This articles is about common mistakes which Blog Authors commit intentionally or unintentionally. If these mistakes are avoided then you can be at least safe (from getting de listed from Google) to a large extent and continue to get good traffic.
Below is a list of some of the common mistakes (some of them also committed by me) which affect the credibility of your Blog and its content which ultimately affects inflow of traffic. Every point is important and must be taken very seriously.
1. Having very Common Content: People always love to see something new and exciting, if what you offer is the same as other offer then better you do not offer it. You might get a handful of visitors, but that's not enough if you want to establish yourself as a full time blogger. Some of the blogs like Technology Blogs are very challenging and have thousands of competitors. If the content is very common (i.e. present in most blogs) the search engine won't place your article it in the first page of the search results as it gives priority to those websites which have a higher PageRank.
2. Posting Content very Late: Its been my experience that if you post something ASAP as it happens before other famous blogs post that topic then that article of yours has a good chance to come up in the first page of search results even if you have a lower or no PageRank. Google in a way like News which comes ASAP and at the right time. The later you post your article the farther it would go away from the first page of the search results.
3. Having Irrelevant Heading: Another experience I had with Google is that if the heading of the post is not having proper keywords to identify the content of the article it would not attract visitors. You may read my article "How to choose Heading for a Blog Post?" to have relevant and SEO friendly blog heading. One very important thing to note here is the heading should have at least one keyword.
4. Not Updating the Blog Regularly: This is mind you very very important. No matter what you must try and make sure you update your blog at least once a day. I have found that the incoming traffic from Google came to less than half if I did not update my blog for more than 2 to 3 days.I don't know what the logic is but that's what it is.
5. Depending too much on Google for Traffic: There is no doubt that Google is the king, but if Google kicks you, you are dead. To avoid this and I learnt it the hard way, submit your blog for indexing to as many search engines possible. Put as many relevant Backlinks on different blog as possible (Some SEO companies hire people just to put backlinks on other sites). Keep a target of 5 backlinks a day (you must read the complete article and then put comment and then a backlink).
6. Copy Paste Content: This is so wrong. We all get ideas from many places on the internet, but is it really cool to just copy paste some bodies content directly without even thinking of the consequences. Google can delist your blog if you are found guilty of such activity and all your dreams can come to a stand still. I know how it feels to be delisted and the feeling is not very great. One of the ways you can avoid people from blindly copy pasting your content is adding your Blogs name on each image. I started following this very recently and this trick is very effective.
7. Spelling Mistakes & Grammar Errors: This is a crime. Many visitors are first time visitors and if they see many spelling mistakes they will immediately become last time visitors. There are so many tools available freely to check your spelling mistakes and also to check your grammar. Having syntactically correct content not only lets the reader understand your thoughts but also lets the search engine to index your content and place it higher in search result if relevant queries are fired.
8. Not Commenting on other blogs: Getting a comment for your article is like winning a battle and if its a positive comment then a matter of pride if negative comment a chance to improve.
One must also visit similar blogs and put relevant comments there so that other blog authors are also aware of your presence and pay your blog a visit on a regular basis. This not only increases traffic but also helps in creating a Blogging community. I still lag in this part and I am still learning (It takes courage to admit in your own article).
9. Not Replying to Comments: Its equally important to reply to the comments you receive.The first thing which excites me is comments and I make sure I reply to all the comments I receive. Replying to the comments help to make the topic very interactive and make other readers also to express there opinion. The difference between a good blog and an ordinary blog is the no of comments an article receives in a particular blog.
10. No Sex Appeal: I learnt this terminology from my US counterpart at work. He once said your work should have a "Sex Appeal, Sex sells". Sex appeal does not mean "Adult Content" please don't even think about it. "Sex Appeal" means the X-factor which your content has, the way it is presented and the ease with which readers can read your content. People place ads all over the place to increase there CTR but the forget one thing is the primary intention of a Blog should be to spread knowledge not to get accidental clicks on the Ads.
11. Having Random Names for your Images: Do you know even just images can attract visitors for your blog. 5 % my traffic comes from images searches. The name of the image you embed in your post should have significant name. If it has 12344.png no body would ever find your article via images. Its always good to give same importance to your images name same as you give priority to your blog posts title.
12. Don't Read your Article before posting: This is so important. Many a times I have paid a price for not following this basic rule. I ended up realizing that I had committed some spelling mistake or grammar mistake. The same stuff showed up in Google search results and those articles even though had quality content did not receive many readers. Once Google indexes your Article it generally never re indexes it (My experience I am not 100 % sure about it, but its always good to get things right at the first instance).
If you avoid the above mistakes your article would become Correct (No Spelling or Grammar mistakes), Good Looking, SEO friendly and safe.
Also Read: Many such SEO Tricks to get more and more traffic.
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Harshad Sonaje is a hobbyist Technology blogger and a passionate Software Architect working full time in Software Development industry. I was always driven by technology and I always make sure I share any new discoveries I make in technology on my blog.
this is definitely an important post for bloggers. useful tips! i sure don't follow the image names.
ReplyDeleteThanks Vee for the comment and appreciation. I sure know the importance of each point in here. I am glad you liked the post.
ReplyDeleteu have given out some very important points to be kept in mind. new bloggers and tech phobic people like me need them more. thanks a lot :)
ReplyDeletesarah
Thanks Sarah for the comment. I have posted all my experience in the post whatever I have had so far in blogging. Hope you benefited from this post. Even if one points helps my readers I would consider it as a great success.
ReplyDeleteHarshad ,very illuminating one here. I am no professional blogger but you guidance is put in so perfect simple way.
ReplyDeletegreat.
Thanks a lot Pramod for the appreciation...
ReplyDeletevery essential material you are providing...great job man...!!! keep it up... :)
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Thanks Vinayak for the praise I am really happy that you liked the post and found it helpful..Thanks again..
ReplyDeletereally an informative post for some one like me, new to this world.....thnx for sharing....
ReplyDeleteplz do spare some time on my Blog and suggest....
Thanks Irfan, I am glad you liked the post..I will surely visit your blog and suggest if anything is required...
ReplyDeleteHi Harshad came across through ur blog today. . Its really very helpful for both old and new bloggers. Coz i think even the old ones need reminders and booster doses.
ReplyDeleteYes you are right..sometimes old blogger get overconfident and unknowingly make these mistakes..and suddenly one day Google penalizes them..and they get shocked and then take corrective measures...it results in to loss of reputation and brand..which becomes very hard to repair later on..
ReplyDeleteVery Informative. Some of the mistakes are so regularly done by me. I m gonna improvise on them.
ReplyDeletehttp://pendown.blog.co.in/
Thanks Manjulika..I am really happy that this post is getting the attention it deserves and many people are benefiting out of it..
ReplyDeleteHarshad most of these mistakes i commit regularly. Thanks for listing them out I will definitely use them. Bookmarked!
ReplyDeleteYa I have seen even pro blogger's ignoring these simple things and paying the price..I am glad you bookmarked this post...
ReplyDeleteGr8 article..
ReplyDeleteHowever about Google Indexing and re-indexing, you can ask Google (via site mat meta) to check back for re-indexing when there is a modification..