you are an well-versed in your subject. If you disagree with another person’s interpretation of the facts, make a strong argument as to your own interpretation. This will give you credibility.
3: Lack of Writing Skills
While the majority of readers will ignore the occasional misteak (pun intended), if your blog is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors it will quickly become more a chore than a pleasure to read. Want to drive people away? This is probably the easiest way to do it. Learn to write well. It is not easy and it will not occur overnight, but you can learn to write and to write well if your are willing to read, learn, and practice.
4: Lack of Humility
So you have focus, you know your facts, and you can write. Do not let that go to your head. There is a difference between being confident and being pompous. Show a little humility. Do not treat everything you say as absolute fact – especially when it is an opinion. You must realize that other people may have opposing opinions or interpretations of facts. Invite them to discuss these, but don’t put them down or call them names just because their ideas are not the same as your own.
5: Lack of Understanding the “Whole Blog Thing”
Have you ever watched “Kitchen Nightmares” with Gordon Ramsey? Each week he goes into a failing restaurant. Each week he faces an owner that knows there is a problem, but refuses to see the problems even when they are being slapped in the face with them. Each week he virtually beats the owner until he gets through to them as to what the obvious issues are. Blogging is not just about writing. You need to design your blog site, you need to provide something the readers want. If they do not get what they want, off they go searching until they find it. If someone complains about something, listen to them. Do not just write them off as an “idiot”.
6: Poor Design
Your blog site needs to be well designed. Garish color schemes, obnoxious banners, and/or little or no navigation are killers. It is bad if a visitor has to scroll to find you have written because your header is roughly the size of your dining room table. It is worse if they cannot find what they are looking for. Worst of all is if they get a headache from a bright, contrasting, flashing colors that are the equivalent of a poke in the eye. Take some time and look at a dozen or more of the most popular sites – and some of your favorite sites – and dissect what works. Take what you learn and incorporate it into your own design.
7: Lack of Security
Make your blog secure. Do not allow commenting without review. Do not let spam advertising to post – and they do this a lot. Keep your site free from hackers. There is a learning curve here, so be prepared. The more you know and understand about security, the safer your blog will be for real readers.
8: No Maintenance
A blog is something akin to a garden. It needs watering, fertilizing, and pruning. You must add to it regularly, whether it be daily or weekly. When an old post is no longer applicable to what you are writing, get rid of it. This doesn’t mean just throw out old stuff, but the old stuff that just doesn’t matter anymore. Keep your blog fresh, clean, and up-to-date.
9: Little or No Search Engine Optimization
This, in a way, goes back to 1. If you have little or no focus, the search engines have no way to tell what your subject might be. Learning even a little about SEO can go a long way towards moving your blog up in the Google and Yahoo rankings, and, thus, gaining you more visits. More visits can turn into more regular readers. That’s what you want.
10: You Have Nothing of Interest to Say
If you are not interested in what you are writing, why would anyone else be interested? Be interested, be informed, be happy to share what you know and what you learn. Have some enthusiasm. It all adds up to more interested readers and more regular visitors.
This guest post was brought to you by Tom Walker, a writer who works for a UK based specialist in HP supplies. When he isn’t guest posting, Tom is a regular contributor on their blog where he posts about print media advertising and art.
About Kiesha Easley
interesting article..but u write that “Do not write about politics”,how about news?
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Thanks for the tips! While I am not new to blogging, I am new to actually trying to grow my blogs rather than just blog and see what happens. Your info is helpfull
All these are true, but I believe the lack of focus is the thing that bugs me the most. That and people writing posts saying “oh, I’m sorry I didn’t blog lately, I had nothing smart to say, but here is goes anyway”.
I also get a bit turned off when people leave obvious spam comments on their blog and don’t delete them. One can always slip through, but two or more really shows that you don’t care about the comments, just the number of comments.
Great post, with many problems to look out for. The only problem is that most of us are blind to the problems of our own blog.
My blog could have all of the problems on your list, but I tend to look at my own work through rose colored glasses.
I should probably have an independent person look at my site.
.-= Kalvin Chinyere´s last blog ..Acupuncture For Weight Loss =-.
I think number 10 is most relevant. So many posts are a rehash or just plain boring. The thing is, what I consider mundane and boring, some people enjoy.
The trick is to write about:
1 What you enjoy
2 keep it short and at about a 5th grade level
3 Try to enjoy this even if if it is boring
Blogging for fun and profit is not easy.
.-= Hal Brown´s last blog ..If You Love Someone, Say It! =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Hal!
Thanks for adding these great tips! You’re right, what one man considers boring is another man’s entertainment. That’s also great encouragement!
Web security is very important. I wonder where I can get more info on that tip?
.-= Ms. Freeman@Baby Steps of an Internet Entrepreneur´s last blog ..We’ve met your blog, now where’s the product? =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Ms. Freeman,
Check out the link I gave Josh in reply to his comment.
Great list.
I try and avoid everything on the list. I do see a lot of new blogs and few that have been around for making some of these mistakes.
.-= element321´s last blog ..Get Your Website Graded by Website Grader =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Element321,
Yes, and some of those bloggers, you’d think they’d know better, but they don’t. I think it’s a result of not continuing to read and research – they just think they’ve already learned everything there is to know, so they think there’s no reason to change.
Hey Tom,
Great list you put together!
Visiting blogs that are changing their content from How To’s to local laws is irritating. Something that I have been seeing more of is spammers. Besides having Akismet plugging installed. What is another great security pluggin?
Chat with you later…
Josh
.-= Josh Garcia´s last blog ..4 Ways To Drive Traffic Without Using SEO or Paid Traffic To Your Blog… =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Josh,
Aside from Askimet, I don’t really know what other spam blockers, but I read about another security plug-in on Sam’s Web Guide:
http://samswebguide.com/2010/04/18/secure-wordpress-against-malicious-url-request/
I don’t really know if it’s what you’re looking for, but you might find it useful.
Hi Kiesha,
Thanks! I’ll go check that page out. You can never learn too much info on security these days.
.-= Josh Garcia´s last blog ..4 Ways To Drive Traffic Without Using SEO or Paid Traffic To Your Blog… =-.
Twitter: technicallyeasy
says:
If I may add something to this discussion. Besides securing your blog, you must also ensure that you make regular backups of your blog’s database and files (themes, uploads, etc.). Since security isn’t 100% guaranteed, as long as you have a backup you can recover in case your blog is hacked.
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The other day I went to a read a blog and one of their ads was a video that automatically started blaring at me. Honestly, I felt like I’d been assaulted. Definitely not a good strategy for a healthy blog.
.-= Jean Sarauer´s last blog ..57 Smokin’ Tips to Thaw Blogging Brain Freeze =-.
Interesting and true enough. Yesterday I saw a good blog but the theme switch from economy to politics, and then, law issues. Of course, I didn’t follow it.
If I’m looking for a blog about a niche, I want to read about it, not about 3-4 issues that I don’t care
.-= David´s last blog ..The Drive for Exports =-.
It’s really a shame how many people fail to realize this.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found a great post on a subject and thought “ok I need to subscribe to this person…” only to see that they post about “whatever they feel like” and the blog is complete garbage except for a handful of posts.
#1 goes back to the basic idea that you need an audience, and the best way to get one is to blog about a specific topic
.-= Blogetize´s last blog ..Why You Should Add Dofollow to Your Blog Comments =-.