Blogging is great for business, but it’s a tricky world to navigate. Between concept and promotion and the writing itself, it’s easy to fall into these deadly traps.
Not Getting to the Point
People read differently on the web. They have a notoriously low attention span, fidgeting and scanning their way through blog after blog after blog. So, you have to work extra hard to keep their attention. And how do you do that, you ask?
Get to the point in the first paragraph. Then after that, break your text into easy-to-devour chunks using short sentences, bullet points, headings and whatever else it takes to avoid a giant wall of text.
Letting Your Ego Take Over
I hate to break it to you, but your blog post isn’t all about you. Your readers want timely news and advice, not personal, pointless stories. If your anecdote isn’t directly related to the point you’re trying to get across, scrap it.
Not Allowing Comments
If you don’t want anyone to give their opinion, scrap the blog and start a diary. Blogs require an audience, and half the fun is watching your words drive interest, conversation and debate. Plus, some of the comments will be incredibly valuable, giving you new information or perspectives that you wouldn’t have otherwise come across.
Not Taking a Break
Writing can be exhausting, and some days you won’t feel like blogging at all. But you know what? That’s fine. Forcing yourself to write when you really have nothing to say will only result in a dull blog that nobody will want to read, while taking a day or two off will refresh your mind and allow you to cultivate great ideas.
That said, it’s important to not abandon your blog altogether. Try to keep a somewhat-regular schedule so readers know what to expect, and don’t leave it alone for extended periods of time (your readers may wander elsewhere because they think you’ve fallen off the face of the earth).
If you’re feeling ambitious one day, write a few extra posts that you can save for a don’t-feel-like-writing day. And if you’re truly stuck for ideas, here are some ways to get your creative juices flowing again: 6 Ways to Find Great Social Media Content.
Not Self-Editing
Just because you’re writing for the web doesn’t mean punctuation, spelling and sentence structure don’t matter. In fact, they might even matter more. Think of it this way: If you’re reading a poorly-edited article in a magazine, you’re probably going to finish it, or at the very least come back to it once you’ve read everything else. I mean, there’s nothing else to read, right? But if you’re reading the same article on the web, a million other articles just like it are only a mouse-click away.
You need to give readers a reason to stay, and good grammar is once as good of a reason as any.
