Creating a new blog can be a rewarding and satisfying job for anyone. Blogging is a long journey with several ups and downs, but consistency and hard work can turn this passion project into a money-making machine. Every successful blogger was once an amateur blogger and made a lot of mistakes throughout the journey of amateur blogging. Keep reading to learn what is amateur blogging and the mistakes every amateur blogger should avoid to land success.
What is Amateur Blogging?
Amateur blogging is all about writing and publishing blog posts on a new blog without expecting it to make some money for you. An amateur blogger may also not expect any type of reward from his/her blogging efforts. This needs to start as a passion or hobby and one should have some pleasure from blogging activity in the first place. Amateur bloggers usually cover topics of their interest or express their own ideas in a particular field.
Awful Amateur Blogging Mistakes and How to Avoid
Here is a list of awful and costly amateur blogging mistakes every new blogger should avoid to turn your new blog into an earning machine and a hobby into a profitable profession.
1 Not Defining and Choosing a Right Niche for Amateur Blogging
Choosing an unclear niche or field and writing about many different topics is one of the worst amateur blogging mistakes. Blogging about a niche that is popular but you are not good at just consumes your time and efforts for nothing. Since there are almost 600 million blogs accessible over the web, it is important to choose a niche most relevant to your area of expertise.
In this highly competitive landscape, it is not enough to start a technology or digital marketing blog with the hope to drive massive traffic instantly. Instead, you need to focus on something specific. For example, if you are about to start a digital marketing blog, you should choose an area of expertise like SEO, email marketing, social media marketing or SE marketing. This will help you write more specific topics to entertain a particular group of people interested in reading topics you cover.
2 Not Being Original in Content Creation
Not being original in content creation is another major mistake amateur bloggers make. They just copy ideas and content from other blogs and publish without giving it a fresh and unique look. Finding a unique content writing approach and creating fresh content is the best way to grow a blog effectively and drive massive traffic. If you are doing amateur blogging, make sure that you are creating original content in your own style. Try to write something informative, useful, and problem-solving to stand out from competitors.
3 Not Learning Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Not learning SEO or search engine optimization is the biggest mistake that should be avoided during amateur blogging. Blog posts that are not properly optimized for search engines are less likely to appear in top search results. This means no organic traffic on your blog. This is the reason, learning SEO should be one of your priorities to become a successful blogger.
Search engine optimization is something that every amateur blogger should be doing from the beginning to grow a blog effectively. Reading top SEO blogs and following industry leaders is one of the best ways to stay on top of the latest SEO trends and search engine updates.
4 Using Free Platforms for Amateur Blogging
Most beginners are short on finances and they choose free blogging platforms to get started. Free platforms come with limitations like:
- No dedicated domain name
- No custom blog design or themes
- No essential SEO features
A free platform might be a good idea to get started but will keep your blog from growing. This is the reason, you should avoid using free blogging platforms if you really want to turn your blog into a money-making machine.
5 Not Using a Responsive Blog Design
More and more users are accessing the internet using mobile devices like smartphones or tablet PCs. This is something set to continue. When starting a new blog as an amateur blogger, make sure the blog design or theme is responsive and mobile optimized. Mobile optimization is more important than ever for search engine optimization. If your blog gets slanted when viewed on mobile devices, it will surely be pushed down in search results. That’s why you should choose a responsive design for your blog to appear in more mobile search results.
