10 Common Blogging Mistakes and How to Fix Them
As a blog writer with over five years of experience, I know how challenging blogging can be. In this article, I'll share the most common blogging mistakes, including not writing for your target audience or implementing search engine optimization (SEO). I'll also discuss how you can fix these mistakes to ensure your blog is helping you meet your goals.
Below, you'll learn the best blog practices for 2024 with helpful blogging tips and resources. I'll also answer common questions about writing blog posts that drive the results you want.
1. Not writing for your target audience
When you’re writing your articles, who are you speaking to? One of the most common blogging mistakes is trying to speak to anyone who might read your article. However, if you try writing for everyone, you speak to no one.
Readers want to feel like the content is written specifically for them. This helps them connect with the content, which inspires them to keep reading.
Solution: Keep your audience front of mind
You need to identify your target audience and keep them front of mind the entire time you’re writing. You can do this by asking yourself the following questions:
What is my article about?
What is the goal of my article?
Who am I trying to reach?
If you’re blogging to market specific offers, who are your offers for?
What problems might your target audience have, and what solutions might they be looking for?
2. Getting off-topic
When a reader lands on one of your blog articles, they expect to read about a specific topic based on the article’s title. What’s the keyword phrase or topic you’re writing about? Stick to this throughout your blog post.
For example, if a reader lands on a blog titled “Best Family-Friendly Vacation Destinations,” they likely don’t want to read about romantic experiences. Instead, the entire article should be about family-friendly locations and activities.
Solution: Focus on meeting user intent
User intent is a reader’s purpose of searching a topic and reading an article. Every article you write should focus on a specific topic or intent, and the entire article should discuss that.
Not only do you want to thoroughly cover the topic, but you also want to be mindful of the reader's end goal. When readers search for a topic or click on a blog article, their intent is usually informational or transactional. Informational intent is for those who want to learn about a topic, while transactional intent is for those who want to buy something.
Here’s an example of how this might look for a skincare brand and two different articles:
Understand user intent and connect it to the topic and content
3. Not optimizing for search engines
Google search is one of the most effective ways to drive traffic to your blog. When someone goes to Google and searches for a phrase, relevant content will appear on the search engine results pages, as you see below when I search the keyword phrase “easy skincare routine”
Keyword phrases are what people search for on Google
Of course, your primary goal when writing blog articles should be writing helpful content. However, that’s not all you need if you want to show up on Google. SEO helps your blog articles rank on Google so your target audience can find your content.
While you can also share links to your blog articles on social media platforms or with your email list, many marketers say website and blog SEO drive the most return on investment. The more traffic opportunities, the better.
Solution: Use SEO techniques
Many SEO techniques can help you optimize your content for search. Learning them takes time, but the key is starting. The more you write blogs and track the results, which you can do through your website's analytics feature, the more you'll see what works well and what doesn't.
Some of the most important SEO strategies include:
Keywords - Every blog article should target a primary keyword related to your topic. Keyword research is necessary to find the exact keyword phrases people search for on Google. I use Keysearch for keyword research, and you can use code KSDISC for 20% off if you decide to try it.
Meta title & description - These show up on the search engine results page for your blog article. They should both include your keyword phrase and tell the reader what the article is about. Your title should be about 55 characters and evoke emotion. Your description should be about 150 words, and can answer the query in a quick summary.
Headers - You can break up your text with headers or headings. No section should be more than 300 words without a new header. Every article should have one header 1 (H1), which is the title. H2s and H3s further organize the content.
Helpful content - Google’s automated ranking systems are designed to share helpful content that benefits readers. Your content should meet user intent so that the reader feels satisfied with the article and doesn’t need to find additional resources.
4. Sharing text only
Have you ever become disengaged or confused when reading a lot of text? Blog articles that are too text-heavy usually don't perform as well as those with visuals.
Several studies have shown that the majority of people are visual learners. Visuals also help keep readers engaged.
Solution: Include relevant graphics, videos, and pictures
No matter what topics you write about, use visuals that help keep readers' attention, as I’ve done in this article. You might also use visuals that can further help readers understand the topic.
While you don’t want to use too many generic stock images, you might use one or two that the reader might connect with. You can also use graphics, screenshots, videos, or photos relevant to the topic.
Here are some resources for including finding visuals for blog articles:
YouTube - Clip a relevant part of a video to embed in your article (most website builders have an easy embedding option)
Canva - Create graphics related to your article (for example, this article has a graphic showing how to fix common blogging mistakes)
You can also use personal photos if they’re relevant to your blog article.
5. Not using calls to action
Not only do you want to include internal linking (links to other pages on your site), but calls to action are also necessary. Calls to action tell your readers what to do next – usually at the end of your article.
Blogs should primarily focus on sharing helpful information with readers rather than on selling. However, you also want to leave your readers with an action to take when they finish reading.
Solution: Tell your readers next steps to take
At the end of your article, share a call to action relevant to the topic, and that can further support the reader.
Calls to action don't have to be pushy. For example, a common call to action I share at the end of my articles about website SEO and blogging is: "If you're interested in learning more about SEO blogging, check out my SEO blogging course." This tells the reader what they can do next if they want more.
Possible calls to action can direct readers to:
Your online shop or a specific product
A service(s) page
Another blog article on your site
Your contact or scheduling page (usually for service providers)
An email list sign-up
A free resource to encourage readers to sign up for your email list
6. Not editing and proofreading
Writing is the key piece of creating a blog article, but editing and proofreading are also essential blog writing steps. This lets you polish your article to ensure it’s helpful, easy to read, and error-free.
When writing your article, it’s okay to let all your thoughts out. Sometimes, the messier, the better because you’re covering all the bases. But editing and proofreading let you clean up the content.
Solution: Edit and proofread with a fresh mind and eyes
Writing and editing are two distinct tasks and should be treated as such. The best way to do this is by editing and proofreading with a fresh mind and eyes. After you write a blog article, take a break from it and come back to edit and proofread.
When you’re ready to edit, you can use an editing tool like Grammarly. I prefer Grammarly Premium, which makes it easy to edit a blog article in a few minutes. That said, all of Grammarly’s suggestions won’t make sense for your article, so use your best judgment.
After editing, read over your article to check for the following:
Clarity - Is all content clear and easy to understand?
Flow - Does the article flow well? Are headers properly formatted?
SEO - Is your article SEO-friendly?
Relevance - Is all content relevant and helpful?
When your article is almost ready, do a final proofread. Ideally, you'll proofread out loud or use a tool like NaturalReaders, which reads the content aloud for you. Proofreading aloud lets you read the article from your audience’s perspective and catch any final improvement needs.
7. Not including unique, reliable information
Google's automated ranking systems are designed to show helpful, reliable information to its users. However, one of the most common blogging mistakes writers make is writing subpar content, often almost identical to content already on the web.
While it’s okay to look at what’s already online for inspiration, your content should include unique, reliable information readers can’t easily find elsewhere. This is also why human-written content gets more traffic than AI-generated content.
Solution: Use examples, subject matter experts (SMEs), and data
Take a few minutes to look at the content already ranking high for your keyword for inspiration. Then, take this up a notch by using the following to create unique content:
Examples - Share relevant examples your readers can relate to. For example, I share a specific platform in the point below.
SMEs - Find SMEs on a platform like Qwoted to share expert insights in your article. Give your source(s) credit and link to their professional About page or bio.
Data - Include relevant data from original sources to demonstrate the importance of a topic.
8. Blogging inconsistently
About half of the people who blog say finding time for it is their biggest struggle. With so many other priorities, making time for blogging can be difficult, which is why the majority of my clients book my blogging services.
For blogging to work, you must post enough content so that Google can understand your website and consider it a helpful resource. Consistency is also important because it shows Google and your audience that your site is relevant.
Solution: Create a reasonable schedule and stick to it
While the best blogging frequency depends on your goals, niche, and bandwidth or budget, most bloggers publish one to four blog articles monthly.
If you’re DIYing your blog, the key is creating a frequency and schedule you can reasonably stick to unless you can hire someone like myself to write blogs for you.
Ideally, you’ll commit to at least one monthly blog article. One article usually takes just under four hours to write, but it could take a bit longer or less.
In my SEO Blogging Course, I discuss how to make time for blogging, and I also share this content planning template:
Blog content planning template
9. Forgetting about old blog articles
With Google’s Helpful Content Update in late 2023, many websites saw a drop in traffic. One reason for this was outdated content.
Many people with blogs only focus on creating new content while forgetting about existing articles. However, outdated articles can negatively impact your website's SEO and traffic.
Solution: Update content for relevancy
Google likes to rank updated content, so revising old articles at least once yearly is necessary.
The following tips can help you maintain or improve your article’s performance when making updates:
Do keyword research to ensure your article is targeting an SEO-friendly keyword (Keysearch is my favorite keyword tool, and the code KSDISC offers 20% off)
Google the keyword phrase and look at the top-ranking pages to see if your article is missing any key details
Update any outdated content, such as specific years (e.g., best X of 2024) and studies or other sources older than three years
Fix any broken links, which a broken link checker can help with
Add any new information that may be helpful to the reader
Make sure your calls to action are relevant to your current goals
10. Not driving traffic to your blog
Why invest time into blogging if people aren’t visiting your website? Many bloggers report difficulty getting blog traffic, but there are several ways to increase your traffic.
The most common ways to drive traffic to your blog include:
Optimizing your articles for SEO to rank on Google
Creating Pinterest pins that link to your blog articles
Sharing your blog articles with your social media followers (e.g., Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, etc.)
Adding blog links to your email newsletter
Solution: Have 2+ marketing strategies
Ideally, you'll have at least two strategies for driving traffic to your blog. I recommend mastering one approach and then adding another.
It’s best to market your blog on platforms where you and your audience prefer to spend time. I primarily use website SEO, email, and LinkedIn marketing, as these are the ones I enjoy the most and can reach my target market.
Helpful Blogging Tips for Beginners
Overcome common blogging mistakes with these helpful tips for beginners.
Understand your audience - Know what your target audience wants to read about. Consider problems they may be experiencing and solutions they’re looking for, and write articles on these topics.
Write helpful content - All of your blog content should be helpful for your readers. When someone finishes reading an article on your blog, they should feel satisfied with their experience.
Learn about SEO - SEO can help you rank on Google and organically reach a wider audience. SEO blogging is a mostly evergreen marketing strategy because once you publish an article, you can set it and forget it aside from updating it once a year or so.
Be patient - Results from blogging take time, but it’s worth it if you want to create a sustainable marketing strategy for long-term success. With two or more high-quality, SEO-friendly blogs per month, you should see results within six to nine months.
Common Blogging Mistakes: FAQs
Make the most of your blogging efforts with answers to common questions below.
Why do many bloggers fail?
Some bloggers don't meet their goals because they lack time, motivation, understanding, or patience. Successful blogs require putting in the time and effort to understand how blogging works and implement strategies. You also need to be patient because blogging can take up to a year to drive results.
To overcome these challenges, you need to make blogging work for you and your goals. Choose a convenient blogging frequency and schedule. Use this time to learn how to blog and implement what you're learning. And don't forget to celebrate all the wins – big and small!
Why is blogging so hard?
Blogging can be difficult if you don’t have a passion or understanding for it. Give blogging a good chance for at least six months.
If you find blogging too difficult, you can consider hiring help. I offer done-for-you, done-with-you, and DIY blogging support and love helping businesses increase their website traffic and conversions.
What makes a bad blog post?
Bad blog articles are those that aren’t helpful or well-written. Your blog articles should help readers by meeting user intent. When someone clicks on your blog article, the content should deliver on the topic and leave the reader feeling satisfied.
Writing easy-to-read, polished content is also necessary for a good and effective blog article. Format your article well with headers, lists, and short paragraphs. Use Grammarly to edit your article and proofread it to ensure it reads well before publishing.
Common Blogging Mistakes: Conclusion
I hope you found this article helpful and feel confident about improving your blogging efforts. Blogging can be challenging, but once you get the hang of it, it can be a sustainable marketing strategy for long-term success.
If you’d like more blogging support so that you can reach your goals, contact me or check out my services and resources.
