5 Common Blogging Mistakes

If you’re looking for a cost-effective B2B marketing investment, blogs may be your answer. Blogging for business is a great way to build brand loyalty, assist your target audience, and attract new customers. Every post you publish can help drive traffic to your site, so you can work to convert that traffic into leads and conversions. However, you’re not going to see the benefits of blogging if you do it wrong. Check out these 5 common blogging mistakes that businesses make.

Blogging Mistake 1: Publishing without Distributing

If you write it, they will not come.

It takes much more than just hitting your publish button to get eyes on your post. It takes consistent promoting. To get more views, share your post like it were gossip at a hair salon. Here are two quick ways to do just that:

• Add a link to your post in your email signature
• Share your post across all of your social media networks

Blogging Mistake 2: Setting it and Forgetting it

Avoid the one-and-done rule.

You probably spent anywhere from 4 to 10 hours writing, editing, gathering images and graphics, and coding your post. That’s a lot of time and effort. Don’t just call it a day once it’s on social media.

For every blog post you produce, you should aim for 5 to 10 social media posts. For a B2B (depending on your target audience), that might look like 1 LinkedIn, 1 Facebook, 1 Twitter, and 1 Instagram post. Spread out these posts over 1-3 months or longer and mix up the graphics so you have a fresh look after a month or two.

Wondering how to do this? We outline our blog posts with clear sections and paragraphs. When you go to write your social posts, look at each section like a mini blog post. Take the main points from each section and voilà! Those are your social posts!

Blogging Mistake 3: Giving Up if Only Your Mom Reads Your Early Blogs

Don’t give up if you’re not getting any views.

It’s great if your mom is your biggest fan and views all of your posts – you just don’t want her to be your only fan.

If you write one post and you don’t get any views, don’t get discouraged and decide blogging isn’t for you or your business. Blogging takes a lot of time and consistency. We’re talking 6-12 months before you finally start to see subscribers and engagement. So stick with it! And thank your mom.

Blogging Mistake 4: Hiring Subpar Writers

You get what you pay for.

It can be tempting to outsource your content, especially since we told you to be consistent and keep churning out posts. Just remember to hire quality writers.

If you decide to outsource, don’t skimp. You’re going to pay one way or another. Lower-end writers are likely not trained in SEO or they won’t take the time to understand your target audience and your brand.

A writer that doesn’t honor your brand can do more harm than good. So if you hire a less expensive writer, just know that you will need to spend considerable time editing and reviewing. You can’t put a price on “giving a crap.”

Well, actually you can. It costs anywhere from $35 to $150 per hour for a writer that actually cares. If you’re paying $50 for an entire blog post, be warned.

Blogging Mistake 5: Not Publishing Consistently

Don’t treat publishing like your gym membership in February.

Consistency is a resolution you need to stick with to be successful. We see a lot of businesses celebrate a win to just get a blog post published at all. That IS a big win. Getting something out the door consistently is huge. However, don’t just leave it there.

At a minimum, check to see if anyone is reading the content. Are people engaging with your social posts about it? Are they spending more than 5 seconds on your blog post page? Look at your stats and be honest about what your target audience is really interested in. It can be easy to take it personally when no one except your mom likes your posts. Trust us, we’ve been there many times.

Finally, there can be more foundational reasons for not getting your blogs out the digital door. Maybe you need a more solid positioning statement and messaging strategy. Or perhaps, your team doesn’t have a consistent process to get good content actually published. “Your Blog Post Publishing Checklist” can make the actual technical tasks of posting easier. Bottom line is, a blog does you no good stuck in a computer file.

Blog the ‘Right Way’

Blogging is a B2B marketing strategy that is well worth the investment as long as it’s done correctly. For some examples of great B2B blogs, not to mention inspirational content and ideas, check out Databox’s Top 25 B2B Blogs Every Marketer Should Follow for Content Inspiration.

Keeping solving problems with your blogs. Keep providing valuable information to your target audience. Stick with it and keep in mind that distribution, consistency, and quality content are the keys to successful blogging. You’ll get there!