3 Important Mistakes that could bring “THE END” of your blog

Blogging is not only commonplace but it can also be a key component in online business success.

Why has it become such a phenomenon? No doubt the convenience plays a major role. Blogs can be easily be set up and used. Also unlike traditional website building, blogs require mostly very less technical expertise which means no fooling around with HTML and PHP codes and the like.

Blogging is that powerful tool which gives people the voice to be heard by others. On Blogs you can post your thoughts on any topic from around the world you wish and can instantly have a worldwide audience to read it. You will get to know about their opinions if they comment on it. Not only this is more interactive than the traditional website but search engines also looks at comments on your blog as fresh content.

However like everything else in life, there is a flip side of this. To make blogging work for you there are some things you need to keep in mind always which I have listed below:

1. Respecting Your Audience

Your main goal is to attract as many readers in your targeted niche to check out your blog, so try your best to avoid offending them. For example you may have a blog about politics. This is a good way to attract an audience and have spirited discussions and debates on your articles. The key is to make sure that you don’t cross that line which will make your readers feel that you are not respecting them. It’s easy in a politically charged atmosphere to let your emotions get the better of you. As the person who runs the blog you must keep a check on what’s happening. Don’t let a first-class debate collapse into name-calling and verbal abuse. By losing control of their emotions and or their comment board, a number of bloggers have wound up losing a potential loyal audience.

2. Stop Over Designing!

There are many blog layouts to choose from but do not overdo it. Your priority should always be to provide good unique content to your audience. The blog design should complement your writing not compete with it. Your text should also be clearly readable. Don’t put your content on a background that’s going to strain the eyes of your blog visitors. If you want to experiment, It’s fine but you can never go wrong by starting out with a basic design.

A Real Example:I see many blogs which are hosted on blogger platform that they have many useless things on their blog sidebars like they have a glitter text,or a scrolling bar and dozens of such scripts and widgets. And the bad thing is that they take lot of time to loadwhich many people(INCLUDES ME!) absolutely don’t like. So try avoiding it.

3. Hello? Anybody there?

Blogging is easy but one thing that separates a good blog from the rest of the pack is how often you post information on your blog. You may have been on a couple of discussion forums and heard people say they do not post to their blog if they have nothing to say. That’s all well and good but what predictably happens is the amount of time between having something to say gets longer and longer. They start out with great enthusiasm and post daily, than every few days, followed by once a week which then turns into a couple times a month. That’s a good way to lose an audience hungry for information. So try to update your blog atleast twice a week.The point is to not let your blog sit idle for long periods of time.

A suggestion for those who can’t blog due to some problem may also write a short blurb about an article you saw online and then give the link to your readers so that they can check it out. It will atleast make your readers feel that you are somewhere there.

It also does help you with the search engines who love blogs that update frequently. Since the majority of your internet traffic will come from places like the Google, Yahoo and MSN or Bing(really?) it’s best to give them what they want. I am saying this because my 46% traffic comes from search engines.

Blogging is a phenomenon that will continue to grow on and on. While it’s effortless to set up and operate never lose sight of the fact that you must respect your audience first while giving them quality frequently updated content in an easy to read format. So what’s your opinion on this article? Have you ever got close to any of this mistakes?

PRASHANT KUMAR