Hello my lovelies,
So I’ve been doing this for a while – I wouldn’t say I’m experienced, but I’ve had nearly a whole year on here to make and observe mistakes, so I thought today I’d share some of the mistakes that you should avoid at all costs, and therefore some of the things that I think make a good blog. Obviously it’s completely subjective, but I’ve read a hell of a lot of blogs, and here are some of my absolute no-no’s: the things that will even push me to hit the unfollow button. *takes a little bow as you all gasp in shock* I know. I’m savage.
- Putting quantity over quality. This is probably the biggest one. There is nothing worse than posting every day but badly, rather than producing interesting, engaging posts once or twice a week. There are exceptions – I can think of many blogs that post very often, but that are always wonderful – so don’t think that you can’t post frequently, just bear in mind that you don’t have to. Post when you have good ideas, however often that may be, rather than when you think you should be posting. Your content is so important, so don’t just churn out rubbish that wastes your reader’s time.
- Spelling mistakes. Every so often, a little slip up is absolutely fine, but constant typos kill me. They’re just so irritating and it doesn’t look like you spend time on your content. Take the time to spell check and read through your posts before clicking “publish” and I promise you will seem 1o times more professional. (Totally stressing out now that I’m a complete hypocrite and this post is full of mistakes…)
- If you’re going to comment on other blogs promoting your own, do it tastefully. Let’s face it. Those “This post was great! I love it! Please check out my blog” comments never made anyone check out a blog. So why keep doing it? I totally understand wanting to publicise your blog, but in my opinion, the best way to do that is actually just to be active on other people’s. Leave genuine comments and respond to posts, and you are far more likely to get people’s attention, and for much nicer reasons. Spam ain’t cool.
- Leaving template pages up. Common mistake, this one. Check that all your pages are ones that you have added and written on, rather than empty templates set up by WordPress.
- In a similar vein, not writing an About page. Basically I am very nosy – I like to know a little bit about the person behind the blog, even if they’re anonymous and to feel like they’re an actual person, rather than just words and posts. The little snippet of who you are makes the blog so much more personal, and actually “About” pages are one of the things that most often prompt me to follow a blog – there are some really quirky and hilarious ones out there. It also helps people to understand what your blog is all about, and what they can expect to see on it, and therefore if they want to see more. It’s something you can edit and update at any time, so don’t feel stressed or intimidated by having to try and sum up your blog and condense your personality into a couple of paragraphs. Just realised I made that seem a whole lot more intimidating so… oops! No pressure 😉
- Not interacting with the community. Replying to comments, and being active in reading other people’s blogs is so important. You’ll meet great people, find great blogs, and make a much more positive impression on people who find your blog. It’s all about give and take – you can’t expect people to read your blog, if you never read anyone else’s, and if you want people to support you when you need it, you should do the same for them. And plus, this community is bloody fabulous. So joining it will be something you will never regret.
So there we go – some common blog mistakes that I suggest you check you’re not guilty of! Honestly, sometimes it’s such simple little things that make a blog seem immediately more polished, or interesting. Obviously there are much bigger things like blog design that also play a part, not to mention the actual content, but I don’t really feel like I’m qualified to criticise or give advice in those departments, especially seeing as my blog design is truly atrocious. What I can do, however, is let you know what (as a reader) makes me cringe a little bit; just small things that are so so easy to both avoid and fix. I hope this was helpful!
Lots of love,
xxxxxxxxxxxx
PS. Just realised this was my first ever little foray into the world of blogging about blogging. How adventurous!
PPS. Featured image is mine, of course.
My Teenage Madness 