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So you’ve finally decided it’s time to start blogging — what took you so long? Blogging is a great way to share your expertise, highlight your products and services, and bring a significant amount of traffic to your website.
However, when starting a new blog, there a few things you should consider if you want to see the best return for your efforts. Here some common rookie blogging mistakes and what you can do to avoid them.
Lack of Consistency
By far, the largest reason why most blogs fail from the beginning is lack of consistency. Before venturing off into blog creation, be sure that you have plenty of relevant content ideas to share. You should blog often to help build your audience and improve your search engine ranking results.
Poorly Formatted Content
The content of your blog should be well-formatted in two ways: readability and searchability. Your content should never be too dry or too complex that readers struggle to get the point you’re trying to make. Use shorter paragraphs and easily digestible subject matter to keep the attention of your readers. Another important consideration of blog content making sure it is properly optimized for search engines.
Focusing on Traffic, Not Subject Matter
While SEO (search engine optimization) should be part of your content generation strategy, it should never be your primary focus. In fact, the relevance and timely delivery of your content should always come before your efforts to optimize its searchability in Google or other engines. In most cases, your SEO efforts will come naturally as you include keywords that you’re trying to target. Make a basic optimization checklist, apply it to each of your posts and continue putting out relevant content.
Not Growing a Subscriber List
What many people forget to remember when they first start blogging is that developing regular readership is vital to a blog’s success. If you don’t make it easy for viewers to subscribe to your blog posts, it can be a sign that you’re not serious about your blog. Maintaining a subscriber list is a great way to bring content to your readers instead of always relying on them to come back to you.
Already sending out emails and newsletters? Don’t miss these email best practices for service pros.
No Call to Action
Whether the purpose of your blog is to drive attention to your website or directly to your products and services, it’s important to have an effective CTA (call to action). As your blog becomes larger and there is more content to navigate, you’ll need to make it easy for potential customers to make their way to product pages and contact forms. This can be accomplished be hyperlinking text such as, “Schedule an Appointment” or “Shop Now” to help customers quickly get the answers they’re looking for. This is a proven way to bring in additional leads and convert more sales.
Managing a blog is one of the most effective ways you can market your products and services. By avoiding these rookie blogging mistakes, you’ll establish yourself as a relevant source of information and ensure your blog maintains an active readership.
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Last modified: May 25, 2018
