Blogging is an excellent way to deliver value to potential customers and establish yourself as an authority in your market sector—it’s also a platform that’s vulnerable to mistakes, faulty strategies and wasted first impressions, so if you’re about to dive into content marketing (or you’ve already launched with middling results), here are some common blogging mistakes to avoid:
Mistake #1: Typos
This is obvious, but typos within a professional blog are often unforgivable mistakes. After all, if your content marketing is sloppy, what does that say about the rest of your business? Most readers won’t wait to find out.
Mistake #2: No images
Images might not be essential to understanding the point of your blog post, but they are more than worth the effort it takes to find and include them. Online readers aren’t typically fond of huge chunks of text without visual stimulation, so adding images will help maintain interest—and increase your conversion chances.
Mistake #3: Rambling
Don’t confuse quality with quantity—professional blogs should be around 500 words, which is plenty to grab attention with a compelling intro, offer valuable info, and propose a call to action. Unless you have Pulitzer Prize winners on staff, anything much more than 500 words will come off as rambling.
Mistake #4: Excessive sales-speak
Attracting potential clients through blogs is a balancing act between offering informative, valuable content and pitching your products and services, but too much sales-speak will turn off readers who haven’t even indicated interest yet.
Mistake #5: Overwhelming SEO
Related to avoiding sales-speak, you should also be careful about how much you focus on SEO in your blogs. Readers don’t want to slog through text that’s overflowing with obvious keywords—always write for your audience first, then optimize for search engines later.
Mistake #6: Clickbait headlines
Exploiting curiosity might get you extra clicks, but as soon as readers realize how little the headline matches the blog (and, more importantly, why it doesn’t match), they will lose respect for your brand—and you’ll lose a potential customer for life.
Mistake #7: Unprofessional content
Unless your market sector thrives on satire, provocative opinions, conspiracy theories, or celebrity gossip, stay away from controversial content and language that pushes the envelope—some readers might admire your off-the-cuff approach, but you’ll likely push more potential clients away.
Mistake #8: Stale conclusions
Introductions are crucial for luring readers in, but no matter how compelling your intro or fantastic your main content turns out to be, you still need to stick the landing with a conclusion that inspires, motivates, and energizes your readers.
How to avoid blogging mistakes entirely
Marketing is a significant undertaking for any business, and sometimes it’s necessary to delegate to get the best results. At AGW Group, we offer customized marketing strategies that include captivating content free of the mistakes mentioned above. If you’re ready to take your marketing to the next level, give us a call to schedule a consultation today.