You don’t want to kill your blog do you? If you commit any one of these business blogging offenses, you will lose readers and potential customers.
Thou shall not neglect blogging.
Yesterday I wrote about three small business blogs that rock at blogging. Before I found these blogs to showcase I visited dozens of others that simply stunk. They stunk because they had not been updated in months…or longer. I wondered if the mom and pop shops were still doing business!
If you blog, do it often. Make it a goal to blog every month AT A MINIMUM.
Thou shall add images to blog posts.
All your posts need to include an image at the top. Images engage readers and help you promote your blog through Google Image Search and Pinterest.
Thou shall get intimate with the enter key.
It’s difficult to read a large chunk of text on the screen. Plus, huge paragraphs look amateur. Hit enter frequently.
Thou shall not write boring headlines.
A headline that reads “February Blog” will not attract readers. I guarantee it. Plus, the search engines won’t know what to do with a headline that generic. Write descriptive headlines of at least four words.
Committing these sins will be deadly to your blog. If you want your blog to stand the test of time, keep it fresh and engaging.
What do you think of the four blogging sins mentioned here? What did I leave off the list?
About Sara Lancaster
Sara is The Condiment Marketing Co.’s founder and creative director. She oversees client relationships, strategic marketing plans, as well as a bit of copywriting and social media management.
Hi Sara,
I could not agree more with these tips. Sometimes it seems that a blogger doesn’t want readers.
The key is to make your blog reader friendly – you can have the best content on the web but if it’s painful to read don’t expect many people to stay long.
Cheers, Caylie
monthly? at least weekly or else it is more static than a website.
And yes, good titles are hard but essential as hooks and for searches.
Caylie – I think it’s true. Some bloggers don’t want readers. They want search engines.
Pearl – Weekly is ideal, but tell your local shop owner that they have to spend a few hours every week at the computer blogging and they’ll laugh. And what a cool link! Wish I had seen that when researching my book about blog post idea generation.
Thanks for these ideas, Sara! So true! I also heard that for titles, catchy isn’t as effective as using keywords – makes it easier to search and find. But this one is catchy AND has some keywords. 😉
Thou shalt add tags and not change permalinks willy-nilly.