Blogging Mistakes Marketers Make & How You Can Avoid Them

Table of Contents

The HubSpot Blog gets 8 million page views daily and has seen a 25% increase in traffic each year. Digital marketers should avoid many common blogging mistakes¹. Not planning and strategizing can cause problems with consistency, formatting, and promotion. This is especially true for new bloggers who might not know the best practices.

Bloggers who don’t research and focus on their audience may find it hard to keep readers¹. The HubSpot Blog managers have listed 15 common mistakes in blogging. They also offer solutions to make blogs more successful.

You are a marketer first, but the fact that you aren't a great writer shouldn't stop you from writing on your blog

Key Takeaways

Consistent, high-quality content is crucial for blog success.
Neglecting audience research can lead to engagement and retention struggles.
Aligning blog post ideas with company growth goals can improve strategic focus.
Understanding audience personas and pain points is critical for impactful content.
Using SEO strategies and promoting content on social media can boost visibility.

Thinking of Ideas That Only Interest You

As a digital marketer, it’s easy to make content we like but might not help our company grow. To make a successful blog, we must think of ideas that help our customers and prospects².

Solution: Align Your Blog Posts With Company Growth Goals

To make blog posts that work, they must match your company’s growth plans. Work with your manager to know the big goals. Then, talk with your sales team to find out what problems your customers have².

Using this info, you can make content that shows your brand is a trusted expert. It also meets your audience’s needs. This is better than just writing about what you like³.

Think about using tools for content marketing or social listening to find trending topics. This helps you make content that connects with your audience more deeply⁴.

Your blog is a key way to draw in and help leads, not just a place for your ideas. By making your content match your company’s goals and what your audience needs, your blog can really help your business grow².

“Your blog is a honeypot, not a megaphone. Make it a point to position your content around what your audience wants to discover, not what you want to tell them.”

– Amanda Sellers, Historical Optimization Manager at HubSpot

Forgetting About Your Audience

You can take control of your blog and make it a powerful marketing asset

Many bloggers make a big mistake. They think their content will do well without thinking about their audience or what they want them to do⁵. About 80% of bloggers post too much because there’s so much online⁵. To really connect with your audience, you must know who they are and what they care about, like their job, goals, and problems⁵.

Solution: Pick Topics That Speak to Your Target Audience Directly

Choosing blog topics means picking ones that really talk to your audience’s interests and needs. Don’t just write for SEO, which 71% of bloggers do, making readers lose interest⁵. Create content that helps your audience, solves their problems, and gives them useful tips.

Use tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Google Keyword Planner to find popular search terms and how often people search for them⁶. For instance, “eco-friendly home tips” gets about 10,000 searches a month, which can help you plan your content⁶.

Your main goal is to connect with your audience on a personal level and show you’re an expert in your field. This makes you stand out, as nearly half of bloggers forget to do this⁵.

When you match your blog with what your audience likes and needs, you’ll get more engagement, loyal readers, and more valuable conversions for your business⁷.

Only Covering Trending News

As a digital marketer, it’s tempting to focus only on trending news and buzz. These stories get a lot of attention and social media love. But, using only trendy topics can make your content poor quality and unoriginal. This doesn’t meet your audience’s needs⁸.

Prioritize Evergreen Content With Buzzy Angles

Instead, focus on making evergreen content. This is content that stays useful and interesting over time. Find topics that really matter to your audience. This way, your content stays relevant and valuable⁸.

To make your evergreen content more exciting, add a “buzzy” twist. Karla Hesterberg, from the HubSpot Blog, suggests using current trends or cultural moments to make your content fresh⁹. This means linking your post to a big event or a popular story, but still keeping its main value.

By mixing timeless content with timely topics, you can make blog posts that do well in search, bring in steady traffic, and make your brand a go-to source. Tools like SEMrush, BuzzSumo, and Ubersuggest help find the best topics and trends for your content⁸.

“Evergreen topics often touch on overarching ideas that won’t become outdated or irrelevant in the near future.”

– Karla Hesterberg, HubSpot Blog Senior Team Manager

To make your evergreen content even better, check it with Copyscape for originality. Also, use the Hemingway Editor to make it easy to read and understand⁸.

Not Tying a Niche Topic Into Your Reader’s Broader Struggle

Evaluate your niche

As a pro copywriter, I’ve seen many bloggers make a big mistake. They don’t link a niche topic to the big challenges their readers face¹⁰. It’s key to see how the topic fits into your audience’s big struggles and dreams.

Solution: Understand the Challenges and Consequences They’re Facing

To make content that hits home, go deeper than just the surface. Find out the real challenges and what could happen if they don’t get help¹¹. Spend time to learn about your audience, their problems, and their world.

For instance, writing about Canva, a popular design tool, isn’t just about its features. It’s about how it helps small business owners who can’t afford fancy design tools or don’t know how to design¹¹. Show how Canva can solve their problems and what could happen if they don’t have good visuals.

Same goes for tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, Trello, and Asana. Instead of just listing features, see how these tools can tackle bigger business and productivity issues. Use Google Trends to find out what’s on your audience’s mind.

This way, your content will not just teach and inform but also inspire action¹⁰. It will make your blog better, set you apart, and make you a go-to expert in your field.

“Understanding how the topic you’re writing about will fit into a reader’s broader challenges will help you find meaning and value in any post you write, and will enable you to connect with your readers better.”

–Caroline Forsey, Senior Content Strategist at HubSpot

Treating Your Writing Like a Brain Dump

Writing blog content can make you want to just dump your thoughts on paper. But, this method usually leads to content quality, poor formatting, and a lack of originality. These issues can lose your readers¹².

So, what’s the fix? Use a template, an outline, and clear section headers for your blog posts. This way, you organize your thoughts and make your content easy to read. Karla Hesterberg, a HubSpot Blog manager, says, “Creating an outline can greatly improve your content’s clarity and organization, especially when explaining complex topics.”¹²

Using a Template and Outline

First, make a template for your blog posts. Include sections like an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Then, outline the main points you want to cover¹².

Planning your post helps your ideas connect well and your content stay structured. This makes it easier for readers to follow and helps you avoid a messy, disorganized post¹².

Incorporating Section Headers

Using clear sections with headers is key to organizing your blog post. These headers help guide your readers through the content. They make it simple for them to quickly understand and digest the information¹².

When making your section headers, use clear, concise language that fits the section’s content. Tools like Grammarly and Canva can improve your writing and make your headers look good¹².

With a clear structure and plan, your blog writing can be engaging, informative, and easy to follow. This makes your blog better and sets you apart from posts that just dump information¹².

Not Providing Value in Exchange for a Lead

Many businesses find it hard to get leads, with 68% saying it’s tough¹³. But, the key is to give value to get email addresses. Just asking for a subscription without offering something in return doesn’t work well¹³.

To get more sign-ups, think about offering free stuff like discounts or e-books. For instance, Digital Marketer got 35,859 leads in 60 days with a “Facebook Ad Template Library”¹³.

Personalized calls-to-action (CTAs) work better, making 42% more visitors sign up¹⁴. Slide-in CTAs are also good because they grab attention early¹⁴.

Focus on giving value and making signing up easy to boost lead generation. Remember, 86% of visitors leave if signing up takes too long¹³.

With 4 billion social media users worldwide in 2019¹³, using platforms like Facebook can help a lot. It has over 2 billion users, making it great for reaching specific groups and getting more leads¹³.

The main idea is to think about what your audience needs and give them something valuable for their info. This way, you avoid not promoting enough and ignoring your email list. It leads to better lead generation and growth¹³.

“An example funnel showed that with focused efforts, the number of customers can double and lead to more conversions.”¹³

Some good ways to give value for a lead include:

Offering valuable freebies like discounts, free trials, or educational content
Using personalized and attention-grabbing CTAs
Leveraging popular social media platforms like Facebook for targeted lead generation
Continuously testing and optimizing your lead capture tactics

By using these strategies and focusing on your audience, you can greatly improve your lead generation. This will help your business grow in the long run¹³¹⁴.

Blogging Mistakes Marketers Make

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As a digital marketer, it’s key to dodge common blogging errors. These mistakes can mess up your content strategy and stop you from connecting with your audience. The HubSpot Blog says some big mistakes include posting too little, poor content quality, neglecting SEO, ignoring user intent, lack of originality, poor formatting, insufficient promotion, neglecting email list, and ignoring analytics¹⁵.

One big error is making posts that only you find interesting. This doesn’t help your company grow¹⁵. Also, not thinking about your audience and picking topics they care about is bad¹⁵. Marketers often focus too much on trending news instead of creating evergreen content with buzzy angles¹⁵.

Another mistake is not linking your topic to your readers’ big problems¹⁵. It’s important to understand what your audience is going through¹⁵. Writing without a plan and skipping section headers makes your blog hard to read and engage with¹⁵.

To fix these issues, focus on giving value to your readers, posting regularly, making quality content, and using SEO¹⁵. Also, know what your readers want, be original, format well, promote your work, build your email list, and use analytics¹⁵. By fixing these mistakes, you can make your blog better and connect with your audience¹⁵.

“Avoiding common blogging mistakes like publishing duplicate content, using a generic writing style, and not creating headlines with a target keyword in mind is crucial for success.”¹⁶

The HubSpot Blog and experts list over 100 blogging mistakes marketers make¹⁶. These mistakes are in areas like Blog Content Mistakes, Blog Promotion Mistakes, Blog Design Mistakes, and Blog SEO Mistakes¹⁶. These include using too much fluff, not using subheadings, taking readers to the wrong pages, and not having clear calls-to-action¹⁶.

Knowing and fixing these blogging errors can make your content strategy better. It can also improve your blog’s performance and connect you with your audience¹⁵¹⁶.

Conclusion

The HubSpot Blog has found 15 big mistakes in blogging that marketers should skip¹⁷. These errors include making content just for yourself, ignoring your readers, and only talking about what’s trending. They also include writing without a plan. The HubSpot Blog offers tips to fix these issues and make your blog better.

To make your blog a hit, match your posts with your company’s goals. Talk directly to your audience. Make sure your content stays useful over time. Know what your readers really need. Make your blog easy to follow and give value to your readers for their attention.

Writing great blog posts means knowing your audience well, planning your content, and always trying to get better. Use the advice in this article to boost your blog’s success. This will help your business grow.

To further enhance your blogging skills, consider learning about how to create a style guide for your blog. This will help maintain consistency across all your posts and strengthen your brand identity.

Remember, sustainable content is key to long-term success. Focus on creating content that remains relevant and valuable to your audience over time.

Lastly, don’t forget to analyze your blog’s user behavior metrics. This will give you valuable insights into what’s working and what needs improvement in your blogging strategy.

By avoiding these common mistakes and implementing best practices, you’ll be well on your way to creating a successful and impactful blog that resonates with your audience and drives your business forward.

Source Links

How to Make Money Blogging: The Ultimate Guide for Aspiring Bloggers

The Ultimate Guide to Growing Your Affiliate Marketing Blog in 2024

Linking Social Signals and Blog Positioning: Insights

Alexios Papaioannou

I’m Alexios Papaioannou, an experienced affiliate marketer and content creator. With a decade of expertise, I excel in crafting engaging blog posts to boost your brand. My love for running fuels my creativity. Let’s create exceptional content together!