If you are starting your blogging career, you probably have a lot on your mind.
First, you have to decide what you want to write about. Then, you must define for whom you will write all those blog posts; you need to choose a target audience. Next, you have to take care of the technical aspects of building a blog. After that, you need to start writing. And editing. And proofreading. And making sure that the articles are SEO-friendly. And so on and so forth.
It all sounds exhausting.
And we are not going to lie to you一there are a lot of stairs a newbie blogger like yourself has to climb. If you skip one of them, you might end up face down on the floor, right back where you started.
So, to ensure you don’t skip any of the steps on the journey of building a blog, we wrote down a list of the top 3 newbie blogging mistakes you should avoid at all costs.
Let’s go through all of them.
Mistake #1: Not defining your blog’s niche.
To put it simply, a niche is a blog’s topic that is the center of your creative work and writing. So, if you are in the food blogging business, your niche might be vegan recipes, sugar-free desserts, healthy carnivore recipes, or something similar.
Why is choosing a niche so essential?
Well, because you have a higher chance to succeed in the blogging business if you focus on a specific group of people, especially if you are trying to grow quickly and make money blogging. And research on Growthbadger.com supports this statement: low-income bloggers tend to focus on a broad group; precisely, 73% of bloggers who earn over $50,000 per year publish content that caters to the interests of very specific groups.
Additionally, focusing on a blog’s niche can benefit you in three ways.
First, you can differentiate your content more efficiently by thoroughly discussing a specific topic. You can cover your target audience’s interest more compellingly than you would if you were covering several different groups of people and all their interests.
Second, by being thorough, you have the chance to position yourself as an “expert” in your field. And it all makes sense: if you set a time to research a topic your target audience is passionate about and you provide well-thought-out tips and tricks, chances are you will become a go-to person within your blog niche.
And third, you will have a chance to rank higher in search engines, as your blog post will give the most compelling answer to the question a user has typed in the Google search bar. And the ultimate result? More visibility＝more traffic＝higher income.
The only question that is left to answer is how to choose a blog’s niche and successfully avoid this and other newbie blogging mistakes.
Start by recognizing the topics you are passionate about. Then, ask yourself (and then do a thorough research!) if people spend time researching the topic you are eager to write about and whether they are ready to spend money to resolve the issue they are having, which should be related to the topic you are covering. If the answers to all these questions are yes, you are good to go; you have successfully defined a blog’s niche.
Mistake #2: Choosing the wrong template to build your blog.
You can easily fall down the rabbit hole when searching for a template to create your blog. Here’s why.
There are dozens of website building platforms you can choose from. From WordPress and Joomla to Wix, Squarespace, Weebly, and the list goes on. It may seem like they all offer the same thing, but this is not the case一some of them are less flexible and can (believe it or not!) stop your blog from appearing on the first page of search engine results.
If you are in the process of researching the best website builders, check out our comparison on WordPress vs. Wix and WordPress vs. Squarespace. We bet the price difference will wow you in both comparisons.
In Themes Kingdom we like to joke that the first problem you can encounter when starting an online business is choosing any website building platform besides WordPress. And yes, we are aware that we sound too biased, but the statistics go in WP’s favor: this content management system is used by 43.1% of all websites. And there’s a good reason for that.
WordPress is more user-friendly now than ever, thanks to the Full Site Editing (FSE) features and the Gutenberg editor that allow you to build a website within one interface. Check out this article if you want to learn how a WP website builder can help you develop a blog. There, we explained every step of the process, from choosing a WordPress theme to playing with design styles.
Now, let’s assume that the platform of choice for your blog is WordPress.
The second problem you might encounter is actually a trap called nulled themes. Nulled WordPress themes are pirated copies of premium (high-quality) WP themes sold at lower prices or for free. Getting a premium theme for free might seem like a good idea, but in reality, it is not because you never know what you are getting. These themes usually come with multiple malware and are so poorly coded that you won’t be able to build a blog properly. You can check out why you should not opt for a nulled WP theme on our Nulled themes page.
Once you move on from nulled themes, there is only one more choice you need to make: free or premium template? We advise choosing a premium theme, especially if you want to have a successful blogging business. Premium themes offer much more customization and are usually better designed. If you need help choosing the right premium template for your blog, go through our post Choose the right premium WordPress theme and TKO your competitors. There, we mentioned you should look for SEO-friendliness, responsiveness, and many other factors that can contribute to your blog’s visibility.
Looking for a blogging theme to build your website? Check out our collection of blog WordPress themes!
Mistake #3: Making blogging your only stream of income.
Repeat after us: while I am starting a blogging career, I WILL NOT quit my day job.
Building your blogging empire takes time; a blog won’t immediately pay your bills. Truly, success in blogging is more of a marathon than a sprint.
The main reason we suggest you keep your day job or look for another job besides blogging is that you won’t be forced to compromise your blog’s quality if you have another source of income. If you pour your heart and soul into blogging, you can experience burnout desperately trying to pay the bills; you can choose a poor company to partner with and do things that will cost you long-term success.
Additionally, if you are not satisfied with your current job, you can find an online job that’s similar to being a blogger, like a virtual assistant or a ghostwriter.
And remember: you are supposed to enjoy blogging and not feel the weight on your shoulders every time you need to write a blog post and publish it. This thought might save you from making one of the biggest newbie blogging mistakes.
Check out our Blogging guide! There, listed the most common job opportunities bloggers take on while running their websites.
Conclusion
Now that you know the top 3 newbie blogging mistakes you should avoid, tell us: are you guilty of committing some of them? Or have you made other types of mistakes more related to content creation?
Whatever the mistakes may be, we encourage you to share your experience in the comments below, so our readers can learn and hear about your experience as a blogger. As they say, you should always learn from the mistakes of others.
And if you like reading about blogging and related topics, be sure to subscribe to the Themes Kingdom newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Until next time!
