Blogging is hard work but your readers deserve quality content. Let’s continue with the mistakes you mustn’t make.

Mistake Four – You Are Only Writing for SEO

If you write for SEO, your readers will be bored stupid. You are writing for roots, not humans, and your readers don’t want to see rehashed keywords that make no real sense. You are a writer, a human being, not a keyword-processor so don’t let the search engines kill off your creativity. Your audience comes first; you can do your SEO optimization late.

Mistake Five – Your Word Count is Too Important

Many bloggers are over-conscious of word count and it rules everything they do. There are those who say that more is better but sometimes it isn’t. As a writer, your task is to provide value in as short a space as possible. Why write 900 words when 400 will do?

Mistake Six – You Don’t Use Plain English

Too much jargon weighs your readers down and it slows them down. It means they have to stop, they have to think about what you are saying. Complete gobbledygook means taking up their precious time with nothing to show for it. Cut the rubbish out; write in plain simple English. Use short simple words instead of long ones and make your posts easier to read.

Mistake Seven – Your Endings Are A Bit Stale

It’s such an easy thing to do. All your energy goes into your post; you’ve gotten your point across quite nicely but, by the time you get to the end, you’ve run out of steam and your ending falls flat. This leaves a bad taste; it’s like enjoying a gourmet meal only to find dessert is cheap grocery store ice-cream.

Don’t do it; you just disappoint your readers when you give them a flat ending. Start by writing the conclusion first or leave it until the next day. That conclusion should motivate and inspire your readers, give them hope and energy, not a reason to unsubscribe from your blog.

Mistake Eight – You Haven’t a Clue Who Your Audience Is

You have the idea in your head and you are writing it down for thousands of people to see. That sounds great, all those people reading your words but it can be the death knell for your writing voice. When you don’t know your audience, you churn out generic posts that don’t speak to anyone in particular and take up valuable time and space.

Forget that you are writing to so many people; instead, write as if you are talking to a friend, your best audience member. Make it personal to that person; make them feel as though you and you alone are the answer to their prayers.

It is fantastic to have so many people read your work and it can be a real confidence booster but when you are ready to write your next post, think of a single person and target them. Your writing will become conversational, engaging and more personal. Each reader will feel as though you are talking to them directly.