6 Mistakes To Avoid As A Beginner Blogger

Are you looking for a way to earn some money working from home? Have you always wanted your own blog? If you want to turn your blog into a business and you want to start out the right way, this post is for you. Obviously, making mistakes isn’t a disaster, you can’t possibly do everything right from the start. However, you don’t have to make as many mistakes as I did… Honestly, I could have saved so much time if I’d only read an article like this one (okay, enough with the self promo). Here are 6 common blogging mistakes to avoid as a beginner blogger!

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~ 6 common blogging mistakes to AVOID as a beginner blogger ~

1. STARTING ON WORDPRESS.COM

Wow, if I’d only known… So, if you’re not familiar with the blogging world, you may think that there are some platforms such as wordpress.com, blogger.com, wix.com, etc. I thought it was as easy as making an account on one of these and start posting content. So that’s what I did.

BUT, I soon bumped into a million obstacles! After hours of searching the web for answers, here’s what I found: if you want to turn your blog into a business, you need your own domain and you need to go self-hosted. Back then, I could hardly grasp what this all meant, but it’s actually not as complicated as it seems.

It all comes down to the fact that you want your blog to be YOURS. Entirely. Otherwise you will always depend on your chosen platform about what you can and can’t do. And trust me, you can’t do enough and you certainly won’t be able to make enough money.

In other words, there’s no way around buying a small piece of the web that you can customize to your heart’s desire. This means buying a domain name and getting a web hosting subscription (don’t worry, it’s not as expensive as it sounds!).

I went for Siteground’s StartUp plan, which includes WordPress hosting (this means you still get all of the same WordPress tools). You can also immediately register for a domain name.

I chose Siteground because they offer the fastest loading time (nothing more annoying than a site that loads painstakingly slow) and they have excellent customer service.

Furthermore, they have the option to buy a 1, 2 or 3-year subscription for a much lower price, which saves you a ton of money (only €5.99/month instead of €12.99)! I went for 3 years, but obviously only do this if you’re a 100% sure you want to fully commit to your blogging business 🙂

2. NOT INVESTING IN YOUR BLOG

This leads me to my second mistake, which is not investing in your blog. At first, it seemed ludicrous to me to spend money while I wasn’t making any yet. However, if you’re not willing to invest a minimum into your business, you’re not going to get far and you won’t be able to monetize adequately.

Now, I know some people spend lots of $$$ on courses and experts… I never had that kind of budget, but I did eventually decide that I believed in my project enough to make small investments from the start. Aside from a domain name and a hosting subscription, you may want to consider investing in:

• A theme you really like
• A Pinterest course (this one is amazing!)
• RelayThat: My favourite Pinterest tool & an investment I’ll never regret! RelayThat is a program that allows you to create dozens of professional looking pins in one go (+ offers 3 million copyright-free images), which saves SO much time. You can get it here for only $49 (for a lifetime!)
• Useful plug-ins such as Tasty Pins
• An SEO course

3. NOT FIGURING OUT A SCHEDULE OR A PLAN

Thinking back, I didn’t have a plan at all. I just thought: “I’m going to travel Central-America for 6 months and document it on my blog”. Bam, that’s what I did. No previously written posts, pretty much ignorant on blogging and everything that had to do with it. So I had to figure it out while I was constantly writing and publishing posts, which was rather stressful!

I definitely suggest writing some content in advance, perhaps joining a blogging community on Facebook to ask questions or browse useful articles on Pinterest! There’s lots to learn when it comes to blogging. Being prepared before you dive in head first will definitely spare you from stressful situations and wanting to throw your laptop out of the window on various occasions.

Related: 10 Productive Things To Do For Your Blog When Traffic Is Low

4. TRYING TO DO EVERYTHING AT ONCE

This is without a doubt one of my biggest mistakes when I just started out and I’ve had to force myself to take a step back and come up with a more organised approach. I tried to publish twice a week, dominate Pinterest, post daily on Instagram, learn SEO and be active on Twitter. It was bonkers! Eventually you end up half-assing everything instead of actually getting ahead. Aside from figuring out a blogging schedule that fits your lifestyle, I’d pick one or two things at most to focus on (for me that’s mainly Pinterest & a bit of SEO + FB) before moving on to something else.

5. IGNORING SEO

I’ve noticed that a lot of bloggers kind of ignore SEO in the beginning (as did I), probably because it sounds complicated and you already have enough to do, right?? However, completely ignoring SEO isn’t the best idea. Once you learn how important it is and you’ve already written a 100 blog posts, it’s going to cost you ages to implement all the necessary changes. I’m not saying it should be your main focus from the start, but I’d definitely recommend doing a bit of research so you get an idea of what you have to do. An easy way to do this is installing the Yoast SEO plug-in, which will at least teach you the basics of what to look out for when writing and publishing an article.

6. NOT IMPLEMENTING AFFILIATE LINKS FROM THE START

A lot of bloggers have a tendency to wait to implement affiliate links into their posts, because of the idea that you won’t get accepted or don’t have enough traffic yet. I’m only now getting into affiliate marketing and I’ve been blogging for months. The thing is, there are plenty of affiliate programs that have pretty low entry requirements. Besides, even if you don’t make a lot of money yet, at least you’ll learn the tricks of the trade and be fully prepared when traffic does start coming.

Side note: These are obviously all practical tips and while they are important, the mental aspect of blogging should not be underestimated. Thinking it’s easy was probably my biggest mistake of all. Before you jump into the blogging world, make sure you are willing to face obstacle after obstacle. People who claim that you can get rich quickly with minimal effort are probably trying to sell you something. Turning your blog into a business takes time, effort and dedication (especially in the beginning, there’s so much to learn!). However, if you’re determined not to give up, you can and you will succeed.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my article on these 6 mistakes to avoid when you’re a beginner blogger! Let me know in the comments if you’re wanting to start a blog or maybe you’ve already managed to turn your blog into a career? Where are you on your blogging journey??

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