Blogging Mistakes Project Roundup: A Checklist of Important Things to Avoid

I recently participated in Daily Blog Tips’s collaborative project about blogging mistakes and wrote about how monetizing your blog too early is a move that results in more disadvantages than benefits. There were 48 bloggers participating in the project and here is the full list of the entries.

It is interesting to note the most popular blogging mistake was not owning your own domain and using free blog hosts like Blogger or Wordpress.com. This has been a source of regret for several bloggers and if you’re 110% serious about blogging or even making money online, getting your own domain is the first step you should take.

I’ve decided not to comment on each blogger’s mistakes because I don’t want to inflict my opinion on their suggestions. Instead, I have excerpts from each post as well as a checklist which sums up all the keypoints made by the bloggers in question.

Note that the following list is not ordered in terms of merit but according to the submission date.

1. My Blogging Mistakes and Their Outcome by Thilak

Blog usually has variety of readers, some savvy and other not-so savvy. While some readers choose RSS to track updates on your blog, others use email subscription. So offering Email Subscription is equally essential. I had to learn this the hard way.

2. A Star for a day. What I learned by Clever Dude

If you’re going to use an image from Flickr (or any other site), you need to find out what the owner’s copyright on the image allows for. This page on Flickr lets you find images that fall under different ranges of Creative Commons, as well as explain each type of CC level.

3. My Biggest Blogging Mistake: Posting Frequency by Chris

When I first started blogging, I tried to commit to myself one new post each day..Pretty soon, there would be three or five day gaps between posts, and I would be depressed about my failure to meet my commitment to myself.

4. Your Blog Will Perish for Lack of Vision by Shawn

Having vision for your topics, style and posting schedule are all key elements that will help strengthen and build your site. Readers greatly appreciate – even thrive on – consistency and continuity.

5. My Biggest Blogging Mistake is not Updating Often Enough by Julian

I haven’t been blogging for long but I have to say that I have already made the most fundamental blogging mistake “not updating the blog often enough�.

6. DYH isn’t perfect? by Cory O’Brien

Hi. My name is Cory O’Brien, and I didn’t spend enough time picking out a name for my blog. I know, I know, it doesn’t sound like a big, but the one thing that I would go back and change if I could is the name.

7. Don’t Change the Name by Denise

I started my blog under the name/URL, themarketing411.wordpress.com. Then 6 months later I changed the blog name and the domain (to ViralVoice.net)..Next time, I would wait until I had the strategy, name, etc. firmly in place, then start the blog.

8. Why this Blog Looks this Way by Ben

I tried transferring the posts. It didn’t work so I copied and pasted a few posts. Then I began to add this blog to directories. Only problem was, there was already a blog named Making Homemade Wine and Beer.

9. My Blogging Mistake: Too Many Blogs by Green Llama

So what’s the moral of the story? Start slowly, and retain your focus. Exercise patience before starting a new blog. The extra time you have on your hands can probably be put to better use by focusing on your existing projects.

10. What is Wrong with my Blog. An Honest Self-Assessment by Bret

Read my About page and you’ll see my original intent for Techtraction.com was somewhat scattered. I think I fell into this trap because I just wanted to start blogging and didn’t spend a tremendous amount of time thinking about what I wanted to blog about.

11. I Almost Ruined Everything by Annie

The biggest mistake I made & quickly rectified was in posting my thoughts about a book I read for work that was not due to be published until January 2007.

12. Common Blogging Mistakes by Vijay

Concentrating on blog design only: Some bloggers forget the thing that blog content and marketting your blog is the main thing to promote the blog! Again Marketting is the most important thing for a good content!

13. How to Not Run a Contest by Robert

The biggest mistake I’ve made (and mind you, this is only the BIGGEST one) was when I ran my first (and so far, only) contest..First of all, I didn’t allow myself enough time to advertise the contest..

14. 5 Things I Regret About March by Bill

I goofed a couple times this month with people’s names and Blog names. I tried my best to correct all those mistakes but I shouldn’t have made them in the first place.

15. Trying to Promote my Blog without enough Traffic by Nathan

There has to be a big draw or benefit to blog readers/authors to get reasonable participation. Whether you give away a cool prize like a Wii or substantial sum of cash, or even a donation to charity for participation, there just has to be something to hook your readers into participating.

16. Always Install Wordpress on the Root Diretory by Daniel

Unless your blog is a secondary part of an existing website you should always install Wordpress on the root directory.

17. I should have included media contents by Madhur

Earlier while writing a post , i didnt include any media contents such a images or videos in my post. Initially it didnt matter much but now when i think about it i feel that it made my blog posts look a little bit dull.

18. The Biggest Blogging Mistake I did was not Blogging by Francesco

The biggest Blogging Mistake I did was not blogging. I started my serious blogging experience less than one year ago, and I continuously discover things I’d like to investigate.

19. Learning from Mistakes: Opening Links in New Windows by Nirmal

One of the mistakes which I did while blogging is opening links in new windows. Initially when I was blogging using Blogger, all links were opened in same window, but when I moved to Wordpress blog, it gave me an extra feature for selecting the target and I always used “Open in new window�.

20. Mr. Frisky Retreats with his Tail Between his Legs by Rory

My biggest blogging mistake so far was this: I woke up frisky..Humour translates with great difficulty over the internet, especially on blog comments..Only comment if you have something worthwhile to say.

21. Use a Smart Permalink Structure on your Blog by Leftblank

For a couple of months I had used the ‘good old’, but highly inefficient and unreadable ?p=%id% default format. Quite some SEO professionals don’t think it matters too much anymore what your URLs look like, but I’m still one of the guys who think it does matter..it’s important you use a good link structure from the beginning.

22. Internet Explorer vs. Firefox Issues by Mark Paddock

Consequently always view your new post immediately after publication in as many browsers as you can and especially the big two of Internet Explorer and Firefox. Just to be on the safe side, I always do this check now.

23. Not Having Drafts Saved for Rainy Days by Inspirationbit

So be wise, and learn from my mistakes – make your blogging life easier, spend an extra few hours and complete several drafts ready to be published in emergency cases – when you’re too busy with other things, or simply not in a blogging mood.

24. Don’t Underestimate the Commitment by Andrew

Don’t underestimate the time you will need to put in to make your blog successful. Blogging is not a magic trick where you write a few times and suddenly every customer is beating a path to your door.

25. Get your Own Domain and Wordpress for your Blog by Andrew Flusche

When I started blogging (almost a year ago!), I registered for a free account over at WordPress.com. This was a mistake.If you’re really serious about having a quality, respectable blog, don’t hesitate to get your own domain. Install WordPress on it, and you’ll be ready to go.

26. A Clear Point of View is Crucial to Increase your Blog Traffic by George

I made the mistake of not having a clear point of view! A point of view is your blog’s personality, or its “voice�. The point of view helps make your blog unique.

27. Delete Your First Blog Post by Mark Alves

If you’re starting a new blog, delete your first post. Think of it as a test. When launching this blog, I plunged into my inaugural entry and triumphantly published. Some time later, to my horror, I noticed the URL for that post..Yes, that’s the WordPress default name, based on the classic phrase programmers use when learning to display text in a new language.

28. Don’t Forget to Use Blog Carnivals by Andrea

There are lots of ways to get links to your blog but one of the easiest ways is to participate in a blog carnival. My biggest blogging mistake was not participating in this kind of event sooner.

29. Why Blogs and Blogging Will Ruin your Self Discipline by Dave

Do I really need to check my feedburner stats seven times a day to see if one more person has subscribed or visited my blog? Does technorati change their ratings throughout the day? They don’t seem to and I’ve checked them six times today. I think I forgot something. Oh that’s right I need to write a quality post that someone might be interested in. Done!!

30. Careful on How You Tag your Posts by Shankar

December 2006. It was the first time I started to blog. I posted articles like many other bloggers do. But I tagged them in a way I shouldn’t have. I messed up with the tag feature on my blog.

31. Should’ve Gone WP Yesterday! by Jimbo

Ever since I migrated to my own domain, I’ve been regreting the fact that I hesitated for so long. I remember spending nearly a week to get my old blogspot theme to work with the “improved Blogger� interface.

32. Don’t Ignore the Basics of SEO by Simonne

One of the biggest ones, spotted very late in the blogging process, was that I ignored some basic rules of SEO optimization in this blog.

33. Spending Too Much Time Link-Begging by David Paul

For me the worst mistake was to spend too much time looking for linkbacks. Going around the blogosphere, begging for links and watching your inbound count is time-consuming and the truth is it is not time well spent.

34. Lack of Predictability on Your Posts by Roberto

Predictability is not a union between consistency (write about one well-defined subject) and discipline (write on a consistent basis, daily if possible). Predictability means your readers will always know that when they visit your blog they will find useful material for them.

35. What to Do When You don’t Have Anything to Say by Philip Liu

Whatever you do though, don’t post when you are not in the right frame of mind. One of the biggest mistakes I made when I first began blogging was to rush a post that was half-baked because I was too tired, not motivated or just bloggerblocked.

36. Copying, Mimicking, Duplication by Paper Bull

My blogging sin was a common one: copying, mimicking, duplication.Is it possible to start a blog without being influenced by the success of another? I don’t think so. It’s a natural tendency to emulate a formula that we really like or at the very least something that is successful in its own right.

37. Starting Too Many Blogs by Mohammed

The worst blogging mistake I made was to start off many many more blogs than I could run – simply because I thought each blogging idea deserved it’s own space and URL. In a short while I discovered that it takes quite a bit of time and energy to generate content and to get a steady stream of readers for each blog.

38. Leaving the Amateur League of Blogging: the Hosting Lesson by Rene

Do not use shared hosting if you are at least a little bit serious about your blog project. This is a mistake I did and I don´t want you to experience it, too. I repeat: never ever make use of shared hosting.

39. Be Careful how you Choose your Domain Name by Calvin

Think what you wanted to do with the domain as it must reflect what your company or you intend to do. Keep in mind the role your domain name will have on your business brand and identity.

40. The Ad King by Jason

So through all of my trial and error, I have one thing to say when it comes to blogging for monetization. “All things in moderation.� Don’t try to knock the lights out with your first attempt.

41. Move to your Own Domain Now by Gaurav

But, first, why should you move to your own yourblog.com domain anyway? Because you can do much more with your blog in terms of aesthetic, functionality and monetization.Because your blog is perceived as more professional and authoritative by both readers and search engines.

42. Lack of Persistence by Blake

Then, I realized the one mistake that I still make again and again. Lack of persistence. Perhaps it’s just a personal trait of mine —getting bored too quickly, lack of patience and focus, a dislike for routine tasks. Then again, if we consider the amount of “abandoned� blogs in the blogosphere, it’s probably pretty common.

43. Not Commenting Enough on other People’s Blogs by Somu

The most important one that I could think of, is not commenting enough on other people’s blogs. I do make a comment, but usually its in the ratio of 1:100. I guess I am a consumer of news mostly.

44. Failing to Realize the Importance of Relationships with Readers by Ronald

When readers did comment, I was thankful, but didn’t respond to all comments because not all comments merited responding to. There was one crucial thing I was missing out on though: the relational aspect of blogging.

45. Don’t Handle Important Matters Lightly by Amanda

The moral of this story is never do anything that requires your total attention when you know you can’t give your total attention. You’ll be better off waiting until you’re all there.

46. Do not Underestimate the Important of RSS Feeds by Kevin

One of my earliest blogging mistakes was underestimating the importance of RSS feeds, both for readers and for my own sanity..Having never subscribed to a feed myself, I did nothing to promote my own feed – it was practically invisible

47. Why you Should Own your Domain Name by Engtech

The time to buy a domain name is when you first start blogging. Even if you can get your old hosting provider to do a 301 or 302 redirect from your old blog name to your new blog name, there are always some small issues that prevent it from going completely smoothly.

Blogging Mistakes Checklist – Twenty Eight Blogging Tips to Consider

To sum up the entries, here are the key points mentioned by each of the bloggers above. I’ve omitted a number of points which were repeated several times:

1. Offer email subscriptions.




2. Don’t use a hyphen in the domain name.




3. Always observe copyright law.




4. Don’t monetize your blog too early.




5. Post regularly and Schedule Posts in advance to maintain consistency.




6. Have a strong niche/topic focus for your blog.




7. Spend time picking a good name for your blog.




8. Don’t start too many blogs at once, this may lead to blogs of low quality.




9. Prepare for contests before you announce them. Offer attractive prizes.




10. Fact check before you publish.




11. Don’t rush a product that you will make publicly available for all.




12. Install Wordpress on the root directory




13. Use media (pictures/videos) to make posts attractive.




14. Don’t blog/comment when you are frisky or irritated.




15. Use SEO friendly URLS when you start blogging




16. Examine your site design regularly with multiple browsers.




17. Save up draft posts to use when you don’t have time to blog.




18. Create a daily or weekly blogging schedule.




19. Get your own Domain.




20. Participate in Blog Carnivals.




21. Tag your posts properly to make your sidebar neat.




22. Learn about basic on-site SEO when you start blogging.




23. Be a predictable and reliable source of information.




24. Don’t blog or tweak your blog design when you can’t give it your full attention.




25. Be Persistent and carry through your blog projects.




26. Promote your feed subscription and seek to build a subscriber base.




27. Comment often on other blogs.




28. Focus on building two-way relationships with your readers.