5 Crucial Blog Content Mistakes That Will Kill Your Content’s Engagement
Having a great blog content engagement rate ensures your blog will be successful and thriving. However, there are a few blog content mistakes that have the potential of affecting your blog's content engagement negatively.
To talk all about blog content mistakes to avoid, I invited Daniela McVicker on the blog today. Daniela is the chief contributor at TopWritersReview where she helps individuals and organizations improve their web content writing, design, and planning skills.
So, he's is what she has to say…
5 Content Mistakes that Negatively Impact Blog's Engagement
Everybody blogs. Even if they are experts in content writing or beginners, everybody knows that content can influence a business success.
On the other hand, there are still many people wondering if they should start a blog.
If you pay attention to the recent trends, then you will understand that content is the king.
However, many think that if they produce constant content, they will also achieve success. But, in most cases, not the quantity is essential, but the quality.
You don’t need to concentrate all your efforts on producing high volumes of content. Instead, you can make a difference by working smart.
In a recent survey to B2B marketers, when asked about what factor determines a business’s success, 70%+ consider that content marketing is the crucial factor.
Growing your blog’s engagement rate is not difficult at all.
In this article you will discover which are the top five content mistakes that you need to avoid in order to help improve your content engagement.
So, let's take a look…
Blog Content Mistake #1: Not writing for your audience
One of the most common content mistakes that many bloggers make is that they fail to determine their target audience.
Whether you are sharing your cooking recipes, or you present your travels around the world, you should stay away from writing for yourself.
It is very common to fall into this trap. An audit of your posts will help you identify in which posts you used “I” instead of “YOU.”
Even in instances where you are talking about your personal experiences, you want to share them with your audience. Therefore, you should build your texts so that it seems that you are talking to them.
When you write your blog content, you should make your audience feel part of what you publish. That is one of the biggest content engagement drivers.
Therefore, using the pronoun “you” will help you get closer to your audience and improve your blog’s engagement rate.
This strategy will create the idea of expectation. Your readers will become curious to read more blog posts, and they will look forward to your next content.
Also, they will be more open to sharing it on their social media accounts. So, whenever you start writing your future blog posts, you should have your readers in mind.
Blog Content Mistake #2: Not Inviting readers to share their opinion
A post without comments or shares is like an abandoned house.
If people don’t talk about your content, it doesn’t exist. However, if you just launched your blog, comments won’t come immediately. You should be patient and wait a few weeks before the first comments arrive.
With that said, before the comments come, you should show consistency and clarity.
Once a potential reader arrives on your blog, he will look at the first post he/she lands on. If you manage to grab his attention, then he will move on to other related content. If they feel engaged with your content, then they will be waiting anxiously for more, and THAT is the goal.
So, ensure you continue to deliver engaging content.
A great way to improve your blog engagement rate i is to invite readers to leave comments.
It is effortless to end your posts with a phrase or a question that encourages the reader to leave a comment.
The more comments you have, the more popular your blog post will be.
Also, when someone new reads your blog and sees the impressive number of comments, he will easily trust you. So, blog comments improve your trustworthiness level as well.
Blog Content Mistake #3: Not having a content calendar
As mentioned above, once you manage to grab the attention of your readers, they will wait for more content from your side.
Gaining the target audience is very difficult. But, losing them is just a matter of seconds. Why do people decide to leave a blog? Many times, it happens because the author doesn’t succeed in keeping them engaged.
Either the content is not satisfying their needs, or you don’t publish new content often.
A very efficient method is to keep an editorial calendar or content calendar. A blog with a high engagement rate has at least two or three new posts each month.
So, when you decide to launch your new blog, you should consider this aspect.
The more frequent you post new content, the more traffic you will have.
In addition, regular content doesn’t mean that you should publish anything. Each post should bring further information and intrigue your readers so they will be anxiously waiting for the next one.
Blog Content Mistake #4: Failing to publish unique content
Consistency is the key to a successful blog.
Even though your blog idea came after reading various successful blogs, you should always publish exclusive content.
It is not easy to always come with unique insights and produce relevant content. However, plagiarism is not an option as it will ruin the trust that your readers have in you.
When you run dry of inspiration and feel tempted to plagiarize other bloggers, it is better to redirect your attention towards other options such as:
- Paying writers to create content for you. It is not a free service, but its benefits outweigh the costs. It is enough to tell an experienced writer about the topics on your blog, and he will know what to do.
- Start accepting guest posts from other expert bloggers in your niche.
- Poll your audience for topics they will like you to write about. If you don't have an email list, niche specific Facebook Groups could be a great place to survey you audience.
If you need help coming up with content topics, here are 13 ways to come up with SEO-friendly blog post ideas.
Whichever option you try, it is vital to stay away from plagiarism by any means.
Blog Content Mistake #5: Your audience reads your content with difficulty
How many times have you read a blog post which didn’t inspire you at all, and it was also tough to read?
What did you do when you read such content?
One of the leading causes that determine people to stop reading a blog is the difficulty of reading.
Hard-to-read content is not always a smart choice, even for the most mature audience.
People are very busy nowadays. So, instead of reading a blog post from beginning to end, they prefer to scan it. Thus, when the content is dry and difficult to read, they would rather opt for a different blog instead of keeping to reading yours.
There are various methods that you can try to improve your blog's content readability.
One option would be to use an app that tests your readability. You can find different apps available for free that will help improve your content.
Another option would be to cultivate your writing skills.
Even though the first posts don’t have great success, practice will make them better.
Other tweaks that that can help improve your content readability is bigger fonts, shorter paragraphs and breaking the content with subheading.
Apart from improving the text’s readability, it is also essential to check your text for grammar and spelling mistakes.
Grammaly for instance, is a great tool for bloggers. Grammarly doesn't only focus on grammar and spelling but also style and tone. It helps you eliminate errors and find the perfect words to express yourself.
A document that is easy to read and doesn’t have any errors will have higher chances of becoming successful and have high traffic.
Conclusion
It is very easy to make content marketing mistakes.
Any error can affect your blog’s conversion rate and blog engagement.
When you start your blog, you should first determine your target audience. Each blog post should target their preferences and provide answers to their questions.
Also, you will need proper posting planning. Once you stimulate your audience’s appetite for exciting content, they will come on your blog for more.
So, you should determine a publishing blog post schedule and stick to it if you don’t want to fail your readers and hinder your blog's engagement.
Finally, great grammar and readability scores are essential.
Before you post your content, you should make sure that you carefully correct any mistakes. Consistency and clarity will help you improve your blog’s engagement rate.
So, what blog content mistakes are you making and would like to correct?
About the Author: Daniela McVicker
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