You’ll Get Spam Comments… Lots of Them
Allowing visitors to submit comments on posts and articles is a great way to boost engagement while creating fresh new content in the process. If you’ve been blogging for any significant length of time, however, you’ll notice many of these comments are nothing more than spam. Such comments may consist of “Wonderful blog! I’ll be sure to grab your RSS,” or similar generic messages. This doesn’t mean that you should disable your blog’s commenting feature, but rather use an anti-spam plugin like Akismet to filter them.
Competition Is Stiff
There are literally tens of millions of blogs currently online, with thousands more being created everyday. With so much competition, many newcomers have trouble making their blogs stand out. To increase your chances of success, build your blog around a narrow niche or a new angle on a popular topic. Instead of pets, for instance, perhaps you can narrow your blog’s niche down to dog training. With less competition, you’ll have an easier time generating a following.
Blog’s are More Than Just Text
If your blog posts are nothing more than text, you are doing it wrong. Check out some of the leading blogs and you’ll notice they all have one thing in common: their content consists of text, images, video, and other forms of media. By diversifying your blog’s content with multiple forms of media, you’ll boost visitor engagement. And when visitors are more engaged, search engines take note by raising your blog’s search ranking.
Migrating to a New Server Can Be Difficult
With traditional static websites, server migration is relatively easy and painless. You download all of your files from the old server, upload them to the new server, and change your domain’s nameservers. But with content management systems (CMS) like WordPress and Joomla, there’s an extra step involved that many beginners overlook: copying the database.
Most blogging platforms utilize a MySQL database for added security. Even if you download and upload your core files to the new server, you must still copy and upload the database; otherwise, your blog will be barren and without content. Of course, you can always seek assistance from your web host is needed.
You’ll Get Criticized
If you aren’t willing to accept constructive criticism, then blogging probably isn’t for you. A visitor who shares a different perspective on the subject, for instance, may write a lengthy comment explaining why your post is wrong. Don’t take it personally, as comments such as this are common among blogs. Instead of bashing the user for his or her comment, respond with a “thanks for the comment” and continue going about your business. As a blogger, you must learn to accept criticism with a grain of salt.
Have any other blogging tips that you would like to share with our readers? Let us know in the comments section below!
For me, the most difficult part is the criticism. Sometimes it can be discouraging, but I try to use it to better myself.
I feel you there Stefan. It wears me down at times, but I try to evaluate criticism and then either use it to get better or dismiss it. Nothing is worse than when you pour your heart into a post and someone rips it apart though.
Coming up with unique and valuable content regularly can be a real challenge. When I first started out, I had a ton of ideas, but over time, my mind has a hard time coming up with new material.