photo credit: Sister72
I see these blogging mistakes every day. If your blog has the same mistakes, take action and resolve…now!
1. Permalinks
The WordPress default permalink is as much use as a chocolate teapot. It does nothing to improve the Search Engine Optimization of your blog.
It just provides each post/page with a unique id like “?page_id=19”.
To improve the SEO of your blog posts, you want to change the ‘permalink’ to your post/page title.
Action: Use a better permalink like “/%postname%/”
2. Meta login
Many of the themes have the ‘Meta Login’ automatically displayed in the sidebar.
If the theme you are using does, remove it now. How does your visitor benefit from seeing the Meta Login?
Action: Remove the Meta Login
3. WordPress Blogroll
Very similar to point 2 above. Many of the themes have the ‘WordPress Blogroll’ automatically displayed in the sidebar.
If the theme you are using does, remove it now.
Action: Remove the WordPress Blogroll
4. Grammar
We all make mistakes with our grammar and I know mine is not perfect. But if the grammar is bad, visitors will not return. My wife checks all my blog posts before I publish them. I simply cannot check my own writing!
Action: Get someone to double check your writing before you hit the publish button.
5. Over Monetization
Simply put…too many ads make your blog look unprofessional. One or two is fine but don’t clutter your site. People come to your blog to solve their problem and read your great content…not to buy. Buying is an afterthought.
Far too many ads – don’t you think?
Action: Reduce the ads to one or two and have none above the fold. Google recently announced they were ‘penalizing’ sites that had ads above the fold.
6. Author display name is ‘admin’ or your admin login name.
This is a very common problem. Blog owners published their post using their login name rather than their own personal or company name.
Add your real or company name
Action: Change the setting ‘Display name publicly as’ in the User Profile
7. Using ‘watermarked’ pictures
I see blogs using images copied from other sites that still have the watermark included (i.e. they steal copyrighted images).
Action: You don’t have to steal images. Simply use flickr and search within the Creative Commons-licensed content – which means you can use the image as long as you link back to the original person who took the image.
8. Too many categories
Many blog owners seem to think they have to have 100’s of different categories. You don’t.
Action: Streamline the number of categories you have to around 6.
9. Using the category ‘uncatogorized’
Using your targeted keyword phrase as your categories can help with SEO. Don’t use the default category, “uncategorized”.
Action: Add meaningful categories and published your blog post to one of them.
10. Clashing colors or too many colors.
If you were painting your living room, how many colors would you use? Perhaps 2? One for the walls and one for the woodwork? Or maybe 3? A different color for the ceiling as well?
Then why do so many blogs have 5, 6 or 7 clashing colors and look awful?
Action: Check out Kuler and use a maximum of 3 colors for your blog
Check the above points against your own blog…a little action can vastly improve the professionalism of your blog.
What do you believe makes blogs look unprofessional?
Please share your views in the comments below.
Andrew is a website builder and helps small businesses with their on-line presence…so they can grow their customer list and increase sales. That’s it! That’s what we do each and every day.
Thanks for listing out few mistakes we need to avoid. You forget to mention changing themes every time{am one of them}
Kingsley
Why does changing themes make your blog look Unprofessional?
Andrew
Thank you! I´ve already made some changes to my site.
Simo
Great! What changes did you make?
Andrew
Too much ads and too many colors are what I mainly notice with newbie blogs (not all but the ones that are really desperate for money).
I’d say this is indirectly (or directly) is due to the fact that bloggers are really desperate for money and they don’t also want to spend on premium/professional themes.
Jane
I agree…when a blogger is desperate…visitors can see it a mile off.
What many bloggers don’t understand is the click thru rate of ads. It is very low. It is less than 1%. Then less than 1% actually buy the product.
So to get one sale for an ad, you’ll need approx 10,000 visitors!
Andrew
Poor grammar and over monetization top the list of blog mistakes for me. Great post.
Thanks Andrew!
Really a perfect post. I have also seen many bloggers will use very complicated words, which the readers will not easily understand. The readers will get frustrated by checking the meaning of those words. I think it will also make the blog look Unprofessional.
Ashrin
Yes…simple words…I agree.
Perhaps the blog owners feel they come across as more knowledgeable if they use long words!
Andrew
I have my Insurance blog I will correct some mistakes, this article is really helpful!
Jose,
What did you change as a result of the article?
Andrew
Corinne
I dislike pop-ups as well and immediately shut them down when one appears.
Many people truly like them and they can build your list, quickly.
Not sure if it makes the site unprofessional but I agree they are annoying!
Andrew
Thanks Andrew,
Those are the most common mistakes i see on many blogs, although i haven’t made any of them but i have friends who do and i will refer them here.
Thanks for the insight.
Hi Andrew, this is a great compilation of things to avoid with any wordpress theme. Great job.
I especially don’t like #5. Too many ads are distracting as well as unattractive. I’ve seen blogs with ads that have nothing to do with the target audience. This makes the visitor feel like they have to have their guard up while perusing the content. Also, too many pop up ads or requests to sign up for their personal newsletter is also what I consider a little “low class”.
There is a very popular blogger, (I won’t name names) and they recently updated their wordpress theme to a custom theme. They have 5, count them 5 separate boxes and areas in which you have a chance to enter in your email and name for their newsletter. This is on every post and page of their website! To me, this is way too much and comes off as a little desperate.
Liz,
I dislike pop-ups as well – nor sure if it makes the blog unprofessional, though.
And yes, 5 areas where you can opt-in is over the top!
Andrew
Changing the permalink structure is very important for SEO.Sometimes an article has a long post title which then creates a long URL. We recommend when posting a new article to shorten the URL to around 3 words (/new-blog-post) to keep the link clean and organized.
Nick,
That’s great advice for SEO purposes.
Andrew
Great list here Andrew. Sure glad i have you around to keep me on the right path, so I don’t make some of these mistakes.
I really had to smile that this though. Point 3 you say, ‘Very similar to pint 2 above.’ Is that suppose to be point not pint. Or is that the UK way?
Sorry but just had to ask? LOL
Thanks for always keeping me on the right track.
Blessings to you,
Debbie
Debbie,
Sure it’s meant to say ‘pint’!
Not really. Poor grammer…oh no…so unprofessional!
I shall tell Joy she missed that one.
Andrew
One silly mistake most of the bloggers do is they keep the blogroll and meta login widgets as they are, thus making their blog look unprofessional.
You’ve nailed all the factors to make a blog look very unprofessional. I can only add that simplicity can do wonders so keep your blogs simple with less clutter! Thanks for the tips here. I like your style of persuading people to read until the last word of your post!
-Karen
I saved this article to read again. It has great hints! My pet peeve is sites that boot too slow and as I place the cusor to read something it jumps around, BLAH! ‘The future of backlinks was good also.
Cat
Slow loading sites are a pain, I agree.
Glad you liked the ‘future of backlinks’ post.
Andrew
i think i am committing some of the above mistakes on my new blog but with the help of this information i am going to correct them and will try not to repeat them again thanks for this great post keep up the good work…
Earlier I also use the display name as “Admin”. But a person named “Kate” show me the value of the real name as my display name. There onward I used my real name as my display name.
The above article is very information and useful.
Good luck.
Thank you for this article. I do hate blogs which use one or more elemnts described in this post. Mostly I dislike overly monetized blogs, of course. But the meta login, blogroll, posts by admin and other stuff is quite dislikable, too.
These are so true Andrew… I find good ideas here in reading your post. Too much pop up can really pissed off the readers. Too much colors are also distracting… Thanks for sharing your ideas.
Hi Andrew,
That’s an excellent list of unprofessional blogging mistakes. With grammar, I understand that English is not the first language of many bloggers, so a few grammatical errors here and there is acceptable. However, if you cannot make sense of what the writer is trying to point out, as if the article has been spun with every word replaced with a synonym, then this is highly unacceptable.
Felicia
Yes…agree! And there are many bloggers that still ‘spin’ unfortunately.
Andrew
Problems are easy to spot. What makes the observation complete is if the appropriate solution is tagged along. And you have managed to do just that. This was a complete and a thoroughly helpful post. Thanks for that Andrew! 🙂
Perfect article for newbies as they make such mistakes more than old bloggers. WordPress blogger will no longer be seen in next WP version.
Generally I do proofread my articles but I make it a habit to proofread them after at least 4 hours so that I can find more mistakes.
Thanks for sharing these 10 mistakes.
That is a good approach to proofreading if you cannot get someone else to do it. I never see my own mistakes!
Andrew
I do agree with all your suggestions. For me, the most important is the grammar. This is the main reason why readers view the site, to actually read your blogs. If you are not writing a good one, especially from the very start of your writing, readers will not come back and read more of your posts.
As every one of us see thing differently, so, our grammar and the words will be different according to context. For me best article on your blog is one that uses the grammar,words, sentences and phrases most common and known to the visitors of your blog.
Great list Andrew quickly opened up site and double checked – Whew for once nothing to clean up. Have other gremlins and need to find the right person to help sort them out in CSS but the basics are OK so thanks for the quick checklist ‘Charlie’
Good solid tips
I always cringe a little when I hear the stats that people using pop-ups come up with – they clearly do work to get a higher sign up rate. But they sure annoy the hell out of me.
Seems like the themes of simplicity, consistency and clarity are behind your tips and I’m sure that anyone avoiding these mistakes will have a far better chance of building their blog successfully.
Erda,
I also HATE pop-ups and have never used them. I hope I never do!
Andrew
Oh boy, as soon as I read your first point I thought about others and you haven’t missed any of them. (I will still add some points here).
1. About Us / About Me – A lot of blog themes have an about me text which some newbies ignore.
2. Important pages like privacy policy, t&c and about us are very important for your blog to look professional.
3. It’s embarrassingly easy to get creative commons images with CompFight and PhotoPin (I have stopped using direct flickr searches). Watermarked photos should only get a BIG no.
4. Broken flickr / RSS links – Most themes just give you a place holder and you have to update the settings yourself.
Jeet
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I agree with them all. Any of them would make the blog look unprofessional.
Andrew
This is a good resource for what to do properly on a blog.
Most blogs I come across aren’t even close to professional.
Unique images are often ignored and are just taken from Google or Bing images. Also watermarked images are very visually unprofessional.
A lot of blog viewers need images to relate to the text and especially if it’s a topic when you’re trying to educate people on.
I do consent with all your recommendations. For me, the most essential is the sentence structure. This is the primary purpose why visitors perspective the website, to actually study your weblogs. If you are not composing a excellent one, especially from the very begin of your composing, visitors will not come returning and study more of your content.
I try to keep my blog not to have over ads so that my readers don’t irritated with it.
Great post and i agree with it.
Professional-looking blogs always get high traffic. Those that looks untidy rarely get offers from PR firms and they might get lots of visitors but the bounce rate must be killing their owners!
I always get conscious about my blog. You are right about making it as professional-looking as possible!
hello andrew,
great suggestions for everyone. i have removed meta,blogroll and i have made my permalink simple. but still i make many mistakes which yoou have mentioned above. so i will try to follow these tips. thanks for guiding newbies like me
Prabhat
Great – it sounds like you have taken some action.
Those that take action are the ones who have more chance of success.
Andrew
Hi,
Well after reading your post i’ve learned some of my unprofessional mistakes which i had but not from now. And yeah after reading your post i will make those changes.
Hi,
Your post was attractive and quite convincing. It was good knowing all the “DON’TS” of blogging. It was brief and apt. It was a load of information along with the most effective pictorial description. It gives a clear vision to your words. Its a lot of help for the newbies. An unprofessional blog is a big “TURN-OFF” for the readers. It shows how unestablished the blogger is. Thanks for the share.:)
Ahhh! Reading this was painful! I think I’ve had some of the ugliest blogs in the world in the past. Wrote in them every day, got traffic, but compared to something like this blog, they were(are) extremely unprofessional looking. You’ve gave me some good ideas though on how to clean it up, at least in future posts. Thanks
Really these are the common mistakes of us. But from today I’ll apply this suggestions to decorate and make professional for my own blog.
Hi Andrew,
I agree with all of these except the action step you suggest for #5 because there is a very good reason advertisers insist on having their ads above the fold. That is where they convert.
I mentor many bloggers who experiment with ad placement and design and I can tell you that those who have tested ads above the fold have dramatically increased their incomes. Very often they go from pennies to hundreds from changing a single ad.
There is some consistency in what Technorati and other similar sites that approach me about advertising want:
300×250 (or 250×250 or 250×300) above the fold in the upper right corner
728×90 above the header OR 468×60 in the header
Those are the two sizes and placements they want because those are the ones that convert best. The two other sizes most bloggers use regularly are 125×125 in the sidebar (sometimes above the header, but not necessarily) and 468×90 at the bottom of the posts.
I am using those sizes on GrowMap and manage them with Yaro Starak’s CrankyAds plugin and those are the sizes I recommend to other bloggers.
There are worse things than having a couple of ads above the fold – like putting giant blocks of AdSense between your post title and content. That makes your blog look like it is an MFA (Made for AdSense) and many will click away without ever bothering to find out if your content is worth reading or not. They will just assume it isn’t and leave. If a blogger does that I will almost never link to them or share their content.
Gail,
Thanks for sharing your insight…it sounds like you have done a lot of testing.
I suppose my approach is to give advice first and not ‘advertise’ too much!
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
In your case you make a living offering services so advertising isn’t as critical for your blog. For many other bloggers, their income will come primarily (eventually) from advertising so they need to know what works.
Gail,
I do make income from my services but just as much from my products.
I could advertise those much more on the blog but I tend to promote the products via my list.
Andrew
@Gail: Awesome information there. I think 125×125 banners are also very popular, but I doubt that they attract a lot of visitors. I have seen plenty of successful bloggers using one or two ads above the fold. I guess the ‘timing’ of putting the ads up would also matter. If you new and no-one cares about what you have to say then you are probably better off without a lot of ads.
EEEk guilty of “Admin” displayed on posts, off to fix it. I also hate seeing self pings on the bottom of articles, I only found out how to fix it with a “no self pings” plugin a few weeks ago, everything looks a lot tidier now (I hope!)
Lisa,
I’m glad you took some action and things look better!
Andrew
Having too many banner ads and filling up the sidebar with lot of unnecessary widgets are the common mistakes I found in many newbie blogs. Honestly speaking I also did the same mistakes while I started my first blog few years ago (desperate attempt to make money). Anyway now I give special attention to keep all the blogs nice and clean 🙂
Rojish
We all make mistakes. The best thing to do is what you did…learn from them and take action to rectify.
Making your blogs nice and clean – what difference has it made?
Andrew
It’s fun to read things I used to do with my blog when I just started off with blogging. This post made me a bit nostalgic about the earlier times.. :p
But this post will definitely help those who are just starting with their own blog!!
Sagar
…and hopefully some more experienced bloggers who may not uderstand or know about best practices.
Andrew
this post is really helpful to make blog professionally.Andrew, I want to ask about over monetization point above. Based on your opinion, how many ads that suitable for our blog in order to look professionally? i’m agree with you that many ads make our blog unprofessional..
Thanks Andrew for great posting. This is small thing that can make big different
Peninggi
I would go with no more than 2.
Andrew
A key factor not mentioned is the fact that so many blogs use incorrect spelling and grammar! Although I myself am not perfect when it comes to either of these, when I notice very simple mistakes on a website I find it very dissapointing that people cannot be bothered to proof read their work.
Santosh
Agreed – my wife checks all mine before I publish.
Andrew
HAHA Ok I’m guilty of the Meta Login and the Admin name. Thank you for the heads up. Kind of makes you feel funny to think that I haven’t changed that yet.
Justin
Hope you have changed it now!
Andrew
Greta Points Andres, I also hate it when a blog has no search form and a contact page.
I believe these two are important, without a search box, how do i quickly find a post am looking for and without a contact page, how do you expect me to reach you easily.
Hi,
There are some great points made in this post. I’m especially glad that grammar was mentioned. Of course, everyone makes mistakes, even those with a good grasp of grammar and spelling, but what makes a site look totally unprofessional is the impression that the owner hasn’t given any thought to spelling and grammar or simply doesn’t care. This just makes things look sloppy.
The one thing I’m not sure I agree with is the point about the blogroll. Are you saying that you believe a blogroll full stop makes a blog seem unprofessional? If so, why? Or are you saying that to leave the default blogroll option there in its default setting is what’s unprofessional? If it’s the latter then I wholeheartedly agree. But a working blogroll can only serve to build relationships, build social proof, create backlinks and help your visitors discover other great content.
Now, of course people will be directed to other sites through a blogroll, but if you insert a the code target=”_blank” into the link then clicking on the link will only open the link in a new window or tab rather than taking the visitor away from your site. Also, so long as you’re providing value on your site then you shouldn’t need to worry about people navigating away via a blogroll. If your content is good enough then your visitors will be more likely to return
Glen,
I specifically meant the WordPress blogroll.
As you say, having your own personal one is fine.
Andrew
Hey Andrew,
Thanks for the clarification. In that case, I agree with everything you said then! 😉 Great stuff buddy 🙂
Great list but I dont think blogroll makes you look unprofessional, unless links there are default set.
best regards!
I did say the ‘default (i.e. WordPress)’ blogroll is what makes your blog look unprofessional.
Andrew
Very true! Brilliant tips – Small details make the difference.
For a big while i was first on google search results with a keyword.. and simply .. didn’t understand why my friend who was under me, on 2nd position with a better design has more sales like me. After hired a pro designer and changed my theme completly.. my sales increased about 20%. Follow these rules guys.. it worth it! Belive me
Sry for my english
Gabriel
Sound like you had some fun and it was all worthwhile. Good job!
Andrew