Live blogging allows you to engage your audience in real-time. You can simply provide text updates or create an experience by using all of the social media and multimedia options available. Whichever way you choose to engage your audience, there are 6 live blogging mistakes you should avoid.
6 Live Blogging Mistakes
1. Writing Essays
One of the many benefits of social media is that you can make a great impact with few characters. Live blogging is no exception. Even though there are no character limits, make sure you provide relevant information in as few characters as possible. This will also improve your writing abilities.
2. Failing to Engage Your Audience
Have you ever felt alone in a place even though you were surrounded by a crowd of people? Well, that’s what happens when you’re on social sites and are not being social. With live blogging you have two audiences: online and onsite. Actually, your interaction with your onsite audience will give you content to share with your online audience. For best results, work both audiences.
3. Not Using Pictures and Videos
Images and videos are not only great ways to enhance your message when live blogging; they also keep you and your audience from boredom. You can use pictures to supplement your message or use them as the message. Videos are engaging and will keep your audience's attention. Whichever you choose, just make sure they are relevant to your topics. However, if you want to veer a bit, make sure the images and videos you select are very entertaining.
4. Long Delays Between Updates
You are giving real-time updates when live blogging. You don’t have to do minute by minute updates, but don’t let more than five minutes pass between updates. You are guaranteed to lose your audience. And, you may get bored and distracted.
5. No Action Plan
You have to plan for a successful live blogging session. In addition to knowing the type and length of the event, you need to which equipment you need, who the audience is, and the best way to engage them. Otherwise, your entire live blogging session would be chaotic and frustrating.
6. Not Having Fun
This is THE ultimate social media sin. Remember, your live blogging audience can feel your energy so if you are not having fun, they’ll know. Be you. Your audience will love you for you and they may become your biggest online and offline supporters.
Avoid these Live Blogging Mistakes
Above are the 6 live blogging mistakes to avoid. Not only will this boost your credibility as a live blogger, it will also increase your following and ultimately your bottom line.
Number two is right. Always make sure to engage with your readers through social media and through your well written content.
You will need a plan to make a success a reality.
I’ve visited many blogs.
In many different niches.
And..
Not many of them really try to engage with people.
Without that then, why read the post?
Wow, I rarely experience that. Most of the owners of the sites I visit are working on branding themselves as experts and online visibility, so they work on engagement.
What I did discover while researching content for my Blogger’s Block book, though, was that many sites are bland with the same types of blogs posts. I’m on a mission to change that.
Great tips, Marcie… if I decide to live blog someday, I will definitely keep these tips in mind… I wish I attend WWDC some day 😉
Thank you, Amandeep. These tips don’t just apply to live blogging; they apply to Tweeting (minus the word limitation) and status updates on social sites.
It amazes me how many people leave the “social” out of social media and do things without a plan. Engagement is rule #1!
That awsome plugin called:
Tweet Anywhere Plus
Really help get the message about!
Thanks for sharing this plugin. I’m about to check this out!
Never thought of ‘Live Blogging’ till now! Maybe because I don’t really many have followers and friends of my niche! But will surely be following these rules once I implement! Great tips Marcie. Cheers!
Unless you hold online or offline events, this may be a challenge for you. Just have fun doing whatever you do.
How is live blogging different than a podcast? I haven’t seen this yet; sound very interesting, almost like a talk radio show?
Hi Lisa, live blogging integrates, blogging, social media and multimedia whereas podcasting includes video and audio. It’s a lot of work, but once you get the hang of it with the right equipment, it will flow a little better.
Hi Marcie, Thank you for the insights. Do you know of any case studies of successful ‘live blogging’ initiatives? That
Also, how do you measure engagement? Do you tend to track using real-time analytics, manually monitoring a twitter feed, interactions on facebook, etc. ? I just typed up quite a few questions.
I find this one of the most challenging aspects of ‘optimising’ a post for ‘live blogging’ is replicating a successful event (the reason I asked if you know of any case studies) and the measuring the outcome (the reason I asked the latter set of questions)
Thanks again for pointing out a few common mistakes. ‘Live blogging’ is often overlooked and falls under the radar even though it is an excellent engagement mechanism. Hopefully your post will bring more attention to the topic 🙂
Hi Brent, I don’t have any personal experiences, but Cover It Live and Scribble Live have such case studies and they track analytics. Check out their sites for more details.
I guess I do this to some degree but I am sure I do not do it enough. It is an interesting concept. thanks
Michael, these rules apply to all online social activity. Blessings!
Thanx For This Post There are Some Mistake that I am Doing Currently
But Your Post Remind me not to do these mistake
Like I am always fail to engage my audience
I’m glad I can help. Let me know how things go.
Common mistake every newbie blogger must avoid.
TRAFFIC.
They run and search for 1 Million Traffic Exchange, 1 Million Backlinks etc.
Which is a wastage of time. They better use that time on improving their content quality and SEO.
Not focusing on quality content is a mistake that newbies and veterans must avoid. As soon as they recognize this, the traffic will come.
A time frame is always essential for blogging! People tend to always takes things for granted & then that costs them too much! One who can win time, can also bargain readers for it!
Because there are so many aspects to live blogging, planning is essential, even if you only cover the 5 Ws and HOW you’re going to do it. This will definitely save time.
Certainly using pictures or video with in the article gives a great chance to understand what message you try to convey or what this article will be all about and I am agree with call to action point is very crucial to use in the your post otherwise you could not get anything against your article.
Live blogging is a bit different. You will do most of your marketing prior to the session so your audience will already be available for conversations. But calls to actions are great to get your audience more involved.
Hi Marcie,
In the past I have noticed different trends with the use of images, and mostly the response from blog readers has favorable with the use of images and videos. This is mainly because it reduces the dullness from any article and I think it really helps the reader to visualize the content and makes it easier for them to respond.
Regards,
Abdul 🙂
I agree. But don’t forget to use comics, screencasts and presentations to spice up the content on your site.
Ileane, found your site via a connection on Twitter. I am not a business blogger, instead I am a writer who blogs for America and inspiration. Of course, if it promotes book sales, then I guess it could be for business:>) Anyway, to the point: I am curious about #4 under the Blogging Mistakes: You don’t have to do minute by minute updates, but don’t let more than FIVE minutes pass between updates. This is not feasible for my situation. Any specific tips for writers and how to improve traffic? I receive great feedback but it is very minimal. Any tips on getting more people to follow? Thank you for your time. I do see various links that seem promising so I definitely will be back. . .
Hi Sharla, this is Marcie, the writer of this article. This post is about LIVE blogging, or real-time blogging, not traditional blogging. It’s similar to Twitter but with more options for audience engagement.
Even though I know you are reaching out to Ileane, here are suggestions I have for writers: create an e-mail list, share content form your book in those newsletters, and offer specials to people on that list.Also, hold contests.
As for people to follow, find those people who would be most interested in your topic. Reach out to organizations that have the market in which you’re interested. Also, partner with people who have access to your market.
I hope this helps.
Marcie, thank you for taking the time to respond to my comments. I did realize after hitting Submit that I had addressed the wrong person. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.
If we are not having fun while doing something that’s the ultimate failure, I came to realize that.
As soon as one does something out of joy, that person becomes an instant success.
best
Akos
When you’re enjoy what you’re do, it’s not work. And when you’re getting paid for it, that’s love.
Hello Marcie,
Yeah! Lots of people commonly makes this mistakes on social media sites (Count me in). And the most common one is people always make there text so long that it looks like a small article. Actually I hate those lengthy social media text, i don’t know what makes people think that sharing long text will give them more benefits. I thinks its just a misunderstanding, when we can share same story in just four words then why go for four lines.
People loves to read short and sweet content. The best examples are quotes and saying, they are small by nature but carries huge message. And also gets most interaction and engagements.
Awesome Post.. 🙂 Thanks for good read..
Romy Singh
Essays are the worst! But you can break it up in quotes and saying, like you said. Or, use bullets. Also, follow the Tweet or Text principle – if it’s more than 140 or 160 characters, it’s too long.
I have never even heard of this “live blogging” this is something I will have to look into after reading this!
It’s a cool program if you are going to give real-time updates on TV shows and events. Try Cover It Live, Scribble Live and G-Snap. There is also a live blogging plug-in for WordPress.
Great tips Marcie,
Of late I have started some serious blogging. I wasn’t updating my blog more often and I saw my stats go down.
I will surely make an action plan and work harder to avoid the 6 mentioned mistakes.
Thanks again.
And don’t forget to slip in live blogging or Live Twitting if you can. This may help boost your traffic.
Nice info which will be prove so useful for all blogger and online marketers to realize
their blogging mistakes.
Becca, let me know if there are any other mistakes I should include on this list.
I agree, Marcie
Image and videos should be used, but only if it enhances the point your are trying to make. But I would never just include a picture just for the sake of it.
I think number 4 is very important, be regular and reliable nothing more annoying than visiting a blog and they haven’t updated in forever.
Warm Regards
Simmeon
Sometimes images and videos can be the message. We just have to be a little creative with our messages. And consistency and reliability are crucial for blogging success.
Never did live blogging so will keep your points in my mind when I do it in future.
Thanks Bishwajeet.
It may not fit your niche and market. Live Tweeting and Live Blogging are other options.
I agree with all the tips. Using pictures and videos are very important. Everyone loves to see pictures and videos as it makes a huge difference. Videos specially makes a big impact. I love to watch videos while sipping tea and learning at the same time.
Shalu,
I will definitely incorporate more videos and images in future live blogging sessions. thanks for sharing your preferences.
Really great post, biggest mistake is not having fun and not engaging with your readers.
And you’re true, they can feel that just by reading your posts.
thanks for sharing
With anything you do, people are buying into you and your brand. If you are not authentic, they will know.
Nice tips Marcie. Having a live commenting system like the one LiveFyre offers (just a simple notification box at the bottom of the window when a new comment is posted) can also help in engaging the readers/viewers.
I was not aware of the full benefits of LiveFyre. Thank you for sharing this, Mani.
I feel that one of the worst mistake that bloggers make is to assume that blogging is easy or that it make one rich overnight.
Sandipan, I think that’s a good article idea. Consider writing it??
Nice Post. I personally believe that failing to engage your audience is the biggest mistake that anyone can do. It is just like failing to attract buyers to your shop. Keep up the good work 🙂 🙂
Thanks Harneet. Do you have any engagement tips you can share?
The best way for blogging is update your blog with frequency and consistency.
Second recommend action is write in such a way that your audience must be engaged with your blog.
A conversational tone will definitely draw in your audience, but it comes from your authentic self.
Hi Marcie, you are absolutely right. Failing to get engage with blog readers and delay between blog updates are the major mistakes for bloggers. I will keep these 6 mistakes in mind. Thanks for sharing.
Consistency and quality content are good foundations to blogging success.
Marcie thanks. Having fun is so important; as you say, if you’re not having fun your audience will feel this and you lose your connection with them so quickly.
Thanks for the invaluable tips!
Thank you, Duffie. I hope this helps in your blogging journey.
Hello,
An action plan is a must for every thing that you in your life…whether it is an online or offline event….Another mistake the blogger do is that they are not very regular with their blog updates and comments….involving your audience is a sure shot way of improving traffic as well as your followers…
Thanks
Aditya
Aditya, thank you for sharing your insights.
Marcie, the prospect of blogging every few days is daunting, can’t imagine blogging every 5 minutes! I have engaged in live exchanges of Facebook remarks. Not really the same thing as live blogging, I suppose.
Corky, live blogging and real tweeting are real live updates. Once you’re doing it, you’ll understand about the frequent updates.
Love the post you have here, so many people just blog for no reason thinking they will rake in FREE traffic but without actual half decent content which is of actual real value and engaging people don’t really stick around for that content plus search engines love good high quality content so the more you have the better rankings you get.
Nice Post Here.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge, Abdul.
Most welcome Marcie,
I love value packed posts like this which have actual value and the potential to engage your curiosity and teach you something.
Once again thank you.
Every do and don’t blog about blogging gives me those delicate details and with a passion for content marketing I love observing these tips all the time. I agree that an enormous blog might be futile with no proper information. And this aspect is responsible for making or breaking a blogging strategy.
Lakshmi, thank you for sharing! Hope these tips were helpful.
Moshin, you can start a new blog or you can take a break and select a few specific topics that are of interest to you and your readers. You can also select a few topics from your site and ask your readers what they’d like to learn from you. Make starting a new blog your last option, but do it if necessary.
Great post… People love media, (pictures, video) so adding media to a live blogging session really increases engagement…
Thanks!
Ryan H.
Ryan, multimedia is always a wonderful addition. Get really creative by also including, PowerPoint presentations, cartoons, comic strips and screencasts.
I like your point no #1 very much now a days readers does not want to read essays they want to know either facts or how to solve a particular type of problem. if you are not able to strike any one of them them you are moving in wrong direction.
Thank you for stopping through and sharing your thoughts, Rakesh!
I’ve never heard of live blogging before let alone do it. I am going to give it a whirl and I am pretty excited about.
Regards
SI
I would encourage you to start with a small event to get a feel for live blogging to determine if you like it. There’s a live blogging plug-in, Cover It Live and Scribble Live. Enjoy!
Blogging is all about strategy and presentation. Plan well, write well and fulfill your dreams to earn dollars.
That’s a great way of looking at it. May I quote you?
A short but useful post. I wasn’t using images and videos on my blog posts before, but I started using an image on each of my blog posts and will focus on using videos too. Thanks for the post Marcie.
Ehsan, have you seen a different level of engagement with your audience since adding images and videos?
Of course Marcie, I have seen really a different engagement and it also created a good relationship with my readers after adding images on my blog, I have added a few videos till now, but will work hard on adding videos.
Ehsan, thank you for sharing your experience.
Let me know how things go. I’ll be adding videos next week. Okay, I’m going to try to, anyway.
My problem in blogging is that I always write essays. I can’t write my posts in few sentences or paragraphs. I guess I should really work on this problem as soon as possible.
Depending on the topic of your long blog posts, you may have enough content to cover a few days.
Hi Marcie,
Never heard about “Live Blogging” before. But certainly a great way to engage your audience and build trust with instant replies and updates.
I would encourage you to give it a shot when you’re attending networking events and conferences.
I certainly agree with you that writing essays certainly does not help at all. If the blog is related to technology and tutorials , writing essay is important. But other than this, i don’t think writing essay is really important. Using proper images is important. The images and videos should not be distracting beside being interesting. Thanks for sharing the article.!
Thanks for weighing in Sanjib.
Sanjib, I am going to add distracting images to my list of blogging mistakes to avoid. Thanks for stopping through.
Hello
Thank You Marcie. I would be really happy if you add the point in the post 🙂
Sanjib
That’s Great!
Marcie and you also say right also engage with your readers through social network and your other point is also very helpful and you also chose great topic it;s very helpful.
Thanks.
Thank you for stopping through, defeasto.
Not having fun is a sin. This is true for every blogger whether live blogging or not… crush that, this is true for every endeavor that we are involved in. 😀
I agree. However, some people do things for money, not for fun. People with this mentality need to be outlawed. 🙂
I just can’t believe that there are some bloggers who leave NOT even one reply comment to thank his commentators for commenting!
Someone mentioned that earlier. And that is a blogging no-no. But there are blogs like this one that sets the tone for blogging etiquette.
Having fun is most definitely the thing that is easiest to lose sight of. Sometimes people lose sight of that and need to relax a bit more.
Thanks for emphasizing the fun factor.
This post is definitely awesome!. I’m loving this site and the blog posts are really interesting. “failing to engage audience” is definitely one of the common mistakes that one must avoid. I’m also having a big problem on this aspect. I’m using different social media platforms and still wasn’t able to get enough audience. I can relate to this one. 🙂 Anyway, thanks for this wonderful post and I’m definitely loving this one!…Cheers!!!!
Thats some usual mistakes that keep the audience off the blog. You need to be a good writer so that you can engage your readers and off the blog networking is also needed.!
Your writing will actually attract and keep people. If done correctly, those online relationships will grow offline.
I’m loving this site and the blog posts are really interesting. “failing to engage audience” is definitely one of the common mistakes that one must avoid. I’m also having a big problem on this aspect. I’m using different social media platforms and still wasn’t able to get enough audience. I can relate to this one.
Every blog or website owner should have a plan that what he want to do with the site. Without planning i think site will be in a Google garbage.
Not just Google garbage but undesirable in general. Even if a person doesn’t have a full plan, a good draft is positive start.
Hi Christa. I would encourage you to continue to connect on one or two platforms and don’t give up. Like any relationship, it takes time to build and grow. Good luck!
I use the picture in any of my writing, I also write 6-8 articles every month, and I always enjoy every activity of my blogging. thanks for sharing your ideas
Hey Abdurrazaq, thank you for sharing your experience. Consider adding videos and polls and see how your engagement increases.
I have only partaken in live blogging a couple of times, a few years ago, and that was to keep people up to date with live professional wrestling PPVs, people who for whatever reason didn’t fork out the $30 to watch it on TV.
It is a great way of engaging your readers as long as you keep the paragraphs nice and short and update regualrly, if I was too slow to update with the wrestling PPVs then the readers would simply move to another site offering the same service.
I gave it up as live blogging wasn’t for me. 🙂
Hi Dean, thank you for sharing your experience. You are one of the few other people who live blog. Did you earn money from doing it?
There are few blogging mistakes, which you need to ignore:
First not utilizing the pictures as well as videos
lengthy delays between updates.
Well, You just caught my nerves. It’s very difficult for me to update regularly due to a blog network. I found many writers but they don’t write in style but they just want to deliver content.
What is the solution for this?
I agree with you, writing an easy is useless, we’ve to write interesting stuff, quality content.
Thanks for the great share. Really very simple and informative post. Before point 2 was my biggest mistake, but now I am doing good. Thanks
I am a blogger but not a live blogger but the tips a very useful. Will definitely consider them when blogging. Thanks very much.
For #3, where is the best places to get pictures if you can’t take them yourself? I know that stock photos are available but you have to pay.
I don’t have pictures on my posts but only featured images for thumbnails but those are from social media sites like tumblr
Hello Marcie
Mistakes are everywhere. Blogging also have some mistake places.Thanks for sharing these places where mistakes could be occurred. Thanks for sharing these.I will keep remember these and try to never do any of these.