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Top Mistakes to Avoid When Blogging

Discussion in 'Blogging' started by Pzwn, Jun 30, 2013.

  1. #1
    This is an old list I had lying around and although it was written a long time ago, many of the points (or mistakes) are still very valid today.

    It’s quite a long read, so you might want to grab a coffee (or a coke).

    No Theme to Your Blog
    Most people who read a specific blog on a consistent basis do so because they are interested in the topic – whether it is your personal life events, your stand on a political issue, or what colour of underwear you prefer to wear. If you do not stick to your theme for the majority of the entries in your blog, you will lose readership. If you are trying to profit financially from your blog via advertisers, this is money right out of your pocket.

    Unexplained Time Gaps in Your Blog
    The unit of time between blog entries is entirely your choice and does not matter nearly as much as consistency in keeping to your schedule, be it hourly, daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly. If you stray too far from your set blog posting expectations, visitors may well think you have left the world of blogging behind. If you need to take a break, post an entry to that effect. This repercussions of making this mistake are proportional to the length of time between your blog entries – if you blog hourly, an occasional missed entry will be forgiven by most, but if you blog less frequently than once per week, do not let time pass by without an explanation.

    Blogging About Your Workplace Without Permission
    Many corporations now have official bloggers, where blogging about the company is part of someone’s job description (hopefully someone who enjoys blogging or it will not succeed). However, if you blog about your company for your own reasons (be it on your own time or on company time), be aware that you are taking a big risk. Even if you do not say anything derogatory or reveal personal/business secrets in your blog, your company may not appreciate being exposed in any manner on the Internet. There are some famous cases of people losing their jobs over blogging and the incidents are increasing in number, so be careful if you choose this route (and do the right thing and not blog on company time).

    Straying Too Far From Your Blog’s Theme
    Although there are people who will read any blog they see, most have favorites that they visit regularly for any number of reasons – they like your style, your content, your relevancy, your timing, your personality, etc. Any changes to your blog could lose you visitors, but the biggest culprit is the theme or general topic. Realize as well that unless you monitor your posted comments carefully, some may subtly change your theme or cause it to take on a “club-members-only” appearance, which will lose you readers.

    Ignoring Comments Posted to Your Blog
    If you choose to allow people to post comments to your blog, be warned that this could become a huge commitment. As well, there are two other risks. It is only polite to respond to all comments in some fashion in your blog, but if you choose not to, you risk being spammed by those you ignore. Spam can be dealt with, but more importantly, without the back-and-forth of discussion about comments, you risk your blog becoming a virtual chat room that some visitors will not find appealing. Blogs are about opinions, so do not be afraid to comment on your comments.

    Posting Libelous Material on Your Blog
    Although we would all like to think that freedom of speech should apply everywhere, if you insult the wrong person in your blog, be aware of the risks. If you have someone who is not happy with something you have said, they may go to considerable lengths to discover who you are and who are the people you are talking (you’d hoped anonymously) about. The consequences can range from lawsuits, jobs lost, reputations ruined, relationships and friendships ended, embarrassment to innocent parties, all the way down to how you feel about yourself as a person. It may be fun for a while, but in the end, it rarely works out well for the blogger.

    Using Too Much Insider or Regional Talk
    Remember that your audience is worldwide and many of them are not as computer savvy as you may think. Regional slang, little known acronyms, or words that you have coined from a comment written eons ago may not be understood by visitors. If they cannot understand what you are saying, they will not read your blog regularly. Of course, if your blog is geared to a specific theme where you only wish to have an audience who is “in the know”, go ahead and use insider lingo, but make sure that is your purpose and accept that your audience may not grow to be are large as you wish. Blogging is about building communities online and sometimes that involves teaching others about your interests to expand that community.

    Not Realizing That the Internet Has a Permanent Memory
    The last of the mistakes on this list, but perhaps the most serious mistake a blogger can make, is to forget that whatever you post on the Internet has the potential to become immortal. Because people place your blog on their favorite places, copy your blog onto their hard drive, quote it on their blog, and print it out, whatever you say on the Internet has the potential to never go away. The danger is that you have no idea who might be doing any one of those things with your blog. Additionally, remember that your blog may be sitting in computer caches all over the world. Be sure you are clear about what you want to say and how you want to say it, because it is entirely possible that someone, somewhere will keep a copy.

    Happy Blogging!
     
    Pzwn, Jun 30, 2013 IP
    Snoopy240 and Devtard like this.
  2. Devtard

    Devtard Notable Member

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    #2
    I think that it is not necessary to inform people that you are going to take a break for a week. Not many readers visit blogs manually in order to find out whether there are new posts. RSS and other tools do the job very well.
     
    Devtard, Jul 1, 2013 IP
  3. Pzwn

    Pzwn Peon

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    #3
    Yes, you are right, although, in my defence, I did say "many of the points are still very valid today", not "all" ;).
     
    Pzwn, Jul 3, 2013 IP
  4. Keith_W

    Keith_W Peon

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    #4
    It's a good point though, a lot of people don't realize how gaps undermine their credibility.
     
    Keith_W, Jul 5, 2013 IP
  5. Enursa

    Enursa Well-Known Member

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    #5
    Once again... Do not do it (mean blogging) with heart.
     
    Enursa, Aug 3, 2013 IP
  6. SliceOfLife

    SliceOfLife Well-Known Member

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    #6

    I think the point here is consistency, but I do agree with you. However, if I was running a blog that I'd update with some intervals, I'd just schedule posts to be published automatically, as I'm sure most of us publish like one article a day maximum - most even less frequently. Say, writing 3-4 articles before your time-off won't be that much more work, but it will keep your consistency intact.
     
    SliceOfLife, Aug 3, 2013 IP
  7. ninjamtlt1

    ninjamtlt1 Active Member

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    #7
    Great tips, I think the most important thing is to give value to the readers and to stay consistent and just never give up. Having a good blog design is important too and staying on topic. The main thing is to post what people want to see; give them value, and just keep at it until you succeed.
     
    ninjamtlt1, Aug 28, 2013 IP
  8. Bottom_Up_Blogger

    Bottom_Up_Blogger Greenhorn

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    #8
    I think the last point about the internet having permanent memory is most important. The internet's permanence doesn't only apply to blogging. If you're going to a be a professional blogger it's important to make sure your presence everywhere is in line with the image you want to present. You wouldn't be caught outside without your pants on, so don't get caught online being unpleasant. Better yet, save your unpleasantness for a paper journal that no one else reads.

    Everything on the web is becoming more interconnected by the day, so it's important to monitor what you're putting out there on all sites.

    Just a heads up! Happy Blogging!
    -Brian
     
    Bottom_Up_Blogger, Sep 11, 2013 IP
  9. artofmarketing

    artofmarketing Greenhorn

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    #9
    I think 'Unexplained Time Gaps in Your Blog' is the main one!
    Many people get excited in the beginning and they blog every day but after a month or two they loos their enthusiasm and start posting every week which leads to eventually posting once a month and loosing whatever audience you managed to build up until that point and not being able to get new fans since the first thing they see when they go to a blog is an inconsistent blogger!
     
    artofmarketing, Sep 13, 2013 IP
  10. no_comment

    no_comment Greenhorn

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    #10
    What you mean by "Do not do it (mean blogging) with heart"

     
    no_comment, Sep 13, 2013 IP
  11. Lokahi

    Lokahi Active Member

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    #11
    Another thing, don't copy other blogs in your niche. Try to find unique angles on every news story in your industry. Go out and interview niche experts; originate unique blog infographics; publish your own original photographs and tutorials. Don't copy, innovate. Become your niche leader and others will gladly follow, sharing what you have to say.
     
    Lokahi, Sep 26, 2013 IP
  12. Alicia Tang

    Alicia Tang Greenhorn

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    #12
    interesting tips for a blog with an audience!
     
    Alicia Tang, Sep 26, 2013 IP
  13. macdaddy1

    macdaddy1 Peon

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    #13
    If you check out the Wayback Machine you will see that content never goes away. Scary!
     
    macdaddy1, Nov 17, 2013 IP
  14. lobbie

    lobbie Peon

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    #14
    Thanks for the tips.
     
    lobbie, Dec 20, 2013 IP
  15. vijaysinh1

    vijaysinh1 Member

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    #15
    i have a blog please some suggetion for content http://vijaysinh-vijay.blogspot.in
     
    vijaysinh1, Mar 5, 2014 IP
  16. Akash47

    Akash47 Member

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    #16
    Great post, thank you. I must admit that I've made quite a few of these mistakes back in the day when I made my first couple of blogs. Well, I learned the hard way. :)
     
    Akash47, Mar 5, 2014 IP
  17. Sam42

    Sam42 Greenhorn

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    #17
    Great tips, thank you. It's true entirely - you can't remove the information from the Internet. More reasons to be careful with words.
     
    Sam42, Apr 14, 2014 IP