The majority of the bloggers are complaining that they have been blogged for a long while, even years, and they still aren't able to increase their traffic and earnings from the blog. And the sad thing is that most of them believe they are working a lot and doing the right thing, but it simply doesn't work for them. And they are wrong. Big time !
You usually believe that just writing some posts whenever you remember and whatever comes through your mind will bring you thousands of visits daily and a six figures income, though it's not quite like this.
In order to become a better blogger, you need to learn from the best, be unique and research your own ideas. And people usually get this phase wrong and try to copy that best blogger they like, which is wrong again.
I've probably seen thousands of blogs in the past 5 years I've been in the industry and I've seen what are the most common mistakes bloggers make. So I thought I should share them with you and maybe you realize you're going in the wrong direction and come on the right road.
1. You're not unique
It's great to follow others and try to become as good as them or even better, but this doesn't mean you have to become a copycat. There are thousands of people I like and I try to get the best from everyone, follow their advises and try to understand how did they manage to become so successful, though I have a unique style. I like a lot of blogs, but I would never copy one of them. Instead I take what I like the most from every one of them. For example, I use Neil Patel's font and a H2 style like Mashable's, but I'm still unique.
Stop doing something only because the big bloggers are doing it, because it might not work for you. Try things for your own, come with new ideas and you might even become a better and more successful blogger than them.
2. You don't stick to your niche
I've seen a lot of bloggers who write about business, for example, and say "Wow, what a nice kitty, I should post about it. My readers will love it." Yes, some of them probably will, but they are reading your blog for your business posts and not cute kitties, so keep yourself from doing that, because you might lose some of your readers.
Do your best to stick to your niche and don't become another blogger who writes about everything, because you'll get into lots of trouble, like monetization, getting subscribers and more. It's ok to write some personal posts from time to time, because people might want to know more about you, but be careful with that and offer your readers what they came for.
3. Your design sucks
You need to be very careful with your design and it doesn't have to use the latest Web 2.0 technologies, be flashy and very complex. Keep it simple and make it very easy to use and navigate.
I really love simple websites and so does everyone, because it's much harder to read the content on a flashy websites, full of buttons, banners and hundreds of links. Make sure to only keep what you really need and works for you. Don't keep 20 banners, if only 2 of them actually earn you money, don't keep share buttons from 20 social media websites, if you only get 5 visits from 18 of them added. Keep the other 2 instead, it's better.
A simple website will also load faster and people hate waiting. Many of them leave the website because they're tired waiting for the website to load, so you have to make sure it loads in just a few seconds. And you must know that images, ads and share buttons decrease loading speed the most.
4. You don't structure your content well
You need to make it as easy as possible for your users to read the posts, so make sure to use big fonts and structure your articles with paragraphs, multiple parts, like this one, with subtitles. Just do this and you will see how the number of comments on your blog will increase and that's just because people will read the whole post and don't get bored or lost through the lines.
5. You write low quality content
If you're going to write a post, then make sure you have enough time and don't hurry, because you need to take carefully what words you use, how you write it and read it a few times after you finish to make sure it's ok. You also need to link to your older posts, people or websites you're talking about and choose a nice image that represents your posts. These are some of the factors that make a quality post and you need to think about all of them every time you're writing a post.
Ending
You might not be a successful blogger right now, but this doesn't mean you can't become one. Do your best and try to improve your writing and your blog daily and you will begin to notify some increase in traffic and earnings pretty soon.
I consider myself a successful blogger, though I still have a lot to learn, especially now that I've entered this niche and some things are new to me. I've been blogging for over 5 years and had some great results, like getting 23 million visits in just 18 months or 17,000 subscribers in 6 weeks. Now I've set my goals higher and I'm struggling hard to achieve them.
Being successful is not hard, becoming as successful as you wish is.
I want to hear from you ! Do you consider yourself a successful blogger ? What are you doing to become more successful ?
Alex Dumitru is a young and successful Internet Marketer and Entrepreneur. By the age of 21 he managed to drive over 100 million visits to his blogs and they still continue to sky-rocket. Follow him on Twitter or add him on Facebook.
5 Reasons You're not a Successful Blogger is a post from: We Blog Better. © 2010. Share it freely, but please link back to this source.