Archive for the ‘Blogging Mistakes’ Category:
Blogs On Shared Web Hosts: Right Idea?
Whether you are a professional blogger or have just started with your own blog, you have probably had to deal with hosting issues in the past. Web Hosting is one of those tricky issues that can determine the success or failure of your site. You can work on your content all day, but if your website is down when your visitors pay you a visit, you are not going to get too much value out of your web host. Unfortunately, choosing the right web host is not an easy process. There are plenty of companies that promise you a lot of things but don’t deliver on their promise. In the past, I have talked about how you should go about choosing a web host for your blog, so there is no reason to address that again. But even if you do your best to research all the web hosting services around, there is still a chance you can sign up with the wrong partner.
When you start your blog, there is a good chance you are not going to get a lot of traffic right from the start. So the idea of signing up for a shared web hosting service can be intriguing. After all, nobody minds paying $5 a month for one of these services. But many bloggers feel hesitant when it comes to signing up for a VPS or dedicated server account. Those accounts are going to cost you significantly more money. Of course, there is a reason for that.
Shared web hosting services will work fine for new blogs. As long as you are not getting a decent amount of traffic, your shared web host should be handle your traffic. But there are many limitations on these accounts. It’s so easy to hit those limits with bad plugins or scripts on your server. What happens when you hit those limits? Your site could crash or become so slow. That’s the easiest way you can lose your loyal visitors as no one likes to wait a minute for your site to load up, no matter how good your content is.
Blogging Mistakes Everyone Should Avoid
The field of blogging is not that new, but as more people enter the field of blogging, there is a good chance you can witness more mistakes being made in this field. Blogging is more than just about writing good content. It’s about building trust, forming a relationship with readers, networking with other bloggers, and giving readers something that would make them want to come back for more. There are a lot of things that could go wrong for a newbie blogger. You can follow the best blogging tips blogs on the Internet, but anyone who’s new to the field of blogging is susceptible to making dumb moves. As someone who’s gone through the process a few years ago, I can tell you that some lessons are better learned the hard way. You can always avoid mistakes that others have made, but every-one’s going to make mistakes, and anyone’s goal should be to come out of it all a better blogger.
Not all blogging mistakes affect your blog the same way. Some can devastate your business and rock your world. Others can be mended or forgotten. The mistakes that I am going to discuss in this post are a bit tougher to get over. Those small mistakes can be dealt with and learned from. But huge blunders could take away your credibility and kill your business in its infancy. Here are a few blogging mistakes that you should avoid at all costs:
- Giving up: you heard it right. If you are not willing to risk a bit to keep your blog going, you shouldn’t be in this business. If you are truly passionate about your blog, you shouldn’t give up on it all so fast. Nobody has won anything by giving up too early. I am not just talking about giving up physically. Giving up mentally is just as devastating. It’s easy to get discouraged as a blogger, but you should try to stay positive if you want to succeed.
- Negative Partners: if you have started a blog with a few partners, you want to make sure they are the right ones to take your blog to the next level. A group that is not well-balanced and on the same page has no chance of succeeding. Don’t forget to encourage your partners to stay positive. Negative partners are tough to deal with.
- Winging It: running a successful blog takes work. You can’t expect to cut corners and become a successful blogger. You can’t just wing it when it comes to developing good content for your readers.
- Lack of Research: if you are one of those people who don’t like to spend time researching for your blog posts, then you are leaving yourself open to ridicule and loss of credibility. A lot of new bloggers focus more on writing more blog posts than creating well-researched ones. Quality is more important here.
- Breaking The Rules: you may be a new blogger, but that doesn’t mean you can get away with breaking written and unwritten rules. Always give your sources credit. If you take an image from another site, always ask for permission and give credit. That way you show your peers that you are serious about this business and you won’t have to deal with angry bloggers and lawsuits.
- Inappropriate Tone: this is really tricky. As a blogger, only you can figure out what the right tone is on your blog. But do not accuse others on your blog without having evidence to back your claims up.
- Fighting with Readers: your readers can be tough on your posts. They might insult you or call you names. You can always get into fights with them and even get defensive. But the best way to go is by being professional enough to ignore the naysayers. It’s a lose lose situation when you get in fights with your readers.
- Not Listening: as a blogger, you should take time to listen to what your readers have to say about you and your posts. You should also take time to communicate with your readers through comments to get a feel about what they think about your content.
- Deceptive Practices: every blogger wants to make money online from her work. But don’t use deceptive practices to get people to buy from your sponsors. Also, don’t try to present your community as something it is not. You shouldn’t make up fake comments or use Blackhat tactics to monetize your community. It’s just not worth it.
- Getting too Attached: don’t get too attached to your work. Not everyone’s going to like your work. Don’t for a second take things personal. Try to listen and improve. There is always room for improvement. Besides, nobody has been hurt by constructive criticism.
Building a killer blog is all about building trust and credibility with your readers. Not doing your research or insulting your readers is the fastest way to lose the trust you have earned. So think twice before pulling something “off the wall” on your blog. Building trust takes a long time. Losing it only takes one or two post.
Never Put All Your Eggs In One Basket
We have all heard the saying before: “never put all your eggs in one basket.” And boy does it apply to all of us bloggers. Blogging is like any other business. There are going to be risks and rewards involved along the way. Blogging can be hard at first. You have to do hard work to build a community and develop a following. There are a lot of things that you need to get right to become somebody important in the blogging world. But once you get there, it’s so easy to take things for granted. That happens to a lot of people. You just forget what it takes to get to the top. You start slacking off and don’t stay on the top of your industry. And maybe your success gets to you and makes you feel better than you really are. But sometimes you do almost everything right and still lose your edge as your industry moves on and leaves you behind. That’s when you need to have a real strategy to bounce back and get back to the top.
As a blogger, you should understand the risks involved with blogging in your specific niche. Let’s say your blog is about HD-DVDs. Now that the technology is dead, how are you going to make a living off of blogging? I am sure there are still disgruntled HD-DVD buyers who could be interested in your blog. But it’s an unfortunate situation to be involved in. You should always aspire to have a real backup plan to fall back on when things go awfully wrong. If you put all your efforts behind one project and stop learning and innovating, you are going to lose in the long run almost every time.
Here are a few ways you can leave yourself and business open to a disaster:
- Blog: it’s OK to have only one blog and focus all your time and effort on it. But you should always have a backup plan to fall on. You want to have other ways to keep putting food on your table just in case your industry passes you by. You should follow your industry news at all times to make sure you see the curve-balls that are coming your way. Those folks who got burned when HD-DVD went out of business could probably see it coming if they were following the news. I don’t recommend having 100 blogs just to protect yourself. But make sure you have a backup plan to keep your business going even through tough times.
- Revenue: so you have built a blog and used Amazon Associates Program to help you monetize your work. That’s all fine and dandy. That doesn’t mean you should stop testing other revenue sources. If there is anything I have learned from the recent events in North Carolina and New York is that you should put too much hope in a single affiliate program. If Amazon, which has the best affiliate program around, is willing to cut its affiliates in a flash, you should be worried.
- Staff: have you heard of too-value-to-lose staff members? Let’s say you have a programmer that does everything for your business. What if he/she decides that they don’t want to work with you anymore? That’s why you should always have a few other contacts handy just in case. Your projects won’t wait for your programmer to change her mind, so don’t become over-dependent.
There are many other areas that you should be concerned about and plan for ahead of time. This is not rocket science but risk management 101. You don’t want to leave yourself open to unwanted risk. Blogging about a topic that could disappear from the face of the earth is not such a smart idea. Using a content management system that doesn’t have a certain future may not be that great of a decision. Nor is relying on one part of your business to make a living. You should always have options to avoid disasters. It’s not just smart. It’s essential.
The Wrong Way To Promote Affiliate Products On Your Blog
Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make money on your blog. You put a lot of time to research and write your blog posts, so the last thing you want to do is look for a job to supplement your income just because you are not monetizing your blog. Affiliate programs provide you with a great opportunity to provide value to your readers and make some money on your blog as well [the key here being providing value to your audience]. Just like anything in life, where there is an opportunity, there are pitfalls. You can’t just expect to post affiliate links to your blog and expect people to use them to earn your money. Your audience is not interested in how much money you are going to make. Your visitors are more concerned with what you have to say and what value you can provide them with. It’s not about you. It’s about them!
Affiliate Marketing Mistakes for Bloggers
It’s so easy to get carried away when you are making money from affiliate marketing. Maybe you are just struggling to make your monthly income goals. Maybe you need money to start that new project. It’s so easy to be tempted to push products that maybe are not that great but earn you nice commission checks. And your audience will certainly realize that you mean no harm, right? Wrong! Promoting products on your blog without testing them first is one of the biggest mistakes you can ever make in your blogging career. You may get lucky once in a while but if you promote a disastrous product, you are going to lose all your credibility with your audience. And don’t start promoting products that don’t provide any value to your readers. Your audience will see through you and leave you in a blink of an eye.
Sometimes you have the best interest of your audience in mind but you just make a bad move with good intentions. Whatever the case, it’s better to be honest with your audience and let them know what you are up to. Your audience will appreciate your honesty, and you may even earn more trust. What you don’t want to do is make these 5 mistakes:
- Promote useless products: you should always consider what your audience may deem useful and try to promote those products. You should never promote a product just because you are out of blogging ideas or want to make some quick cash.
- Promote untested products: don’t ever promote a product that you have not tested. Some top marketers have had to apologize just days after promoting a product they hadn’t tested. You won’t look good if you have to apologize for such a big mistake.
- Try to keep manufacturers happy at all costs: sometimes a manufacturer may send you a product to test. You may even get to keep the product for yourself. That doesn’t mean you should go easy on them. Your audience is not stupid. It will figure out what you are up to if you keep writing rosy reviews for all kinds of products on your blog. If a product is terrible, don’t hesitate to talk about its flaws.
- Be Sneaky: don’t be sneaky. I have seen marketers who promote affiliate products and get a lot of clicks by telling their readers that their lives will be over unless they click. I personally rather put all the facts on the table and let my readers decide whether they want to take advantage.
- Promote too many products: you want to make some money. Who doesn’t? But if you have too many affiliate products on your site, you are essentially not doing your blog justice. Don’t forget that variety is what keeps your readers interested in coming back for more. Besides, you don’t want to give you audience the indication that you are in it for the wrong reasons.
Ultimately, you should be more concerned about providing value than making quick cash when it comes to blogging. Once you build your traffic up by providing solid content on a consistent basis, you are going to make money one way or another. Don’t sacrifice your credibility and earned trust by getting greedy.
The Truth About Blogging and Affiliate Marketing – Part I
People are losing their jobs these days, and everywhere you look, you see good folks who are desperate to find a new job or start a new business. Blogging is assumed to be one of the best ways to make money online. It looks all so easy when you are on the outside, and the numbers that people tell you can be mind blowing. After all, if Darren Rowse makes 6 figures each and every year, it should be easy to do, right? In reality, for every one successful blogger you can point to thousands of bloggers who are not making enough money to even pay their bills. And to be honest, you can tell when someone is getting desperate. If you have followed a blog for a long time, and you see its author doing more reviews than usual, they are probably making money out of those reviews or running out of ideas. It’s not that hard to find affiliate links these days. Any link that comes with wacky characters with the words ref, aff, or anything like that is probably an affiliate link. In reality, there is nothing wrong with making money from affiliate products right on your blog. But you got to make sure you do it right.
Your readers are not stupid. They understand that you need to make money from your blog to keep it going. It’s not just about making money online, but you’ve got to account for your business expenses as well. So, if you have to make money from affiliate products, so be it. Just make sure it doesn’t affect your judgment. You don’t want to recommend a product just because it earns you a lot of money. You should recommend a product ONLY if you have tried it and can vouch for its quality.
A lot of bloggers have tried to pull a sneaky one on their readers. They use cloaked links and even try to hide their affiliate links. You may get away with it for a while, but your readers are going to find out sooner rather than later that you are trying to make money and trick them in the process. There is a certain stigma around promoting affiliate products on a blog, but as long as you are honest about it, you are going to have more success and your readers appreciate your honesty as well. Here are a few ways to disclose your affiliate links and be honest with your readers:
- Direct Disclosure: you can always tell people that the links you are sharing with them are affiliate links. Top bloggers often put “(aff)” next to their affiliate links. That way you show people that you are being honest with them.
- Indirect Disclosure: some top bloggers disclose their affiliate marketing policy on their “about me” page. Your “about me” page is a great place to share your secrets and tell your users how you go about reviewing products. If you have to hide your links for security reasons, make sure you disclose that as well.
- Options: you can also stay on the safe side and give people two options. An affiliate link next to a direct link. You can then try to persuade your readers to use your affiliate links by providing value to your readers. This is probably the most honest and convenient way to do this, but not every-one’s going to reward you for your efforts even if you provide them with a ton of value. People often get confused when you give them more than one option, so keep that in mind before giving people too many options.
You can also choose not to use affiliate links at all. But not everyone can afford to do that. Whatever you do, you want to make sure you disclose all the details behind your dealings. Just remember that your readers are not stupid. They can see through your actions. So don’t ever recommend a product just because you are paid to do so. That’s the best way to kill your blog.
32 Signs You Are Out of Blogging Ideas
Blogging is like everything else in life. When you are just getting started with it, you can’t get enough of it. No obstacle seems to high. And no challenge seems impossible. But once you have written a few hundred posts, things are going to get real interesting. You can think of your blog as your own Web show. You are the producer, and you need to constantly come up with content that your readers want to consume. If you can’t, then it’s curtains for you and your blog. As long as you can find ways to convey value to your readers, you can expect to keep your readership. The problem is, after a few hundred posts, it’d be hard to come up with topics you haven’t talked about already. If your niche is broad enough, you can always find new topics to tackle. But if you have focused on a narrow niche, your job is even tougher.
There are three kinds of bloggers in this situation. The first group have no idea how to come up with new ideas in their current niche, so they start broadening their blog topic and tackle more issues on their blogs. Some even find new angles to look at old topics. That way, they still keep their readers satisfied. The second group give up completely and try other things (maybe those get rich in 20 seconds schemes). The others understand the urgency of providing value to their readers, but have no idea how. These guys start losing the plot and lose their readers in the process.
Not sure which group you belong to? Here is a tip. You are out of blogging ideas if you:
- talk about completely unrelated things on your blog.
- find weather discussions very interesting.
- complain about the previous night’s episode of lost.
- dedicate a whole week to dancing with the stars.
- change the date of your older posts to make them look like new posts.
- rewrite your old posts without adding anything new.
- write a new post only to find out it’s almost identical to an old post.
- dedicate a week to user comments.
- keep slacking off and post less frequently.
- keep taking vacation.
- check other blogs to find out how you can copy their ideas.
- post PLR articles directly to your blog.
- keep talking about politics on a non-political blog.
- have too many guest posts.
- keep talking about twitter but add no value.
- keep complaining about Facebook’s new interface.
- try to create controversy by talking about art vs. science.
- talk about your traffic accident for weeks.
- make up your traffic accident story!
- tackle relationship issues when you are not old enough to have a serious one or too old and never been in one.
- obsessively talk about how great other people are.
- attack yourself and make fun of your own posts.
- get in conversation with yourself.
- post fake comments and write blog posts about them.
- discuss what you had for lunch, dinner, and after-dinner.
- discuss what was on TV 2 AM in the morning.
- write posts on 2012 presidential election.
- or worse yet 2012 doomsday!
- complain about how blogging is hard.
- go on and on about your iPhone.
- fake a hack attack and talk about it.
- ask your visitors if you should post less when you post only once a week.
Have you found yourself out of ideas? Which of the above topics do you go for?
The Truth About Misspellings On Your Blog
For a long time I wondered what it was about misspellings that turned people off so bad. That was until I met a grammar professor in the Community College of Philadelphia. She was someone who mentored me when I needed mentoring. She taught me everything I know (and I wish I could have learned my stuff better). But her reaction to a piece that had misspellings was astonishing. She treated it as if it was a piece of manure (for the lack of better term). Till then, I didn’t know there were people who reacted to misspellings and grammatical errors like she did. But she is a super smart person, and I doubt she is the only one who’s got problem with people who don’t edit their piece.
I personally don’t have a big problem with pieces that have typos in them. Don’t get me wrong. If you have 5 typos in every paragraph, then you’ve got some real issues. But typos happen. They happen in books. And books are edited by professional editors. My rule of thumb is, you shouldn’t worry too much about misspellings as long as you dedicate enough time to edit your pieces. I put my best effort forward. I type fast and read faster, but slow down a bit when editing my blog posts. It really comes down to how much time, money, and resources you can dedicate to editing your posts. If you have a dedicated person for this purpose, great. But if you are just a one-man blogger, then you should spend more time on providing value to your readers than searching for the smallest typos in your piece.
Not everyone agrees on this issue. A lot of folks believe you should bleed your eyes out until you have a perfect piece to put on your blog. I believe perfection is a fool’s gold. You show me a perfect blog post, and I’ll show you 5 things that are wrong with it.
What’s your take: how much time do you spend fixing those typos? Do you outsource the process? Comment away!
Obsessed with Traffic? Be Careful What You Wish For
Everybody is talking about traffic. The more you have it, the more you want it. And when you don’t have it, you keep dreaming about it. Traffic is not everything, but it is a big deal. As a blogger, you want to get rewarded for your hard work. But your masterpiece isn’t going to get you the money and recognition you deserve unless folks actually read it.
Getting traffic from SEO, PPC, and social media can help you get sponsorships, CPM advertising, and all kinds of lucrative deals. And let’s not forget about new business opportunities and recognition.
Are you Ready For More Traffic?
Everybody wants traffic. But can you handle more traffic? I hear stories about folks who are trying hard to get on the front page of Digg or YouTube. Getting there is only one part of the game. Once you are on the front page of these sites, the floodgates will open, and you are probably going to get more traffic that your servers can handle.
Digg and YouTube breaking sites is nothing new. If you are on a shared hosting account, there is a good chance that your site will go down as soon as you make it on Digg. But even with private servers, you may find it tough to handle all your traffic. You should also think about what is it that you want to do with your traffic. You should have a plan to retain your new visitors. Otherwise, you are not getting the best you should out of your traffic.
Getting traffic to your blog is very important, but you should always ask yourself why you are doing what you are doing. Traffic doesn’t mean anything if you don’t turn it into a benefit for your business. Sometimes folks can’t handle their dreams coming true.
Can you handle all the traffic that you get?
Are You a Twitterer Only?
The year 2008 saw the true rise of Twitter. The kids today can’t get enough of Twitter, and the community is growing rapidly. But what I have noticed in the past few months is that some folks are using Twitter and Facebook exclusively. In other words, instead of having a blog or a website to drive traffic to, these guys are using Twitter to drive traffic to their Facebook profile.
I personally have never created a Twitter account to micro-blog about a niche. I always have a site that goes beyond what I talk about on Twitter. But some folks find it easier to bypass the whole hosting thing and put everything into Facebook and Twitter. Which one are you?
I personally don’t believe focusing on Twitter and Facebook exclusively is the right idea. You should always try to create and increase your very own asset. What you own on Twitter and Facebook is not yours really. I understand some folks being hesitant about spending real money on their hobbies. But you should ALWAYS think long-term. It’s easy to move from a hobby site to the next level. But if you don’t have any assets in place, you are going to have a more difficult path to success. Now, I am not suggesting that having a Twitter account with 20,000 followers is not valuable. It’s very valuable. But you got to use Twitter towards some cause. It’s like being stuck in the middle of a desert with no water but a big piece of diamond.
Your turn: do you use Twitter without linking it to your main website?
Can Blogging Get You Fired?
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Can it? That’s the question I asked myself when I joined my last company. After all, I was blogging on a part time basis (at night), and I needed a full-time job to pay for my student loans. I remember the first time I interviewed with the Vice President of operations at my previous company. The gentleman asked me about what I was doing at the time, and whether I was prepared to give it up. Of course, I was not ready at the time to give up my blogging endeavor. I was lucky that the company was all for allowing employees to keep their small businesses as long as there was no conflict of Internet.
So I was allowed to keep my blog, but I was told that I could not blog about a certain topic. It was a bit like signing a partial no compete deal. You don’t blog about our niche, and you can anything you want. A lot of folks wouldn’t think twice about signing such as agreement. But in truth, even with such a contract in place, you can still get fired from your job if you don’t watch yourself. What most folks don’t get is that once you sign on the dotted line, you become a spokesman for your company. You can’t just go on Twitter or on your own blog and start attacking other blatantly. For instance, I would recommend you attacking President Obama and calling him a terrorist if you want to keep your job.
Blogging can get your fired, depending on what you do. Let’s say you are a Walmart employee, and you decide to leak Black Friday information on a blog or forum. You can bet that if you are found out, you are going to get the boot. Some companies even sue their former employees for damages (I wouldn’t recommend working for these companies). My rule of thumb is, if I need the money and want to stay in my job for a while, I watch myself and avoid controversial issues.
Now if you are bold and fearless, you can break the rules. But don’t expect to be given any mercy by your company. I could have easily started a blog on that forbidden niche when I was at work, but I knew that wasn’t the way I wanted to go out. Getting fired can be tough, and I hate being sacked. So, I decided to avoid getting into that niche in all cost for as long as I was working for my employer. Blogging is a wonderful thing, and you should definitely not give it up completely. But it can be dangerous if you push the boundaries.
