What Are 5 Painful Blogging Mistakes for Beginners?
(Updated 11–13–2022)
Blogging mistakes for beginners seem obvious to everyone except new bloggers who make these errors.
I flew blind nearly 15 years ago as a newbie blogger. But experience mixed with a healthy dose of seeing myself and my blog clearly opened my eyes to the error of my ways.
After initially intending to write a post explaining how to increase your DA I noted a common beginner blogger error popping up on authority blogs: completely skipping the most important, vital, essential steps to success in favor of obsessing over tiny, unimportant, non-essential details. Even professional bloggers do not find themselves immune to such errors. I observed myself focusing on teeny weeny aspects of my theme versus knowing how little minute details matter little compared to:
Blogging Mistakes for Beginners
Look at yourself in the light of truth. Do you make any of these new blogger errors? Own your mistakes. Move in the opposite direction. Increase your success by ceasing to do what brings failure.
Blogging is not as difficult as most newbies believe. But new bloggers usually make these errors, adding difficulties, struggles and flat out heartache to their blogging campaign. Correct these errors. Dissolve difficulties. Reduce struggles. Maintain a sense of peace, calm and clarity about your blogging career.
1: Focusing on Small Details Versus What Really?Matters
Do you love my latest theme? Reader feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. But amid the praise a handful of bloggers seemed upset about tiny, unimportant aspects of my design. However, tiny aspects of my design do not matter. Me solving your blogging problems matters. Helping my blogging buddies matters. Promoting myself freely matters. Nothing else matters on a core, fundamental level. Proof exists all around us.
I recall a blogger using the Kubrick theme generating $30,000 per month. Why? He felt whole, complete, abundant and rich using the Kubrick theme. Naturally, feeling abundant, he gave 100% of his blogging attention and energy to what mattered. He published non-optimized, 6,000 to 10,000 word blog posts solving his reader problems. Most posts dominated Google. He netted $30,000 monthly because he focused 100% on what mattered — serving readers — and zero percent on what did not matter.
New bloggers create an “ego shell game” dependent on doing what does not matter to avoid doing what does matter for some deep fear in their mind. New bloggers spend 20 minutes formatting their footer to fix unimportant design issues instead of writing and publishing a 600–1000 word post solving their reader problems. Meanwhile, beginner bloggers who give all energy to creating and connecting become more successful while the “small potatoes” crowd struggles terribly.
Practical Tips for Doing What?Matters
Focus every ounce of your beginner blogger energy on solving reader problems through blog posts, helping pros in your niche to build bonds and monetizing your blog. Let go virtually all else because nothing else really matters. Proof is every single blogger who goes pro ignoring all of these allegedly important details.
Video
Generously helping people matters most with your blogging campaign.
Why should you be a generous blogger?
I explain:
2: Blogging Mainly for?Money
Beginner bloggers make a massive mistake by choosing money as a primary driver. Making money through blogging demands:
During the ample time required to successfully monetize your blog you will make:
New bloggers quit blogging because newbies lose motivation after making no money.
Pro Blogging?Analogy
Becoming a professional blogger is similar to:
Blogging is a skill involving:
Ummmm….how long does it take to master 3 — or more — skills before you make 1 penny? A long time. How long does it take to master 3 or more skills before you become a professional blogger? A really long time.
The Solution
Never pick money as your prime blogging driver or you will quit. Money ain’t coming for a while. However, picking a niche you enjoy working, that solves a pressing problem, stabilizes your energy for the long journey required to go pro.
Pick a blogging niche based on:
For example, I love blogging about teaching people how to blog. I solve the specific problem: who do you go to to figure out how to blog the right way? My love of explaining how to blog combined with filling a pressing need ensures I picked the right niche for me. Blogging for fun pulled me through lean periods when money seemed scarce. Ditto for you if you solve a pressing problem while following your passion.
Make your blogging work feel like the reward. Money will feel like an extra or bonus. Who quits a venture they feel passionate about when money seems scarce? No one. If the work is the reward you simply won’t quit because you already have your reward in the form of the work-passion-fun.
3: Believing Blogging is?Easy
New bloggers sometimes believe that since beginning a blog seems easy that blogging itself must be easy.
Whip out your credit card. Purchase your domain and hosting. Invest in a premium theme. Write and publish blog posts. True; this journey seems easy as a beginner blogger because starting a blog *is* easy. But mastering the multiple skill sets necessary to go pro feels highly uncomfortable over the course of years.
Blogging is not hard or difficult. However, blogging demands:
Rewind for a moment. Imagine satisfying each bullet point from the list above. Picture how many fears you face fulfilling each step to becoming a professional blogger. Imagining those fears reveals blogging feels highly uncomfortable for stretches of your career. Most bloggers quit from discomfort. The few professional bloggers of the world edge through fear, exit their comfort zone and blog the right way for 1000’s of hours to succeed.
Skills Required to Be a Professional Blogger
Does mastering each of these skills sound like a walk in the park? No.
Do not be discouraged; just be realistic. If blogging were easy every blogger would become a millionaire quickly. But being realistic means understanding how 1000’s of working and studying hours spanning years of your life go into becoming a professional blogger.
Being realistic actually feels like a relief. Versus struggling terribly in blogging la-la land, you can begin to succeed slowly and steadily by putting in genuine work for a long time.
Blogging becomes easier if you work diligently but it is not easy for the fears one overcomes to go pro. Overcoming those fears involves dissolving mental blocks progressively over years, in most cases.
Blogging is not easy but blogging becomes easier if you keep at it for a long time.
Focus on the freedom blogging offers to bloggers to edge through uncomfortable fears.
4: Not Investing Money in Your?Blog
Businesses require a financial investment to grow the business to a full time venture.
Even blogging as a casual hobby requires an investment because using free platforms is not actual blogging but writing content on platforms someone else:
If you do not own the platform you are not blogging because you are:
Among blogging mistakes for beginners, this one seems to be most painful. Skilled, driven bloggers never make progress on free platforms because if you fear investing $130 to $200 a year on a domain and hosting you will never explore the deeper fears we all need to explore to:
If you fear investing $130 for a year to blog the right way you have 10, to 50, to 100 deeper, far scarier, stronger fears to explore to even think of being a professional blogger. Fear #1 of your aspiring blogger career to step through involves investing money in:
For example, I created a course to help you become a successful blogger. Checking out the course can give you clarity, confidence and guidance concerning your blogging campaign. Aspiring pro bloggers invest money to get sound blogging advice from pro bloggers. Accessing sound advice ensures you lay the proper foundation to actually succeed. Even better; you avoid struggles by doing what works because you learned from pros versus winging it on your own.
Common New Blogger Limiting?Belief
I bet you have seen this once or twice:
“I will give blogging a try for free and if it works I will buy my domain and hosting.”
This is like saying:
“I will open a corner store for free and if it works I will make a financial investment.”
How will you pay rent for the corner store real estate? In hugs? How will you pay for the products you will sell in the corner store? How can you sell anything if you do not rent a storefront and buy products for the shelves? Unless you plan to sell bagels you mooched from your parent’s freezer in your front yard, financial investments will be required to open a bagel shop. At the end of the day, financial investments will be required to blog the right way because if you try to blog for free you will fail 100% of the time.
Almost all readers see a free blog and stay away because you flash a serious red flag in the trust department. Respected, credible bloggers invest in their domain and hosting to convey a trusted, credible brand image. Most pros invest money in a premium theme to emit a trusted, credible presentation.
New bloggers who pay nothing to blog for free make an incredibly expensive mistake; you may have saved money but you lose trust. Without being trusted, you will never gain substantial traffic or net significant profits online.
5: Suffering from a Lack of Confidence
Ouch. Double ouch.
Most new bloggers suffer from a lack of blogging confidence. New bloggers usually look at pro bloggers with a:
“They are 1 million light years away from where I am now, as I am a lowly new blogger and they are a successful pro who makes it look easy,”
type mindset.
Writing and publishing this 2,000 plus word blog post is easy now because I blogged for 15,000 hours since 2008.
Bloggers who make things look easy made a complete commitment to blogging for years. But even committed new bloggers suffer from confidence issues.
I doubted myself and my blog as a new blogger. Nothing seemed to work. Nobody read my blog. My confidence seemed to hang by a thread.
How did I gain confidence?
I strengthened my mental muscle.
Lacking blogging confidence indicates fear dominates the blogging corner of your mind. Strengthening your mindset through practices like meditating and doing yoga purges fear from ego to slowly but surely bolster blogging confidence. However, new bloggers usually do no mindset work, bury fear in their minds, the fear grows, the doubt expands, and struggle, failure and quitting follows.
No human being gets over fear in their mind until facing, feeling and releasing that fear in their mind.
Boost your new blogger confidence by purging your doubts. Purge your doubts by facing, feeling and releasing your fears. Face, feel and release your fears by engaging in one or more of these practices daily:
The list of mind-strengthening habits goes on forever. I merely share habits resonating with me. Find what vibes with you. Practice emotional hygiene daily by going within. Purge your fears fueling blogging doubts. Blog with greater confidence.
Conclusion
Correcting each mistake accelerates your blogging success but increasing your peace of mind feels even better.
More than anything, begin blogging with the proper frame of mind. Solve a pressing need by following your passion. Be realistic. Slow down. Calm down. enjoy this long haul journey to become a successful blogger.
I believe in you. Success can and will be yours by correcting your mistakes to lay the foundation for a successful blogging campaign.
Your Turn
Do you find yourself making any of these beginner blogger mistakes?
Did you make any of these mistakes during your new blogger days?
What beginner blogger mistakes can you add to this list?
Originally published at https://www.bloggingfromparadise.com on November 13, 2022.