Thirteen Blogging Mistakes to Avoid
In no particular order…

1. Using a popular theme - Yes. Its extremely easy to use a theme that is widely available and very popular. Maybe you like the colors but so do 100 other bloggers and the problem occurs that all the blogs start to look the same after a while. Choose a theme that makes your blog stand out. If everyone is using three columns this month, switch to two. If the trend is towards lighter fonts on darker backgrounds, change it up. Be different. Make your blog stand out and your readers are more likely to remember your blog.
2. Agree with everything everyone says - Sure. Its nice that you and John Chow happen to feel the same way about a product or a website. However, writing a post that agrees with something that the major players say will gain you far less readers than writing a post disagreeing with them. The person you disagree with is also more likely to pay attention to you as well, especially if your counter argument is well formed and supported. Don’t just post “John Cow said this, but I disagree.” Back up your argument with examples and facts.
3. Widget Love!! - There comes a point when there too many widgets are a bad thing. This is especially true in the case of thirdparty widgets that load from someone else’s websites. Issues can arise that cause your site to never complete loading. Plus, your readers aren’t there for the widgets. They’re there for the content. CONTENT should be THE most important thing on your blog (yea, the widgets are nice, but really, out side of a select few widgets, they’re more for you than your readers!)
4. Once its posted, thats it - Don’t let the conversation stop once the post is published. Get some good dialouge going in the comments on your more popular posts or post a question regarding peoples thoughts on some less popular ones. The more you get people active on your blog, the better your blog will do.
5. Doing it for the money - Yea, money is nice and its always good to be able to pay the bills so the lights stay on, but if you’re blogging strictly for money, your posts will show it and you’ll get tired of blogging.
6. Talking above your readers - If your posts read more like a college textbook than a trashy romance novel chances are your readers are few. Don’t go all academic on your blog, keep it real.
7. Constant Tinkering - Do not constantly tinker with the theme, layout, plugins, etc. Thats what a dev blog on a subdomain is good for. The biggest reason for this is a simple mistake (you accidentally erase something, or add some code and something goes horribly wrong.) Its easy these days to setup a second “development” blog where you can test new themes, plugins and whatnot with out damaging your main blog.
8. Trying to make everyone happy - You can’t so don’t. Besides, if people like the drama thats going on on your blog, they’re more likely to return to catch up on it. That does not mean you have to pick fights with anyone who leaves a comment, but don’t bend over backwards either. Remember, its your site, you’re the only one who has to be happy.
9. Not Promoting your site - Unfortunately, your blog is not the Field of Dreams (such a good movie). If you build it, “they” will certainly not come, at least not with out a little help. You need to promote your blog. Use entrecard, use bloglog, blogcatalog, bloggingzoom. Hit your favorite message boards (don’t be spammy) or community sites. Post comments on OTHER blogs. Spread your link around and then they will come. Its simply not enough to simply build it these days (especially since EVERYONE has a blog).
10. Taking yourself too seriously - Seriously. Unless you’re a nationally syndicated columnist, you shouldn’t take yourself too seriously. When you start to fret more over what your readers think then whether or not you’re having fun blogging, its time to reevaluate things. The important thing to remember is that when it comes to blogging, the next guy is just as important as you are (doesn’t that make you feel better??)
11. Blogging about things you don’t know - Never a good idea. You wouldn’t get up in front of a group and talk about a subject you don’t know anything about (well, unless you’re me and its a college history class you need to pass) so why would you blog about something you’re not even vaguely familiar with? Before you blog, do your research. Better yet, stick to things you know (that means a car mechanic should talk about fixing cars and not about fixing the space shuttle)
12. Tire of blogging - Its tough blogging once or twice a day but you need to at least update a couple of times a week. Never let more than a few days go by with out posting. If you know you’re not going to be able to for a while, ask some other bloggers if they’d like to guest post. Give your readers a reason not to forget you as the saying goes, out of sight, out of mind!
13. Blog about the current hot topic - Did you see what Britney did to her children with that monkey?? Chances are if there’s a hot topic going around the internet (say, the google pr bitch slap) then there are tens of thousands of similar posts going on about how so and so was hit hard by the PR update. Instead of writing about the same thing as everyone else, come at it from a different angle. If everyone is writing about HOW they were affected, write about what you’re going to do instead. Hot topics are nice, but if the market is saturated with posts about it, your won’t stand out. I came across a really good post @ problogger about this very topic…

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