5 Things A New Blogger Should Never Ever Do

When you’re a new blogger, you’ve got this “I’m ready to take on the blogging world” kind of self-confidence. You start to gain some traction with followers and traffic. And you even start to make a little money and think, oh yeah, I got this. I am so going to rock as a blogger and make serious bank.

But then you start reading about your fellow bloggers and their success. They have more followers, more traffic and yep, making more bank than you.

Suddenly you lose the take-on-the-blogging-world ‘tude and you gain this sense of urgency to hurry up and get some of that success too. There’s nothing wrong with that if it lights a fire under you to step up your game.

The problem with that is some bloggers choose to go about the wrong way by cutting corners.

The quickest way to blow your chances of becoming a successful blogger is by being shady with your visitors and loyal readers by giving the questionable a try.

If you really want to blog like a boss or even survive as a blogger, there are five things you should never, never ever, ever do. No matter how far behind you feel you are in your blogging journey.

The five things I’m about to share with you should never even cross a new blogger’s mind. And along with those five things, I’ll show you what you should do instead.

5 Things A New Blogger Should Never Ever Do

#1 Never Buy Fans and Followers

Have you ever received a new follower on Twitter and when you go to their profile to check them out before following back their profile reads “buy 5,000 followers…yada, yada, yada.”

I can understand the sense of urgency to grow your followers but whatever you do, don’t believe the hype! I never did this so I can’t tell you what happens if you do buy social media followers. But just the words “buy followers” raised a red flag so I didn’t go there.

As a matter of fact, my friend Lisa of Inspire To Thrive posted something about this

Here’s what to do instead.

Build a genuine following by posting on your pages regularly. And make sure that the content you are posting is relevant to fans and followers.

Keep your social media pages informative and fun! Along with sharing content, post GIFs or memes that will get conversations going. Or something like posting a pic and ask followers to caption it.

Follow fellow bloggers you’ve connected with. We have an awesome blogging community and if there is anything they will do – that’s support each other. So when you follow someone, there is a good chance they will follow you back.

Be sure your social media follow buttons are displayed where visitors will see them.

You can also place a call to action statement somewhere in your blog post encouraging readers to follow you to keep up with your latest posts.

#2 Never, Ever Spam

If you haven’t noticed, just about every blogger has blogged about the importance of building an email list. And they’ve also shared great email marketing tips to help you get it going. But of all the tips they’ve shared with you, the one thing they will never ever tell you to do is to spam someone for the sake of growing your email list.

Spamming is when you send an unsolicited email to someone who didn’t sign up to receive your email in the first place. Many times, these emails include some sort of ad or promotional product to sell. This is a major no-no in the blogging community.

If you decided to build an email list this is the way to do it:

• Include a subscription box below your blog post
• Post a sign up box on your site’s sidebar
• Add a sign up box at the top of your blog like the one I have with Hello Bar

You can find more tips in my post Email Marketing Tips for Beginners.

#3 Never Do It Just For The Money

I’ve read the average time it takes for a blogger to make money is about 3-4 years of blogging. Then there are some bloggers who make money within months but I believe they’re an exception to the rule.

I know what it’s like to want the money to start rolling in like yesterday. And when you get emails from marketers offering you money to post their content, it’s so easy to want to say yes, right? It doesn’t matter what the content is about. After all, you got to make money somehow.

If you want to be a legit blogger, you’re not doing it just for the money. You’re blogging to help others – the money is a result of the work you put in it.

If you’re going to accept paid content or participate in sponsored campaigns, make sure the product you’re promoting is within your niche.

And ask yourself, “would I use this product?” “Could this product help my visitors?” If you answer ‘no’ to either one or both of these questions, I would pass on the content and look for other opportunities.

And protect yourself and your blogging reputation. Make sure you’re working with a legit marketer and the content is of quality. Remember, it’s their content, but your name is on it.

#4 Never, Ever Be A Copy Cat

We all want to be like our favorite bloggers. I’m always telling my mentors I want to be like them when I grow up but I don’t mean it literally. What I mean is, I want to engage like them and I want to be successful like them.

But most of all, I want to write like them – not steal their content.

There is no need to panic if you find a fellow blogger has blogged about a topic you intended to write about as well. It’s bound to happen between bloggers in the same niche.

The key is to put your own spin on it. Give it your own voice because believe me, your loyal readers will see right through it. 

#5 Don’t Ever Be A Hater

This is the last one. Have you ever read a blogger’s income report and wonder what the heck they’re doing to be so successful? You might even make a comment like “they’re probably exaggerating their income.”

Sometimes reading a fellow blogger’s income report can cause the green-eyed monster to rear its ugly head. That’s what drives some bloggers to do the first four things I just mentioned to you.

Instead, if you’re going to read through their income report, check out what they were doing to drive their revenue. And instead of hatin’ on your fellow blogger, celebrate their success and reach out to them and ask for advice.

There is no deadline for you to reach success. Only the one you created for yourself. Run your own race and don’t worry about what other bloggers are doing.

Most importantly, don’t take short cuts by doing any of these five things to catch up with someone who has more blogging years under their belt than you do.

You will get there when the time is right. Just keep working your plan and being you!

Over To You

I hope this post helped you out in some way. If you have any questions about blogging feel free to put it in the comments section below. And if you have anything to add to this post, please share it with us as well!

Please share this post with any new bloggers you know.

Happy Blogging!