10 Mistakes That Will Kill Your Blog
1. Excessive Ads – Hey, there’s nothing wrong with making some money from your blog (that’s why your reading this blog right?). But, when your advertisements begin to take up more space on your blog than your content, you’ve got a problem. People visit blog to learn and discuss topics that interest them. They want to share their ideas or ask questions. They DON’T want to have to sort through a million ads, to find your content. Think of it this way, you don’t tune in to your favorite TV show to watch the commercials do you? Well neither do your readers.
2. Lack of Interaction – Many people view blogging as the digital version of giving a sermon. The blogger sits behind his pulpit (keyboard) and preaches to his or her loyal followers. However, if you look at the most successful blogs online, you’ll notice that the interaction is a HUGE part of the blogs success. The ability to leave comments, read other comments, and interact with the content that you’re consuming is what has made blogging what it is. If you don’t make yourself available to your readers, don’t answer any questions and don’t accept any feedback on your content, you’re dooming yourself to the digital equivalent of talking to yourself.
3. Trolls – Everyone’s encountered a troll whether you knew it or not. The Urban Dictionary defines a troll as “someone who gets pleasure by typing annoying/controversial/offensive words on internet forums or message boards.” Unfortunately, trolls are no longer confined just to forums, they’ve invaded blogs as well. I can promise you, if you blog for long enough, and have any sort of success, you’re going to encounter one. Trolls bring absolutely NO value to the blog or your community and instead sit back and generally annoy you along with everyone else that takes the time to comment. They simply aren’t worth the hassle. To top it all of, many times, not only are trolls an annoyance, but they end up starting…
4. Fights – Now don’t think for one second that you’re going to agree with everyone all the time. And yes, I still stand by my statement that controversy is good. However, I’ve seen many bloggers allow themselves to get completely side-tracked by their fight with another blogger to the point that it consumes the blog. A good general rule of thumb is that when you get into name calling and personal attacks, it’s time to shut it down. If you allow a fight to go on long enough, you’ll lose readers who simply don’t want to hear the pissing and moaning anymore. Remember, your subscribers read your blog to get your thoughts and opinions on the subject matter. Unless that subject is fighting with other bloggers, chances are your fight will be interesting for a while, but in the end it will lack substance for your readers to survive on.
5. Playing Follow the Leader – I borrowed that phrase from Max but the premise behind it is 100% true. If you don’t bring anything unique to your blog, whether it’s a distinct style, a special way of covering the information, etc. chances are your blog will die. There are simply too many other options out there for people to read. If you’re not interesting and exceptional in some way, readers will have no reason to return to your site. Find the one thing that makes your blog exceptional, and make that your brand.
6. Under Posting – Ghost towns aren’t exactly hot tourist attractions. If you can’t manage to create fresh content for your readers to digest on a fairly regular basis, you might not be cut out for blogging. I’m not saying you need to post every day, or even every week, however, you need to post regularly enough that your readers know your blog is still active and you haven’t fallen off the face of the earth. On the opposite end of the spectrum…
7. Over Posting – Believe it or not, posting too often can drive away readers as well. If you’re slamming your readers with a high number of posts each and every day, there will be no way for them to keep up. Also, it’s going to be tough to keep up the quality of the posts if you’re cranking them out at such a frantic pace. If you slip into the mistake of posting too often, your “signal to noise” ratio will drop considerably, meaning readers will have to sort through more information to find something worthwhile or valuable to them. That’s a quick recipe for a failed blog.
8. Violating Privacy – This one’s a no-brainer. When people sign up for your blog, whether it’s to comment or subscribe by email, they almost always have to leave an email address. Quite simply don’t abuse that information. Don’t sell your email list or start spamming your readers with your latest chain letters. Trust me, they won’t appreciate it. You’ll damage your reputation and lose readers and commenters all in one fell swoop. Just don’t do it. See, I told you this one was simple.
9. Slow Site – You remember how slow dial-up internet access used to be? It sucked right? Especially if you’d ever used a high speed connection. Well, having too many ads (yes, it’s worth mentioning again), widgets, plugins, or those cool ad-ons included on your blog can drag your site back to the dark ages. It won’t matter how great your content is if it takes years for a single page to load! We’re now firmly entrenched in an age of instant gratification and if your site is slow to load, your readers and visitors simply won’t put up with it. They have too many other sites out there to sit around and wait for yours to get it’s act together.
10. Actually… there is no #10 – Oh wait! Over promising and under delivering. This is pretty much a good rule for life in general but it definitely applies to blogs. If you tell your readers you’re going to do something (add a feature, take care of a problem, listen to suggestions) then you’d better do it. Be very careful in what you promise and remember, this is a blog so everything is in print. You’d be surprised what people remember and call you on later. A couple of slip ups will likely be forgiven (they have been for me on this blog) but if you make a habit of getting people’s hopes up, only to disappoint them, don’t be surprised if you have fewer and fewer people to cry wolf to next time.
And my last bit of advice will be this… You’re going to make mistakes. It’s inevitable. But, if you follow the tips and lessons posted on this blog previously, and try to avoid things on this list, chances are, you and your blog will be able to withstand those occasional slip-ups. Most of all, be honest with your readers. You’ll be surprised how much slack they’ll be willing to cut you. I hope you enjoyed this post and as always, if you think I’m wrong, or left something out, feel free to chime in through the comment form below!
Ben, excellent article! One of my favorites you’ve written. I’ve got a few “trolls” in mind… it’s so funny just to hear it. Maybe I’ll put together a “No Trollin’ Permitted” graphic as a widget… too funny and great job.
Ben, it’s great to see such a great article from you again
I think these tips are very important to bloggers and you’re right, all bloggers are bound to make a least one of those mistakes. Time will let us learn 😉
-Mike
Excellent list, Ben! I’m guilty of #6 primarily, not so much the other ones. At least I don’t think so. Anyway, good things to keep in mind!
Great list, you have some points thr, especially for the 1st and 2nd pt, it’s reli annoying for me if I saw too many ads in a page and I got a hard time to find which is the real content… Interaction is indeed an important thing for a blogger v their readers. Will keep in mind particularly the #7, hehe…
Great list .. I am new to blogging and am soaking up as much material as I can. Thanks again.
Thanks for all the great feedback everyone!
I think we’ve probably all been guilty of a few of these but the point is to avoid them whenever possible. And, like I said, being open and honest with your readers will build up some good will for when you do slip up.
Cheers!
I like this list. Have seen it before, most of it, but it’s still a nice reality check.
nice list and a good refresher. Glad to have you back now and then Ben, nothing against Max but I enjoy your writing a lot more.
Nice one. Number ten made me laugh and then double take as I realised this was probably the most important point of all as far as my own work seems to go (well, okay, number 6 is probably a bit true of me as well…)
9. Slow Site –
John Chow’s blog has a ton of stuff loading and I must admit if it was another blog I probably wouldn’t go back, so I guess his is the exception.
~Terry
Very educated list you have complied Ben. I keep on visiting various websites trying to find good content and write ups. I think this is my first visit here and have really found good ways. I too have a blog in the same Niche ” Making Money Online” Though its not that optimized yet and havn’t experimented with ads or affiliate sales as yet.
But I think this blog and a few more are now pushing me to start monotizing it.
Jessica
Editor
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What’s your thought on RSS readership vs Revenue? And what your thoughts about in-post advertising vs on-site advertising? I recently wrote about this and had a few comments, so would be good to get an expert’s opnion.
Hey thanks for the tip, I now have to go make some changes to my blog.
I think for newbie bloggers, the overposting tip is worth noting..I’ve been guilty, but managed to catch some unsubscribe requests as they were happening and ask the people directly why..Feedburner allows you to turn on this option in the settings – definitely worth a look into.
Hi,
After reading several articles about blogging, either upon the subject of monetizing (am I typing this right ?) or attracting visitors – returning visitors are the most important – or even getting subscribers, it’s easy to come to the conclusion that the dialogue is about the same.
So, I believe that what really makes a blog stand out it’s its author’s knowledge about the subject and creativity.
It’s important to write and accessible and easy reading text and why not with a bit of humour.
I also find that interacting with users, helps building a community and spread the word of mouth.
And of course that all this that I’m saying has all be said all over the net
Have a nice week,
José
I didn’t think about over posting. I was so concerned with underposting.
Do you think 2 times a day is too much?
Thanks
Excellent post! I can certainly relate to the fact of too much advertising on my blog. I can assure you, I will make some changes quick!
Keep up the good work,
James
wow this is so mysterious! I liked the story and I will share it with my friends, think they will lied it so much as I did. Indeed I gave the link to you blog to some of them and they are now your constant readers and Great post on things all blogger should know and practice. The most important (in my humble opinion). You can be a blogging maniac and spend hours everyday devoted to it, but if the content isn’t effective, then it’s a fruitless effort.
Well, i enjoyed reading your article.The 10 mistakes you mentioned here are seen on most of the blogs.
I will help all the new bloggers to make their blogs effective..
wow this is so myterious! I liked the story and I wil share it with my friends, think they will lied it so much as I did. Indeed I gave the link to you blog to some of them and they are now your constant readers and Great post on things all bloggers should know and practice. The most important (in my humble opinion). You can be a blogging maniac and spend hours everyday devoted to it, but if the content isn’t effective, then it’s a fruitless effort.