Mistake 1
Writing on everything under the sun: Be a specialist, and not a generalist. Focus on only one subject. If your blog is on parenting, then all you blog topics should deal with issues related to parenting; if your blog is on cricket gear then your posts should talk about cricket bats, balls, stumps, pads etc. This keeps your blog narrow, and focused. You start building a loyal visitor base of readers who are interested in what you write.
Mistake 2
Blog on a subject you know: Do not be carried away by the fact that tech blogs are the most popular blogs. Keep away from tech blogs if you are not a techie. Instead, focus on your expertise. Write on hair dressing if you are a hairdresser; write on motor cycles if you are a bike freak; write on unknown tourist spots if you love travelling. Your blog is more likely to be read if it provides fresh information.
Mistake 3
Don’t stretch yourself: It is easy to write one good post a week than seven good posts a week. So, don’t try to kill yourself trying to publish killer posts day after day. Even the most prolific writers can’t maintain this crushing pace. A better approach is to write six short posts and one killer post every week. This keeps your blog fresh; and visitors wait for your magnum opus.
Mistake 4
Too many I’s: There is no bigger sin than to swamp your readers with I-tell-you-this-from-my-experience posts. No one likes to be preached. Instead, use the more conversational “you”. Blogs are conversations, and should be written like friendly information pieces. Your goal should be to share information not ram information down the throats of your visitors.
Mistake 5
Bombing visitors with things to do: A visitor comes to your blog to browse information of interest. But what does he find: affiliate links asking him to shop; share links urging him to share the blog with friends and social bookmarking sites, requests to leave a comment, advertisements inviting him to visit other sites, etc. Is this what you want your visitor to do?
Mistake 6
Burying your posts: There are only two ways in which a new user can locate old, but interesting, blogposts. One, he can click on categories and locate posts of interest; two, he can visit the archives and click on posts made during the past months. Both are painful, and time consuming ways of locating blogposts. An easier and better way is to showcase your best posts. You can do this by listing the headlines of your best blogposts in the right sidebar of your blog or you can create a page called Your Best Posts and put it on the navigation bar.
Mistake 7
Writing long pieces: No one has time to read a 1000-word blog, unless it is absolutely riveting. You must keep your blogposts down to 300-500 words. Anything over this is unlikely to be read. So, why waste your time and the reader’s time?
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