8 Deadly Blogging Mistakes In 2021 (And How To Fix Them!)

8 min readFeb 1, 2021

It’s easy to make a mistake when it comes to blogging.

I see it all the time in blog posts. Maybe the headline isn’t written well, or the blog post is unreadable. I’ve made a few mistakes myself.

But I’m not going to let you make any mistakes, especially these 8 deadly blogging mistakes you should avoid in 2021.

In this post, we’ll look at what makes a blog post successful, the blogging mistakes people make, and how we can fix those mistakes.

Whether you’re starting a blog or trying to grow one, this post is for you.

How Do You Spot A Successful Blog Post?

Before we start, let’s start with what makes a great blog post.

What kind of posts do successful blogs use that get them lots of engagement and thousands of views?

Blog posts that succeed online have these characteristics:

They Inform: They don’t spew out general, stale information about a topic. These posts keep their readers engaged and returning for more.
They Are Quality: They are correctly formatted and are well structured. Your readers will enjoy a quality 1,000-word blog post than a bad 1,500-word post.
They Are Specific: They stick to one topic, and they expand on it clearly in their content.
They Are Valuable: Great blog posts have information that answers a question or solves a problem.

Now that you know what makes blog posts succeed, let’s look at the things you’re doing that destroy yours.

Mistake 1: Your Blog’s Message Is Unclear

When you start a blog, you have to choose your target audience and niche. Doing this will help you become an expert in that topic/industry in the future.

Keep writing, talking, and posting about that topic, and people will notice you as an expert in it.

How you arrange your blog posts also affect your blog’s appeal.

You have a few seconds to convince someone to read your posts.

So, focus your blog on a topic or industry. I write about digital marketing and email marketing, and it’s clear once you see my posts.

Your readers should know what to expect once they visit your blog.

I wouldn’t read a marketing blog when half their posts are about setting company guidelines.

Pro Tip: Structure your blog content around your niche, industry, or topic. If you need content ideas, ask questions, do keyword research, and read other blogs in your niche.

Mistake 2: You’re Writing To Yourself

No one cares. No one cares about how dear your blog post topic is to you.

They only care about what they can get from it.

If you want readers, write posts that answer a question or solve a problem. They might end up engaging with your offerings in the end.

When you write a post, talk to your reader. You’re not writing for anyone and everyone. Speak to their needs, problems, and wants, and they’ll stick around longer.

If you don’t know who your ideal reader is, you should consider making a persona for that reader.

A persona is a semi-realistic representation of your target audience based on research and collected data. (Hubspot)

You might get a great idea randomly, but if it’s not related to your blog, drop it. Consider putting it on another platform. Remember, you don’t want to clutter up your post feed with unrelated topics.

Pro Tip: Make a list of possible questions and search queries your audience has, and answer them in your next blog post. You’ll attract more readers that way, and that post will continue to generate traffic.

Mistake 3: You Haven’t Optimized For SEO

Never ignore SEO for your blog.

In an older post, I defined SEO (Search Engine Optimization) as the process of “optimizing your online content to increase the quality and quantity of traffic coming to your page.”

Google’s part of your blog audience, but it won’t read every word you write. It crawls your site content, indexes it, and then ranks it based on search queries. (Moz)

When your blog is SEO optimized, it means that Google can properly read your content, store it, and rank it accordingly.

Without proper SEO, Google won’t even see your site, to begin with.

If your blog posts are centered around the main post, then it helps your chances of getting a higher ranking. This is called a pillar post, and it helps build authority and increase your site ranking.

SEO sends a clear message to Google about what your site is about so that it knows where to rank your site.

These are some quick SEO fixes you can apply now:

Writing clear meta-descriptions for your blog posts/pages.
Optimizing your page speed to make it fast
Conducting a keyword research for your blog posts
Linking to other relevant sites
Writing compelling, SEO-friendly headlines

Long term, proper SEO will generate a steady stream of organic traffic to your blog.

Don’t know anything about SEO? In this post, I explain how to use SEO to boost your web traffic in 2021.

Pro Tip: Optimize your site for SEO. For more detailed information, read this guide to help you get started with SEO.

Mistake 4: You’re Not Using The Correct Blogging Platform Or Site Hosting Company

Picking a blogging platform and hosting company is just as important as choosing a niche.

Currently, the best blogging platform for new and experienced bloggers is WordPress. Why WordPress?

It’s secure
Easy to manage
It can handle different media types (images, videos, etc.)
It’s very SEO-friendly
It has many fast, great looking themes
It’s affordable!

I would mention more reasons, but this post would be too long.

Wix is good for starting, but it works better for e-commerce and portfolio sites.

With hosting companies, you need one that’s:

Fast
Secure
Has the features you need
Has excellent customer support in case you have problems.

I use BlueHost for my WordPress site, and it’s doing great.

Prices for entry-level hosting can range from $3.00 monthly to $15.00 monthly.

Check out these posts by blogger Ryan Robinson to help you choose the right hosting for your blog:

Pro Tip: Use a hosting service compatible with WordPress, like BlueHost, DreamHost, GoDaddy, e.t.c. Once you find your ideal hosting platform, you can then migrate your site to WordPress or create a new WordPress website.

Mistake 5: You’re Waiting For People To Find Your Blog

In the blogging world, you don’t just wait for traffic. You go and find your first sources of traffic, especially when you’re new.

SEO and social media promotions will take a while to kick in.

A lot of your views, engagements, and conversions won’t come from your blog.

So while you’re trying to grow your blog, you have to be active in promoting it.

Promoting your blog is just as important as writing on it. You can use the 80/20 rule to help you with your promotions. The 20% of the time it takes to post on social media yields 80% of results. (DSIM)

But where do you promote your content? You should promote your content:

Where your ideal audience is (e.g., the social media platforms they’re on, forums, etc)
In online groups & forums, e.g., Facebook groups, Quora, Slack channels, e.t.c.
On your email list! You’ll need to create an email list so people can subscribe to your blog content. Read up on how to five ways to grow your email list from scratch here.

Social media is a great place to generate interest in your blog, especially if you’re looking for your first few readers (and email subscribers!)

It’s also free, and you can potentially reach hundreds and thousands of people!

Also, people can easily reach out to you on social media. They can comment on your posts and send you messages.

Make sure you engage with your readers. Answer their questions, ask questions, and talk to them. Build a strong relationship with them, and they won’t be going anytime soon!

Pro Tip: Engage and promote your blog on social media! Don’t know where to start? Use this guide by CoSchedule to help you.

Mistake 6: There’s No Call To Action

Ok, someone’s reading one of your posts now. What should they do next?

Yes, they have to do something on your blog. That’s why you need calls to action on your posts.

Your call to action is like an instruction that leads your audience to do something on your site.

You need a call to action to trigger conversions like sales, downloads, and sign-ups.

Your audience shouldn’t be looking for what to do. Tell your reader what they need to do!

Many blogs have some calls to action you can follow on their site.

For example, I ask my visitors to sign up to my email list to get digital marketing resources and tips.

In other blogs, a call to action could be it could be reading another post, attending a webinar, downloading a resource, or buying a service/product.

You shouldn’t just let them stop at reading your post. Even asking your reader to share or comment a post is a great start!

Pro Tip: Have an action your audience should complete once they’re reading your blog. Make it bold and enticing, and appeal to your reader’s needs. This guide from CrazyEgg can help you get started.

Mistake 7: Your Posts Don’t Have A Structure

I understand how time-consuming it can be to make a blog post. Still, it’s no excuse for having a messy blog post.

A messy blog post can look like this:

To avoid this, have an outline for your posts.

The outline should include the introduction, the body of the post, the conclusion, and your call to action.

When your blog is structured, it makes it easier for readers to skim your post, and it keeps you from getting confused when you write.

Pro Tip: Structure your blog posts, and use an outline while writing. Check out this post by Hubspot for a detailed guide on writing and structuring a blog post.

Mistake 8: Your Headlines Suck

It is what it is.

Your headline can make or break your blog post’s performance.

It’s the first thing a reader uses to decide whether they want to read your post or not.

Your headline tells the reader:

What they’re going to get from your post
What they should expect from your post
What your post is about
If your post is interesting

For example, you clicked here because I am telling you how to write great blog posts.

An unclear headline repels, confuses, and chases away your readers.

It also slams your ranking down on Google because barely anyone is looking at the post.

That’s a big no-no.

These are some areas you can use to check your headlines:

Make them 60 characters or less.
Use specific numbers, e.g., “6 YouTube Mistakes Every New YouTuber Makes In 2021!”
Write simple, easy to understand headlines, e.g., “How I Made $23,024.04 Blogging in November 2020 (Blog Income Report)”
Use tools that can help you write headlines! One great tool is CoSchedule’s free Headline Analyzer. It gives suggestions for your headlines and scores them for you. Try to get a score of 70 and higher, and you’ll be fine.

Pro Tip: Improve your headlines so you can catch your readers’ eyes. Use this post from Neil Patel to guide you on writing killer headlines.

Over To You!

What mistakes from this list have you made?

Did I miss something? Let me know in the comments!

Now that you know how to blog right, it’s not too late to correct your mistakes.

Check out miraanamae.com/blog for more posts like these!