Five blogging mistakes to avoid in 2020 (and beyond)

When done right, blogging can be a powerful tool to build awareness, drive traffic to your site, and give people a strong reason to trust and fall in love with your brand.

But it’s not easy and making blogging mistakes is inevitable, no matter if you’re a new or seasoned blogger.

The problem is: blogging takes lots of time and effort. And if you do or focus on the wrong things, you’ll be losing all that precious time and your blog and audience won’t be growing either.

Now, while you’re bound to make mistakes, at least make sure that in 2020 (and beyond) you’re not making these five blogging mistakes.

1. Covering topics that your audience doesn’t care about

Readers are selfish. They want information they can use to solve a problem, be more productive, improve their looks, or get promoted at work.

If you don’t know your audience, what they care about and the kind of information they’re looking for, then you’ll have a hard time growing your blog.

The only way for your blog to succeed in 2020 and beyond is to provide valuable content for your readers. That’s content that they’re interested in, that provides answers and helps them to solve their problems.

So if you’ve not done this already, make sure that next year you perform proper research into your audience. Find out more about who they are, what problems they’re facing and the information they’re looking for.

Don’t know how and where to get information on your target audience? Read our guide on why buyer personas are important and how to create yours. It’ll teach you how to create a profile on your ideal customer and where to get all the information you need on them, including their needs, concerns and problems.

You can also look at existing blogs that target a similar audience to yours and see what kind of content works best for them. Look at the posts with most comments, shares and engagement to understand what your audience wants to read. Then use that information to come up with ideas for your own posts and blog.

2. Not being consistent with writing and posting on your blog

Not sticking to a writing and publishing schedule is a huge mistake in blogging. It can hurt your reputation and prevent readers from coming back to your blog on a regular basis since they have no idea when you’ll be publishing new content.

We know that keeping a regular blogging schedule is difficult and time-consuming, especially when your to-do list includes other tasks as well. But if you want your blog to succeed in 2020 and beyond, consistency is key.

If you think about successful people you know or have read about in any field in the world, it’s consistency that has helped them to grow and succeed.

It’s the same with blogging. So, in 2020, make sure to create a consistent blog writing and posting schedule and stick to it. Even if you decide to publish one or two blog posts a week, stick to it and you’ll see how quickly it’ll become a routine for you.

Here are some great resources to help you speed up the process:

• Learn how to create an editorial calendar for your blog
• Check out these clever ways to come up with blog content ideas now and in the future
• Use these simple strategies to cut your blogging time in half

3. Neglecting blog SEO

Publishing valuable content on a regular basis is fantastic. But it’s not enough to attract traffic and grow an audience.

You also need to optimise every blog post you publish to ensure it ranks well when your audience Googles a specific topic. Neglecting this is one of the biggest mistakes you can make.

So, in 2020, make sure that every one of your blog posts has at least:

• A catchy yet keyword-rich title.
• A descriptive URL that makes it clear what the post is about even before going on the blog to read it.
• Meta title and description that include relevant keywords.
• A descriptive ALT tag for every image you add to your post.

The truth is it’s easier than it seems. Read this post as we explain exactly how to optimise your blog posts, step by step.

4. Forgetting to promote every blog post you publish

How much time do you spend writing a blog post? Two, three hours, more?

If you don’t take the time to also promote your posts, you’ll have a hard time attracting readers and getting your content the attention it deserves.

In fact, it doesn’t matter how insightful your content is. If you don’t share it on the channels where your audience spends time online, it’s likely to fail at bringing in traffic and getting people to read it.

So, in 2020, don’t forget that promoting your blog posts is just as important as writing them.

Read these posts for some great ideas:

• How to promote your blog posts, including on social media
• 23 successful bloggers reveal their most effective methods for promoting a new blog post
• 107 tactics to promote your blog better than ever

5. Taking too long to start an email list

One of the biggest and most common mistakes in blogging is failing or delaying to build an email list of subscribers.

Here’s the thing: you don’t need to wait three months or until you start getting a decent amount of traffic to add a sign up form on your blog. In fact, there’s no such thing as too soon to ask readers to subscribe to your blog.

So if you already have a blog or are planning to start one in 2020 or later, you should also have a subscribe form from day one to entice readers to sign up to hear from you.

Why? Because it allows you to build a community of people who follow you by choice because they’re interested in what you have to say.

Here is a simple example of a sign up form from Social Media Examiner:

If you go on their blog, you’ll notice this sign up form at the end of each article.

Of course, you can also add yours elsewhere, like at the top of the sidebar as we have it on our blog, or in a pop-up box.

If you need some advice on how to collect email addresses from your readers, you’ll find lots of great tips in this beginner’s guide to building your first email list.

Now, once you start adding subscribers to your list, don’t make the mistake of forgetting about it. You’ve worked hard to build it so make sure you put it to work. Email your audience to let them know whenever you’ve published a new post that they might enjoy reading, and build a relationship with them where they trust your advice and whatever it is you’re selling.

Ready to make 2020 your best blogging year yet?

Whether you’re a new or seasoned blogger, making mistakes is inevitable. But if you want to grow a successful blog in 2020 and beyond, one with a loyal readership that enjoys and finds value in your content, start the new year by ensuring you don’t make these common blogging mistakes.