On Teenius I often write about things that will make your blog better and hopefully more successful. Today I’m going to change that a little bit and write about things that can actually damage your blog. I’ve already done a post entitled ‘5 things bloggers shouldn’t think’, and this is basically a follow-on post.
I find that a lot of these points are actually pretty common mistakes amongst bloggers, especially noobs, so I feel it’s pretty important to not only identify these problems, but also offer practical solutions to rectify them!
OK, let’s do this!
1 – Not replying to comments
I can see where you’re coming from if you don’t reply to comments: it takes quite a lot of time, and you’ve already spent enough effort on writing the post, right?! No, you haven’t. Neglecting your commentators is one of the worst things you can do as it makes your chances of those commentators coming back and commenting again very slim. The only real way you can make not replying comments work is if you run an extremely successful site where people will comment regardless.
Solution: Reply to the comments people make on your blog. You don’t have to reply to every one, but try to answer any questions and reply to good comments.
2 – Writing like a robot
There are thousands, if not millions, of blogs on the internet. You only really have a chance at running a successful blog if you stand out, and one of the best ways to do this is to add your personality in to your writing. Take a look at MattFlies.com. This is a great blog, but the reason I like it so much is because of the author. He adds brilliant humour into his posts and really shows his personality.
Solution: When writing a post, try and write like you would talk. Add your personality in their and please don’t write for the search engines.
3 – Over Monetise
Whilst you may want to make some decent money from your blog or website, one of the worst things you can do is plaster adverts all over it. Personally I hate pop ups and in-text adverts that pop up when you roll over certain keywords, and I know a lot of people will also be put off by them. I recently visited a site that has made $0.04 from in-text adverts in two months, so you have to ask yourself whether it’s worth risking readers for that amount of money.
Whilst adverts can be good for making money, if you use too many they can really ruin your traffic, thus reducing the amount of money you make anyway! That’s irony for you.
Solution: Take a quick look at your site and consider whether you’re using too many adverts. If your blog is covered in them, take some down!
4 – Think you’re better than others
OK, so you run a blog, big deal. Now, I’m not saying that an earning blog isn’t impressive, but letting this go to your head can really be your downfall. At the end of the day we’re all humans. I once read a quote ’success can be a man’s biggest downfall’, and I think people should try harder to remember that!
Solution: Be nice to others. I’m not saying you have to be everyone’s best friend, but try to be as polite as possible.
What about you?
Are you guilty of any of these? Do you have any other points to add to the list? What do you think of this post? Feel free to leave a comment below to share your views!
Great points, especially replying to comment and also over monetize.
I always reply to every single comment, unless it falls into my spam filter, I will never reply.
Second I don’t like to use “ninja” monetize, like as you say roll over with a keyword and pops a message giving you to another link, that’s the worst part, I wonder why there are still big blogger using it. It really suck when you read half way and suddenly something pop up.
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Personally I’ll reply to all the quality comments. If someone leaves a comment that just says something like ‘Cool, great post!‘, I won’t bother to reply, but if they leave a quality comment (such as yours), I’ll always make the effort to reply
Great points. I don’t do any of these. I always reply to my readers comments. This way they’ll come back and become loyal readers.
Yeah, replying to readers comments is one way of making loyal readers, but there are also plenty of other ways. Hmm, maybe I’ll make a post about it
Maybe I’ve made some in the list. Learn from the mistake. Thanks =)
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Good point… like I said in the first paragraph, it’s not only about recognising the mistakes, but then actually doing something about it. If you can do that, then you’re pretty likely to be successful in my opinion.
Great list, Simon! Number 4 is very important and I think a lot of bloggers that make it big forget where they came from in the beginning.
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I think it’s not even so much about recognising where you “came from”, but also about general manners. Lack those, and you’re losing all touch of reality in my opinion.
hajaha! i could agree no less. these stuffs really making one’s blogging sucks and irritating! but what i hate most is the combination of having so much emphasis on making money and being so detached to readers.
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Agreed. Lets be honest here… readers make a blog. With no readers, blogs suck. That’s why you should always try your hardest to appreciate your readers
Nice article simon
Agree with all the pointers.
Btw the image says 5
Farrhad A | The Marketing Park’s last blog post..How to Create the Perfect Sales Page
Yeah, so very good points in this article. I made the mistake of over doing it with my first blog. Way too many ads. That was a big lesson learned.
This is a great list (although the title and the image are a little misleading). Maybe proofreading is another important aspect you should not miss (is that point number 5?)
I very much support your point # 3. I have seen blogs plastered with adsense, bid-advertiser, Chikita and what not…. And all they do is shove advertising to readers instead of quality comments. This ain’t going to impress a lot of your readers; so only monetize once you can earn decent to justify your overflowing ads.
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Yeah, I was just testing you all to see if you noticed! (Just kidding, it was a genuine mistake
)
And, your second point is exactly what I was trying to say
In my opinion, using more than 3 advertising methods on one site is too many. That way you can get advert banners (either direct sales or affiliate), Adsense, and one other program. I try to limit it to either 2 or 1 on my blogs though 
I would fully agree with your first and last point. People really start posting as if they are today’s problogger. But honestly they will have nothing in them except the title called a Blogger. And its obviously must to reply to comments if you wanted to be in contact with your readers.
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I’m with Harish. Number one and number four are extremely essential. I always try to reply to the majority of comments on Outstanding Writer. In addition, I try and keep my ego in check. Sadly the ego of a trumpet player is rather inflated, haha.
Awesome blog you’ve got going, man. Keep it up!
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@Richael – Yeah, I noticed the image too. I emailed Simon about it using his contact form, but remembering he’s still in his teen years, I figure he just hasn’t gotten to a computer just yet.
Lesson #5 – Everyone’s human, even you?
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Yeah, thanks for the email dude! It’s great to have readers that will go the extra mile!
I was half asleep when I read it though haha. Will fix it in a minute 
I am slowly moving onwards to monetizing my blogs just a tiny bit without releasing a product. Affiliate links, they don’t take up really any space!
Awesome post here Simon, covers some really important stuff for bloggers to be aware of.
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Cool. I think it’s perfectly acceptable to monetise your websites, but it’s when you cram your page full of adverts that it starts to get silly. Still, I know you wouldn’t do that to your blogs
great post. Dude I think you’re blog’s transition is doing good! Its easy to notice you’re doing a nice progress… keep it up..
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I completely agree that all these things will hurt your blog. Hopefully, no one who reads this post will do them.
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Nice to know that I don’t do these things !
But I think I’m not familiar with 3rd one !
I didn’t monetize yet ! ..
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I think I’ve passed your exam
Seriously, blogging is something great and of all the tips you mentioned, I liked so much #4. Actually no one is better than the other simply because each is expressing his/her opnion unless we are talking about plain tech stuff.
Even though, if a geek is writting like a robot, the blog will be boring.
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Just reading this because I’ve been away from the internet for a few days (how I survived, I’ll never know)! But thanks for the link and awesome words… Teenius rocks!
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I found I have many similar thoughts. It is hard to image a teenager can provide such good advice. Great post
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