or, What Not to Do
Following Pro Blogger’s suggestion (He is talking just to me isn’t he?), this is a list formatted post. My list is of the four biggest mistakes I feel like I have already made. I’ll address my remedy for these errors in future posts.
- 1. Using a free platform – I really think this creates a handicap for a blogger if for no other reason than other bloggers just don’t take you as seriously as someone who has made the investment in a URL and hosting. You have to work that much harder to prove yourself as sincere. (And this isn’t even addressing the fact that once your blog is established you are in a trap because you can’t take it with you.)
2. Choosing an “unfriendly” moniker – Similar to the ‘free platform’ issue above, an unfriendly moniker makes it more difficult to get people to accept you as a serious blogger. I know when another blogger sees the name Ad Tracker in their comments they immediately think, “Oh man, not another spammer!”
3. Choosing a template that is appealing to me – As I study other blogs that I admire and envy, I find they have one thing in common. They are clean and white. I went for personal expression and I think that was a mistake.
4. Following the “Learn As You Go” plan – This one is deep enough it needs sub-categories.
a. No formal, and very little informal, webmaster training – The fact that I’m having to figure out my coding and design issues by trial and error makes even creating a post very time consuming and sometimes frustrating.
b. Business blogs are different from personal blogs – I’ve run personal blogs for my friends to read but running one for a business is a completely different approach.
c. Not fully learning about monetization – Coming into this project, I thought AdSense was all there was to monetizing a blog. Talk about being a babe in the woods. (Not that I think I’m a babe or something, oh, never mind…) The fact is I’m still learning all of the avenues of making money online and exploring a few. (Future Post Idea!) Because of this learning process, I have to modify my layout almost daily and I don’t think the inconsistency is a good thing.
In case you're wondering, when I started this list it was 'Three Mistakes'. The scary part is that these are only the mistakes I’ve figured out so far and it’s still early. That’s my opinion, what’s yours?
5 comments:
I think I will be able to write a book about all of the mistakes I've made so far. Seriously. :-P
Regarding the personalization thing, I will typically ignore a site if it is that same old blue/white scheme. I think you have to do something to stand out so that people recognize you. Personally, I like pink...
Bloggrrl- Thanks for stopping by. I needed the validation. I really would like to keep my pink ;) and thanks for the great deal on hosting at your site.
When I read a blog, I don't go snooping at whether your blog's at a free host or you spent some money to register a domain and set up your own blogging software. That's totally irrelevant. It's the content.
If what you're writing is sensible and is relevant to me, that's all that matters.
While it is true that you don't own this, I really really doubt if blogger is going to take you down on a whim. It's the ones who tell you "you make me contact" (you said that, not me) that they should go after.
And yes, there are other monetizing methods but that's part of the learning process isn't it? :-)
Gooseneck - Thank You! I think I may be softening some of my oppinions about my mistakes.
As far as those other guys, they're just more of an iritant than anything. They disapear as quick as they show up. I'd rather deal with them and have the freedoms we enjoy here in the blogoshere than be policed and not irritated. - Tracker
They are irritating but don't underestimate those guys. There's a method to their madness and they do turn a profit out of it.
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