Blogging Mistakes to Avoid as a New Blogger

I have been blogging for a few years now, and during this time, I have learned a lot.  Throughout this time, I have also made many mistakes as a blogger.  However, I’ve also learned to appreciate those mistakes and pass on the knowledge that I’ve gained from making those mistakes.  This is part of the reason why I started my Blogging Tips series on the blog.  I knew that if someone can learn from my mistakes and become a better blogger then I have accomplished my goal as a fellow blogger.

However, I’ve never put together a blog post of the top mistakes that I made as a new blogger.  So, I thought to create that post now.  I’ll go through why those topics were a mistake and how to avoid them.  Without further ado, check out my tips on blogging mistakes to avoid as a new blogger.

Have a Niche

I have dedicated a whole blog post about how to find your niche so, I’ll only cover the important details in this blog post.  Firstly, for those curious about what a niche is – it is a specific type of topic that you’ll write about on your blog (or create content about on other social media platforms).  For example, if you love traveling then you write about travel or if you love dressing up then you write about fashion.  However, as a niche, you need to be less broad and more specific.  So, for a travel blogger, you might want to start writing about budget-friendly travel or road trip travel.  Or as a fashion blogger, you may want to write about celebrity fashion looks or everyday fashion.  Thus, whatever topic you choose to write about, make sure to narrow it down and focus on a specific branch of that topic.

I didn’t have a niche in the beginning.  I was all over the place.  I was writing movie reviews and posting about recipes, etc.  Then one day a friend asked if I was going to be a food blogger (after my recipe post went live) and I said, no but I love to cook.  She told me that I should look into what exactly I wanted to have my blog focus on because it looked like I had no focus.  So I had to sit down and think about what I wanted to write about.  At that point, my main blog topics became fashion, travel, and lifestyle.  It took me some time and a reality check from a fellow blogger before I settled on a niche but I’m glad I did.

Post Consistently

The number one thing most new bloggers do is not post on a consistent schedule.  They assume that they can post whenever they like, and an audience will grow naturally.  However, reality hits quickly when new bloggers realize that you can’t post randomly.  Having a schedule keeps your audience continuing to visit your social media on the days that you post.  Your audience will know that you are posting on certain days, and this will help them to continue to come back to your social media.

Me, I did not have a consistent schedule when I first started to blog.  I would post sporadically – which is hard to believe for a lot of people since I’ve been on a consistent schedule for years.  However, I never used to post consistently.  Granted I was working full-time and a part-time graduate student when I first started blogging, so I posted when I had the chance.  However, once I got the hang of my hectic schedule and could manage my time well, I was able to post on a consistent schedule.  Also, using apps such as Later.com keep me on a schedule as well.

Social Media Promotion

As a new blogger, almost forgot that there is additional work involved after every post.  Promoting a blog post on other social media channels such as Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok, etc can help bring more traffic to your page.  Also, don’t forget to use the power of Facebook Groups – it’s an underrated social media that can drive traffic to your blog more than the other socials combined. 

When I initially started to blog, I would only write a post and publish it and that was it.  One day, I was bored on Instagram and looked up the hashtag “#MemphisBlogger”.  I realized that there was this whole community of bloggers in my little city.  So, within the next week, I created an Instagram to promote my blog posts and the rest is history!  I realized that my Instagram had so much potential to bring traffic to my blog that I was surprised I didn’t do it earlier.  In addition, I got to meet many Memphis Bloggers and this community has grown into a great support group.

Target Audience

Another common mistake that new bloggers have is not coming up with a target audience.  A target audience is essential as a blogger because you want to make sure you have an audience for your blog posts.  It’s a way to ensure that you have a particular group of people that would read the content that you put out. 

I did not have a target audience until two years into my blogging journey.  I never knew what a target audience was until I listened to a podcast for bloggers.  In one of those episodes of the podcast, a fellow blogger described the importance of a target audience.  From that day onward, I made sure to cater all my blog posts to my target audience.

Use Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of those things that I’m still learning as a blogger and one that you will also continue to learn.  For those curious about what SEO is, it’s a way to mention certain keyword searches in your blog post that can show up in a search engine such as Google.  It takes time to learn but over time, you become better and better at including keywords in your blog post.  Even though SEO is something that takes time to learn, you don’t want to skip out when you first start blogging.  If you start to use SEO from the beginning, your blog will gain traffic right from the start.

Like most bloggers, I didn’t even know what SEO was until a fellow blogger friend told me about it.  Afterward, I did tons of research, listened to podcasts about blogging, and got to learn more about it.  Then, I slowly began using SEO in my posts as well as an SEO plugin to assist me with my optimizing my key word search in my blog posts. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my blog post on mistakes to avoid as a new blogger.  These tips have helped me get better as a blogger and I hope they are helpful to you as well.  Which one of these tips is helpful for you?  Let me know in the comments below!

On a side note, I have been nominated as one of the Top 45 South Asian blogs on the web by Anuj Agarwal of FeedSpot. Show your support by checking out the post for more details! Click here for your support.

Thank you so much to all of your for your continued support on the blog! I appreciate every comment, advise, etc. This wouldn’t have been possible without my KMD lovelies. <3

Much Love,