Maintaining an active and consistent company blog has numerous benefits. For example, it shows your on-site visitors that you have a living resource where you share knowledge, tips, and advice on various topics within your industry. Also, it provides fuel for your email nurture campaigns and can help you personalize your outreach by sending applicable blog content to prospects based on where they are in the buyer’s journey. 

It also assists with top-of-the-funnel engagement as well. Companies that maintain a blog receive 97% more links to their website. Generating traffic to your site from outside publications and outlets is a great way to extend your reach and engage with a broader audience. 

It’s the people who know this that really maximize the benefits of a blog for their businesses. But when embarking on a beneficial blog strategy, it’s essential to know what NOT to do. Here are a few of the most common (and potentially costly) blogging mistakes you should avoid. 

Writing Only About Personal Interests

We all know it’s easier to write about something we are interested in or passionate about. In fact, a lot of SMEs who are creating content already do that, and that’s fine. There’s a time and a place for that content. But if what you’re passionate about isn’t aligned with what your audience wants to read, then your blog isn’t going to get any traction. 

So, before you write content for your blog, you have to do your homework and research your target audience. Chances are, you’ve already done this. If so, that research is broken down in your content marketing strategy document. If not (shame on you!), find out what the people you are trying to attract value. Talk to your sales team and see what sort of struggles they’ve heard prospects express in their conversations. Learn what your audience’s pain points are and what kinds of questions they have about your product or service. Then, craft your content around those triggers so you can provide your audience with valuable content they need. 

Not Using Your Unique Tone

Some grammar mistakes are just made to be broken if enforcing them makes you sound like a robot. When it comes to your blog content, the last thing you want to do is scare people away with ultra-professional, sterile language. Now, I’m not saying that you should use slang left and right and neglect the quality aspect of the content you’re creating. But being a grammar soldier shouldn’t come at the expense of your true tone and voice. 

You’re not writing a college essay; you’re talking to your prospects. Write your message the same way you’d speak it. You want to reach your audience, and this will make your content comprehensive and easy to understand. Your audience will thank you, especially since they’re reading your blog to try and learn more about what it is you do and your industry. 

Choosing Topics That Aren’t Specific

When your audience is searching for information online, they’re using specific search terms to help them find what they need. That’s why focusing on blog topics that aren’t specific isn’t in your best interest and doesn’t do much to serve your strategy. 

This is where having an SEO strategy can really come in handy. If you focus your content around specific search terms and keywords you know your audience is using when searching for content online, you’ll keep your content concise and laser-focused on particular areas. And you’ll make your blog content rank higher and therefore it will be found more easily. Another tip is to use this HubSpot’s blog idea generator to get you started. Not only will this make it easier for you to write, but it’ll also attract a more targeted audience, which will provide you with higher-quality leads.

Not Proofreading Before Publishing

Quality matters. If you’re hitting the publish button before looking over your blog posts, you’re shooting yourself in the foot without even realizing it. Why? Because people notice mistakes and the more mistakes they see in your content, the less they’ll think of the advice you have to offer and your brand. If your content is loaded with improper grammar or poor punctuation, it sends a message to your audience that you lack attention to detail. 

Now, I know I said that grammar comes second to conveying your actual tone and voice. That doesn’t mean leaving glaring mistakes in your articles. Doing so makes for a lousy first impression and doesn’t show your business in the best light. It could even cost you some customers. So, always proofread your content before pushing it live. Always.

Lacking Consistency

What do you think it does to your credibility when you publish one blog post, then wait an entire month to publish another one? A great business blog doesn’t just attract new readers; it also establishes a steady following of repeat visitors. And if you aren’t publishing content consistently, your audience will stop coming back to your blog and relying on you for what they need. And a blog without any repeat visitors is a blog that doesn’t convert. After all, the more traffic you’re getting, the higher your chances are of converting some of those visitors into paying customers.

Having a successful blog means being committed to publishing fresh content regularly. Create an editorial calendar that outlines what you plan to post and when for each month. This will help you establish a cadence that you can stick to, maintain consistency, and have an organized schedule your entire team can easily access. 

No Distribution Strategy 

There’s nothing I hate more than when a piece of content goes live and no one knows about it because it’s not being distributed. Why go to all that trouble creating the content if you aren’t going to actually use it once it goes live? It’s silly, but this happens a lot, actually. 

Before you even create a blog post, you should have an idea of how you’re going to use it. List out the various ways you plan to distribute the content so that you’ll get as much from it as possible. This should include: 

  • Sharing it on your various social media channels
  • Sending it to your sales team so they can use it in their conversations
    Adding it to your weekly or monthly newsletters
  • Adding it to drip campaigns so you can nurture prospects based on where they are in their journey
  • Seeing if you can get it syndicated on another site and tap into their readership

These six mistakes are what we see busy marketers make with their blog content most often, so make sure you aren’t inadvertently practicing any of them. Outline your strategy, audience, and process so you can hold yourself accountable. The benefits will be an effective blog strategy that is on-message and valuable to your key audience.