Free Website Content
Blog Mistakes
By Sharon Housley
Blog Mistakes
Blogging has quickly become very common
place, and while blogs may be plentiful, many bloggers
still make a number of mistakes when it comes to managing
their blogs. Presented here are the most common blog
mistakes, in hopes that you can avoid making them yourself...
Mistake #1 - Failure To Provide Search
Functionality
Blogs should be searchable. Include a search function
on the blog so that website visitors can easily search
your blog content for the things they are interested
in or looking for.
Mistake #2 - Failure To Offer Syndication
Failure to provide an RSS feed for blog content
is a common mistake. RSS feeds will significantly increase
the number of blog followers. Many blogging platforms
will automatically create an RSS feed for the content
-- if your current content management system does not
have that ability, you can manually create the RSS feeds
yourself, or use software like FeedForAll ( http://www.feedforall.com
) to create the feeds. RSS feeds will increase your
blogs exposure and readership.
Mistake #3 - Failure To Personalize
Blogs are meant to be personal. Blogs that consist
mostly of impersonal, factual news clips will not attract
as much interest as a blog with a distinct personality.
Add character and personality to your blog by personalizing
your blog posts. Readers tend to enjoy blogs that contain
personality and character.
Mistake #4 - Failure To Subscribe To Your Own Blog
Be sure to subscribe to your own blog and RSS feed,
so that you can see exactly what your readers are seeing.
Click through the blog posts to ensure that your linking
schemes are functioning properly. Sometimes you might
be surprised by how your blog content is being displayed
to your readers, so be sure to subscribe to your own
blog in order to quickly correct any errors.
Mistake #5 - Poor Navigation To Archives
It is important that you provide clear navigation
to older blog posts. You can often categorize blog posts
or list related blog posts beneath your main blog posts,
which gives the reader access to additional related
material if they found your blog post interesting.
Mistake #6 - Lack Of Consistency
Blog postings should be consistent, both in frequency
and in tone. Blog readers will expect consistency in
blog posts, and straying too far from the established
and expected frequency or tone could sour some readers.
Mistake #7 - Lack Of Theme
Blog posts should be united by a common theme, simply
because subscribers will follow blogs that contain an
ongoing topic they are interested in. If the blog is
simply a collection of random and unrelated posts, your
subscribers may lose interest and wander away.
Mistake # 8 - Failure To Use Stable Hosting
Hosting should be reliable and stable. Nothing is more
frustrating to a reader than being unable to click through
on a blog post they are interested in. Use a stable
web host and platform, even if it means you have to
spend a little more money.
Mistake #9 - Changing Half-Way
Many people will try blogging initially, using a 3rd-party
for hosting, and once they realize it is successful
they decide to host and manage their blog locally. This
means that any followers they've managed to obtain prior
to that point must then resubscribe to the RSS feed
or go to a different URL for the most recent blog posts.
If you are going to blog, don't do it half-way and then
change things in mid-stream. As they say: go big or
go home -- meaning that you should do it the right way
from the beginning, or not bother.
Mistake #10 - Lack Of Monitoring Metrics
View your blog logs on a regular basis, so you know
which articles your viewers enjoy the most. Then you'll
know how to give your readers more of what has already
been of interest to them. Analytics are critical in
determining what people like and dislike, so don't rely
on assumptions... rely on numbers.
About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com
software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds
and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for
RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com
audio recording and editing software.
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This article may be used freely in opt-in
publications and websites, provided that the resource
box is included and the links are active. A courtesy
copy of the issue or a link to any online posting would
be greatly appreciated send an email to sharon@notepage.net
.
Additional articles available for publication available
at http://www.small-business-software.net/free-website-content.htm
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