11th April 2016

Blogging blunders – What to avoid when starting a blog

Blogging on a laptop at desk

It’s official: blogging is huge. It’s a fundamental part of many digital marketing strategies and businesses with an active blog welcome 55% more traffic to their site; and the blogging boom is only getting bigger and bigger. But what are the key things to avoid when starting a blog? What could make your company’s blog go unnoticed and lose you engagement?

Here’s some top blogging blunders that you should definitely avoid:

Not having a plan

Before you even begin to write your very first blog post, you should have a content plan in place. Ideally, this would be more than just a few notes jotted down in a notebook: you need a proper content planner that clearly outlines key dates, topics and objectives throughout the year. If a 12-month plan seems a tad daunting, why not try a six-month calendar to begin with? Sit down, work out what it is you want to achieve through your blog and thoroughly brainstorm content ideas to come up with innovative, imaginative and, most importantly, desired stories and articles that people actually want to read. Keyword research is important here too to establish what your audience is searching for in the first place.

Not knowing your audience

Another pitfall is to not know your audience. It’s important to get an idea of who your reader is before you start to write in order to establish a tone of voice, good content themes and even the best time of day to publish. Let’s say, for example, you’re a B2B technology company looking to write a blog for potential buyers based in the city. Publishing a blog in a casual voice that has no relevance to their search requirements and at 9pm won’t be any use to your ideal audience. You need to write in a professional voice, about subjects that your customer will find genuinely useful and interesting and ideally at a time they’re most likely to read a blog; perhaps a lunch break or on their morning commute. Get into the mindset of your reader and you’ll see better results.

Inconsistency

It may take some time to understand the best time of day to post or what day of the week but once you’ve look at the stats and worked out what performs best for you, be sure to keep your publishing dates consistent, within reason. This helps regular readers know when to check back and keeps your platform neat and tidy. Consistency also applies to the way you write and the layout. Be sure that all of your content is uniform in its appearance to make your blog look clean and professional. Of course, breaking news can be added to the blog in a more timely fashion should you need to get the word out there fast but in general, try to stick to a timetable of when to post and you’ll foster trust from your reader in no time.

Quantity over quality

Some people think the most important part of having a blog is to write countless times a week. For some, posting multiple stories a week works especially if you have a dedicated copywriter on board to keep up the momentum. But remember that quality over quantity is often more important. If you only have time, and budget, to write one blog a month then that’s fine; it’s better than cramming too much into a short time frame and rushing the process, resulting in scrappy content. Plus, your readers might become a tad overwhelmed if you’re uploading too often. Having said that, it depends on the blog and its subject matter. Just work out what performs best for you and don’t feel like you have to fit too much in.

Bad writing

Sounds obvious right? But if you’re going to commit to having a blog for your business, it’s important to commit to the quality of the writing itself. It must be unique, well written with proper grammar and good formatting. There’s nothing more off putting than a badly written piece of content! If you can, use a professional copywriting team, such as our content experts at BritWeb, to write your blogs or invest in some online training. It will be worth it in the long run.

No promotion

Once you’ve hit that Publish button and your blog is out there in the big wide world, what next? You can’t expect people to read something they don’t necessarily know exists. Use your other platforms to promote the blog, such as Facebook, LinkedIn or email campaigns, and you’ll see more traffic and more engagement overall. Shout about your content and be sure people know it’s there!

If you want to find out more about blogging, the benefits of having a company blog and how to get started, contact us today on 01403 261491 or email [email protected].

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