There seems to be a trend developing lately.
Some people are turning the whole “blogging advice” arena on its head, and instead of focusing on what you should do to be an effective blogger, they point out what you shouldn’t do. Perhaps this is a better way to get certain points across?
OK, I’m game. Here’s my “top five” list of big mistakes people make, and a handy prescription for how to cure what ails your sickly blog.
5. Do you write for search engines instead of people?
Your blog is suffering from “robotitis,” an affliction characterized by boring, keyword stuffed content that serves only to fill the blank spots between AdSense ads. If you actually hope to sell something, you need emergency attention, fast.
Prescription:
4. Are you doing what everyone else is doing with their blog in your niche?
Stop, drop, and roll yourself right out of “me too” mode. You need your own unique story now, before you end up on a blog respirator due to a lack of a viable reader base.
Prescription:
3. Do you agonize over writing a great post, only to slap on some hastily-concocted post title that all but guarantees hardly anyone will read?
Less-than-compelling headlines kill more solid blog posts than any other blogosphere affliction. There is a cure, but you’ll need to take action fast. If not for yourself… won’t you do it for the children?
Prescription:
- How to Write Headlines That Work
- Writing Headlines That Get Results
- How to Get 53% More Readers For Every Blog Post Your Write
2. Do you hope to make money with your blog, and yet rattle on excessively about your personal life, your dog, your goldfish, and your recent appendectomy?
You’re suffering from egocentritus. Only people like Mark Cuban can get away with this, and now that basketball season is over, I don’t read him either.
Prescription:
1. Do you use user-unfriendly RSS options that you bury at the bottom of the page, and leave out an email subscription option altogether?
I can only label this as a disease of the blogging mind. You do all that hard work to get everything else just right, and yet you rely on people to remember to come back on their own? That’s just self-destructive. Paging Dr. Freud!
Prescription:
For more tips on what not to do with your blog, check out Why My Blog Stinks, a blog that actually doesn’t stink at all, even though it’s one of the most egregious examples of Mistake Number 1 above. :)
Subscribe to Copyblogger today!
