Marketing Mistakes Bloggers Make, Part 1

It’s easy to start blogging… If you’re just wanting to talk about your cat and what you’re planning for dinner, you can start a free Blogger blog.  For businesses who are serious about utilizing blogging to drive sales, blog CMS systems like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal make it inexpensive, powerful, a snap to learn AND not only host the entire web site, but offer plugins to capture memberships, customer data, facilitate e-commerce and more.

However, it’s a lot more difficult to blog successfully.  Creating a business blog that increases your search engine visibility, establishes your credibility, generates quality leads and helps you grow your business.  Too many small businesses and non-profits jump into blogging without a plan in place.  This mistake leads to lots of missteps, false starts and costly errors.  Here are 10 of the biggest mistakes small business bloggers make… and how you can avoid them.

1.  They blog without a strategy: Blogging is a tactic, not a strategy.  Too many entrepreneurs start blogging because they’ve bought into the hype or they’re playing the “me too” game with the competition.  They have no idea how to create a blog that will attract the right audience or build their business.  Directionless, they flail, wondering why their blog is providing no ROI.   WHAT TO DO:  Answer these questions-  What are your business goals?  Who is your audience?  What problems or concerns does your audience have that you can help solve?  Once you have a clear vision of your business goals, you’ll know if you’re best served by a blog that’s built for inbound marketing, thought leadership, communication, product support, monetization, or some combination of these types.  Once you know your audience, and what they’re looking for, you’ll be able to create content that addresses their questions and problems.

2.  They don’t get their own domain name for their blog: The problem with piggybacking your blog on someone else’s URL, such as mycompany.typepad.com or mybusiness.blogger.com, is that it locks you into that blogging platform.  If that company changes or goes out of business, you’ll lose all of the incoming links you’ve so carefully cultivated.  The most important reason, though, is branding… It’s not your domain name.  You lose a ton of valuable SEO opportunities and it just plain looks unprofessional because domain names are now 9.99 and hosting is cheap.  Finally, you’re losinge control over whatever content management capabilities and functionality you may want to have on your web site and blog.  WHAT TO DO:  From day one, get your own domain name for your blog and make sure it’s set up properly at the CMS system of choice.  Then, if you’re forced to move, you’ll be able to keep all your domain URLs to articles and posts, and all of your incoming links.

3.  They don’t customize or brand their blog’s design: One reason it’s so easy to get started with blogging is that you can start blogging moments after you’ve signed up… as long as you go with the default settings of the blog platform.  From design templates to color choices to pre-chosen categories for organizing your content, a lot of the decision-making process has been simplified or removed for those who want to jump right in.  Unfortunately, these are the same template, the same color schemes and the same categories that so many other bloggers are using… including your competition.  EVERY communication from your company, including your blog, should be representative of your brand.  The more branded, the more customized your blog is, the more authority it radiates.  WHAT TO DO:  If you don’t have a talented designer in house, hire a professional to design a branded blog for your business… incorporated into your company’s web site.  You’ll likely have this blog design for 3-5 years, so it’s worth the price.

4.  They don’t realize how essential SEO (search engine optimization) is to the success of their blog: Search engines will deliver the majority of the traffic to your blog, including almost all of your first visitors.  All too often small business bloggers write content that’s filled with industry jargon or is just out-of-sync with what their prospects are searching for on Google.  These actions result in poor search engine visibility, anemic traffic and little to no new business.  WHAT TO DO:   Start with a keyword analysis to determine what phrases your audience is using at the search engines.  Either hire a search engine marketing firm or use a tool like Keyword Discovery to uncover these phrases yourself.  Writing great content about “rhinoplasty” is pointless if everyone’s search for a “nose job.”  Once you’ve uncovered your best keywords, make sure they go in the titles of your blog posts.  Titles are the most important element of your blog post. Good titles improve your search engine visibility, engage your audience, and often get people to share your content before they even read it!

5.  They don’t read other blogs: Blogs are often the best way to stay on top of trends that affect your industry and your clients’ businesses.  By ignoring these blogs, you’re missing a real opportunity to stay in the loop and establish yourself as an expert.  In addition, by reading other blogs, even ones not in your industry, you can get a better understanding of what works and what doesn’t.  The best chefs eat at other great restaurants.  WHAT TO DO:   Use a blog search engine like Technorati to find blogs in your niche, as well as popular bloggers in other niches.  Subscribe to the ones you enjoy through the RSS feed or email subscribe box.  This way you can keep track of dozens of blogs every day without having to visit each one.  Not sure how to subscribe to an RSS feed?  Watch this video.

That’s enough for everyone to absorb today… check back tomorrow for the rest of the 10 biggest mistakes.