Mistakes To Avoid When Starting a Blog

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My blogging journey has been such an incredible experience. There were some ups and downs, but it was a fantastic adventure. When I started this blog, I wasn't sure where I'd end up. There were times when I wanted to quit because I felt stuck. If you think it is simple, then you are wrong my friend. Starting a blog is difficult especially when you are new to the online space. There are just so many things to do.

Over the last couple of months, I learned a lot through trial and error. I want to share my mistakes so that you can avoid them if you are planning to start a blog. 

I know that everyone has their own way of running a blog. There are different strategies and resources you can use. In this post, I'll be sharing my experience. 

Mistake 1: Not Doing Web Stories Sooner 

Web stories have helped me to increase my traffic tremendously. SEO can take a while, and your keywords might not rank yet. A blog can take up to 6 months to a year to monetize. However, if you do web stories, you can quickly gain a lot of traffic compared to SEO. 

I felt ignorant when I didn't know what web stories were, and I didn't put in the effort to learn about them. All I focused on was coming out with new content and guest posting. 

However, the blogging group I'm a part of said that web stories help get you some traffic if you are a new blogger, and the best person to help you with web stories is Allison Lancaster. She is the master of web stories if you want to learn more about web stories.

I decided to try and see the results with my own eyes. After a few weeks to a month, I saw how tremendous my traffic skyrocketed, and I was extremely excited to see such remarkable results. 

So if you are starting a blog, you need to do web stories because it'll surely get you a lot of traffic in a short time. I suggest having around 30 to 50 blog posts before doing web stories. You don't want to create web stories to drive traffic when your blog barely has any content. You should wait until you have a fairly good amount on your blog. 

I tried to create three web stories a day, but I sometimes skipped days. It really depends on what tasks you want to prioritize on your blog. 

Mistake 2: Joining a Blogging Group 

When I read other bloggers' posts, I was always curious if bloggers did everything themselves. Some did, and some didn't. When you are a beginner, you don't know much about creating a blog or even starting one. 

At first, I did everything myself by learning and doing. However, I realized how confused, unorganized, and clueless I was. Everything took so long to understand, and I didn't know who to ask for help. I felt like I was doing everything wrong. I decided to look for help through social media. 

I joined some Facebook groups to connect with other bloggers and learned from them because there will always be something new for you to learn every day. I'm also a part of The Insiders, and they have helped me grow into a remarkable blogger I am today!

With a supportive group, you can ask for help like SEO strategies, blog post ideas, social media posts, affiliate marketing, and more. There are so many things you can learn from others, and you become a better blogger with the help of others. Whether you are a new blogger or an intermediate blogger, there is always something new to learn about blogging.

If you can find a group to become a part of, then blogging can be a lot easier. You can never do things by yourself in life because we are humans who thrive together. 

Mistake 3: Invest in your Blog 

If you want to make money on your blog, you have to invest. Whether you invest in resources, courses, blog groups, or social media management, you need to invest your money. If you don't have money, you have to invest time in working on your blog. 

You only have time and money. When I started my blog, I invested most of my time since I wanted to learn and understand the process first before doing the cool stuff. Once I started getting the hang of it, I started to hire a writer to help me with some posts, so I could focus on other things like finding blog post ideas, web stories, keyword research, guest posting, etc. 

There is just not much time to do everything by yourself in a day. If you need help, you have to hire people. I'm not saying you should do it my way because everyone has their own methods of running a blog. You just have to find a way that works for you.  

Mistake 4: Treating it like a Business

Most bloggers start their blog as a hobby before turning it into a business. However, if you treat it like a business in the beginning, your blog can grow fast and start making money in a short amount of time. 

If you don't want your blog to be a business, then you'll likely slack off. Sure, you can make your blog a hobby, but it might not grow the way you want. 

At first, my blog was a side hustle, and I worked on it whenever I had time. However, when I saw people making money by blogging, I started to take it a bit more seriously and treat it as a business. If I had done it earlier, maybe I would've succeeded a bit earlier? Who knows?

Mistake 5: Schedule Your Week

The hardest part when starting a blog is keeping a consistent schedule every week. If you are a parent or a student, you have a lot of other responsibilities to take care of and it's hard to get all your tasks done every day.

I suggest you schedule your day the night before or plan the week during the weekend, it will help you to be productive and get things done efficiently. By writing things down, you'll feel less stressed and know what you have to do for the day.

I remember I tried to do everything in a day, but it was so difficult due to procrastination and other responsibilities. I would always try to put 3 main tasks to accomplish for the next day. If I can't complete those tasks, I cannot do anything else.

There are so many things that need to be done behind the scenes. Growing a blog is a lot of hard work.

Tasks most bloggers have to do:

• Social media management
• Writing blog posts
• Outsourcing other tasks
• Revising older posts
• Creating digital products
• Organizing expenses

By making it a habit to schedule your week, you can get a lot of things done for your blog and not put it off. I know most bloggers tend to give up when they see no results, but you have to stay consistent for weeks and months to see the results you want.

Mistake 6: Not Starting Earlier

I was afraid of starting a blog for many reasons: fear, doubt, embarrassment, failure, etc. I'm also not a confident person, and I didn't know if my blog would ever grow. Blogging is a long-term game, and I thought that I wasn't going to last that long. 

However, after brooding over it for a long time, I decided to take a leap of faith by investing in myself. I'm glad I did because I learned so many new things about the online space and about myself. 

I want to tell you that it is okay to be afraid and be uncomfortable. It is normal for you to feel that way when you are venturing out to something new. It's scary, but you'll never know if you don't try. 

Life is all about the experience. You only live once so live your life to the fullest. It's better to take action than to feel regret later. 

Last Words

Starting a blog may sound overwhelming to most of you, but you'll get there if you trust in the process and believe in yourself. Nothing is ever easy until you try. Only by trying will you fail, learn, and grow. If you need help getting your blog started, check out my post on “How to Start a Blog.” I hope these mistakes have taught you something, and I cannot wait to see your success as a blogger.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next post!