Today’s small business owners are jumping into the blogging world with both feet and making plenty of mistakes as a result. If your blog doesn’t have the traffic you expected, you may be guilty of making one of these common traffic-killing mistakes.
Bad writing
Bloggers are a dime a dozen in today’s online world, and there are several who have no writing skills. Bad grammar, spelling mistakes, overdoing caps: these types of problems are going to scare away people faster than you can get them. No one is going to share your post if it’s riddled with problems, so use your spellcheck and brush up on your comma rules.
Presenting material
A blog should be a conversation. If you’re presenting material in textbook style, people will be bored. Your tone needs to be conversational and help build a community among your readers. Even when you are presenting information, keep the tone conversational.
Over-promoting
Sure, your blog’s ultimate purpose may be to promote your product or service, but your readers aren’t there to read an advertisement. Provide something of value to your readers, then promote in a subtle way. Your readers will come back if they’re entertained or educated, but not if you’re selling to them.
Talking above your audience
Your audience consists of the people outside of your company, not those you work with. Engage that audience by talking to them. Explain terminology they might not be familiar with, write in a relatable way and know what your customers want and need. If you are using industry-specific terminology that they can’t understand, they aren’t going to be engaged.
Not having a strategy
So, you have a blog because your competitor does, but you have no idea what to do with it? Then you’re going to fail. Customers will be confused if they come to your blog one day and read about your product, then return the next day to read about your pet gerbil.
Have a strong strategy for your blog. To find that strategy, tap into your passion. What is it about your product or service that makes you excited and caused you to pursue your career in the first place? If you can use that to craft the direction of your blog, your customers will know what to expect from reading your posts.
Failing to tap into your experience
You are a successful business owner because you have experience and knowledge in a field. Use that in your blog. Rather than repeating what your competitors are saying, tap into your experience to provide something new and valuable. This will help create a loyal following for your blog.
Not using technology
Does your blog have social media buttons, RSS feeds, videos and infographics? Make the most out of the technology at your disposal to encourage traffic and social shares. Also, incorporate analytics into your back end so you can study your traffic patterns and make improvements as necessary. None of this will help if your website looks like a 90s teen’s geocities page, so go find yourself a small business Web design service and spruce up your home on the Web.
As you get out there and browse the competition, you’ll see that these seven mistakes are far too common. If you can avoid them, your blog will shine like a beacon in a vast sea of mediocrity, and you will get the readership you need. This will increase your bottom line as people come to you instead of your competition for information and purchases.
7 things you're doing wrong as a blogger
