Common mistakes of a new blogger
Display RSS chiklet too early
Displaying your RSS count too early can have a detrimental effect on your RSS readership growth. Usually
people will not subscribe when a blog has 10+ RSS readers. People like to follow the majority, because common sense tells them that, if many people are reading something - it must be interesting! On the other hand, when nobody (or less people) is reading a particular blog, they see no reason to subscribe to its RSS, neither will they visit back in the future.
Therefore in the beginning it’s better not to display your RSS count, it’s better to concentrate on writing good articles instead. When you have at least several hundred RSS readers, then you may put it up.
Display too many ads
Most bloggers want to make money with their blogs, and new bloggers are no different. One of the mistakes that new bloggers make is, putting too many ads on their blog. They think the more ads they put on their blog, the more money they will make. (Wrong!) They might make more money during the first few days, but later their blog will be cannibalized by their ads, thus generating very low income or no income at all.
The blog that have too many ads on it, simply cries out to new readers saying “Go back, and never come back to this blog again!”.
Start the blog on free blogging platforms
Making money from blogging is not an easy thing, so new bloggers take it with caution. Their caution results in starting a blog with free blogging services like blogspot. They don’t want to invest any money beforehand, rather, they want to see first if the blog will bring any money to them. They reason such: “If the blog starts to bring some money, I will shift it to its own domain name and hosting”. But often times that never comes!
If you really want to make money with your blog, you should make the initial investment in it. It’s not a big investment after all, because domain name costs maximum $9/year, hosting at godaddy is just $3.99/month. But this small step can make a big difference. Especially when it’s combined with good articles, good marketing and good design, which is the next topic of discussion.
Design their own theme
There are some new bloggers who instead of using some of the great free themes available online, resort to designing their own themes. I simply do not understand them. It is ok if they design a nice professional theme, the problem arises when they have a theme that looks like the websites of 90s. The graphics are most probably done in Microsoft Paint (funny video about paint).
So if you are not good at designing blog themes, just get the ready ones. Or ask someone to design it for you.
Not posting own ideas
What is the most important success factor for a blog? It’s the person behind the blog, more specifically it’s his/her ideas that make the blog successful and set it apart from other blogs.
Unfortunately, new bloggers make a mistake of talking only what the blogosphere is talking. If a big shot guy says A, new blogger will say A. If he says B, he say B… etc. Therefore if you want to be successful, then you should start posting your own ideas and thoughts. Because people want what is in your mind, not what is in someone else’s mind and that you just summarize it for them.
Posting irregularly
Imagine this: You are a new blogger, your blog just started with 1 unique visitor a day (that is yourself ;). After some time, you have gained quite a number of regular readers. In order to retain these readers and gain more readers, you need to post consistently. At least one post a day, but for the beginning 2-3 posts a day can be a good idea too.
If you post irregularly, and worse after missing 3-4 days you post something that is not even interesting, then you can be sure to your readers. And won’t be successful in getting new readers. Therefore posting interesting posts consistently is very important, and it is one of the things that makes your blog successful. (read my article on posting frequency here)
Your contribution
What other mistakes you think should be included here? Please share it with us. It can be your own mistake that you did in the beginning of your blogging career or a mistake that you see often on new blogs. Let’s make this a useful post for new bloggers.
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53 Responses
to “Common mistakes of a new blogger”
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- Dec 31, 2007: AdesBlog.com » How you can charge premium prices for your ads
- Jan 3, 2008: My Web Hosting Site » Blog Archive » Common mistakes of a new blogger
By Steve McGrath on Dec 14, 2007
“Display RSS chiklet too early”
I started an experiment a few weeks ago. I decided to go against that rule and I decided to show it off. My RSS was 15-20 for many many months back then. Now, it’s around 30-35. Is it because I’m on BloggingZoom.com and readers are discovering my content more and iking it? Is it the humor I used to ask readers to subscribe?
I do agree with your other mistakes.
By Ades on Dec 14, 2007
- Steve, your RSS count might have increased from BloggingZoom as you said yourself. But I think tweaking few things on your blog could really be very effective, in terms of RSS growth and blog profitability (in the long run).
I see that you use too many ads (including cool file ads), they should be reduced. Also you could customize the header image, so that it looks different than other people’s blogs who use the same theme as you.
I am sure the RSS growth is temporary, I still think it should be hidden (since it’s less than 40 at the moment). Other than that I think you have a great content, I am sure it will be successful, as long as you keep working on the content (+ do some promotion and contests).
By SEO Canada on Dec 14, 2007
There are definitely a lot of blogs not worth reading out there. On the RSS note I rather write my own custom RSS feed. I find this more beneficial as it increase the unique visitors in you web logs :)
By Mark Dykeman on Dec 14, 2007
I would dispute the point about starting on a free blogging platform. I don’t think there’s any problem with starting with Wordpress or Blogger, depending on your long-term goals.
Your article is focusing on the monetization of a blog on this point rather than developing a reputation, an audience, and good quality content and ideas. Why invest money into a venture when
a) you don’t understand everything involved
b) you don’t know if you’ll like it
c) you don’t really know if you’ll be successful
I think you can get a good indication of these three things by starting on a free platform. I wouldn’t look down on anyone for working that way.
By Ades on Dec 14, 2007
- SEO Canada, that’s a great strategy to increase your stats ;) Well, if you can handle your own RSS without FeedBurner, why not? I say go ahead!
- Mark Dykeman, if person’s blog is in a category that is other than “Make money online” it’s okay to use free blogging platforms. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nothing wrong to use such services. It’s definitely not to be looked down either.
What I am suggesting is, to people who are into blogging because they want to make money (like me). And they start with free blogging platforms, and this slows down their success growth quite a bit. So it’s better to invest a bit in the beginning, because it can save you a lot of time and probably money too (money that you wouldn’t get otherwise on your blogspot blog, because advertisers rarely want to advertise on blogspot blogs).
Again, there is no rule that is written on the stone for this. So if you feel it’s better to start with blogspot, please go ahead. Because gut feeling is one of the things that should be taken seriously, when making decision.
By xBrain on Dec 14, 2007
Personally, I did wrong when the first month I blog. I always copy and paste other articles from the other blog (including Ades).
Then Ades wrote me a nice email ask for it would be nice if I could put the link back for him..
Then I have changed my attitude and come out with my own idea.
The most important thing is, you have freedom to speak in your personal space so speak what you want, do not care about others and please do not talk about make money online..
Why must everybody wants to talk about making money online? (even though it is the most popular topics in net)
By Shawal on Dec 14, 2007
I think one of the big mistake newbies doing today is start a blob niche that have a lot of search at search engine…..
They think with a lot of searcher that search on the niche, maybe their blog will have a lot of visitor from search engine without ever think of their opponent website/blog…..
By Ades on Dec 14, 2007
- xBrain, I remember that ;) Was that the turning point for you to become a problogger? Since then you have certainly achieved a lot of success. Keep it up.
- Shawal, that’s a true observation. Starting a blog for a particular search result (keyword) is not a smart thing to do. Simply because search results are always changing, it’s better to write good articles that will attract more visitors instead.
80/20 rule should taken into account here, 80 percent of your traffic comes from 20 percent of your visitors (regular visitors). So it’s better to concentrate on your regular visitors and provide them with quality posts.
By StockTube on Dec 14, 2007
thanx ades for the article … i did the mistake of starting with blogspot (and still am) but not because of trying to save a couple of bucks … it’s because i didn’t know the importance of having your own domain … furthermore letting the google worry about the hosting maintenance was the main culprit ..
now i’ve climbed to above 30K pageviews per month … what do you suggesst if i plan to have my own domain? should i pick a .net or .org? what’s the best way to migrate without penalty by google (duplicate content etc)?
maybe you could write a lengthy article offering alternative for people who did the mistake of hosting on blogspot …
cheers …
By Ades on Dec 14, 2007
StockTube, unless your website is a non-profit website, it’s better to get a .net domain.
Once you have migrated your content to the new domain, and one the site is up and running. You can do a 301 redirect. That way you won’t be penalized for duplicate content.
Good luck, and keep up the good work!
By Shawal on Dec 14, 2007
I think a very big mistake that newbies doing is when starting a blog, after a while, it will get a huge visitor in a short time…. That’s is why newbies always put a widget at the sidebar, telling visitor how many other visitor are coming to their blog… This is a very big mistake… If you only have 3 or 4 visitor that day… Kapoosh..
Others will think that you have no quality in your blog….
Hugh visitors take time…
I have one blog that just after 2 day, my blog are at the second spot on the search engine….
And my other blog, i only get first visitor on the 6th month….. But now, that blog has a repeat visitor….
Content is still the King……
By Ades on Dec 14, 2007
Content will still be the King! Even though, some bloggers like JohnChow says otherwise. According to him, content is nothing, it’s how you market your blog. I will have to disagree with that. There are two problems with his answer: 1. Content is still the king (promotion is just an add-on) 2. It’s a wrong advice, why would he advice people not to write quality posts?
By s c tan on Dec 14, 2007
great blog!
By soufulow on Dec 14, 2007
Interesting idea on the ‘Don’t show RSS readership”… in other words, your traffic amount doesn’t reveal your blog quality. ;)
By Ades on Dec 14, 2007
Soulflow, that’s exactly right. Your blog quality is not dependent on the RSS count (in the beginning). But over time, if your blog is really good, it should be reflected on your RSS count.
By Kevin on Dec 16, 2007
Don’t agree with ‘Display RSS chiklet too early’. Well, If you content is good, you will definately get good traffic. It’s all depends on quality of your post. All other points are valid.. Love this post.
By Ades on Dec 16, 2007
Kevin, you are right, but it just makes your growth slower. By hiding your RSS count in the beginning you can actually grow your RSS a lot faster. Both works, but one works faster the other.
By StockTube on Dec 16, 2007
thanx ades for your kind response … will be waiting to see if i can win the domain and hosting from your contest :)
cheers …
By Jeff Chavez on Dec 18, 2007
I really appreciated this post. I wanted my readers to see this also so I’ve provided a link to it from one of my recent posts:
http://northstarthinktank.typepad.com/northstar_thinktank/2007/06/start-a-blog.html
Keep up the good work!
Jeff
By agroturystyka on Dec 29, 2007
Hi. Very helpful article. I didin’t realised I did so many mistakes. Now I can improve some things and prepare much more professional blogs. Thanks.
Javiahr
By Rome on Jan 2, 2008
A very informative post. Useful for new bloggers like me. Thanks!
By Sevdaligeceler Adult Forum on Jan 16, 2008
Great comment guidelines. I think you’re on the right track here. Some of those comments should go somewhere else.
By julia on Jan 18, 2008
im guilty
By julia on Jan 18, 2008
they say if you display that feed chicklet, they will increase your subscription, is that true?
By balootisme. on Jan 24, 2008
thanks ades for this tip..
im also new blogger. before starting using wordpress blog, im using blogspot.
but, i dont like blogspot very much…
By balootisme. on Jan 24, 2008
watsup rome?
i know you. you’re same as me…start blogging using blogspot, right?
now, i see your blog, you are using your own hosting right? not blogspot anymore…
congrats..
By Rome on Jan 28, 2008
No, I am still on blogspot but I am running on my own domain. I\’m still working on transferring to wordpress. Need the start-up funds to avail of a webhost.
By Goran Giertz - Website Marketing on Feb 3, 2008
Thanks for the great post. Helpful for me looking to start my own blog.
By Car Insurance on Feb 8, 2008
I know i post tons of information and video blogs on my website almost every single day which is a good idea, but make sure its interesting. Great post!
By Car Purchase on Feb 15, 2008
Videos can be a very effective method for attracting readers.
By chuks ugoji on Feb 22, 2008
Thanks for that great educative post especially for us the young bloggers.it will go a long way to help us develop more fast
By Junarto on Mar 6, 2008
Thank you for sharing.
I hide the RSS display after knowing that “people follow majority” effect.
But my question is: Is theme will affect the numbers of visitors?
By Ades on Mar 6, 2008
Junarto, nice theme is always a plus! But there are tons of free wp themes that are very professional. It’s a matter of customizing them to suit your brand.
By Kim-SEO Results on Mar 11, 2008
As a newbie in the world of blogging and SEO some interesting facts so any other tips or hints will be very welcome
By Flimjo on Mar 12, 2008
All good points. People should focus on building a good reader base first. Then the ads can come. But in the beginning, bloggers should focus on writing.
By PS3 on Mar 14, 2008
My biggest problems to date have been 1. Generating enough of my own, interesting content and 2. Finding the time to update posts regularly enough.
Ade, you put me to shame on the second point. I’ve only just found your blog but it is great to see that you make a positive contribution in replies to specific posts. I haven’t seen that too often and it is very welcome.
By Ades on Mar 14, 2008
PS3, nobody is perfect. I have been missing some days myself from time to time ;)
By Jonathan on Mar 21, 2008
I agree with Ades on hosting own blog especially if monetizing. You’ll have more control over it and can avoid issues of having to change domain name, hosting, etc. if your blog becomes big. You can get a decent reseller hosting account for a good price nowadays and then it’s only less than $10 per domain if it doesn’t work out.
Content is definitely king. If not, I probably woouldn’t have found this site when I was searching for a specific topic!
Thanks for the good post.
By SEOrious Results on Mar 31, 2008
Some really sound pointers to anybody looking at starting their own blog. It has to be visually appealing, and the value of quality content is undisputable! Regular, high quality content is one of the non-negotiables for blog success!
By Marketing Man on Apr 11, 2008
Hi Seorious Results.
You are right, great content makes the world of difference, like this blog.
By wayanadtourist on Apr 15, 2008
What a great site ,thanks for your gaide line
By wii guy on May 4, 2008
I have a blog of my own but I haven’t been updating it for a couple of weeks. I too struggle to find original content. I wanted my site to be helpful, more of a knowledge base than a personal blog. To do this I headed to Yahoo answers and began to answer questions there. Before I answered a question I would research the topic and then write a post on my blog which has the answer on. I then know that I am creating useful content which people will be interested in.
John
By Ajith Edassery on May 9, 2008
Great tips… thanks (some of them is already applicable to me lol)
Ajith
By Eva White on May 10, 2008
Thats soo true. I think a lot of people who start out end up failing due to these reasons. very well written.
By shawal on May 25, 2008
Ain’t it the truth.
By PPC on Jun 6, 2008
Monetising a blog without detracting from its core appeal to viewers seems to be a fine juggling act. I hope to gain some more insight into this artform on this blog.
By komodo dragon on Jun 8, 2008
damn, early bloggers will find this post to be extremely useful !
By Jaseem Umer on Jun 11, 2008
I really liked the post, especially because i was doing some of the mistakes until recently.
By Platform Beds on Jun 23, 2008
No wonder I don’t get traffic on my page! Hehe…you are right about the mistakes new bloggers like me commit. I thought all the while that having your own hosting and domain is costly. If writers want to earn serious money, you must really invest in hosting and domain. Thanks for the tips. This would help me in my blogging.
By Internet TV on Jul 1, 2008
I think posting 2 to 3 times a week can also work well if you put out extremely good content. DoshDosh.com is an example that comes to mind.
By google web hosting on Jul 4, 2008
Actually, I think the biggest mistake bloggers make is the RSS chicklet. It really shows newness and decreases credibility….even when it’s like 100 readers. I need to see at least 300 readers for me to believe the blog.