Don't Make These Blogging Mistakes
Readers silently ghost you because of these ignorable mistakes
Hey,
It’s me, Darshak!
Today’s letter is special. It’s meant only for you. Especially if you’re a content creator or want to be one, this letter will help you in many ways.
When I started writing on the internet, I had no one to guide me. I didn’t know where to look for help. All I did was trial and error.
I failed and succeeded; that doesn't mean you must also follow the same curve. That’s why I decided to write about my blogging mistakes so that you don’t repeat them.
I want you to speed up your writing game because I care about you. More importantly, I crave the great content that you’ll put out soon.
Here we go:
I was feeling very confident.
I had managed to make the internet pretty happy, and I felt like my creativity was at an all-time high. So, imagine my surprise when one viral blog post led to a series of other semi-viral hits that made me feel like a king.
But, one person found fault in my content, which then turned into three, causing three more people to find flaws in it as well — and so on until every new person pointed the same bloody mistake.
I couldn’t believe what happened once the negativity started snowballing, but my writer friend pointed out that it wasn’t just a silly mistake; my content was not very engaging.
I knew there were many different ways of writing, but since my defensive armor was up, I refused to accept.
When nothing seemed to be working right, I decided to go back and look at some of my old posts and compare them against the current writing standards. I discovered three cringe-worthy mistakes that made my readers ghost me.
If you’re a content creator, you might want to avoid these easily rectifiable mistakes to prevent a fatal blow to your blog’s success.
#1. Excess Self-promotion
In my early days as a writer, I was under the impression that if I posted enough posts about myself and other relevant things, then people would like me.
The reality struck me when I was in my bedroom and received a notification that my subscriber count had decreased. With an anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach, I clicked on the notification to see how many supporters dropped off this time. The number said, “-5,” and it felt like I had lost five friends all at once.
It took me a few minutes to process what happened because there were so many thoughts running through my head about why people would unsubscribe from me.
But then I finally understood that it wasn’t worth focusing too much on myself, just for likes or comments or anything else.
I put myself in the reader’s shoes and realized that I hardly care about what’s happening in the writer’s life. I read online articles because I want to learn life skills from their stories, failures, setbacks, or experiences.
“Don’t think of your website as a self-promotion machine, think of it as a self-invention machine. “— Author: Austin Kleon
We all want attention, but we must balance our content so that readers buy what we’re selling them. There are ways to promote yourself without coming across as selfish.
What you can do:
1. Before you write the article, think about “WHY” readers would want to find it.
2. “WHAT” are they hoping to find? Your priority should be giving value, not promoting yourself.
3. Focus only on takeaways, even if you share your experience.
#2. Flawed publishing schedule
I couldn’t say if my readers were loyal to me. Ever since I stopped posting with the sort of frequency, people have been bailing left and right. It’s not that they’re mad about what I posted— they just didn’t want to go out of their way anymore to find new content from me.
The most frustrating part was when a reader messaged me on social media and told me how much they loved my blogs and wanted more of it before my previous articles disappeared into an abyss.
Honestly, it made me feel bad because these people took time out of their day to read my work! They deserved better than silence.
Having a publishing schedule is more than caring about your readers. It can make your life easier in many ways, such as allowing you to focus on creating great content that will grab people’s attention and finding new opportunities for collaboration with other bloggers.
Quantity leads to quality if done in the right way.
Without writing much, you can’t evaluate your blogging future.
The success of your blog will depend on a consistent schedule — once you’re established, you may want to experiment and play around with different things. Still, it’s important to set a publishing schedule and stick to it.
From my experience, I can say why content creators don’t have a publishing schedule:
They create content when they feel like it. If you’re a content creator, you have to create consistently. You’re answerable to your readers. They deserve something new when they open your blog.
They publish at times when there is no audience available to engage with the content. No results kill your mojo.
They don’t value their consumers’ time. They think they can “wing it.”
They don’t believe that regular content contributes to their site’s success.
They’re too lazy to sit down and come up with a new topic each time they want to publish a new post.
They’re not sure how to make regular publishing content could work for them.
What you can do:
1. Decide on a frequency for publishing content based on your resources, time availability, and audience preferences. Start with 2–3 blogs and then slowly increase/decrease the frequency if needed.
2. Plan your content ahead of time, so you stay motivated and energized.
3. Apply the “80/20 rule” to create most of your content. 20% what you like and 80% what your readers enjoy. It’s a win-win situation.
4. Use analytics tools like Buffer, Buzzsumo, Google Analytics, etc., to determine what is popular with your readers.
5. Share content with like-minded people in your industry for feedback and ideas.
#3. Not taking advantage of social media to increase readership
Social media is a great way to increase your blog’s success, but it’s also vital to decide which platform you should use. For example, Instagram offers very few resources for writers.
If you’re looking for ways to boost the number of followers, comments, and social sharing on your blog post content, then make sure to commit to one or two social media platforms for this very purpose.
Social media can also help you with your content creation. It’s important to ask yourself what kind of content gets the most interaction when you’re looking for ideas because it may be exactly what your readers need!
I can’t find anything worthy on Facebook, Instagram, or Tiktok because they’re so depressing, so the only other platform open to me is Twitter and LinkedIn.
When you click on someone’s profile, you find interesting tweets and posts about their failure, morning coffee, wise nuggets, etc. That gives me all kinds of inspiration.
Most of my tweets are a part/theme of my blogs depending on the traction.
P.S: If you’re on Twitter, join me for the fun:
@DarshakDRana
What you can do:
1. Be responsive and respectful in my engagement when people mention or tag me.
2. Engage with influencers and other account holders in my field and join relevant groups on social media.
3. Make sure that the content I post is engaging and relevant to my audiences.
4. Don’t bombard people with promotional material — entertain them first and foremost before asking.
5. Be sure not to share too much promotional material on social media — balance this with informative and entertaining posts if possible. And most importantly…be real rather than trying to fit into someone’s persona as an influencer or brand account holder.
People can sense disingenuousness very quickly, no matter how good/funny/entertaining your content may be. And they are likely to unfollow you or report you if this becomes evident and repetitive.
Takeaways
It’s important to remember that when putting together an article or blog post, you’re writing for someone else — not yourself. That means ensuring their needs and wants are met by delivering on topics they care about most.
Not having a publishing schedule can completely throw off people when their expectations for new content are not met.
Social media is one of the most powerful tools for growing readership. Consume it to create content.
Which idea from today’s post resonated with you the most? Let me know in the responses below.
A Motivating Tweet For You
If you’re on Twitter, come to say Hi
@DarshakDRana
I have something more to offer!
I hope you enjoyed reading my story as much I did writing it.
If you did, don’t forget to share it with your friends and family.
Before you go, I will leave you with a powerful quote from Ross Simmonds
"Hustle beats talent when talent doesn’t hustle”
Thanks for reading.
Stay happy, blessed, and safe!
See you next Wednesday!
With love,
Darshak
P.S ~ If you missed my last letter, you can find it here.