Top 10 mistakes new bloggers make

Written by Kevin Muldoon from Blog Themes Club

I’ve started to notice the same mistakes recurring by new bloggers. Infact, most of these mistakes are applicable to everyone who starts a website for the first time. Unfortunately, there is a learning curve with this kind of thing and the majority of new bloggers will only learn from making these mistakes. Very few will realise that they are actually making mistakes until further down the line.

I have decided to list what i consider to be the top 10 mistakes that new bloggers make. I’m sure many of you reading this have made some of these mistakes but this is nothing to be ashamed about, i myself made some of these mistakes when i first started in web development. As as i said, with a lot of these mistakes you only seem to learn about it by making the mistake yourself.
Anyways, enough rabbling, heres my list of the top 10 mistakes new bloggers make in no particular order. Enjoy
Repeating what other bloggers are saying – I believe that if you have something to say about a subject you should write about it on your blog however i’ve noticed a lot of new bloggers do nothing but just echo and repeat what other bloggers in their genre have said. It’s good to give your opinion on a subject but if you only post about topics which began on other blogs your blog is never gonna be successful.

No Opinion / Scared to rock the boat – A lot of bloggers are scared to go against the crowd and take a stance that is against what everyone is saying. If you disagree about something then say so in your posts

Link Trains – Bottom line, there is no quick and easy way to get traffic to your site other than writing good articles on a consistant basis. If a traffic scheme seems sounds to good to be true it most probably is.

Spamming other blogs with comments – So many new bloggers think that it’s a good idea to cheat their way onto the top commentators list of a blog by posting lots of small and pointless comments just to get their number of comments up on the blog. This won’t make you too popular with the author of the blog and may even discourage others from reading your blog. For someone to want to visit your blog from a comment you need to write something worth reading! A good comment is an indication of a good author.

Spending more time commentating that writing posts – If your launching a new blog, spending some time commentating on other blogs is a great way to bring your site to the attention of people. However, readers need a reason to come back to your site ie. you need to keep writing good content. I see so many bloggers who are spending more time commentating on other peoples blogs than writing on their own one!

Promoting their blog before its ready – This is a very common mistake which i see time and time again. I really don’t believe that a new blogger should do any major promoting until the blog is about 2 months old. You clearly still need to do some promoting at the start but more time should spent on writing posts. It’s like advertising a new shop before its got any stock in to sell!

Blogging about too many subjects – The top blogs on the net are all focused on one topic of genre. So many new bloggers are blogging about a very wide range of subjects. For example, ive read blogs that post about blogging, music, their pet dog, movies, computer games, their favourite sports team etc. It’s hard to buld a steady readership with categories and posts so random.

Erratic posting frequency – It’s very important to update your blog on a regular and consistent basis. Posting like crazy for a while and then not posting for a week is a sure way to lose you readers.

Trying to make money instead of just concentrating on running a good blog – Too many bloggers are putting all their efforts into making money instead of trying to write good posts and develop a good blog. Dont worry about the money aspect at the start of a blogs life, if you build a successful blog the money will come with it in time.

Expecting to have a successful blog within 3 months – It takes time, a lot of time, to build a successul blog. I’ve noticed a lot of new bloggers lose interest in writing after a few months. The time it takes for a blog to be successul isn’t always the same but if you continue to update it and work hard on the blog it will do well. It’s a hard long slog but it’s worth it. Don’t kid yourself that you can get to the top so quickly – Rome wasn’t built in a day

source: http://www.bloggingtips.com/2007/06/30/top-10-mistakes-new-bloggers-make/