The Top 77 Mistakes New Bloggers Make

[bigp]

I spent a few hours yesterday thinking up all the mistakes that I see new bloggers make. I broke the list down by categories, including:

Domain & Hosting
Style, Design, and Basic Blog Ingredients
Blog Comments
Links
Blog Content
Blog Promotion & Traffic Building
Blog Monetization
Feeds

Here are a handful of the points . . . for the full list, you'll have to stop by.

6. Using background music
16. Commenting on other blogs with nothing to say other than “nice post”
37. Stealing blog content
64. Not entering Blog Carnivals to start building traffic

Read The Top 77 Mistakes New Bloggers Make (http://www.timeforblogging.com/2007/05/09/the-top-77-mistakes-new-bloggers-make/) :eek:

If you've got any mistakes that I forgot, please share!

[tbwnet]

thats actually a helpful list to recommend to some of my friends who i am helping start blogs.

[joshuawest]

background music should be the #1 no-no on any web site! nice list!

[bigp]

Yeah, I almost did a Top 5 worst mistakes in addition to the 77 listed . . . backgroud music would have been #1 or #2

[tbwnet]

whats worse is when it automatically restarts. I visited a lot of personal sites and people do that but its so annoying when its on EVERY PAGE

[login]

I have been doing all the mistakes sometime.

[mlhjl.ltd]

Sorry, but I'm a newb. and I don't understand why deleting the first post and comment is bad. (not that I'm disagreeing of course, I'm just curious why that is).

[bigp]

Sorry, but I'm a newb. and I don't understand why deleting the first post and comment is bad. (not that I'm disagreeing of course, I'm just curious why that is).

No problem! You should delete the first post and comment. Most blogs come with a generic first post and first comment. You never want your readers to think you don't care enough to do something as simple as deleting them.

Hope that helps clarify things

[guy123]

still haven't entered a blog carnival...I think that's been on my todo list for over a half of year. Kind of embarrassed now...nice post

[bigp]

Don't be embarrassed, guy. Just do it. Go to http://blogcarnival.com/bc/clist.html right now, find a post that you've written that is worthy, search for carnivals of interest, and submit.

Should take you all of 3 minutes to do.

Motivate and make it happen . . . stop giving yourself a reason not to do it.

[PattiM]

Good List, I just wrote a brief entry on one of my blogs and yes, linked to yours so others could read the full list.

[bigp]

Thanks Patti! I eventually found the post on your site. Seems like you're quite the busy blogger. I'm glad you're out there helping publicize it! All my best.

[bigp]

Thought I'd share with everyone that there is now a Spanish edition of this post:
Los 77 errores que un blogger no debe cometer (http://www.timeforblogging.com/2007/05/14/what-happens-when-your-posts-are-translated-by-others-los-77-errores-que-un-blogger-no-debe-cometer/)

I hope that this is helpful to some folks out there!

[mlhjl.ltd]

Yes. Thank you. That makes sense to me now. For some reason, I read your advice to mean NOT to delete the first post and comment.

[hclhost.com]

great healpful for me , as i am also a new bloger

[ViscountVics]

thats pretty cool list dude. thanks for putitng it up :)

[snapplekid13]

Nice list! Will keep in mine XD

[bigp]

snapplekid13, ViscountVics, hclhost.com, mlhjl.ltd:

Thanks for your messages guys! I'm glad it came in handy for you!

[lowco2525]

Very nice list. I'll make sure I don't fall into one of those newbie categories!

[SergeF]

just have read. That's definitely useful and practical list, thanx bigp!

btw, what is a blog carnival?

[guia]

Thanks for the info and it is very helpful.. Using background music for a blog site is a great idea..I think..If I submit my link to this site http://blogcarnival.com/bc/clist.html, what benefit that it can give to my blog?

[bigp]

Using background music for a blog site is a great idea..I think..
This was on the list as a mistake! It is a bad idea.

[SergeF]

.. Using background music for a blog site is a great idea..I think..

using background music means not good. It's a mistake number 6 by count in the list.

[bigp]

Serge - I never answered your question about carnivals. . . .

Blog carnivals are organized link-fests. There are carnivals about every topic imaginable. Different blogs host the carnival every week or two and bloggers submit their best posts about the topic to the carnival. If the host finds your post interesting, he will link to it. It is a great way to start getting exposure to a blog. Once you've had some experience participating, hosting a carnival provides even more exposure.

Learn about carnivals at: http://blogcarnival.com/bc/

I hope that helps!

[SergeF]

bigp, Thank you very much for the answer. Now I know what are blog carnivals :)

[Stax_Daniel]

thanks for that :)...gave me some good info and some good ideas :D

[jukebox9988]

Excellent Post. Every new blogger should read these tips.

I also like the fact you mentioned the most simple mistakes as well like using the default template and not hosting a blog on your own domain.

I like blogger, but I solely use it to promote my niche sites!

[lowco2525]

I just came back to this thread and realized that I have made one of those mistakes:
Using Feedburner chicklet that shows number of subscribers before you’ve got at least 50-100 subscribers

I can see why that's a bad thing now. Better remove it. :P

[Actor Mike]

Nice article. Duly Stumbled :)

[nickflame]

Nice list, thanks rep added.
I did not even know that there is such a thing as a blog carnival.

[stock_post]

Your listing is good.
They are really helpful

Thanks

[cuxo70]

Bigp, the translation into Spanish of your article is quite good, although some technical words that were left in English can still be translated. I think it's great you offer Spanish and French versions of your posts in your blog!
¿Hablas Español? Parles-tu Français?

Your article is awsome! Good job! Keep up the good work!

[coby]

Nice list for new and old bloggers... Thanks

[Briant]

Good post, and I agree about the background music thing. Such a function should have to be deliberately activated by the visitor.

[threedogs]

Very good post - thanks so much!

Lynne

[teeyai555]

I'm sorry. What's meaning of Blog carnivals?:confused:

[virusrulez]

nice list man
Emailing other bloggers and asking them for links

how idiotic to beg links from other

[threedogs]

I'm sorry. What's meaning of Blog carnivals?:confused:

I'm wondering the same (envisioning lots of blogs getting together, dressed in wild costumes, lots of food & drink....:D:D:D)

Lynne

[bigp]

teeyai555 & threedogs:
Take a look back through this discussion. There is an explanation on what carnivals are.

I'm glad people keep finding this article to be helpful. If you do, please don't forget to Digg, Del.icio.us, Stumble, or otherwise publicize it!

[bbb91]

hi, very informative read, thank you..how come you should host your own blog? and is it hard to host your own blogs?

[SergeF]

hi, very informative read, thank you..how come you should host your own blog? and is it hard to host your own blogs?

tremendous number of people get lost their data and blogs for some reasons. The worst thing is that people usually dont make a backup to restore all the lost info. If you host your own blog, you have full access to it and there are less worries about loosing data until some quirky PCman would mind to spite you and huck your blog :) Anyway, there are many reasons why it's better to host your own blog, and its not that difficult, its as easy as to host any other publishing website.

[SergeF]

64. Not entering Blog Carnivals to start building traffic

bigp, when its ok to start to opt in blog carnivals?

[bigp]

Serge - You can enter blog carnivals right away if you'd like. It is best, however to make sure you've got at least a fairly decent number of articles on your blog before you do. I'd wait until I had 10-15. If you get into a carnival and have no other content for your new readers to see, they may not be as inclined to return again.

[bbb91]

tremendous number of people get lost their data and blogs for some reasons. The worst thing is that people usually dont make a backup to restore all the lost info. If you host your own blog, you have full access to it and there are less worries about loosing data until some quirky PCman would mind to spite you and huck your blog :) Anyway, there are many reasons why it's better to host your own blog, and its not that difficult, its as easy as to host any other publishing website.thanx for the response..i've never hosted a website before, but i'll have to google it to see..any recommendations?

[bulldog62]

Very informative article, thank you. I like how you organized the info into categories.

[SergeF]

@bigp
10-15, ok i got it :) that's new information for me for today ;) and at least it's logical. Offering a single post on a blog is not a good idea indeed.
BTW, i think i will need your help. I have started promotional blog for our product and i'm going to post daily articles there. So, some kind of review on my first artcle is needed... :) the topic will be somehting like "how to choose the right publishing platform" or something like that that is related to publishing software IAE. For sure, i'm not going to abuse our competitors, coz nobody would like to read such a blog IMO :) what do you think about it?

P.S. further i would like to write big article about "The Latest Trends in Publishing Software"... and submit it to article directories. You know i didn't find anything specific about this topic on internet, so i think this article will be unique one, and i hope usefull.


@bbb91
Well there are lots of publishing and blogging software you can find on the internet, whether it's wordpress or article dashboard... Well, you can try xooArticles Articles Script (http://www.xooarticles.com/).... it's new on the market and shows much promises. We have a free campaign now for 50 registered members. Demo version is at http://www.xooarticles.com/demo/
If you have any question, PM me

[bigp]

Serge - Are you familiar with the topoic that you want to talk about? If you're starting a blog about something you may have a hard time writing, you are bound to burnout rather quickly.