It is a well-known fact that when we do something for the first time, we make mistakes, and there is no denying that your experience teaches you the most. However, as Alfred Sheinwold says out, “Learn everything you can from other people’s mistakes. You won’t have time to make all of them yourself “is also very accurate. Whatever we do for the first time, whether it’s riding a bicycle, trying a new recipe, or starting a new business, a few things are left behind to indicate that the person is new or inexperienced in a particular field. The same is true for new bloggers; they leave clues in their writing that allow one to easily identify amateur blogs among thousands of other blogs.
It is not difficult to identify amateur blogs because certain mistakes are frequently made by these new bloggers, and thus amateur blogs can be easily identified. It is true that we humans make mistakes when doing things for the first time, but it is also true that some mistakes are extremely costly to make, especially when the cost is financial and reputational. Amateur blogs are one of the mistakes that can cause you to lose sales and potential clients to competitors.
We are fortunate to live in a world where we can easily access case studies of major failures and the solutions derived from those blunders and experiences, which not only help us avoid making similar mistakes, but also enable us to use them to our advantage. In today’s internet world, there are millions of blogs covering a wide range of topics. Some are very professional, while others are simply amateur blogs. So, how can new bloggers avoid making these common mistakes?
You may also be looking for 15 Most Common SEO Mistakes of 2015 and 20 Best Google Adsense Alternatives For Your Blog.
Here are twenty common mistakes that can be found in amateur blogs that you can avoid and make your pieces more attractive to readers. The following is a comprehensive list of those errors that new bloggers make in their writing pieces and that must be avoided in order to make you stand out from the entire crowd of bloggers and to give a good start to your blogging venture.
20 Most Common Mistakes that Amateur Blogs Make
1. Chaotic Backgrounds:
To identify amateur blogs, examine the page’s background and colour scheme. Either it will be far too simple, plain and white, or it will be saturated with vibrant colours and endless images. While images are beneficial in that they keep things interesting and captivate readers, an excessive number of them will cause your readers to flee. The same is true for the texture and colours of the background. They must be visually appealing and reassuring, and they should remain that way rather than being turned up too loudly.
2. Poor Formatting:
Nothing irritates more than improper text formatting and alignment, and nothing makes reading texts aligned at the centres more difficult. While centred text can be used for headings, quotations, and sayings, an entire blog devoted to centred text is far too much for amateur blogs to handle.
3. Too Much Focus On Advertising:
Amateur blogs are often in a hurry to load their pages with advertisements without regard for the page’s readership. When starting a blog, it is prudent to focus on writing and establishing a decent readership rather than on pasting advertisements on the page. Once you’ve established a solid readership and believe your blogs have achieved a certain level of recognition, invest your time in advertising so that you receive a better response than if you did it much sooner.
4. Only Blogging:
Writing lengthy articles is insufficient. Readers visit your page not because of the abundance of writing pieces, but because they consider them worthy of reading and investing their time in doing so. It is not about writing a tonne of blogs daily, but rather about writing something that touches the hearts and minds of your readers.
5. Variations in Fonts:
Fonts have the ability to either horrify or soothe the minds of readers. Using a variety of fonts and including them in your writing pieces will not make your blog more appealing, but will make it more chaotic. There should be a distinction between headings and body text, not the entire presentation of the fluctuating font trend. They must be simple to comprehend.
6. Archives:
Blog archives are totally outdated and no one is interested in reading what you posted in twenty ten. Instead, giving tags to your blogs or post categories will be a much better option than just filling the side bars with blog archives.
7. Melody and Song Tracks:
Don’t put the melodies or songs on your blogs. Firstly, you can’t predict the music tastes of your readers, and secondly, people who are accessing your blogs at work, or while babysitting, or when someone’s baby is sleeping, will avoid coming to your blogs if you keep the music, especially when it turns on automatically.
Other than that, the music you keep on your blogs doesn’t necessarily align with the content you have posted and it makes your page work slowly. Instead, you can try to add your inimitable and novel writing style and an original piece of work.
8. Ignoring Personalized Touch:
Readers who are visiting your blogs and reading them are not machines but humans. Therefore, use more of those words that make them feel as if you are interacting with them directly by using words like I, We, Us, Always. This personal touch in your blogs will create a bond between you and the reader and will give your readers a positive vibe that will attract them back to your blogs.
9. Too Excited to Showoff Blogs:
The desperation to make people or visitors read your blog is a serious blunder found in amateur blogs, which does nothing better than irritate the visitors by putting forward the blog directly and not giving them the introduction or purpose of the website. When visitors enter a website, they expect to see the home page first instead of the text. So, don’t forget to give an introduction to the potential clients or visitors about what the website is all about and what it offers to the readers or visitors.
10. Poor Integration:
Another sign of amateur blogs is the poor integration of blogs with websites, i.e. when you click a link provided on the page, it will take you to the homepage or to a completely new page which will have unique layouts, colors, and designs in comparison to what you have seen on the homepage, leading you towards confusion about the site and putting you in a dilemma about whether you are on the same website where you intended to be initially.
11. Free Platforms:
When the integrated blogs are found on free platforms like WordPress.com or Blogger.com, it indicates amateur blogs. This normally happens when a blogger doesn’t plan to make a business out of their writing, and in later stages, they build a professional website and integrate their blogs into the free arena into their professionally made site. This is a serious error that one should avoid as it not only gives an unprofessional look but also confuses the minds of the readers.
12. Muddled Blogs:
Amateur blogs have a distinguished feature, and that is that they are all cluttered. Nothing causes more hassle and gets on nerves than seeing jumbled texts on one page, giving away too much information with loads of widgets or tools.
When you try to serve everything to the visitor, they get puzzled and exit without choosing further.
The neat, simple, and cleaner the blog is with a clear and pleasant font, the more it soothes the eyes and minds of the reader.
13. Not Showing What You Have Got:
Another common mistake in amateur blogs is that they are all about spreading information only. There is no doubt that blogging is a really good way to spread awareness and communicate experiences. However, they are not enough until you showcase your products and services by advertising them and putting their links on your side bars, along with mentioning the clients you have worked with and the services you are providing to other clients.
14. Not Getting Connected With Other Bloggers:
This is the world of Give and Take in which we are living. We are all connected with each other. The better we use those connections, the more beneficial they will be. In blogging, too, link other bloggers to your site and get linked with other bloggers. This will not only help in building up the readership, but will also promote your blogs.
15. Not Following The Concept of Sharing Is Caring:
Some say it so rightly, “sharing is caring”. This can be applied to newbies as well. When you are new and you want to go a long way, start by building relationships and bonding with other bloggers who will help you out on your journey at later stages. Given the selfish nature of humans in which we want to keep everything for ourselves, it is not completely wrong, but when you are at the initial stages of your blogging career, share the stuff of other bloggers and share the blogs of popular bloggers. It will help you build an audience for your site and, after the infancy stage, when you start to get recognition, make it fifty fifty, i.e. 50% of your work and the rest of other popular bloggers.
16. Avoiding Social Media in Amateur Blog:
You write really well. Your blogs are very interesting, but you still need to promote them and advertise them without incurring any money. The simplest and most convenient solution is social media, through which you can reach your potential readers, create awareness about your blogs, and communicate with your readers about your work. Not only will you get good traffic, but it will also give you excellent exposure and, depending on the excellence of the content you furnish on your page, the traffic can be converted into good readership.
17. Running After A Profitable Niche:
Successful bloggers are those who do blogging because they are passionate about it and not for the sake of money. As a newbie, your focus must be on generating superior and excellent content to build a decent readership base. However, if the job is being done just to earn some bucks, then it is on the way towards failure.
There are so many bloggers who make this mistake. They lose their focus and select a niche which doesn’t excite them. Choosing the niche you are passionate about will not only give you a thrill in writing, but will prove to be a profitable decision as well.
18. Plagiarism:
Not only is plagiarism a crime, but it also damages the reputation and relationships of the reader with the blogger. Initially, it seems to be boring to write blogs and copying them from other niches seems to be much simpler. However, such tactics don’t help you to sustain in the market for very long. It not only gives a bad impression on readers but also damages the readership base. Therefore, whatever you write, ensure it is authentic and original. Even if you are copying a blog from somewhere else, do give the name of the source and credit to the original blogger.
19. Distorted Avatar:
A unique avatar not only gives a professional look, but it also helps with branding and makes a blogger identifiable whenever they revert back to the comments on their posts. It will also give a personal touch to your blog and the readers will have your image on their minds as well, which, in turn, will make the bond more real between the blogger and the reader.
20. Lost Blogs:
Most of the time, it happens when a reader reads certain blogs and they like them and want to read them again or want to recommend them in their social circle, and when they visit back to the site, they just can’t get back to that specific post they really liked. Make sure that you provide search bars through which readers can easily search for posts of their liking without getting frustrated or disappointed.
