4 Crucial Mistakes I Overcame in Blogging

Aug 3rd, 2007 by Leonid Shalimov | Scroll down for comments

We’ve all been there, done that right? We know everything there is to know, don’t want to be taught. We have that thick barrier of ego and self completion blocking our naysayers. We cannot be wrong, its outside the boundaries of re-occurring thoughts. We have a need to be right.

At one point, the statements above this sentence could have outlined my break into the blogging world almost to a t. I thought that every step I took was the right one. I didn’t look over my plans and just jumped right in. After two months and a failing traffic trend, I knew I had stepped outside my bounds.

I realized I had made mistakes, some big - some small. I want to share these so that you hopefully won’t have to go through them.

Mistake #1: Rushing into it.

Seems so simple yet this is the biggest mistake I have encountered. Picture this; you caught a great idea floating around and decide to take immediate action before anyone gets to even think the same thoughts. You hop on your laptop, order your domain and install some WordPress templates.

Two weeks later and your site has gotten 34 visitors. Yea, I’ve been there. Then you kick yourself, scrap your website and end up 40$ in the red.

Avoid this peril. When you get a great idea, research it first. Make sure there is no competition and if there is then devise a strategy on how you’re going to overcome them. Sit, read, sit some more and think.

Once you’ve outlined a business plan you should be right on your way to starting. Thinking things through will make the road a lot less bumpy and a lot clearer for smooth sailing.

Mistake #2: Deciding on a extremely over-saturated niche.

Yup, did this too. I decided for my first blog to be about technology. Womp womp, I know. There are so many great technology related blogs (Engadget, Gizmodo) that competing with them would be pure insanity. Dumped that idea after about a week.

Find a niche that you are comfortable with and have a significant amount of experience in. Don’t become a 3rd rate Gizmodo knock-off, be original.

However, if you are going to try to compete with the big boys, make sure you can offer your reader’s something they can’t. Ask yourself, why should they read your stuff compared to the other bigger websites?

Mistake #3: High and unrealistic expectations.

Seems cruel but it’s not a good idea to set really high expectations. Website’s are usually slow going and take work, time and effort. Don’t be upset if you’re only seeing 300 visitors a week, the main idea is to keep at it and you eventually will get noticed.

Write down some short term and long term goals when you first start out but be sure to be realistic. Don’t make a “1 Million visitors in the first month” type goals, these will only bring you down.

Mistake #4: Fit in with the crowd.

Stand out!

Choose a design and re-work it, make it unique. You don’t want to be lost in the crowd, you want to be memorable.

Leonid Shalimov posted this article under Self Improvement, Blog Improvement on Friday, August 3rd, 2007 at 11:31 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment or trackback from your own site. View Technorati Linkbacks.