This is a guest contribution from Iniobong Eyo.

You’re slaving at your blog. You’re working hard. Real hard.

But things are not just going your way. You’re hardly getting any traffic to your blog, let alone comments or shares on your post.

You’ve been around for a while, but you still can’t make money from blogging. Now you’re wondering: does this even work?

You try guest posting. You can’t get published on a blog worse than yours. You can’t help but think: “Are these bloggers always this wicked or is it just me?”

Wait.

You’re not doing it right. You’re wasting precious time. You’re wasting money. And you look amateur – even to your cat.

Because unknowingly you’re sabotaging your blog and your blogging career. You’re making mistakes.

I’m a content strategist, who recently started his blog. Over the past two years, I’ve seen firsthand what works and what doesn’t from client work. Don’t feel intimidated, I still make some of these mistakes on my blog.

You know the best part?

It’s not too late to correct them.

Measure yourself against any of these mistakes below, and see how you fare. And even if you feel you’re making no mistakes, there’s always room for improvement.

Content

1. You write and wait for the audience to come

This has been around for God-knows-how-long.

Just keep posting on your blog and eventually, the world will discover you and your blog. Content is king, right?

Wrong.

It’s simply misleading. Terrific content alone will not make your blog an overnight success. To put things in perspective, tons of blog posts have gone live already today.

You’d be hard-pressed to find and read even 500 posts out of the lot.

If nobody’s reading and sharing your posts, what use is it? Spending your whole time creating content on your blog is folly.

Blogging isn’t just writing epic content. There’s got to be time for other small things too. And they add up.

But more on that later.

2. You believe you know what good content is

No you don’t. Your audience decides if your content is good or worth reading.

It’s the reason why you may spend days on a post, fully expecting it to go viral once you hit publish, but it doesn’t.

Your post hasn’t provoked emotions in your readers, provided a detailed guide to carry out a task, or given insanely useful advice.

When you have lots of eyeballs on your blog and there’s no engagement in the form of comments or social shares on your post (if you allow comments), you need to write terrific content. Your readers’ version of it that is.

Go figure.

3. You fixate on your posts’ lengths

Does it really matter how long your posts are?

It does, and it doesn’t.

You should consider the content of your post. If you can say it in 500 words, you may do so. If you can say it in 5000 words, it’s okay too. Don’t waffle on and on.

But research has shown that longer posts do better on search engines. Longer posts get shared more. Longer posts have stronger keyword potential.

So ideally, aim around 1500 words and above for your posts. In most blogging niches, with some research, you can consistently hit that mark with every post.

But that’s not possible if…

4. You believe you need to post everyday

This isn’t very popular anymore, but it deserves mention.

It takes time to create quality content. Think hours, days, or weeks.

By continually replacing the latest post, you destroy social proof. The longer a post stays on your blog as your latest post, the more exposure and interaction it gets. Few people will spend their time on yesterday’s conversation when there’s a new one today.

When you post everyday, you have less time to promote your posts, less time to plan your posts, and less time to create assets for your online business.

Spend time to plan and create your posts. Don’t post everyday. Well, except if you’re Seth Godin. 

5. You hold back good stuff on your blog

You feel your ideas are invaluable and you’d updated 2024 mobile phone number data rather write an e-book out of them, start a coaching course, or create a flagship product. Right?

Wrong.

If you’re not offering any real value on your blog, you’ll never have the loyal readers you crave. You’ll never be taken seriously. You’ll hold on to your “invaluable” ideas forever.

So how do you give your best?

Write every post as though you’re paid at least $200 for it. When your post is so valuable, people can’t help but talk about it.

You’ll think of what to sell later.

6. You do your best writing only on your blog

It’s true that many influencers do not write guest posts anymore. But some still do.

They use it to market new products, get new readers/subscribers to their blogs, and even get new clients.

If you’re just starting out, or you don’t have enough readers/subscribers yet, posting your best content on your blog is plain silly. 

Jon Morrow calls it “speaking to an empty Se efter den rigtige pris classroom.” It can be the best article ever written on the topic, but is it any use if nobody sees it?

“Write guest posts for someone else’s audience, impress the hell out of them, and siphon a portion of their readership to your own.”

– Jon Morrow

Many bloggers and online entrepreneurs america phone number have built their blogs and businesses through guest blogging. I could write a book about them.

They could never have done it if they reserved their best writing for their blogs.

It still works now, and you should guest post more than you write on your blog.

So maybe if I ever get to write that book, I’ll feature your story too.