2. Top 10 Common Mistakes New
Bloggers Make
• Mistake 1: Own a TLD (Top Level Domain)
Blogging is a serious career and as such should be treated as one. If you
want to succeed as a blogger you definitely have to own a TLD (Top Level
Domain) like a .com, .net, .org etc. Comparatively, most successful blogs
are on top level domains, I know it’s quite tempting to use a free sub-
domain like wordpress.com or blogger.com platform for your blog, but one
thing I can tell you is that not only will you not be in total control of your
blog; you stand the risk of losing it any time.
Any blog on a sub-domain does not belong to you, for example if you are
running a blog on .blogspot.com you could wake up one morning and your
blog is gone. Fail one of Google’s TOS and your blog will be deleted even
without prior warning. It will be disheartening to lose your blog just like
that with no chance of ever regaining it.
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3. Top 10 Common Mistakes New
Bloggers Make
• Mistake 2: Bad Blog Design and Layout
Over the years I have noticed that most successful blogs
have one thing in common – Design and layout. Your blog
design and layout affects your visitor’s first impression and
this is a very important factor to consider if you want such
visitor returning to read more from you always.
Avoid cluttered designs with widgets, encourage neat
designs with white background and black text color. Make
your site navigation easy and simple. If you can’t design a
professional blog, hire someone who can to do it for you.
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4. Top 10 Common Mistakes New
Bloggers Make
• Mistake 3: Search Engine Optimization (SEO Implementation)
After your blog design next is publishing articles. Don’t be too quick
to rush into article publication if you have not learnt about Search
Engine optimization SEO to know how best to implement it to
achieve a great search engine ranking result. It will be a waste of
time and resources to write when no one is reading it.
SEO is very important if you are to succeed as a blogger. There are
two types of SEO – On Page SEO and Off Page SEO. You need to
learn about both so as to understand how to implement it to
achieve a good result. I will recommend you read as many articles
from my Blogging Tips section. I have extensively written about this
area in this blog, so take advantage of them now.
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5. Top 10 Common Mistakes New
Bloggers Make
• Mistake 4: Not having a Writing Technique
A good blogger should be able to write for humans not robots. You
should have a voice in your blog. You need to have a writing
technique that is unique to you alone. Some call it writing style, just
like you will notice I add personal experiences when I write my
articles adding my voice to it, that way I am
distinguishing Netmediablog from other Tech blogs out there that
sounds like they were written for robots. Interact with your visitors,
make use of call-to-action on your blog, ask your visitors to do
something, write as if you are directly talking to them, that way you
can form a bond between you and your visitors and this alone can
bring them back to your blog always. With this you are not far from
success.
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6. Top 10 Common Mistakes New
Bloggers Make
• Mistake 5: Not having a Blogging Schedule
Now you are at the stage of writing, your blog have
been designed, you have learnt SEO and implemented
them in your articles and yet you do not have blogging
schedule.
Maintaining a blogging schedule is quite proper, if you
decide to publish everyday make sure it happens, if you
decide to publish 3 times in a week, stick with it. That
way your visitors will understand when you will publish
next and be there to read from their favorite blogger.
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7. Top 10 Common Mistakes New
Bloggers Make
• Mistake 6: Avoid Plagiarized Contents
Most new bloggers fall into this mistake quite often. The copy and
paste syndrome have plagued the blogsphere for long and most
times you find out new bloggers are always the one’s committing
this crime. You have to be creative to come up with your own
original ideas, that is the reason why you should blog on areas you
are an authority at, that way you will never run out of ideas to blog
about.
You will be killing your own blog when you copy contents from
other sites and publish n your own site. Search engines like Google
are way too smart these days to know who copied and who was
copied from. You will be penalized for copying other person’s
contents and publishing on your own blog. Desist from it if you are
already doing this.
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8. Top 10 Common Mistakes New
Bloggers Make
• Mistake 7: Submit your Blog to Search
Engines
As a new blogger, I advise you submit your
blog to search engines so it can be indexed.
Indexing your blog will allow search engines
determine the content of your blog and rank
it. Read ‘How to submit your website to
Search Engines’ now for more insight.
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9. Top 10 Common Mistakes New
Bloggers Make
• Mistake 8: Not adding Social Sharing Buttons on
your blog
This is the era of Social media and it has changed
the way information is disseminated around the
world these days. A friend or family member
reads something interesting somewhere and
decides to share it so other member of his family
or friends can as well read it. Not adding a social
share button on your blog will affect you as
search engines consider social signals as ranking
factors.
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10. Top 10 Common Mistakes New
Bloggers Make
• Mistake 9: Not Promoting your Blog
Blog promotion is the serious part when it comes to
Off-page SEO. If you write articles and no one reads
them will you call yourself a successful blogger? If you
want to succeed you must promote your blog and
there are so many ways to do this.
Commenting on other blogs, commenting on forums,
guest posting on other blogs, advertisements, word of
mouth, hand bill etc. No matter the method you
choose to use, the grand purpose is to promote your
blog.
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11. Top 10 Common Mistakes New
Bloggers Make
• Mistake 10: Not having Patients and Determination
At first it will seem easy, half way down the road you
will encounter challenges and at a time you will feel
like giving up. Does that sound like you? Lolz… You
need a lot of patients and determination if you want to
succeed as a blogger.
If you are into blogging for the money, then you need
to be very patient as the money may not begin to roll
in almost immediately. You will have to build a credible
online presence for your visitors to trust you.
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