Blogging is fun. It’s that corner of the internet where you aren’t restricted by anything. The only restriction is your imagination. While a successful blog has great monetary value, it’s only possible when certain things are done right.
Hence, I’ll list the 10 mistakes newbie bloggers make while making their first blog in this post. Most are completely basic yet crucial for a blog/site’s success.
Ready? Lets goo…
(1) Inconsistent
You might have heard since childhood that consistency is the key. I cannot even sum up how important consistency is when maintaining a blog. In fact, it’s not just about your blog. Consistency is also important if you have a YouTube channel, Instagram page, Pinterest Business account, or other social media platform.
In the end, they are replaced by something better and consistent. I know it’s hard to avoid a quick nap or YouTube search for your favorite movie trailer, but don’t delay and postpone your daily blog tasks.
Here’s what I do: Since I have multiple blogs, I divide the day and time between them. For example, If my goal is to upload one post every week on this blog, I’ll do it no matter what. Doesn’t matter if I have to pull all-nighters. It feels great when you go through all odds and complete your tasks at the end of the day.
(2) Focusing On A Single Traffic Source
When I made my first blog a few years ago, I was too excited by its success. While those were some sweet times, I was already making a huge mistake. I was heavily dependent on a single traffic source. See, nobody knows what Google is thinking. One algorithm update, and your blog traffic can crash overnight. And you have guessed it right. My first blog was hit by Google’s algorithm update and poof. All that sweet traffic was gone.
Fast forward to today, I don’t stay dependent on a single traffic source. It’s wildly risky! Diversification is the key. This is why many popular blogs have multiple ways to promote themselves. You’ll find them on almost any social media platform. Whenever you reach their site, it’ll prompt you to subscribe to their email service.
One suggestion to safeguard your new blog from future adversities is this one. Do not stay Dependent on a Single Traffic Source.
(3) Applying Black Hat SEO
Now, you’re new to blogging and know very little about SEO. What should you do? Should you bombard your site with hundreds of AI-generated posts every day? Or should you post only once a week? SEO is a complex topic; the worst part is that it changes too frequently.
But whatever the case, the worst thing you can do with your new blog is apply black hat SEO techniques. Google has a great guide to SEO. Backlink is another great site where you can learn everything about SEO. The dos and the don’ts.
Black hat SEO means applying techniques that bypass Google’s SERP (Search Engine Results Page) guidelines. While using black hat SEO may boost your traffic initially, in the long run, Google will penalize your website heavily. In the worst case it can also remove your site from search.
(4) Using Copyright Images
Using copyrighted images is the most common mistake newbie bloggers make. They are enthusiastic and want to make it big in the industry. They fall into this illusion and use copyrighted images in their posts. Eventually, when their blog receives no traffic or gets any copyright notice, they are forced to return to square one and restart again.
That’s where websites like Shutterstock come in. Shutterstock sells licensed images that you can use for commercial purposes. The images you buy from Shutterstock are yours and unique on the internet. And you know what? Google loves originality. If you use images from open-source platforms that most people use, Google will ignore your site and move on to those that are unique.
(5) Keyword Stuffing
Google revolutionized search. Initially, they were like any other search engine but only slightly advanced. But, they evolved themselves every year. In their research Google learned that websites used “keyword stuffing” to achieve higher rank for certain keywords. Keyword stuffing means using a keyword like “apple” repeatedly too many times in a post to rank higher when someone searches for “apple.” And since previously search engines used to rank sites based on the number of keywords, sites with low quality content used to get ranked higher.
This changed after 2011 when Google released the Panda update and then the Hummingbird update in 2013. Sites dependent on keyword stuffing stopped getting traffic from Google because they were outranked by sites providing better content.
Hence, to keep your site safe from Google’s punishment, follow Google’s guidelines and avoid Keyword Stuffing.
(6) Ignoring Google Signals
Google wants to cater to its customers with the best search results. They have made great services like Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and more for that. While these services are not for customers, bloggers like you will greatly benefit. How? By following Google Signals.
Google Signals are the single most important factor behind a blog’s success. Search Console shows whether your website/blog is running fine. It’ll notify you whether your blog is slow, providing a good user experience, or whether a URL is indexed. These are the only few.
New bloggers find this data complex and decide to stay away from all the data. Please don’t do that. Yes, initially, you might feel overwhelmed, but you’ll get it eventually. If you diligently follow the signals and work on improving your site’s overall performance, Google Search will greatly reward your blog.
(7) Duplicate Content
Believe me when I say this: if your blog becomes massive in the future, there’s a high chance that you’ll end up writing duplicate content. As the name suggests, duplicate content means you have released the same content twice without making any changes. It doesn’t hurt to have a few duplicate content in between thousands of originally rich content. However, those few will still hurt your Google ranking.
It’s hard to catch duplicate content, and the only way is to stay aware and recheck before posting anything. Yes, you can use complex software like Ahrefs and SEMrush, but those programs aren’t free.
Do let me know if you know of any free Duplicate Content checker.
(8) Plagiarism
Google hates Plagiarism! If Google’s algorithm finds out that your blog’s content is copied from a different source, it’ll hammer your blog into oblivion. I have had this taste before, and I can tell you that it doesn’t taste good. And the worst thing is that Google won’t remind you before hammering a penalty on your blog.
Fortunately, software apps like Grammarly have a built-in plagiarism checker. If Grammarly says that your content is original you can sigh of relief. If not, you should immediately change the plagiarism content and replace it with your actual words.
And let’s say that you are insanely lucky and Google’s algorithm didn’t penalize your blog. One day or another, the original creator of the content can send you a DMCA notice. Please make sure that something like this never happens. If you don’t use Grammarly, many other services provide plagiarism checkers for free, but they aren’t as good as Grammarly.
(9) Ignoring Mobile Optimization
Mobile is the future. People are more eager to spend $1000 on a mobile phone than a computer. And the reason is pretty straightforward: easy to use. And since your blog’s primary focus should be to gather more eyeballs, mobile optimization becomes a no-brainer.
WordPress has some built-in mobile optimization options, but your website’s theme does the heavy lifting. So, while installing a theme for your new blog, make sure it’s optimized for mobile phones.
Mobile Optimization becomes more complex when you use an Ad network like Ezoic, Mediavine, etc. Most of the time, the ads are not optimized for mobile screens and degrades the user experience. So, keep this in mind when you opt for Ezoic, Mediavine, or even Google Ads.
(10) Slow Loading Speed
Finally, a slow website is one thing most of us hate. Especially in these times when everything is fast, nobody wants to wait an extra second to read the content. Considering this factor, Google has a recommended loading speed, which is, if I’m not wrong, 3 seconds. But I have a strong feeling Google will soon change that to 1-2 seconds, thanks to short-form content.
Fortunately, unlike before, most web hosting providers have considered this factor and have started providing SSDs for all tier hosting plans. Yes, a fast hosting provider does make a difference, but efficient caching is the secret to most fast websites. When your blog is ready, install any caching plugin. If you’re confused, as your hosting provider, they’ll recommend a caching plugin best suited for you.