Congratulations! You’ve decided to join the ranks of bloggers. You’re going to love it! Before you get too far into it, though, I’d like to help you avoid some common mistakes new bloggers make. These mistakes are almost a right of passage, but why waste that time with mistakes you can easily avoid?
1. Mistake: Auto-loading music.
Please. I beg you, your readers beg you: ditch the auto-loading music! Auto-loading music is not only annoying and surprising, but it’s a bandwidth hog. It makes your blog load slowly. Do you really want to lose a reader because she couldn’t wait for your site to load? And if she waits for your site to load, will she be annoyed because she didn’t know there would be music, had her speakers on high, and a sleeping husband (or child) right beside her? I can tell you this: She won’t be back.
2. Mistake: Using a design with a dark background & light text.
This issue is less about your aesthetic and more about usability and readability. Reading online is harder on our eyes than reading traditional paper. Using a dark background with light text makes it even harder on your readers’ eyes.
3. Mistake: Too much sidebar clutter.
A sleek, uncluttered design goes a long way with readers. The less clutter, the more space you have. You can use this white space to help lead your readers’ eye toward specific content. Are you proud of your awards, badges, and various trinkets? That’s OK, those things are a right of passage too. You don’t have to get rid of them, but why not put awards on their own page and link to it from your main page? You’ll trade 20 links for just one link and de-clutter the sidebar. De-cluttering your sidebar eases navigation for your reader as well. When there are fewer items competing for your reader’s attention, they’ll be drawn to what’s important.
4. Mistake: Accidental plagiarism (even with photos).
Very few legitimate bloggers plagiarize on purpose. Most likely a new blogger won’t realize what they’re doing. Plagiarism applies to using any content that isn’t originally yours, whether it’s content or photography or music or anything else. I’ll be honest and tell you that when I started blogging I would Google a picture, then copy it to my computer and use it in my blog post. That’s a big problem because it’s the same as plagiarism–even if I cited where I found the picture. I hadn’t asked the owner if I could use it, I just did it. If you’re new to blogging, take a minute to find out about and understand the issues of plagiarism and copyright. U.S. Copyright Office bluntly says: “Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission.” These links will help you:
- I put a Creative Commons license on my blog, but is my material truly protected?
- I notice that many bloggers have something on their site telling people not to plagiarize, but how effective is it?
- A Few More Links for Copyright Information
5. Mistake: Using “click here” instead of keyword phrases for links.
I advise you to choose your links words carefully. When you are writing a post and need to insert a link, consider how you are going to write that sentence and where you will include the link. For example, which of these is more effective (potential links in bold)?
If you are interested in hosting a giveaway, please review my vendor guidelines.
My vendor guidelines are available here.
The top sentence is more effective for your audience because it tells them exactly what they need to do. It’s also effective for SEO purposes because search engine spiders are looking for unique word strings. Strings like “click here” or even just the word “here” linked to other files or pages are everywhere on the web. Make your pages stand out by being more descriptive with your links. Help the search engines catalog your site effectively.
Rubik’s Cube photo credit: 
photo credit: wokka
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Very helpful! I enjoyed this post and am happy that I am already doing most of these.
Fantastic info! And thank you for #1, I really can’t stand that.
Love these tips! Thank you so much for posting #1- I really can’t stand sites with music since many times my kids are near the computer or I’m listening to my own music. I don’t think I’ve gone back to many sites with music, either, so if people are trying to gain new readers, it isn’t the best option.
I’ll add that there are a few sites I’ve gone to with talking ads and those are just as intrusive. It is similar to watching a tv show and having random commercials interrupt you watch (read) your program (blog).
Yes, that was great advice — esp. about plagiarism. I also thought if you cited the work and gave credit that it was ok. So great tips!
This is absolutely excellent advice! I think I’ll be adding this to my weekly “what I’m reading” round-up!
Great advice. I have never thought about your last point on SEO and links. That’s going to change the way I do things.
Sarah Mae,
I’m honored. Thanks for spreading the word!
Hi there
I have a question. On tip #4, wouldn’t both examples be valid for SEO word strings? Even with the “click here” and “vendor guidelines” – both are keywords strung together, right? Are you saying because it says “click here” there are millions of others that do that and I am cataloged with those when I have that as well. But, if I’m also cataloged with the keyword string like “vendor guidelines” AND “click here” is that just better because I’m in both searches, right?
Seriously, I really want to better understand this one
Thanks!
Thanks for the heads up
It is always nice to know these things!
Andrea,
It doesn’t do you any good to be cataloged with the “click here” crowd because a) no one is going to search for that and b) there is no context to put with that keyword string. No one will find YOU when they are trying to by searching “click here”. Using keyword strings that mean something to your audience serves two purposes: 1) it tells the user what they can expect when they click on a link and 2) search engines have a usable context for your search terms.
When I attended Blog World Expo last year, I listened to Dave Taylor discuss how search engines find you. Essentially, SEO (or Search Engine Optimization) finds you via semantic and contextual analysis to figure out the themes and topics of your blog and its posts.
* Semantic Data is concerned with what are you writing. The search bots look at which words you are using, how frequently certain words occur, etc.
* Contextual Data is concerned with who links to you. The bots want to know what other blogs or web sites link to you and how they link (what words they’re using, etc.).
It’s that semantic data and keyword density that you are going for when you use keyword strings with relevant words.
Excellent excellent advice. I also hate blogs where the header is so big you have to scroll down half a page to get to content. And posts that make you click “more” to finish reading. Apparently I’m lazy.
I disagree with #1. I have added music & had positive comments & I enjoy going to blogs with music. If you don’t like it, simply click stop.
I agree with all 5 of these tips, Melanie. Thanks for sharing your expertise.
Lots of experience and great tips I was able to pick up on there Melanie, thanks for sharing your knowledge.
So, this may be a dumb question, but how DO you get photos for your blog? Do you only use pictures you’ve taken yourself?
Thanks for the advice. I better go and scratch my blog now! Just kidding.
Katie, that’s a great question! I have an article that lists several web sites that provide royalty-free images: http://www.bloggingbasics101.com/2007/01/i-see-so-many-b/
I hope that helps!
Melanie