The Blogging Habits You Need to Drop Now

Developing a list of best practices is important for any industry or profession. The only downside is that, when it comes to blogging, which is part science and part art, good blogging habits don't always come naturally. In fact, it can be hard to directly rule out potentially bad blogging practices. But in order to be successful in blogging, there are some habits that you should work on to take your blogging to the next level.

Sponsored Post Etiquette

When you do publish sponsored posts, keep a few things in mind:

Make sure the review or advertisement is relevant to your niche and demographic.

Disclose that you are being paid for that post. It's a way of showing respect to your readers.

"Nofollow" the links within the paid post. A couple hundred dollars for links isn't worth penalizing your site and destroying the brand and asset you've spent years building. There are plenty of other ways to make money blogging that don't risk your business, traffic, and growth potential.

For product reviews, the principle remains the same. Whether you receive a free product or you return it after the review, let your readers know; and make sure you write a truly objective review.

As Warren Buffett once said – "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently." Keep this in mind when handling sponsored posts.

Blogging and Content Creation

At the end of the day, excellent content is what your readers want. It's what keeps them coming back for more. While content alone won't earn you traffic and exposure, it facilitates the process and makes the job of marketing your blog or website significantly easier.

Think about how much easier it will be for readers – other bloggers, even – to link your content as reference guides. Having shareable content isn't enough. And even if you don't always know how and where you earn a link, but developing top quality content and then executing a strong outreach program is a great way of maximizing your chances.

Structuring Your Social Shares and Updates

Sharing your posts on social media is a must if you want to increase exposure and reach, and grow your readership. One habit you need to get rid of, however, is sharing without tweaking the title of your post.

The post title is one of your most valuable post assests, as it gives your followers an idea about the content. When you re-share your post, simply changing the "title" can add to your appeal to new readers. If you're stumped on how to switch it up, try the following tactics:

Ask an interesting question that is answered in the post.

Make a strong statement that is supported by your research.

Quote a highlight from the post.

Simply put, repeatedly sharing your updates and posts with the same title isn't going to draw in new readers. However, re-sharing with a different title each time will help you connect with a new and different audience.

Sending Too Many Emails to Subscribers

So you've managed to build a decent email list, but have you analyzed how many emails you send your subscribers a day, week or month? And what is the content of those emails?

If you send your email subscribers too many emails, they will get annoyed and unsubscribed. Send them an email too infrequently and they lose interest, forget your website, who you are and eventually unsubscribe. So what's the happy medium? Every niche is different, but at the very least, you don't need to send readers multiple emails about the same thing – a free webinar or eBook.

If you regularly commit any of these bad blogging habits, it may be time to develop quality guidelines for yourself and anyone else who works on your website because they just may be keeping you from reaching your blog's full potential.

What are some other blogging habits that are holding you back from reaching your goals?

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