
I used to be terrified of making mistakes. I’d do anything to avoid them. All that changed when I started using social media and blogging. I have made all the classic blogging mistakes and I know that’s not the end of it, there are more blunders peering around the corner at me.
But this is a good thing…
There is value in getting stuff wrong. I’ve learned lessons that have helped me grow, to become a better marketer and I’ve managed to pass on some of my new wisdom to those I teach.
But what about the world’s top bloggers? Surely they’ve always been perfect? OK, that is a tongue in cheek statement but it’s refreshing to know that the most successful people got it wrong too.
I talked to 10 of the top social media and content marketing bloggers in the world and asked them to answer one simple question:
“What would you do differently if you started blogging from scratch again?”
Their answers are very revealing, not only do they flag some stuff that we can all make note of but they also prove that not even the best bloggers are perfect.
Mark Schaefer
Mark W. Schaefer is a globally-recognized speaker, educator, business consultant, and author who blogs at {grow} — one of the top marketing blogs of the world. You can find his blog at www.businessesgrow.com
I came from a traditional marketing background so my blogging mindset was something like “create a marketing message for my targeted audience.” So, I created blog posts about what I thought my audience needed to know.
Two things happened.
First, NOTHING happened. Nobody was reading my blog, commenting or sharing it
Second, I became bored talking about these crafted messages all the time.
So eventually I relaxed and added my own personality to the posts. If I felt funny, I was funny. If I felt angry, I was angry. I blogged about what fascinated me, what concerned me, what inspired me. In short, I created an authentic voice instead of a manufactured one.
This is the point that the magic happened. Instead of finding my target audience, my target audience found me. My blog became more fun, more interesting and more human … and people responded.
Donna Moritz
Donna Moritz is a social media strategist and visual marketing specialist. You’ll find her award-winning blog at www.sociallysorted.com.au
If I had my time over to start blogging again I would focus on building my email subscriber community much earlier, and I would definitely have more content upgrades on major posts for free download. I would also segment my community according to interests so I can better provide them with RIGHT valuable content.
Andrew Hutchinson
Andrew Hutchinson is an internationally published author, award-winning blogger. He’s the content and community manager for Social Media Today and you’ll find his own blog at www.andrewhutchinson.com.au
If I had to start blogging again from scratch, I don’t know that there’s anything I would do differently.
That’s not to say I haven’t made any mistakes or haven’t had times where I’m getting no shares and no attention with my content, but all of those things are learning experiences in themselves – without having those ‘failed’ posts that go nowhere, you never get to question what you’re doing wrong, what you could be doing better, what else you should be considering.
Now, that’s probably not ideal advice for someone starting out who’s likely looking for a shortcut, but the reality is there’s not really any shortcuts to be had. If you want to write better, read people who inspire you, who you want to write like, and eventually their sentence flows and structures will rub off on you and it’ll start to make sense. If you want to write better, do it, over and over again. The more you do something – anything – the more you learn.
In a more general writing sense, people should seek to write like they talk. No doubt you’ve heard that before, but very few people do it. The best way to get a handle on this is to re-read what you’ve written out loud. Your readers, as they go through your work, have a voice in their head that speaks the words to them anyway, so the more you can make your writing conversational, the better it will flow. And while it can be weird to read your stuff out loud, it’ll always show up errors or charges you might want to make. And eventually, as noted above about practice, you get so attuned to it that you don’t even need to read out loud anymore, the areas that need focus become obvious as you re-read.
Andrea Vahl
Andrea is a social media consultant and speaker. She co-authored the book Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies. You’ll find her blog at www.andreavahl.com
I think of this all the time and it’s a bit hard to answer as my blog has evolved so much since I started.
When I started, I was doing short posts that had longer video and less text. Now my posts are much longer in text and images and I’m not doing as much video. And blogging has changed as there are now so many more blogs out there.
But if you are new to blogging don’t let that stop you! I think if I were starting now I would do a lot of what I’m currently doing and what I did back then too:
- Make a list of what your customers ask you
- Create useful content with images throughout to keep different types of readers engaged
- Add video if possible to keep people on the page longer
- Make sure every post has a call to action where people can either download something for free (like a PDF of the post if it’s long) or a useful companion guide to the post.
- And have some fun in your posts! Use some humor and add your personal perspective.
Jenn Herman
Jenn is a globally recognised expert in Instagram marketing. You’ll find here award-winning blog at www.jennstrends.com
It might sound cliche, but if there was one thing I would have done differently, it would have been to focus more on building my list of subscribers.
I didn’t use an email management system (now I use MailChimp), and I didn’t actively seek to gain email subscribers. Now, years after starting my blog, I am still working to build a significant list. And I wish I had started a lot sooner.
Ian Cleary
Ian is the founder of RazorSocial, Marketing And Technology Blog. You can read it at www.razorsocial.com
If I was starting a blog again I wouldn’t do anything different than the blog I have now. But I did have a previous blog and it failed miserably so I learned from my mistakes.
On my first blog I wasn’t writing about something I was passionate about, I didn’t build relationships with the right people and I didn’t do enough promotion of the blog. Blogging is not just about writing the content. You need to build relationships with other bloggers in your niche and you need to have some great promotion strategies.
Blogging is super valuable but not if the approach is wrong.
Amy Harrison
Amy is a copywriter based in Brighton, UK. She is the presenter of the soon to return Hit Publish podcast. You’ll find her blog at www.harrisonamy.com
I would have a simple map of the broad topics I want to cover based on questions my audience is asking . I would also choose a name for my blog that was specific enough to what I did but broad enough to allow for growth. Again, I chose Harrisonamy simply because I didn’t know what I was going to do business wise. Now I have the more specific “Write With Influence” domain.
When I started blogging in 2008 I simply wrote whatever came to my mind. I didn’t know the journey I wanted to take, so for me, this worked well and over the years my blog and wider content marketing has evolved and changed and I expect it will continue to do so.
Knowing what I know now I would structure my blog around questions my audience are asking and not get distracted by ‘viral’ blog posts. Focus on crafting quality content that solves a particular problem each time. That way you build an archive of useful, specific ‘lessons’ which have more versatility in the long run than simply writing about what’s popular. You can then take those posts and package them as a course, free download or other content asset to promote and sell your products and services.
Jason Falls
Jason is SVP for Digital Strategy, Elasticity. You’ll find his blog at www.jasonfalls.com
The biggest thing I would do differently if I started from scratch again is build the blog as a lead generation mechanism. I’ve always played the inbound marketing card in the sense of, ‘They’ll reach out to me if they want to work with me!’ I’m quite certain I could have had 10 times the business if I’d been more technically adept and insisted on lead generation and lead nurturing methodologies for my blog over the years. Make that blog make you money … on purpose.
Krishna De
Krishna is award winning digital marketing, brand engagement and social media speaker, commentator and mentor. You’ll find her blog at www.krishna.me
As I had never set up a blog previously I received some guidance from a friend and used a paid platform which was a great way to get me started. Within the six-month timeline I had given myself for the blog, I realised that it was a really powerful publishing platform and so made a decision to transition to a self-hosted platform WordPress.org, but who could I get to help me move from the paid blogging platform to a self-hosted WordPress site?
Unfortunately, the people I chose to assist me in the early years (and were recommended by people I knew who had used them) had only a fraction more experience than I had in the technology and little understanding of marketing online which had an impact on my online success. So if I were to start over, I would make sure I took the time to find a technical partner who not only understood my choice of self-hosted blogging platform but also could demonstrate a skill in digital marketing – that would enable me to concentrate on creating and would support me in promoting my content. Or I would invest in my own skill set and learn about the blogging platform and then use one of the many wonderful premium templates that can be customised to promote your brand online.
As a side note, I decided to host my own blog rather than use a free service right at the beginning but used a paid third party too to help me get started so I could focus on learning how to create content online rather than be concerned with the technical aspects of blogging. I do get concerned when I see small and large businesses alike use a free third-party blogging platform as a place to host their wonderful content. I like many people have been ‘stung’ with free social media platforms – including blogging platforms – closing down. Sometimes we have the chance to download our content – and other times not! My advice is not to build your online reputation on rented digital real estate – instead, use free social media platforms to attract, connect and engage with others who then may become interested in visiting your blog home in cyber space.
Sue B Zimmerman
Sue is The Instagram Expert. She helps help business owners find success on Instagram. You’ll find her blog at www.suebzimmerman.com
I would be consistent with publishing. Nurturing our email list weekly has become our top priority.
Having the discipline to create written weekly content that gives value and builds trust has been the backbone to growing our business.
I believe that being consistent and staying top of mind is important in this digital noisy world.
Your Turn
There are a lot of themes in the answers above. I found myself nodding in agreement with many of the answers. I’m still not doing enough to capture leads and nurture them on my site and consistency is an issue that I am almost conquering.
Which of the tips above rings a bell for you? What have you learned from your blogging mistakes? I’d love to hear about them.
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