Many people say that blogging is a learning process, and that it’s OK to make mistakes. We live and learn right?
WRONG!
I’m here to tell you that blogging, especially as a professional, deserves no less respect than any other profession. Much of our learning should happen privately, and we should use our public front to show the most professional image that we can.
Five Deadliest Blogging Mistakes
This is why today, I want to share 5 deadliest blogging mistakes that almost everyone makes, but should be avoided at all costs.
1. Begging for Money
I see this blogging mistakes all over the web, and it makes me sick. If you are a blogging consultant or you take money to help others make money, then you have no right begging people to buy from you, donate to your blog, or offer you gifts in any way.
Look, I realize that we’re all putting on a brave front, but why would someone pay you for advice if you can’t pay yourself? Be professional, and if you need money, ask someone privately.
2. Non-Stop Sales
If I had a dollar for every blogger that had a non-stop sale, then I would be rich.
Look, I realize your product might not be selling well and/or you need to find a way to inject some cash into your business. I have no problems with a fire sale from time to time, even if it will devalue your business (that’s your problem, not mine). But having a new sale every week, or several times per month screams DESPERATE!
Use sales wisely; do not abuse them.
3. Disagreeing with Yourself
I’ve had make this blogging mistake in the past, and people weren’t afraid to point it out.
Make sure that if you say something in a blog post that contradicts with what you’ve said in the past, that you either
a) state why your opinion has changed, or
b) edit the old post.
I’ve seen it before – people write a great post about some new revelation they’ve had, and then someone points out that they said something directly in opposition to that revelation several months prior.
This makes you look like a soup sandwich. Always be aware of your position points.
4. Mailing It In
Many A-listers are guilty of this blogging mistake. They have a successful product launch and then assume that they can rest on their laurels and sell junk for the rest of their life.
I got news for you – you can’t!
If you disappoint people even once, then they will leave you and go where the grass is greener. Your customers deserve your best, each and every time. Don’t assume that you can get lazy because you’re on a roll, because people will notice when your products suck.
5. Jealousy
It’s easy to get jealous when you watch someone’s blog skyrocket to success overnight, or when someone gets featured in a list post and you don’t.
Jealousy is human nature, and it’s OK to be jealous. The problem is that people make bad decisions when they are jealous, and lash out at other bloggers because of it. Never write a post when you are in a jealous state. Sit, relax, and breathe. Trust me, when you write with envy, you write with malice, and people will notice.
Let's hear about your blogging mistakes
I hope these help you stay out of trouble with your blogging efforts. I’ve already admitted I’ve made a few of these blogging mistakes, but what about you? I’d love to hear your stories.
Hi Wong,
#1 is a biggie.
Beg for money, you don’t get money. Nobody likes desperation; it’s repelling. Offer immense value on a consistent basis. People will give you money, you won’t have to ask as much.
Complacency is another blogging error. Celebrate victories, but keep on keeping on. Put out awesome content. Sell only top shelf products. Keep your reputation intact and provide the wonderful service that made you a success in the first place.
Thanks for sharing Wong!
RB
Do you know how I got the idea of the first point? Well, recently I think Frank Kern is short of cash because in just 3 days he had send in 5 emails, all promoting his cheap book that cost just the shipment and this book was actually given to his member for Mass Control which I was one of them like last year…
So, it just make me feel his “Desperate”…
But I’m not sure that’s just how the idea came by… and thanks for reading my stuff…
Hi Wong,
Haha. Your first point made me laugh AND think. Many bloggers’ newsletters are indeed begging for money; and also their tweets. Wherever I follow them, they target my credit card and do non-stop speech.
The sad fact is that, I have recently un-followed on Twitter and unsubscribed from the mailing list of two popular A-listers, from whom I never have received one useful update/email from them apart from sales pitched ones and automated tweets that pay per click.
Awesome points discussed here.
Cheers,
Jane.
Well… to be honest… I never follow any A-lister accept “copyblogger” like those big shot (which you know who) most of the time they try to send you something for free and then ask you to sign up on another dude’s list which that dude will send you promotional stuff, well if it’s good of course it will make me want to buy but if it’s just another screw ball product it makes me think why in the world in the first place that A-lister wants to promote this dude….
Yes… kind the LOL…
But I guess… may be money is involve…
Hi
Really A Nice Article
But From Last many Days I am Searching For Guest Article Posting authors
can you tell me how to do
Well, maybe this forum might help you get guest author – http://myblogguest.com/
Hope it helps…
Ohhh, blogging mistakes. Guilty of all those myself in the beginning, but I guess the important lesson is that you learn from your mistakes and never do it again. That in itself would be a big mistake if you don’t, I mean, recognize that a mistake has been made and do nothing about it. Solid advices
Well, not just you are guilty, I too feel guilty… as I do all the above accept point 1 in the beginning, but now all are gone and really when I wrote this post… it really let me think back how dumb and stupid it was…
I’ve made mistakes, sure, but he one point to really hit home for me is #4.
I lost someone I considered a good friend, and actually one of my first mentors years ago.
She turned into a “guru” (a real 4letter word) and it all went to crap.
Well… sometime you might thing this person knows what’s he is talking but when you really dig hard into knowing the person… it’s almost like trash… and I had that experience before when I started out online…
Great points there, I think the most dangerous one is the constant being-on-a-sale mistake… Sometimes I just feel that to be in the race I have to offer something more, or put a sale sign on it to make people think that they will get it for less.
Well.. that’s what product launch are… by putting a sale sign, I don’t mind taking look what’s in store for me, but by putting a sale sign almost every month… this is going to hurt…
Great Article Wong, and I agree, it looks so cheap when I read ‘offer me a coffee’ at the end of post – though I am happy to, in most of time, but I feel I’d be glad if I could offer, rather than after the one begged for.
I think the “offer me a coffee” is the most stupidest marketing tactics ever brought online… because if it was me… I doesn’t want a coffee but to hire me as a consultant, I mean if you read my stuff and is good… I rather people hire me t o help them … offering me a coffee… well… they can when they hire me…
Its really bad to hear from a blogger that blogging is into begging, how is this possible that these bloggers who write articles with awesome content, have immense knowledge and know fundamentals of their business very well could be indulge in begging moreover they want their sales at any cost, I personally don’t agree with you because a blogger always knows that the thing which can sale their product is a quality content, their relationships with their readers and the way they advertise their products.
Well… even if the fact sucks is still a fact for the reason, this is what the bad side of the money world is all about. May be you should look more into what this money world of blogging and marketing is all about.
May be you haven’t heard of or may be you haven’t brought something from someone you truly believe and when you open up is all crap… just like recently Frank Kern ( The Mass Control Dude) his rich but he still think he lacks of money and few days back till today he is still sending emails with different headlines telling about his cheap book which we only pay for the shipment….
But can you believe the content inside was actually the same as the one he had given free for those that join the mass control membership…
This is call begging…. selling old stuff with new cover… do you think is right…?
This is another problem you rightly pointed out Wong. I found one great content and subscribed does not mean that now I’m ready to accept all the crap you throw.
These sort of discussions will certainly help to think once again and avoid the mistakes in future. The post alerted all of us if we were planning for any of these cheap tricks.
A big thumb up!
Unless… unless the person that I subscribe always send in great and cool stuff then it will not be annoying to me, just like before I was a Gray Halbert subscriber and after he his silent death in 2007 his children took over his list and now send in stuff that just from other product promotion which I didn’t like at all….
Good article Wong and I agree with you completely. The worst is when they beg for money and are into constant sales. No wonder an abundance of people, mainly Americans, have a negative image of bloggers.
And we are all affected by that.
When there is positive there always is a negative, so… is ok if they feel so but when they really go into it and have success then their thinking will be different just like MLM…
I think to ask for money in any way is the death of super ego. Struggle with consistency make a blogger prominent and famous.
What you mean by struggle with consistency will make a blogger prominent and famous?
Great list, I could not agree more on all of these!!
Thanks for agreeing to what I wrote, and thanks for reading and commenting to let me know about it, I really appreciate it.
Wow, the 5 reasons sounds so simple yet deadly! A very well written reminder. Perhaps the 6th deadliest should be “giving up”? Or maybe that is not deadly enough.
Well “Giving Up” is not deadly but “The End Of Everything” which is worst then deadly, but I believe if I were to talk about giving up then the title will be “Number One Biggest Advice that Will End Everything You Have in Life”
What you think? 🙂
Haha, that’s very true 🙂 There are many reasons that lead people to give up thought, point #5 is one of them, not being able to meet (monetary) expectations is another. Maybe there is a need for that post after all!
Would love to have your insight on it 🙂
Well… that will be another day of another post, but I do believe point #5 is one of many factors of giving up.
I think many people that start out make some or all of these mistakes. I know I have. The begging for money one, as others have pointed out, is a big mistake that I see made too much online. I lump that in the group with those that cover their blogs with ads from top to bottom.
Well, I have make all mistakes accept begging for money… I mean sometime people doesn’t know they are actually begging money… they always thought…as long as we buy… that’s it… kind the suck seriously…
Hi Wong,
Nice article. I agree that most of these are big mistakes. But, like your Frank Kern example, I seem to see this mistakes most on the blogs of the bigger bloggers. It would be interesting to know when they started begging for money, non-stop sales and mailing it in. Have they always blogged that way and the reason they’re successful is because they’ve been around a while now? Or did they only start committing these ‘mistakes’ after they achieved they developed a following?
Also, some of my most successful blog posts have been posts where I disagree with myself. Like you said, you have to tell your readers why you’re changing your stance. But it lets your readers know you’re human and that you make mistakes or errors in judgement, too. It helps, too, to link back to the ‘wrong’ article so your readers can compare both sets of reasoning.
Enjoyed your article very much!
You know if you really look at big time players (you should know who)… they talk about things they can’t do for example “replying to comment” did they really reply?
Their biggest reason is “hell… I have more important stuff to do then replying comment” Well… so you don’t treat your commentator well… so what’s the point of writing great comment on their blog when they don’t reply? Hell with it… I must well go to blogs such as this one… at least I get attention when I really write a great comment…
And it goes the same as… they teach you not to beg for money but the real truth is when they see their money is low… they will always think of a way to do promotion… just like Frank Kern… he usually don’t send so many emails to promote a product… but this time round… guess what… he send emails almost everyday talking about “email headlines” while at the end of the email telling you there is a cool video about his book…
Is this a plot for his new product about “email headline” or is this about his cheap book that he give away in his membership group.
Well… I’m not really complaining about him is just that his email is ridiculously annoying recently… that cause me to write “begging for money”
The one time I begged for money, I blatantly begged for money.
I had used up my liquid cash totally forgetting my quarterly hosting bill was right around the corner. Being a reseller account, it was just shy of $100
Well… that’s quite bad if you did ask me… seriously…
Chill BB, it came off worse then it really was, lol. I merely said, if one can donate X$ they would get a really good advertising deal.
On the upside, I was blatantly honest about it too, not hiding behind some cheesy fire-sale mask…damn I hate that.
There’s one point which I hate – when bloggers say that they earn 5000 or even more a months but when asked how, they answered something like ‘adsense’ or writing articles. I can hardly believe it – in fact I don’t believe it. If you want to teach us how, give some definite answer or tips.
Well… usually if you ask anyone or just anybody, that’s what they will answer you… sometime you have to do your own research rather then ask them direct… learning from someone doesn’t had to proof that someone is really what he is because even if he proof to you he did make a million a month… do you think he will even look into someone asking him about proof… will absolutely NO!… because he had better prospects then someone who is asking for proof…
No problem, and yes begging for money is sure a no no for any blogger, although there always have some blogger out there who did really beg… but the best we can do is to give them good advice…
Hi Wong,
One of the bad habits is to write a post without a head or tail. There is no structure in blog and it moves like a rapid river. I have seen bloggers starting with an argument, totally change direction in the middle and move on to a totally different conclusion. It is a good idea to write less, if less is better.
All your points are superb.
Thanks and regards,
Ashvini
Well… this is personal, writing less or writing more, but for me it depends… but usually I will rather write less and straight to the point…
Thanks for coming by reading my posts…
What??
An opinion is just that…not a fact.
Lets say you’re proven wrong, you’re going to stand your ground? You’ll look 10x worse then anything else; and that’s just one example.
I almost jumped in on this one earlier and now I can’t resist.
One of the best things you can do in any social situation is stand up and admit your mistakes. But in blogging it’s even more critical. The ONLY connection you have with your readers is what they see on the screen. They can’t see your face or look into your eyes to know if you’re sincere and trustworthy or if you’re just trying to con them. They only barometer they have to gauge your credibility is your words.
I’ve had to go back and admit a mistake a few times on my blogs and it just makes you that much more trustworthy in the eyes of your readers. Like Dennis said, you only end up losing credibility – and you end up looking ridiculous, too – when you try to defend your mistake. But if you’re man enough to step up and admit you’re wrong, you gain instant loyalty from your readers because everyone knows how it feels to have to admit you’re wrong. And everyone understands how hard it is to do it.
My biggie is rule number two – non stop sales.
I have been known to promote non-stop my shop and just write post after post after post on the products I sell – makes for some pretty boring reading huh?
Now I try and mix it up with some commentary, opinion and of course upcoming releases and client feedback.
You know what, the best one should be client’s feedback, if you could write those , trust me, they will always look up for you for solution and believe it or not, they will almost pay you happily for stuff you sell… because you care for their feed back…
I prefer to notify my readers, if ever I make a mistake in the post along with the reason for it. It’s a bad thing to hide things from your subscribers/readers
Well, that’s really a great honest way towards your subscriber and it can really make them feel you are someone who does make mistakes but at least you are honest with it…
Hi
Raymond here i liked what you post but begging for money it makes some odd , but u r right some beg for hosting maintainence,
Begging for hosting maintenance, that’s kind the awful, I mean although I did hear someone back in my blogging old days…. but that’s just over-the-board…
This is an interesting post as only yesterday I was reading something that said the polar opposite – it was not possible to make a mistake blogging as there was no right and wrong. The most important thing is listening to your readers and taking on board their feedback – if you are lucky enough to receive it.
Well… getting feedback is good, but of course getting to much bad feedback, might let someone especially beginner to feel bad about himself, so it’s better to encourage first before giving feedback that might just crush him… but of course this is all personal.
The best feedback is just honest feedback, good and/or bad. However, for any problem that arises, you should throw in a possible solution in the same space…this cuts the badness in half at least.
Ya, but I’m not sure about others, for me I’m sure to give a possible solution that’s for sure…
Hi Wong! (again, lol)
You have a really great point with #1. I had just visited another blog last night that was asking for opinions about the donation button on blogs. Some people really like it, and when I see it on blogs I don’t mind it. But I would NEVER put it on my own blog.
For me, it’s just the difference between begging others to tell me what they think I’m worth (which screams “NO CONFIDENCE”) and TELLING others what I’m worth through the price of my products. Not that I have any yet, but I will. And I promise, I won’t abuse sales when I do, either! =)
Delena
Yes, you are right, it seems “no confident” for the author of the blog, and I didn’t like it at all, I mean if it’s good then it’s good… people will eventually be sharing it unless it’s a bad content…
When I first started out with blogging, I thought of other bloggers in my niche as competitors. They are, of course, but what I’ve found out about the blogosphere is that there’s enough to go around for everyone. Bloggers, by and large, bend over backwards to help each other out. It’s been quite an amazing experience for me.
Being jealous in this type of environment is silly. Success in blogging comes from hard work, consistency, and persistence (shhhh … don’t let anyone know the secret). Yes, a touch of good luck can speed the process; however, most lucky people are the ones practicing the aforementioned secrets.
Some people tell me is not about luck to me almost everything is about luck, you will never know what’s coming next, if you are lucky you might get something in return but if you are not… what you get is almost nothing, so having a good “luck” is always better then having no “luck” at all…
If I had to add one to this list, I would add “stop trying so hard to be witty”. Readers can tell and it makes them cringe.
Yes, readers are not stupid… they will know.
Point #1 and the image attached made me laugh, really…Lol
Well… I believe most blogger make the mistake for the image…
True….Do whatever but never beg for the money from your readers
I really like how your get right to the point and spell it out.
I think #1 is a huge issue for many bloggers. People seem to think that if they create great content and build traffic, they will start making money.
If there is no monetization strategy in place, then the resluts are usually poor.
Just randomly trying to market to your readers is ineffective and unfortunately, all too common.
Thanks for sharing! Great information as always.
I do admit that no monetization strategy, will not get good results, but I do believe in thinking out side the blog and start doing some promotion of products (if you have one) or promotion for other people’s product using social media.
I think that the best way to succeed in blogging is to do this just for pleasure. Let blogging be your hobby first and don’t expect to get huge income. Set a goal to obtain intetrnet marketing skills and get experience in website promotion and online advertising. If you do blog just for pleasure you have nothing to worry about. One day you will see that you blog is very popular then just perform proper website monetisation and start getting online income. Acting in such a way you can become an owner of online business in a few years!
Unfortunately, not many think like you said, because the biggest desire to almost everyone who started a blog is to make money out of it, although what you said is truthfully correct, still is really hard not to think about it…
Really nice article mate. The main mistake they make is not to blog on daily basis thinking everything will come their way. Doing simple things perfectly can make a blogger reach from zero to hero.
Actually blogging is about consistence, you doesn’t have to blog daily just to get traffic and consistence but by blogging once per 2 days or 3 times a week is already very good at the least you do it consistently. So do you blog consistently?
hi..im first come to here. and read ur blog articles make me smarter then ever. now blogging really good and fun activies, even not to monetize it. Sorry, my english is bad..i hope u understand and sorry. mercy
Is okay, and ya blogging is fun and enjoyable, I bet that’s what you mean…
Hey, indeed, I agree with what you said in the post… I especially like your jealousy point. 🙂
Not updating the blog regularly is a mistake also as it will make the readers leave the blog gradually…
Ya, not updating the blog regularly is a mistake and I had done that mistake before which I do not do it anymore.
Great reading, only one thing I was unclear about and that was the mailings. I thought that you meant or were going to say that mailing out the same blog repeatedly was a no, no. Anyway keep sharing, I’m relatively new at this I’ve been bloggin for over too years but still learning.
In life learning is a process it never will be an event because it will never end, and I too I’m still learning, so is okay when you make mistakes as long as you learn something from it and do it better, you are on your way to better future.
Hi Wong,
Nice article really.I agree your point on disagreeing.The blogger should maintain his integrity at all costs.I feel there is one thing more and thats patience.There is no shortcut to success.
Ya, ur right patience is really important especially when someone kept failing, I mean I had failed a lot of times not just online but also offline, but because of my patience I actually pull through all the hard stuff in life.
“Jealousy” is very negative point in every in every profession. If a blogger is begging money,I think he is modern beggar.
Well, you can called it “The Online Beggar”
I remember jealous bloggers before that sabotage my blogs by linking them to spammy sites. They’re so unfair.
Wow… mind sharing the URL of the “Jealous Bloggers”?
I agree with you on all the 5 points. Simply love the picture of the guy you chose for “Begging for Money”
Thanks for agreeing with me, but the picture wasn’t choose by me but by Ms. Ileane who is the founder behind this blog 🙂
Wow, the comments here are very informative. I think we all hate “beggars for money.” What a turn off. I also think that some of the auto responders are not great. Like I will sign up for a free eBook and then the person keeps emailing me. The more they do this the more turned off I get…(the get rich like I did scheme). I am not sure what blogging mistakes I make just yet. I learn and grow as I go.
That’s great, learning along the way while making mistakes and learn again, is the way success is being created, and I believe that almost every great blogger goes through what you are going through, anyway thanks for reading my post, talk soon…
Searching good blog is not an easy task because number of blogs with exaggeration is available but the information on this blog is completely based on research. It will help you in getting information and gaining knowledge.
Thanks for your comment and I did like to say this blog is not just based on research but also purely written by experience blogger 🙂
The first mistake I made was I started blogging using WordPress.com, as opposed to WordPress.org. I know I should have rather self-hosted my blog for full control. The problem with hosting through WordPress.com is that you don’t have control over customization.
Yes, and you cannot use Adsense too, so it’s better to self-host your blog and move on… anyway thanks for reading and commenting on my guest post and I guess this reply came so late 🙁 but hope you don’t mind 🙂
I can’t agree more with your blog.. I really hope for the best of my blog.. I am determine to win readers.. Thanks for this post!
Hey Sally I guess this reply came way too late, but anyway in order to win readers you need to have quality content and second you need some persuasion skill in your writing which you can learn through by reading some copywriting stuff, it’s really fun and it’s going to help you out in your writing 🙂
These are all great examples of blogging mistakes and you see them all most everywhere. I really hate the first one because begging for money is never good and especially on a blog. Thanks for sharing!
Well… I hate it too, and seriously I even see well known marketer doing it… it’s really a disgrace…
Another great post as usual. I’ve tried using guest posts to get traffic to my blog. It works to a certain extent but I’m guilty of not keeping the momentum going. I guess I just have to do it more consistently and regularly.
Also, sometimes it’s hard to come up with a topic idea when thinking that practically everything has been written about by other great bloggers.
But this blog post is really useful to me.
Thanks for the great tips!
Well… if you are really passionate about your topic, you will never run out of idea, it doesn’t matter how many blogger had written over and over again… the most important is the way you write might be more understandable and more fun to read then other blogger.
I really hate begging. Everybody can see trough it so why bother? I never thought about Disagreeing with Yourself. It’s a good thing when you question your previous statements but only on purpise.