20 Blogging Mistakes to Avoid as a Beginner Blogger

Introduction

Blogging is a super competitive world. If you want to make money blogging in 2023, you need to implement a sound strategy, find your unique selling point, and avoid the main blogging mistakes beginners make.

In this post, I share 20 key blogging mistakes to avoid as a beginner blogger. I made pretty much every mistake on the list with my first blog, SundayRainday.

Avoiding these blogging mistakes will considerably speed up your journey to making money with your blog and can even save you money.

If you want to launch a blog in 2023, this post is a great place to start!

Ready to find out the most common mistakes new bloggers make?

Let’s dive in!

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Why is it key to avoid these blogging mistakes?

Over the years, the blogging landscape has become more competitive, with an increasing number of individuals and businesses entering the space.

To stand out from the crowd and attract loyal readers, you need to write high-quality content and stay consistent. Avoiding the common mistakes on this list will help you preserve your credibility and increase visibility.

Search engines continuously evolve their algorithms to prioritize high-quality content. Mistakes like neglecting SEO in blog posts will harm search engine rankings.

By avoiding such mistakes, bloggers improve their chances of ranking higher in search engine results, leading to increased organic traffic.

If you want to make money blogging (I bet you do), whether it’s through advertisements, sponsored content, or selling products and services, avoiding these blogging mistakes will show potential advertisers you maintain a high standard of quality. As a result, you will increase monetization opportunities.

Want to launch a successful blog in 2023? Here are 20 blogging mistakes you need to avoid!

1) Not doing research first

This is probably the most common mistake beginners make when starting a blog.

To create a profitable blog, you need to consider it an online business rather than a simple hobby.

In February 2023, there were over 600 million published blogs and 1.9 billion websites, and most of them made no money.

If you want to stand out and actually build a profitable blog in 2023, you need to understand that what matters the most in 2023 when it comes to creating a successful blog is not being a great writer but actually knowing what you do.

Blogging is no longer about sharing pictures of your latest holiday. At least not if you are planning to make money with your blog.

If you want to build an online business and a successful blog, you must focus on your audience and their pain points.

And this is why doing research is so important when it comes to creating a blog in 2023.

Find what you are good at, make sure it is a profitable niche, and define your target audience.

If you don’t take a couple of days to research these basic aspects of your business, you are setting yourself up for failure.

2) Choosing the cheapest web hosting company

Now, this is the biggest mistake I made when launching my first blog SundayRainday.com

You might want to start a blog without knowing if blogging is for you.

You’re willing to give it a try despite not knowing much about blogging, and this is a great thing. Trying out new things is key to finding ourselves and leveling up in life.

However, to create a profitable online business, just as for any other business, you will need to spend money upfront without knowing for sure if you will get it back.

And you need to accept that some savings are simply not worth it.

Making money blogging will be very hard (if not impossible) if you launch a free blog.

This means that you will most likely need to create your blog on WordPress.org (like 43% of websites online in 2023!) and will need to choose a web hosting company.

And this is where most beginner bloggers get fooled.

See, web hosting companies offer bloggers high commissions to promote their products.

Bluehost offers the highest commissions, so most bloggers recommend them.

Their web hosting plan might sound like a great deal since the first year of hosting with them only costs $2.95/month with a basic blog hosting plan.

The issue is that not only is this price only available for the first year, but if you actually stick to blogging for a few months, you will quickly realize how limiting the plan is.

SundayRainday.com was initially self-hosted on Bluehost, and I quickly regretted it.

For starters, my blog was super slow. And nothing seemed to improve the loading of my pages on mobile and desktop.

I also used to struggle to connect to my Bluehost account because Bluehost’s login page was super slow (if not down?), and my website was often down (sometimes for several hours) for no obvious reason.

I stayed with Bluehost until my blog hosting plan ended and then switched to Dreamhost. And I have 0 regrets!

Whenever looking for a web hosting plan, check the reviews and pros and cons of each plan/host, and don’t fall for small savings.

Just because a company offers you a free domain doesn’t make it a great deal. Most hosting companies offer a free domain in the first year, anyway.

And, worst case scenario, most domains cost less than $20 a year. A free domain isn’t worth staying stuck for 12 months with a bad hosting company. So choose wisely.

3) Choosing a WordPress free theme

Choosing a free theme for your self-hosted WordPress blog is another mistake you want to avoid as a beginner blogger.

Free themes might be convenient. However, they are usually not highly customizable and will not be updated on a regular basis.

This doesn’t seem like a big issue until your theme is no longer supported by the latest version of WordPress and your website breaks.

Unless you know how to code in HTML, fixing your issue will be hard, and chances are that you will not get any support from the theme developers.

The good news is that you don’t have to spend thousands to get a beautiful WordPress theme and support if needed.

I absolutely love Pixandhue’s themes. They are all highly customizable, and setting up your blog with them is super easy because they work with Elementor.

You can literally create your website from scratch and launch it in a couple of days only using Louise’s gorgeous themes!

Choosing a good blog theme from the start will save you a lot of time in the long run, so do not underestimate this step when setting up your WordPress blog.

4) Not choosing a theme working with Elementor

If you don’t know how to code in HTML (like most bloggers, by the way!), Elementor will save your life.

Elementor, even when using the free plan, will help you personalize your theme in just a few clicks.

It makes it super easy to add new sections to your website, change colors, and duplicate sections of your pages to create new ones.

This is something I didn’t know when I started my first blog.

I did not look for a theme compatible with Elementor, so setting up my first blog with no experience was a nightmare.

I purchased a beautiful theme but was incapable of actually setting it up.

It took me several weeks to create my blog, and because I was not satisfied with the result, I purchased my first theme from Pixandhue.

Choosing a theme that works with Elementor is a no-brainer if you are launching your first blog.

Setting up your blog will be super easy, allowing you to focus on creating high-quality content exactly as you should.

5) Refusing to invest in the right tools

Another common blogging mistake to avoid is not investing money in necessary tools.

Listen to me … EVERYTHING is so much easier when you use the right tools!

When launching a business, you should spend money to save time instead of wasting time to save money.

Again, I understand you might not want to spend money upfront without knowing if your blog will get traffic.

However, creating an online business is like taking 21 different jobs. And if you want to stay sane and avoid spreading yourself too thin, you will need to find ways to get things done more efficiently.

Paying a small amount of money to access the right tools will be a game-changer.

Here are 3 tools that are definitely worth investing in as a beginner blogger:

1. Canva Pro (Graphic design tool)
2. Ubersuggest (search engine optimization tool)
3. Grammarly (AI-powered digital writing assistant)

Canva will give you access to thousands of templates and stock photos you can use in your designs (for Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, opt-ins, and paid products)

Ubersuggest is a must to ensure you target the right keywords, rank on page 1 in Google searches, and optimize your blog for SEO (search engine optimization), and will even give you blog post ideas. Before writing a new blog post, you should take a few minutes to check your targeted keyword and how other blogs are ranking for it. Ubersuggest will give you this information in just a few clicks!

Grammarly will help you greatly improve the spelling, grammar, tone, and style of your writing to publish mistake-free content. Grammarly works instantly across websites and desktop applications. It will automatically check your spelling in emails, Pinterest pin descriptions, blog posts, and social media captions.

6) Not creating social media accounts

One of the things you will realize quickly after launching your blog is that you will have to set priorities.

No matter the strategies you plan to implement, you will not be able to do everything at the same time.

You will need to focus on 2 or 3 goals and achieve them before you move on to the next task on your list.

Social media is a perfect example of that.

When starting out, you should focus on 1 or 2 channels only. Ideally, you should fully implement and automate your strategies before starting to promote your blog content on a new platform.

However, as soon as you purchase your domain, you should create an account on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook (and TikTok as well if it works well for your niche).

The goal is not to use all these platforms but to ensure that your blog name is not taken by someone else if you decide to give them a try in the future!

Furthermore, linking to your blog in your bio on each of these platforms will give your blog a backlink and send a positive signal to Google’s algorithm!

Social media promotion is important, but like anything else in the blogging world, it can be a real waste of time if you don’t know what you’re doing.

So do not try to use all the platforms available from the beginning; focus on one platform at a time.

Related read: How to Use Pinterest to Promote Your Business in 2024

7) Having no keyword-targeting strategy

Relying on one platform to drive your blog traffic is a huge NO-NO!

A lot of bloggers learned this the hard way back in 2020 when Pinterest made several changes to its algorithm.

If you were already using Pinterest back then, you’ve probably already heard about the repin-gate and its massive (negative) impact on thousands of Pinterest accounts.

Accounts with millions of views lost up to 90% of their monthly impressions and traffic OVERNIGHT.

As you can imagine, when Pinterest is your only source of traffic, losing 90% of it also has a huge impact on your net profit. This is why you should never rely on one source of traffic only.

Although Pinterest is still my favorite way to drive traffic to my blogs in 2023, ranking in Google searches is also an important factor to consider.

And to rank on page 1 on Google, you need a keyword strategy.

Unpopular truth: ranking on the first page of Google search results is totally possible, even with low domain authority.

However, this does not happen by accident.

To drive traffic to your website using Google, you need to target the right keywords, and being able to do so requires a solid strategy (and an SEO tool such as Ubersuggest).

8) Not having an editorial calendar

Staying consistent will probably be your biggest struggle as a beginner blogger because it is one of the most common blogging mistakes.

Most people who start a blog do it as a hobby or side hustle and work on their blogs during their free time.

As you can imagine, staying consistent in your blogging journey will be hard if you also have a demanding job and a family to take care of.

And since blogging implies a wide range of tasks, from improving your website to creating quality content, staying active on social media, and creating free opt-ins and paid products, to name a few… You will need a schedule to stay productive and get things done.

Not being consistent is the main reason why most new bloggers fail.

Having a plan implies that you need to schedule your blog content and social media publications.

Doing so will help you know your future blog post topics well in advance and make sure you implement a content strategy to promote your products and services.

This simple habit will help you follow a clear direction to progress toward your end goal: developing your online business.

9) Not sticking to a consistent branding

Successful bloggers understand one thing: to create a profitable blog, you must treat your blog as a business.

This means that you need to create strong branding as soon as you buy your domain. And you will have to:

1. Design a logo
2. Create a matching favicon
3. Create a color palette with 3-6 colors that will represent your brand
4. Look for nice font-pairing ideas

Your branding is key to retaining readers, growing your email list, and driving sales. Branding is a key component of a successful blogging strategy.

The good news is that creating your brand is not that hard, and it’s actually a fun process.

Many websites will help you establish your branding.

As mentioned earlier, Canva is one of the best options for creating logos and matching favicons.

Coolors is a simple but effective tool to generate color palettes: simply press the spacebar to generate infinite color palettes for your brand.

Pinterest is my favorite place to find beautiful font-pairing ideas to use on Canva.

After creating your branding, keep this information at hand since all your designs should follow these codes.

10) Underestimating the power of Pinterest

Believe it or not, Pinterest still drives massive amounts of traffic to my blogs in 2023.

I was one of the numerous victims of the repin-gate and got my account shadowbanned and suspended back in 2020.

I managed to get my account back but never recovered from the shadowban.

My stats dropped from hundreds of thousands of monthly impressions to a couple hundred, so in late 2020, Pinterest was no longer driving any traffic to my blog.

Considering the energy and time I had dedicated to my Pinterest account back then, being shadowbanned was a heartbreaking experience.

I even considered deleting my blog back then!

Now that I have spent years studying Pinterest and implementing strategies that work, Pinterest is again my main source of traffic (Google being number 2).

In January 2023 only, Pinterest drove + 138,000 sessions to my first blog sundayRainday.com

And all it took for me to get that traffic was to work on my Pinterest strategy for a couple of hours every week.

Yes, this is how powerful Pinterest is.

If other bloggers tell you that Pinterest is no longer an effective way to drive traffic to your online business or blog in 2023, don’t believe them.

They simply did not crack the code.

I highly recommend you dedicate a couple of hours weekly to learning about Pinterest and implementing a solid (and up-to-date) strategy.

Doing so will generate traffic to your blog on a consistent basis.

11) Thinking backlinks (and guest posting) is a must

This is one of the most common mistakes in the blogging community.

Domain Authority used to be everything when it came to ranking in Google search results.

And the easiest way to boost your DA used to be through backlinks.

Having a large number of third-party websites link to your blog would boost your authority and rank in search results.

And what used to be the best way to gain backlinks? You’ve guessed it: guest posting.

Creating content for free for other bloggers and requesting a backlink in exchange used to be a common way to improve Domain Authority.

Some successful bloggers will even make others pay to publish their content.

Yes, you read that right… If you want to guest post on a popular blog and give them your content, you might also have to pay them to publish it.

This always seemed a bit crazy to me, and I never accepted guest posts on my blogs despite receiving offers every week.

The good news is that things have changed, and since a low DA will not prevent you from ranking high in Google search results anymore, guest posting is no longer a recommended strategy to improve ranking in search engines.

Don’t get me wrong, if you want to guest post to enlarge your community, go for it. Guest posting on popular blogs in your niche is still a great way to showcase your content to a new audience and increase your DA.

However, keep in mind that this strategy is no longer mandatory in 2023 to drive traffic to your blog.

If you target the right keywords, you can write 0 guest posts, have a low DA, and rank #1 in Google search results.

12) Trying to make everything perfect

If you are anything like me, you probably like to pay attention to every detail and want things to be as perfect as possible before moving to the next task on your list.

Although being thoughtful about the content you put out there is a great sign of professionalism, it can also considerably slow you down.

Perfection does not exist.

And the best way to improve yourself daily is to get things done and make mistakes.

See, the amazing thing about blogging is that you can update your content regularly and make improvements as you go.

Your first blog post doesn’t have to be perfect.

But you need to write it to make progress.

The same applies when doing research for your content and products. To create a profitable blog in 2023, you need to do your research and know what you’re doing.

Being successful does not happen by mistake.

However, doing too much research is a bad thing. And analysis paralysis is a very common form of procrastination.

The easiest way to get unstuck is to actually get things done. Writing a good blog post will take a bit of practice, but you will never get there if you don’t hit “publish” on your first article.

13) Holding yourself back

Another mistake many new bloggers make is holding themselves back and not promoting their online businesses because they think they are not good enough.

You don’t need to be a great writer to create great content.

But you need to practice to improve yourself.

Although you need to analyze your competition to understand how you can stand out from the crowd and develop a unique selling point, comparing yourself to bloggers who started in the early days of blogging will not help.

Starting a blog in 2023 is very different than starting a blog in 2009.

Blogging used to be much easier. Competition is much higher nowadays, and algorithms have gotten much smarter.

Writing about your latest holiday is no longer a valid strategy to make money blogging (unless you travel A LOT and launch a travel blog).

Reading other bloggers’ income reports will give you an idea of what’s possible, but you should not stay stuck on the figures and think that you are too far behind to make the same kind of money one day.

Use this information as a source of inspiration and motivation and take a closer look at how these bloggers actually make money.

Hint: if you read an income report about how X makes $50,000 a month with her blog and notice that all her money is made by selling a course on how to make money blogging… Don’t buy the course and find another source of inspiration.

Another thing to keep in mind is that just because you are a new blogger doesn’t mean you cannot get partnerships with brands.

Look for templates online and send these pitching emails to companies you like. I had only 500 followers on Pinterest and wasn’t active on any other platform when brands started to reach out to me!

Speaking of partnerships, the next mistake on the list is a common mistake people make in their blogging journey.

14) Accepting each and every partnership

Another blogging mistake to avoid is accepting every partnership.

Being contacted by brands is always super exciting when you’re a new blogger. You feel like your hard work is finally paying off and want to say “YES” to each and every deal.

But don’t. Just don’t, especially if all you get for creating content to promote a product is… the said product.

Your time is worth so much more than a free product.

Whenever you receive a brand offer to create content in exchange for a free product, ask for an affiliate promo code or link instead.

An affiliate deal will make you much more money if you implement the right blogging strategies.

Another thing you need to keep in mind when promoting a product or event to your email list is that you need to make sure promoting the said product will not get in the way of your own promotions.

It can be very tempting to accept every deal, especially if all it takes is sending a couple of emails to your list.

However, you should never spam your subscribers. If you need to send 2-3 emails in a given week to promote other people’s products, you will not be able to promote your own products.

This is another reason why you need a blogging schedule. Having your own promotions in mind is essential when accepting brand offers.

15) Striving to make everything perfect

This mistake often comes along with analysis paralysis.

If you are anything like me, you probably like completing one task before moving to another and find crossing items off your to-do list rewarding.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to do things right and finishing whatever you’ve started. This is actually good for productivity.

The downside of being a perfectionist is that it often slows you down.

Nothing will ever be perfect; you will always find ways to improve your website’s design or latest post.

Trying to make everything perfect will considerably slow you down when it comes to blogging because you will get lost in the infinite range of activities to complete.

If you have a blogging schedule and realize you often fall behind and miss your deadlines, time blocking can considerably help.

Divide your days (or free time) into blocks dedicated to specific activities, and as soon as the time is up, move to the next block and activity.

Not finishing what you have started might be frustrating at first, but this is a great way to avoid getting stuck.

Coming back to these activities once you have another free time frame is usually more efficient than staying stuck on the task for days.

16) Not having a plan to monetize your blog

If you want to start a money-making blog, you need to treat it as a business.

This means that not only will you need a blogging schedule, but you will also have to figure out how to make money before you get started.

This information will impact your brand, the keywords you target, and the content you will publish.

If your goal is to make money with ads only, you will need to publish a lot of content and get a lot of blog traffic. Your posts won’t have to be long, but you will need a high content velocity.

If you want to rely on your own digital products to make money, you will need to find your unique selling point and focus on your branding.

You will have to narrow down your niche and become a reference for your readers.

This will take a lot of research and publishing detailed blog posts that answer your audience’s pain points.

Over time, it will create perceived value. Your readers will understand that if your free content is that good, your paid products must be amazing.

And they will be confident that paying for your products will be helpful and totally worth it.

See the difference between the 2 models?

This is why having a clear plan to make money is key when starting a blog. Your whole strategy and content velocity will be based on this decision.

17) Not creating a freebie library

Although this might not seem like a mistake at first, offering several free resources on your blog can actually cost you money.

On my other blog, SundayRainday, I offer a total of 6 freebies + a 7-day free course to help readers implement new habits.

Until very recently, readers who wanted to download several of these free resources needed to subscribe to my newsletter using the dedicated forms.

This means that if one reader wanted to receive 4 free resources, he needed to submit 4 different forms.

Of course, this is not the most user-friendly approach, and some users complained that having to subscribe every time they wanted to receive a free resource was time-consuming.

But did you know that this will also cost you money?

Most email marketing platforms like Convertkit offer a free plan as long as you have less than 1,000 subscribers.

The problem is that 1,000 subscribers don’t mean 1,000 different email addresses.

It means 1,000 entries submitted using your forms.

So if one reader subscribes using 4 forms to get 4 different freebies, this counts as 4 entries and 4 “subscribers.”

And this is why this mistake can cost you money.

I am currently paying $66/month on my SundayRainday Convertkit plan, which is the price you are supposed to pay when you have 3,000-5,000 subscribers. However, I only have 2,100 subscribers currently.

Had I created a freebie library sooner, I would have paid $41/month because my subscribers would only need to submit one form to access all my free resources.

In addition to saving you money, creating a free library will ensure that your readers find your resources easily and actually use them.

So this is a simple but effective way to save money and improve user experience.

18) Not using pop-ups

I hate pop-ups. Just as I hate ads.

I really do.

And this is why you will never see ads on my blogs. I think they totally ruin the user experience, and I honestly don’t remember finishing one post containing ads.

This is how much I hate them.

So I refused to use pop-ups on my first blog for the longest time.

And that was a big mistake!

In Q3 2022, I was looking for ways to grow my email list and found a couple of blogs that said that pop-up forms boosted their email lists dramatically.

I did not believe them because silly me thought that since I hated pop-ups and ads, it had to be true for most people.

I couldn’t be more wrong.

I created a 7-day email course on implementing new habits and breaking bad ones, created a form that pop-ups after 30 seconds on the blog, and my email list grew like CRAZY!

In one month, thanks to a few viral Pins on Pinterest, my email list went from 300 followers to 1,359.

And to this day, 70% of my subscribers have been added to my email list because they have submitted this form.

Long story short, pop-ups, when used to promote great offers, totally work!

19) Waiting to have an audience before creating products

Most bloggers recommend focusing on your blog and content for 6 months to a year before creating products and monetizing your blog.

Since I had no prior experience in blogging, I trusted this was the way to go and did not create any product during my first year of blogging.

But I quickly realized that I would never have time to create my offers if I didn’t make time for it.

Creating content and writing blog posts is a never-ending process.

You will always find more subjects to write about, and if any of your posts go viral, trust me, you will not see it coming!

So you might wake up one day with +100,000 new sessions on your blog, and if you don’t have anything to sell, you are leaving money on the table.

Believe me, been there and done that.

And that’s a shame.

When several of my pins went viral in January 2023, my first eBook had not been published yet, and I missed out on a ton of sales.

Truth is that growing an audience might or might not take time.

And if one of your pins goes viral overnight, it might not last long enough to allow you to create a great digital product, a sales page, and actually promote it.

If you know you want to monetize your blog by selling your digital products and already know your niche and future audience, create your offer NOW.

While creating your digital product, you might not be able to publish as many posts as you want, but this is fine.

If you want to grow your blog and become a reference in your niche, you will have to create a lot of content.

However, it’s totally OK to take a break for a couple of weeks and not publish any new posts to focus on your offer.

Once your offer is created and published on your website, you will have plenty of time to write great blog posts, grow your audience, and promote your products.

20) Ignoring your email list

I can easily predict the days my blog will get the most visits.

Indeed, these visits are a direct response from my subscribers to an email I sent them a few hours earlier.

From the minute I send the broadcast to the following day, the daily sessions on my blog are usually doubled.

This means that sending a short and sweet email to my email list doubles my traffic for up to 48 hours.

Email marketing is also how I make most of my eBook sales. But there is another great reason to focus on growing your email list.

Your website and email list are the only things YOU own.

Social media and Pinterest might be great ways to promote your blog and content.

However, you will never own your accounts on social media, and Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook & co might block your account overnight.

As a French saying goes, you will be left with nothing but your eyes to cry.

Email marketing remains a great way to drive traffic to your blog and make sales in 2023. And growing your email list is really not that hard.

All you need is an opt-in you can create in a day using Canva.

Your opt-in is also a great opportunity to give your readers a sneak peek at your paid offer. You can, for example, offer a free download of the first chapter of your eBook.

Email marketing is an incredible way to grow your audience, build trust, and get to know your readers. Social media will never replace the good old emails!

Are you making some of these blogging mistakes?

Avoiding these blogging mistakes in 2023 is essential to staying ahead of your competition and improving search engine visibility.

However, it will also help you protect your brand reputation, attract monetization opportunities, and foster reader engagement and loyalty.

By striving for excellence in your blogging efforts, you will inevitably increase your chances of success.

Creating a profitable blog is not that hard when you know exactly where to start and what mistakes to avoid.

Treating your blog as a business, implementing a sound strategy, and staying consistent are the foundations for building your brand and audience.

If you realize that you are making some of these mistakes, don’t panic!

These mistakes are on this list for a reason: many bloggers make them.

Blogging is a never-ending learning process. Things change fast. Keep growing, keep learning, and start fixing these mistakes today!