This is a guest post by Onibalusi Bamidele from YoungPrePro.
Blogging is a great way to interact with people, build your brand, make money blogging, create awareness and even satisfy yourself. Blogging has its own rules, and not following these rules can cause you more harm than good on the long run.
As in every other thing, there are also various do’s and dont’s in blogging. There are some things you must observe to build a successful blog and there are things you must avoid in order to be successful.
To maximize your chances of success in blogging, there are somethings you should really try to avoid as much as possible.

Below are 5 blogging mistakes you must really try avoiding:
1. Not Hosting Yourself
One of the most terrible blogging mistakes you must avoid is not hosting yourself i.e. not having your own domain name with a hosting company of your choice. Not having a self hosted blog will have some adverse effects on you sooner or later because your blog might grow to a very large extent, it will then be very difficult to move to your own domain because you will not want to loose your readers and even search engine traffic.
You might be thinking of using a 301 redirect but search engines also take into consideration domain age. Another problem with not hosting yourself is that your free host can just decide to close down when they like, just like when GeoCities decided to close down and all websites hosted on it were affected.
2. Not Having A Professional Design
First impression is very important. Not having a professional design for your blog might have a negative effect on your blog because all visitors are not the same and might not continue with your site if you don’t have a good design. You might think only content is what matters, but not all visitors know this especially those coming from search engines.
Some people who are new to the internet might even think a professionally designed website is also loaded with good content. Try to take care of your design, it is very important. To add to it: a professionally designed website will always be easy to remember.
3. Writing For Many People
If you have ever read from companies, you will understand what I mean better. Another major blogging mistake is to be writing your blog posts as if you were talking to a large group of people. You don’t need to blog as if you are talking to 10, 100 or even thousands of people but rather blog as if you are talking to only one person, as if you are talking to your friend. This will make your message look more interesting and will also make your readers know you care about them.
Your readers will even think you are having a one-on-one conversation with them. Just imagine opening an email to read a message titled “Dear first name” (substituting first name with your first name 🙂 ), your attention will be keen towards reading what is in the mail than coming across with a message talking to a group of people. Your readers want to know you care for them and them only; they are not ready to know about others.
4. Blog Instability
Some people are so unstable with their blog and they just change their blog anytime they want, today it is “aaa.com”, tomorrow it will be “bbb.com” etc. It is very important to take your time to think well before you start your blog, you have to brainstorm what you want your blog to be about, what the main objectives of your blog will be and you should be able to research effectively before choosing a name for your blog because this will have an effect on you in the future.
Some people suggest choosing your name as your blog because this will give you the flexibility of using your blog for anything that pleases you in the future. If your name is too long (like mine: Onibalusi Bamidele) or might be difficult to remember you might choose a name related to your website.
5. Not Promoting Your Blog
Yeah! This is the problem most people face. I just wonder when I come across a forum post where somebody is complaining of setting up a website two months ago and nobody visited the blog. I never experienced this problem before because 151 people came to my blog on its first day (being a forum spammer then 😮 ), all jokes apart.
You should not just blog and be expecting people to visit your blog from the blue, you have to have a plan for your blog, how do you want to get traffic to your blog? Is it through SEO, PPC or Networking? You should decide how you want to get visitors from your blog because users can’t just come from nowhere (even if you have the best content).
At The End, I would Say That…
There are many other blogging mistakes you must avoid, but the ones above are the foundation and avoiding them will also help you avoid many other blogging mistakes.
Let me know if you have committed any of the above blogging mistakes or were just going to commit and boom, you realized that it will be a big mistake. Also let me know in your opinion what are some other common blogging mistakes which bloggers must avoid.
so how the right way to promote our blog???
.-= Ninja Media´s last blog ..Asus Eee Pad The iPad Serious Challenger =-.
These are not blog promotion tips..these are blogging mistakes which bloggers usually commit and which they should avoid.
Hi Sushant,
Thanks a lot for publishing my guest post, I really appreciate it.
Onibalusi
.-= Onibalusi Bamidele´s last blog ..7 Things to do to Achieve Blogging Success =-.
no 3 is quite new….obviously we need to identify out target audience and that way we know what we have to write for them
.-= Tushar´s last blog ..Higher Visits = Higher Popularity!!!! Not Always Dude…. =-.
Yeah! Thanks a lot for the nice comment.
.-= Onibalusi Bamidele´s last blog ..7 keys to build a better website =-.
I would add – don’t provide too much personal information. This can be a really important issue is your blog becomes really popular or if you are underage.
.-= PowerPoint Templates´s last blog ..Hard Drive PowerPoint Template =-.
Exactly, Thanks a lot for the nice comment.
.-= Onibalusi Bamidele´s last blog ..7 keys to build a better website =-.
Oni great tips. man.
3 and 5 are the Must Do’s.
First, writing for your target niche small or large will get you most foryour content.
Great content is needed, but without promoting that new post, many people will not see how grat it is.
.-= John Paul@How To Make Money With A Blog´s last blog ..My Crazy Simple 7 Step Plan To Promote A New Post =-.
Yeah! exactly.
Great content is very important and without promoting it then it is of no use.
Thanks a lot for the nice comment.
.-= Onibalusi Bamidele´s last blog ..7 keys to build a better website =-.
I strongly agree with your point #1, I’ve seen many people doesn’t have their own hosting and domain even they’re serious in online business. I’ve told many people that if they’re serious in online business, they must be having their own hosting and domain, that’s the first step of being an online marketer.
Anyway, other points are very true as well. Nice post Onibalusi!
Regards,
Lee
.-= Lee Ka Hoong@Make Money Online´s last blog ..Sunday Killer Link Love Post #22 =-.
Hi Lee,
You are absolutely right, many people fail to understand the importance of having their own domain and be self hosted.
Thanks a lot for the nice comment,
Onibalusi
.-= Onibalusi Bamidele´s last blog ..7 keys to build a better website =-.
Not a problem Onibalusi. One of the disadvantage of not having own hosting and domain was the issue that Alan Liew’s MoneyMakerinfo.blogspot.com had been removed by Google 2 days ago, he paid so much effort to build the blog for 4 years. With that said, building a serious blog in free blog platform is very risky.
He got back his blog yesterday, but it’s better to have our own hosting and domain which we can fully control them.
Regards,
Lee
hmm..I think Alan should now really think to move over wordpress..It will be safe for him for future..By the way did blogger notified him anything like why his blog was closed for those few days? Any news somewhere?
Great points… but didn’t you forget quality content/original?
.-= Noah Rainey´s last blog ..5 Tips to Building Backlinks =-.
Yeah! That is also true.
Thanks a lot for the nice comment
.-= Onibalusi Bamidele´s last blog ..7 keys to build a better website =-.
4. Blog Instability is extremely important. What I think might be even worse then changing domains is constantly changing it’;s focused niche. I went through this the first couple yrs of my blogging.
.-= Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..Comment Contest: 5 Days Left! =-.
Yeah! This is right, Thanks a lot for the nice comment.
.-= Onibalusi Bamidele´s last blog ..7 keys to build a better website =-.
Yes, these are five good tips for better blogging. The third tip in particular is one that all bloggers should take to heart because it is precisely this type of personal, one on one nature that makes blogs so popular. Readers are more likely to become faithful followers if they feel that they know you, and will in turn feel more comfortable about supporting or buying from you.
.-= Chuck Edwards@Weight Loss Tips´s last blog ..How to Lose Weight at Home =-.
Hi Exactly! your readers want to be able to say, “I know you”.
Thanks a lot for the nice comment.
.-= Onibalusi Bamidele´s last blog ..7 keys to build a better website =-.