It’ s hard to admit, but I have had at least one failed blog. I admit I made some blogging mistakes along the way 🙁

When I first started out blogging, I worked like mad on that blog.

I posted regularly. I made up fresh content. I spoke from the heart and I gave it my all.

But it failed. And I was so so so miserable.

I felt defeated and when I looked around and saw that so many others were having success with their blogs, I felt an utter and total failure.

I was ready to throw in the towel and give it all up.

Blogging certainly seemed a lot harder at the time and I just couldn’ t figure it out.

After working on that blog for a whole year, I asked myself,

WHY AM I NOT MAKING ANY MONEY WITH MY BLOG?

When I stopped to think about why my blog was not making money like other mummy bloggers, I began to see what I had been doing wrong with my blog.

 So, I started all over again and I changed the way that I blogged.

That’ s when I realised that Blogging isn’ t as difficult as it seems and it is about making connections and getting eyeballs on pages.

If you’ ve not started your blog yet (then get hold of my step-by-step guide here)

I started to put into action these tools and resources which helped me to start to see growth in my blog.

Or if you want to go further and learn how to build a blog into a business that earns you money from home then you will want to get this FREE Workshop Series

This post includes affiliate links, meaning at no extra cost to you, I might make a small commission if you decide to buy something that I share with you.  

Sharing is caring right and I’ m going to spill the beans and tell all the commonly made mistakes that new bloggers make and bloggers who aren’ t making any money make, because I’ ve been there and it sucked.

You see, I made these very same mistakes and want you to avoid doing the same thing with your blog.

7 Blogging Mistakes I Made as a Newbie Blogger

 

1. Using Free Domains or Free Hosting  

If you’ re using free blogging platforms (you know the ones, squarespace, wix, weebly) this is the first path to bloggers death!!

When I first started, I tried some of these as I thought this would make it easier to get my blog up and running quickly. But I didn’ t know that using these platforms gave you so  much less control over your blog.

If you are using one of these platforms then you need to be ready to make some changes or maybe even start again.   (Sorry — hard truth).

If you are wondering why using free blogging platforms is a bad idea, here’ s a few to get started.

1. No one will take you seriously.
2. It does not look professional.
3. No one is going to trust you. How can you start to claim you know what you are doing if you are using those methods.
4. You will not be able to monetise those BLOGS with ads or affiliate marketing.
5. You have no control and these companies can shut you down at any time and you could be left blogless and maybe clueless as to how that happened.

I could go on and on but you don’ t have the time for all that right, cos you need to be starting that money making blog.

Let’ s bust those myths once and for all, that you need to be able to code in order to have a website. Truth — you don’ t!!

In fact the tools and resources to get started with your own self hosted blog have improved so much since I started over 10 years ago.

If you can drag and drop — then you’ ve already got half of the skills you will need.

Hosting is very cheap so don’ t cut corners when you are setting up your first blog.

Here’ s what I use to host my domains.

And it is easier than you think to start a blog.

So start your blog the right way, don’ t scrimp on the pennies if you’ re in this to make some money.

Let’ s face it who can’ t do with some extra money to cover those unexpected expenses.

2. Deciding on your blogging niche and sticking to it  

Newbie bloggers make this mistake all the time. They are keen and just want to start blogging. They blog about everything and anything.

I know because I was one of them and I am guilty!! I have to laugh when I look back and read some of my earlier attempts. My blog was all over the show.

It looked like I wanted to share every  random thought and idea about everything with everyone. (and I mean everything, when I look back I can see just how all over the place I was with that blog)

Guess what? (You may not be surprised to learn this)

Readers just weren’ t that interested in my day to day musings and my endless rambling on. It’ s not really that much of a surprise as I look back on it now.

You need to work out your ideal blogging niche  and keep your blog focused.

Think about it, if you are looking for a pair of shoes and the website brings up dog leads, you not going to be interested right.

Just like if someone is looking for information about how to start up a blog and the site has content about organising your wardrobe. There’ s an instant disconnect.

Your blog content has to be relevant to what your audience is searching for.

Here’ s a few things to think about that will help you when deciding on what your blog niche should be:

Ask Yourself These Questions before starting your blog

Does it interest you?

Let’ s face it, will you be passionate about pink hats and scarves in a few years time?. (if that’ s your niche and no judgment here). And still be able to talk about your niche with passion.

If you are not interested in the topic, then you will run out of steam and will soon get bored and give up.

What problem are you solving?

Think about who your blog is for?

How would they benefit from coming to your site?

My site The Digital Mum, is about helping mums create a life they love using their passions.

My blog teaches online skills and how to make money when you gain these skills. These are the topics that I will be blogging about.

These are the problems I am trying to solve, in order to help women who want to stay home and earn an income start their own business from home.

 Is it a profitable niche?

 

Are people searching for your blog niche?

Is it solving real everyday problems?

Stop now and ask yourself, what problem am I solving.

Now write that down in one simple sentence. You will need to refer to this often and make sure that everything that you are creating and sharing will be answering that problem.

You need to produce relevant and consistent content that solves that problem.

Your blog will need to have relevant content that helps people looking to solve their problems.

So you will need to spend time creating this. (I didn’ t say it wouldn’ t take time).

The more content you create the more you will come across as an expert in your niche.

So rather than blogging about every idea that pops into your head, make sure that your blog is focused on your blog niche.

3 Not Growing Your Email List  

I know you’ ve heard this before and it sounds rather dull and outdated, but this is still one of the fastest ways to grow your traffic and your income.

If you are not collecting subscribers then your blog is going to fail (sorry, I’ m here to give you the plain truths)

Let me explain, if your ideal reader comes to you site, they like what they see, and they think I’ ll come back to this blog later.

Chances are they will either forget to bookmark your site,

can’ t remember your site even existed the minute they leave

which mean they are not going to come back to read new blog posts. However well intentioned they may have been.

They are simply not going to remember you after they have left without a way to trigger this for them.

This is where email lists come in.

But if you want to seriously grow your blog, you will need an email marketing platform, that will help you to rocket your blog growth.

I’ ve used Aweber and still continue with them and now they have made it so easy for new bloggers with their Free offering for your first 500 subscribers. I’ d call that a great leg up and with helping you on your way to blogging sucess.

Find out how to get started with Aweber For Free Today

4. Not Blogging Consistently — Getting Caught in a Stop Start Pattern

This was an area that I failed on. Because one day, I would be inspired and write my blog post easily and the next day I would be feeling stuck with what to write.

I fell into this stop start pattern. I was not blogging consistently.

This can hurt your blog traffic. This can hurt your rankings in Google.

Afterall, why would Google want to show your site when there is nothing new to show? Or if there is inconsistent content coming from your site?.

You need a blog plan for your blog content.

Your blog posts need to flow easily between the topics.

I use a calendar to help me with my planning, there are a few out there, I have used  Asana but I’ ve since switched to Trello.

It is good to try and have a 3 month blog plan for your content. This will help you be more organised with getting new content drafted, edited and published.

See my 3 Blog Content Method for making sure you never run out of blog content.

There is nothing worse than sitting down and not knowing what to write.

Or where to start for the day.

You will be wasting those valuable moments.

I know that time is probably precious to you. Maybe you are even trying to build a blog whilst your little one is napping.

So sitting around wondering what to work on is going to be frustrating. You will feel overwhelmed and maybe even end up giving up.

If you haven’ t worked out a plan for your blog then you need to slow down, think of what your audience needs to know to solve their problem, then go and plan that out for your blog content.

 

5. Not Having a Social Media Marketing Strategy.  

Whether you love or hate social media, you need to make it part of your marketing plan.

Choose one or two social media platforms. Really focus on those, rather than trying to spread yourself thin over too many social media strategies.

I missed this one for so long. I started on Facebook but to be honest I really did not enjoy Facebook.

It took me so long to get going with my social media marketing!!

Not having a social media marketing strategy for so long was a huge mistake. I just let starting using social media lapse and lapse for too long.

I can only hang my head in Pinterest shame that I had not started on it much sooner. I felt drawn to Pinterest social media from when it first came out as I am a visual person and liked that it was creative.

I realise now what a mistake I made in not starting with this sooner.

This was because not only is Pinterest a great way to grow your email list, but it is also a search engine so it can only help your ranking of your blog. I’ m really happy with the changes I made to my Pinterest Social Media.

I know you probably thought that Pinterest was for recipes and fashion but it’ s so much more than that.

Keep this site bookmarked because I will be sharing How I set up my Pinterest Account and How This Grew My Blog Traffic in the first month.

6. Not Using Google Analytics  

I missed this one as well I’ m doubly ashamed to say. I hated all that technical stuff and frankly I thought that analytics didn’ t apply to me.

As a newbie I had no idea what I was doing then with my blog.

I didn’ t set up my Google Analytics as I thought it was all too technical to get set up and I skipped over that step.

But this was a huge blogging mistake.

This meant I didn’ t know which blog posts were getting traffic.

I’ ve since learnt that there are easy way to set up your blog analytics.

I used G Site to get this set up, just go to Google Analytics to get G Site set up, it’ s Free.

When you work out your most popular blog posts, you will be able to promote those.

You will be able to write more great content that your audience wants to read.

How To Check Which Are Your Most Viewed Posts

Go to your Google Analytics and then simply click on Behavior>Site Content>All pages.

You will get a list of your most popular blog posts.

Now you know which posts your audience is interested in.

You can use your social media strategy to gain more traffic.

In Pinterest I create at least 3-5 pins for each blog post. I modify the title a bit and add them to Pinterest to gain even more traffic on my blog.

Since implementing my Pinterest Strategy, I have seen traffic to my blog grow and I will be writing some blog posts about getting your Pinterest Profile set up and how to gain more traffic using Pinterest.

 

7. Not Setting Blogging Goals  

You will need to set goals for your blog.

I know you’ ve heard this before. It seems simple and obvious. But if you don’ t know what you want to achieve with your blog how will you get there?

Setting goals for your blog will help you to stay motivated and focused.

Work out how much time you have to spend on your blog,( even part time blogs can make money). If you set clear goals for what you want to achieve in the time that you have available to you, you are more likely to make a success of your blog.

Ask yourself where do you want to see your blog grow in the next three months, six months and maybe if you are a forward planner in a years’ time.

These goals may be simple such as writing a set number of blog posts, or posting twice a week for the next three months.

Make sure that you can achieve these goals and that they are realistic for your schedule.

Or maybe you want to earn enough to pay your bills, pay down debt or maybe just save a little more each month.

Whatever your goal is for starting your blog, you will need to break these down into achievable tasks to stop the overwhelm hitting you.

Let Summarise Common Mistakes that New Bloggers make.

If you skimmed to the bottom, let me summarise everything in this blog post for you :

7 Blogging Mistakes and How You Can Avoid Making Them Too

1. Using Free Domains or Free Hosting
2. Not Deciding on your Blog Niche and Sticking to It
3. Not Growing Your Email List
4. Not Blogging Consistently — Getting Caught in a Stop Start Pattern
5. Not Having a Social Media Marketing Strategy
6. Not Using Google Analytics
7. Not Setting Blogging Goals

Happy Blogging

The Digital Mum spreading the word about the Digital World

Because there is another way!