10 Common Blog Mistakes to Avoid

The goal of a blog is to increase traffic and engage visitors. But if you notice you have a history of blogging mistakes like the ones below, you could be causing major SEO damage to your blog and your website! The good news? Catch your mistakes early and your blog (and search engine ranking) still has a chance to turnaround.

Common Blog Mistakes:

1. Blog posts without links. Link back to older posts to give past content new traffic. Embed links into keyword phrases—anchor text—to make it easier for search engine crawlers to index your site.
2. Empty or non-relevant page titles. Take time to craft a page title that will tell visitors—and search engines—exactly what type of blog you’re hosting.
3. Publishing only one post per month. Slow bloggers have a fast route to the bottom of search engine results. If Google visits your site, which it routinely does, and doesn’t see new content, it won’t visit your site as frequently and it won’t include you in the top of search results.
4. Bloggers who forget their edge. Every blogger and every business has something that sets them apart from their competition. Know what your advantage is and underscore it in your content so visitors learn right away what makes you different.
5. Not offering a blog subscription. Add a plug-in or an external e-marketing service that will allow visitors to receive new posts.
6. Having a great blog, but no social media connections. Use Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter and your personal connections to spread the word about new blog posts.
7. Bloggers who give up. Statistics show most blogs don’t make it to their one-year anniversary, which leaves stale content on the Internet for years to come that’s linked back to you—giving the impression you’re not relevant.
8. Writing blog posts in one paragraph. Use bullets and shorter paragraphs to make it easier for readers.
9. Plagiarizing. Not only is this illegal, but it won’t help your blog! Google recognizes identical content and can tell which one was first. Plagiarizing will blacklist your site and ruin your rankings.
10. Writing all posts yourself. Invite guest bloggers for extra exposure—and better yet—hire an SEO expert to craft effective blogs on your behalf.

Tags: Digital Marketing • WordPress