Creating blog content is still one of the best ways to grow a loyal following, nurture leads, and increase traffic to your website. But if you commit these blogging mistakes, you might end up in the fiery pits of Google’s basement.

This blog isn’t just for bloggers and writers. It’s for anyone creating blog content, even if you’re a small business owner who hasn’t yet started outsourcing your blogging, and especially if you’re a writer providing this service to your clients.

Alright, let’s talk about the biggest blogging mistakes and what you should be doing instead.

Is video more your jam? Here you go!

4 Blogging Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs

Writing blogs is part art and part science. You need both to succeed.

Mistake #1: You Ignore User Intent

User intent is what a person is aiming to find when they search for something on Google.

Here’s an example.

If someone goes on Google and searches “email marketing software,” they’re probably looking for email marketing software. They’re probably not looking for email marketing tips and strategies.

So, if you write a blog that you optimize around the keyword “email marketing software,” but it’s mostly about tips and strategies, then you’re not satisfying user intent.

If you do somehow initially get traffic even without satisfying user intent, what ends up happening is people click on your blog, quickly see that it doesn’t contain the information that they were looking for, and they immediately click off.

Google will penalize you for this because it wants to serve up the right information for people. And the search engine knows that if people don’t stick around and read your content, they don’t want it.

So, it’ll ultimately hurt your rankings.

When you choose a topic and a keyword, make sure you’re putting yourself in the shoes of the reader. Based on the topic and keyword, are they going to land on your blog and get the information they were looking for? If so, then you’re on the right track.

_By the way, if you need help doing keyword research, check out my free guide!

I’ve got a whole video that goes into a little more detail on user intent. If you want to check it out, here it is:

Mistake #2: You Take Too Long to Get to the Point

You don’t have much time to get people’s attention. It’s a matter of a couple of seconds, literally.

So, it’s not just about satisfying user intent. It’s also about doing it quickly. If you don’t do it almost immediately, you’re going to lose readers.

Get to the point fast.

Whatever information people need, put it toward the top of your blog. Don’t make them look for it, because they won’t.

If you want to include additional information, you can, but satisfy user intent first.

Mistake #3: You Don’t Make Your Blog Skimmable

A lot of your readers aren’t reading your blog word for word. They’re skimming it. So, you need to make it easy for them to do that and still come away with the information they need.

There are a few very simple ways to do this. One is to write in very short, bite-sized paragraphs, with plenty of empty space on the page.

Another really important piece of your blogging? The headings. Don’t just throw something random in there. The headings should highlight the main points that the blog is making (like this blog does!). People’s eyes are very naturally drawn to these when they’re skimming, so take advantage of them.

Another tip? Use lists and bullet points.

Mistake #4: You Don’t Do Anything to Keep People on Your Website

Earlier, I said that it’s a really good sign for Google if people stay and hang out on your site. This means you’re going to want to do what you can to keep people there.

One thing I always do for my clients is to add a few links to other blogs on their website (read: internal links) that I think the reader might also be interested in. And I’ll directly call it out. I’ll say something like, “Oh, by the way, if you want to learn more about XYZ, go check out this blog.” And I’ll link to it.

This will tremendously help your traffic and rankings, and in particular, it’ll help improve your bounce rate.

How to Avoid These Big Blogging Mistakes

Creating high-quality content is something I’m super passionate about. I’ve been writing professionally for about 13 years, and it’s also something I teach others to do with my program, How to Blog Like a Pro.

I show you my exact process for researching topics, finding relevant keywords, search engine optimization, formatting, and more.

If you’re interested in learning more and possibly enrolling, just go here.