Guest blogging is a great way for you to link to other sites, and have them link back to your site, but it is also a great way to get penalized by the big bad Google if you are not careful. Even posting blogs on your own site can get you in trouble, if you are not careful handling your words, and your site, as well as your visitors.

You may be using other sites blogs to post your messages to, and that is fine, but having your own blog does give you a bit more control over how much you can personally post, and it helps bring attention to your site when you market the post through other sites, especially social media platforms.

One of the first blogging tactics website owners make is to have a blog when they do not really need one. You may be thinking, why would it be a bad thing to have a blog? Well, if the benefit does not outweigh the cost of running the blog, such as set up fees, staff to run it, and writers, then it is a waste. Another reason many website owners may not benefit from a blog is simply, they do not have competent writers to create worthwhile blogs for the site.

Mistakes Blog Owners Make


Now, let’s assume you do have a blog, or you plan to create one, instead of telling you what to do right, because, really, there is no right way that works for everyone, let’s focus on what to avoid, because these mistakes, often affect anyone who owns a blog.

Saying Something Damaging is one of the worst things you can do either on your own personal blog or as a guest blogger. If you have a writer or a staff member who has strong controversial views, keep them away from your company blog. While having the company ‘big mouth’ speak up on a controversial topic can get plenty of attention for your blog, it is NEVER the type of attention you want, or need.

Not Responding to Comments is another huge mistake blog owners make. If there is a comment on the blog, it needs to have a response. This is especially true for any issue being brought up within the blog.

Over-Prioritizing the Blog as a single marketing tool is a HUGE mistake, take the time to market yourself, and your business in various other ways for the best results. This can also mean that you are spending too much time on the blog, and not enough time on other important aspects of your company.

Accepting Writing for Links is an extremely easy way to get caught up in a bad link campaign, and that generally results in Google penalties, lost revenue, and time and energy you do not have, and cannot afford to hire, just to get you back on your feet. If you receive an email from an unknown source stating they will supply you with 100% content for your blog in exchange for links, hit delete, and walk away.

Writing Review-Like Advertisements and Linking Them to Your Site is another tactic that many website owners get offered. If you are not fully behind a product, brand, person, or service, never write up a review for them in exchange for a link. All this does is lose the respect of your readers.

Personally Vouching for Someone, or Something, You Really Don’t Believe In is basically the same as writing a review for a link, but many bloggers want to get paid advertising space, so they end up vouching for a number of products or services that they know nothing about. This type of behavior not only loses the respect of your readers but also diminishes your reputation within the search engines.

Using Automation Services can be appealing, especially since it takes so much less time than working the blog site manually. The problem, there is no way to control the output quality. Using a machine or automated system to churn out backlinks is a sure-fire way to get yourself in trouble, so automate only in areas that do not require a human eye to edit properly.

Writing Small Articles is a short and sweet way to get your point across, but longer articles offer a more in-depth view of the topic. You want your blogs to be short enough that the reader is not bored before getting to the point, but also, long enough that they can get what they need from the piece. If your blog site is full of filler material, then you expect that readers will pass you by, and they will find someone who can offer them the answers they want and need on the topic. This also affects your bounce rate from Google’s standpoint, if they get a quick answer and not the real information they needed, they bounce on, and bounce off, and Google sees your site as being uninformative, or irrelevant to the search.

Veering Off Topic is easy to do in a blog, but when it is a company blog, it is EXTREMELY important to stay on topic. If your blog is for your doghouse website, it is fine to have a few discussions about dog care but try to avoid long forum-style discussions about anything not relating to your topic.

Keyword Stuffing, just as with your website, needs to be left out of your blog. A blog is not designed to accommodate stuffed keywords, it is supposed to read naturally, and of course, if you are on topic, the keyword will show up once or twice, but NEVER try to force the words.

Sacrificing Quality for Keyword Usage is a common problem many bloggers face. So, if you really want to tell your readers about your services, and you need to include a keyword you spent weeks researching, and just know it ‘the one’, go ahead and insert it into the blog, but do not be surprised when no one seems to care for your wording on ‘finding doghouses Long Island’, just keep it natural, and when it doubt, leave keywords out.

Willing to Have Your Posts Published Anywhere will ALWAYS get you in trouble. Playing the dangerous link-building game, you know, the one where you blindly link to any page that will allow you, and then, of course, allow them to link back? That is the worst thing you can do if you are trying to build a brand and a reputation. Be picky about where you want your blog posts to be seen, and be VERY picky about what guest blog posts you will allow.

Not Posting Enough Content is a great way to let a popular blog go dead. You need fresh content, not just for the search engines to see, but for your loyal readers who come back time and time again to see what you have said. Many of your visitors who leave comments love to come back and see if they get any responses, so having new material up there for them to add their commentary to is just good marketing.

Using Self-Promotional Articles is part of why you started your blog right? Of course, you want to talk about all the things you can do for your customers, why your services are the best, and how they can get their hands on your products, right? WRONG! If you use your blog site, or other blog sites as a way to market yourself, and advertise your services, expect to get ignored. Your best bet is to create informative, useful content, like this piece you just read, and then at the end of it, add something about your company, like how toolbox.seositecheckup.com offers free tools for you to check your backlinks, quickly scan content issues, and even generate full SEO reports for your site. See? That was useful, not tacky, and is relevant to the content.

Conclusion

Having a blog site can be a wonderful thing, if you know what to do, and more importantly, what not to do. Never treat your blog site as your personal advertising space, and avoid letting just anyone post a link to your site. If you plan to guest blog on other sites, do so regularly, always respond to comments left either on your blog site, or ones that you blogged on, and stay on topic.