Starting a blog can seem daunting. But it shouldn’t be. Blogging is easy if you know what you’re doing.
If you haven’t checked out our “How To Start A Nurse Blog Guide”, I suggest you read through that first.
Knowing the most common mistakes new nurse bloggers make can help you find success with your own blog faster.
In this blog post, we’re going to share with you some of the most common errors new bloggers make.
*Disclosure: This article on mistakes new nurse bloggers make may contain affiliate links. If you click and make a purchase, I may receive a commission. For more info, please see my disclaimer.
Mistakes New Nurse Bloggers Make
1. You’re Not Self-Hosted
Most new bloggers try not to spend any money when starting. Big MISTAKE.
If your goal is to eventually make money from your site in the next few years, you need to get self-hosted.
This is very important when you’re starting a blog so you won’t have to deal with the hassle of switching over to being self-hosted when you’re getting a lot of traffic.
If you think hosting is expensive, you’re in for a surprise! Bluehost offers as low as $3.95 monthly hosting.
2. Your Domain Name Sucks
If you’re planning on starting a travel blog for nurses while you’re in Asia, it might seem like a good idea to have a domain name called “nurseinasia.com”.
However, this can be bad for you if you do decide to travel to Europe. You’ll only be stuck with posting your travels in Asia.
Think twice or thrice about your domain name before buying one on Namecheap. Be sure to go with something that’ll grow with you.
Sure, you can change your domain name down the line, but if you get it right at the beginning that’s one more thing you don’t have to do later.
3. You’re Not Blogging Often Enough
How many times a month are you blogging? If you’re planning on publishing only one content in one month, your site is going to grow very slowly.
You need to publish new content regularly especially when you’re starting. Aim to blog at least three times a week. Make it your goal to publish 100 high-quality blog posts in the first six to twelve months.
Once your site is well-established, you can start slowing down to one post per week or month.
4. You’re Not Adding Any Value to Your Content
Blogging means putting out content that answers your reader’s questions. For this reason, it’s important that you add value to your content.
Check out what other bloggers in your chosen niche are publishing and see if you can write a better post. See what’s missing from their posts and add them to yours.
Make your blog posts so full of value that your readers don’t need to leave your site to find answers elsewhere.
5. You’re Always Changing Topics
Remember when we talked about niches on our starting a new blog guide?
When writing content, be sure to stick to your niche. If you’ve settled with a travel blog for nurses, don’t write content about engineers.
Don’t spread yourself too thin by writing topics that aren’t for your target audience.
Plus, focusing only on two or three topics for your blog can help you become an authority for those topics.
If your niche is on nurses who love to travel, your blog is the first thing that comes to mind when your target audience starts planning their vacation.
6. You’re Expecting Fast Results
Blogging takes time. It takes years to build a well-established blog.
Most new bloggers give up early because they expect fast results. It takes at least 6 months for Google to list your blog and several months to years to build up a good following.
If you want faster results, publish more high-quality content. Don’t expect results if you only have 20 blog posts published.
7. You’re Writing Poor Headlines
Headlines are what grabs a reader’s attention. It’s what makes them want to click and read your post.
If you have poor headlines, you won’t be getting as many clicks to your site as you want. You’re missing out on growing your site with a poorly written headline.
Improve your headline writing with these headline hacks.
8. You Have too Many Ads Setup
Sure, making money from ads sounds like a pretty good deal. But be careful with filling your site with too many ads or you might risk your site’s user experience.
Remember that one time you clicked on a site and got bombarded with dozens of ads that you just wanted to click on the back button? That’s what your readers feel when they’re shown so many ads.
Try to lessen the number of ads on your site. Not only is it bad for user experience but it also slows down your site and affects your SEO.
9. You’re Writing Long Paragraphs
Nothing’s harder to read than blocks of text on your screen. This is one of the most common mistakes new nurse bloggers make.
Compared to writing a novel or an essay, writing on a blog means your catering to an audience whose attention span is shorter.
To keep people on your blog and make reading easier, the best practice for writing a blog is breaking up your paragraphs. Try to stick to one to three sentences per paragraph.
10. You’re Violating Copyright and Copying Content
A lot of people think that because a photo is on the internet, they can download it and put it on their blog. You should get permission first to use their photo.
Don’t violate copyright by using content that’s not yours. This also goes for texts.
Always use materials that you’ve created or you might get your site taken down.
11. You’re Spreading Yourself too Thin
When done right, promoting your content on social media, guest posting, and networking can be very effective in growing your blog.
However, as a new blogger, you shouldn’t try to spread yourself too thin. Don’t try to do too much when starting. You’ll only get exhausted.
Start by focusing only on one thing at a time.
12. You’re Ignoring SEO
Does search engine optimization sound too difficult that you’re ignoring it?
Here’s a piece of advice. Whatever you do, don’t ignore SEO. In fact, when you’re starting out, SEO is one of the best ways to increase your blog’s traffic.
However, do note that SEO takes time to work. As such, the best time to start learning about SEO is when you’re starting out.
13. You’re Not Spending Time Staying Educated
The world of blogging is constantly changing. Search engines and social media algorithms are always updating.
If you don’t stay educated, you’re missing out on a lot of opportunities to grow your blog.
Invest in yourself and on your blog. Learn new skills. There is a lot of free content online that you can read and listen to.
14. Not Networking with Others in Your Niche
This one doesn’t have to happen right away. But at some point, you really do need to start forming connections and relationships with other bloggers in your chosen niche.
This relationship can open doors for you that you otherwise might not have had.
Something to keep in mind is that there’s a right and wrong way to do this and before reaching out to other “big time” bloggers in your space you need to make sure to do your research.
15. Not Enjoying the Process
Don’t get me wrong. Blogging is hard. It can be stressful, and it will at times frustrate you.
With all that said if you don’t enjoy the process.
If you don’t enjoy what you’re doing then it’s going to be hard to be successful since so much of blogging takes a long time before you start seeing any bit of success.
16. Not Being Legally Compliant
Did you know there’s actually a legal side to blogging? If you’re saying “no,” than you’re not alone because I didn’t either.
Some of the legal pages you’ll need on your site to be legally compliant and to protect yourself includes:
- Privacy Policy
- Terms and Conditions
- Disclaimer
The list goes on but I’m not a lawyer so if you’re starting a blog you need to make sure to get this legal bundle which was actually created by a lawyer.
Final Thoughts
Starting something new means you’re going to make mistakes. By reading this article, hopefully you can avoid some of the more common mistakes new bloggers tend to make.