Starting a blog is easy. You just download the software, install it and are ready to go. Thousands of blogs are created every day and many of them tap into some serious pitfalls that makes it difficult  to succeed. By being into blogging over a year now, there are a few lessons I’ve learned about starting and running a blog. Here are some common traps and how I would fix them:

1. You pretend to be an expert in order to build more credibility but in reality, you do not have any idea about blogging.

How to fix:

You need to research and learn more about how to use your blog features and the basics about blogging and the community before you even start one. Get to know how to make use of your blog for visibility and accessibility over the Internet. Have a basic knowledge about trackbacks, commenting,how to use social media and permanent link features. It will prove important and necessary.

2. No blog category. The readers are confused about what topics are you writing about. They do not have any idea what they are getting into. They probably would not even attempt to find yours if they have to guess first what it is you are trying to say.

How to fix:

Try to answer these questions: What is your main message? Your focus? What will be in your blog that your readers can benefit from? What is the aim of your blog? Who would you like to see reading your blog?

3. Your blog does not reflect you and your business. Your blog is a mess and your customers cannot seem to find any similarity between your blog and your business.

What can be done:

Look at your blog as an extension of your business. Make your customers feel like they are doing business with you in the comfortable ambiance of your office. Your blog should reflect your business image. What do you stand for? How would you like the people to talk about you?

4. You have no idea about other blogs in the same field. You do not spend time looking at other blogs to see what is being written about and to see the strategies that others are using. You do not know what is happening on the market.

What I would do:

Blogging takes commitments. If you want to make it big, treat it like a business! You should start using a Feed reader, subscribing to other bloggers newsletters, using the Twitter Search function etc. You better know what others are talking about to find out what the market wants and needs.

5. Your blogs have no appropriate contents posted. If all you ever have in your blogs are advertising and marketing about your products, expect your readers to get bored, go away and never come back. They have had enough of sales being presented to them.

What I would do:

Spare them the sales talk. Try to write something not about what you are offering. Find other related topics you can talk about. Get them to subscribe to your newsletter, and make your money there!

6. You have not visited your blog site for some time. One of the sins in blogging is not updating. Expect to lose the traffic you have been getting.

What I would do:

If you are not doing anything about your blog, why have one in the first place? Make a schedule. Commit yourself to update your blog on a regular basis but on your own pace. So you don’t stress yourself and let your readers know that you are present and that they are able to contact you through your blog. Give some of your time to your blogs.

What would you add?

What do you think are other common traps to avoid and how would you do that? Please share your knowledge and experience in the comments below.