No one talks about the blogging mistakes they made. You only hear about how successful they are and how much they made from day 1. These are the 8 mistakes I made my first 3 months blogging so you can learn from my worst frustrations.
*** Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.
Click here for the full disclosure statement ***
#1 Blogging mistake
I’m not going to lie. I’m a bit of a perfectionist. I have a type A personality and I like to be in control of things. So, I spent way too much time trying to learn everything before launching my blog and publishing a post. This was my biggest mistake!
I waited over 8 months before I launched my site. There’s no way to know everything in the blogging world. It is an ongoing learning experience because there simply are too many things to learn and improve on. So, do not wait until you know it all. Just get started and bit by bit you will learn over time and things will improve.
Take the plunge and get started right away! I have learnt more during the 3 months I was actually posting blogs than I did during the 8 months I was “prepping” myself to launch.
Do not make this mistake and have the regret “I wish I had started sooner!”
Related: Start A Blog For Less Than $5 A Month
#2 blogging mistake
Existing bloggers suggest having 5+ posts written and ready to go before launching your blog. I followed their advice and this became my #2 biggest mistake. The reason is that as I wrote my posts, I made sure to put in a link to all my related posts. This helps with SEO as well as having your reader stay on your website for longer.
Because I hadn’t launched my blog yet. The links I was using were only temporary link addresses. That meant that once I launched, those links no longer worked and I had to go through all my posts to update all the linking website page addresses.
I suggest launching your blog right away. It’s unlikely that anyone will see it so don’t worry about a half finished blog with nothing on it. Even if you only have bare bones (a template) you will be saving yourself tons of time and frustration and be able to get it set up properly from day 1.
Related: 7 Major Reasons You Should Buy A WordPress Theme
#3 blogging mistake
Because I wanted to learn as much as possible I signed up for a ton of FREE downloads as I was researching a particular topic. There was stuff on beginner blogging, WordPress, SEO, blog topics, social media, affiliates, courses, opt-in’s, email marketing, planners and more. It was daunting and overwhelming having all these emails coming in on a regular basis. It pulled my attention away from being productive.
Don’t make the mistake of doing this. Pick one topic to work on and sign up to the free downloads that pertain to that topic only. Once you have a good understanding of that topic and have implemented it on your blog move on to the next. There is no way to learn and know it all so take it step by step and learn more as you improve over time.
#4 blogging mistake
When I first started learning about WordPress, I was reading all about the plugins which you can add to customize your site. I read a bunch of posts about the must have plugins and added them all. But because there is so much to learn in the beginning I didn’t have time to learn how to use each one or if I really needed it.
When you’re starting out, only add the plugins that you know you need. Too many plugins can slow down your site and learning each one takes time that is probably better spent on other things when you’re first starting out. The ones I highly recommend when you start are Yoast SEO and Social Warfare. Start with the FREE versions and upgrade as you go if have the funds.
#5 blogging mistake
As I’ve mentioned before, there are a lot of experienced bloggers teaching others how to start a blog. They talk about how they made money their first month of blogging or $1000 in 3 months. This made me feel like I should also be making money right away and like a failure for not making any sales my first month.
The truth is that it isn’t realistic as a newbie to expect to earn anything from your new blog for a while. These bloggers that made money quickly and easily already had a good understanding of setting up a website, web design, social media marketing and more.
Don’t compare yourself to what other bloggers have achieved, they are not you! It puts a tremendous amount of pressure on getting a sale. As a newbie blogger with no tech background or any online marketing experience, your focus should be on learning and with time the income will come.
Related: Month 1 blog review and month 2 action plan
#6 blogging mistake
There are a lot of posts about how important SEO is for your website being found. You need to spend time to research keywords and put them into your post as many times as possible. But, when you’re starting out, it’s highly unlikely that you will rank on Google. The reason is that you are competing with blogs that have been around for years. They have a ton of content, links and traffic that all helps their blog rank in Google.
Is SEO important overall? Yes, absolutely, I highly recommend using the FREE version of Yoast SEO to get started. Then when you have a more established blog, you can look at improving your Google ranking. But, in all honestly, Pinterest has really become the biggest driver of traffic to new blogs. It is a visual search engine and can be more beneficial than Google to get traffic.
#7 blogging mistake
When you start a blog you need to treat it like a business. I started my blog just using my regular personal email address. Now I have an email address just for my blog. The problem is my blog related emails are still coming to my personal email address and now the new one too.
Start your blog right and get a blog email address from the start to keep all blogging related content in one place. This way you’re not having to look in 2 different places for an email that you want to refer back to. Using my link to get hosting at Start A Blog For Less Than $5 A Month, you will get an email address for your blog for FREE!
#8 blogging mistake
With this blog, I wanted to write about a variety of topics. But, I had no plan. The problem with this is that I ended up interlinking with other posts that weren’t relevant. This not only messes up your site structure but also confuses Pinterest and Google which can affect your SEO.
Since I’m using Pinterest as my main source of traffic, I had to go back and write more about topics that were related and made sense to link together. I also had to spend time on my site structure so that a new reader can easily find related content and not just go on a wild goose chase.
That is why I created my Blog By Design template so that I could have a visual of what to write about and how to structure my site. It also has the added benefit of giving me 3 months worth of content since my goal is to post once a week. You can grab a copy for yourself and set yourself up the right way from day 1. Enjoy!
I hope this post was as valuable, if not more so, as all the posts you read about how successful new bloggers are.
Related content you may also be interested in:
~ What no one told me about affiliate links
~ How to make tons of pins FAST (no it’s not Canva!)
~ Inspirational quotes about strength during hard times