7 Mistakes

My blog is one year old today....and even me.
I am no longer a kid. I have matured.

I have learned more this year about websites, blogs and the INTERNET than I ever thought I would want to learn. Lots of what I have learned, I have learned through my mistakes. Some of what I have learned, I have learned from other people's mistakes. Got opportunities to contribute to some technical blogs as well. For this post, I got some help from few of my favorite bloggers. So, as I start my second year of blogging, here I present few common stupid mistakes Bloggers make in their First Year:

1 – Apologizing for not writing:- Either create a posting schedule and stick with it, or decide to write when you feel like it and do that. But don’t go into the land of wishy-washy and spend the first paragraph of each post apologizing for not writing in days. No one cares all that much. Because most of the blogs have only one reader, "The writer itself". Just write. An apology says, “I’ve already messed up bad.” Your readers rely on you to entertain them in some way. Don’t let them down!

2 – Checking your stats hourly:- Here is the deal. Stats are a good barometer for some things. Especially if you have a clear-thinking mind. Or if you are approaching your blog experimentally and viewing your stats with a marketer's mindset. But if you are mindlessly checking stats all the time, looking at the counter, then it's time to step away from the computer. Go play with your pet in the garden. If you want people to read your blog you have to be out there participating and contributing to your own blog regularly.

3 – Looking for rescue:- Desperation shows. I read something about Google page ranking, and learnt that the rank of your page goes high if you have got links of other web pages on it. If you are working too hard to get links and recognition, its in vain. Bloggers don’t rescue. They are way too busy. Bloggers are a motivated remarkable bunch of people trying to help and entertain their readers! If you get linked, it’s probably because you have written something good. And then, you have to keep continue writing good.

4 – Comparing yourself to six-figure bloggers:- “One of my biggest mistakes in blogging has been quitting and changing.” Throughout the year there's been a swing in my mood about changing the name of my blog from "Nitishonomics" or "Integratoronomics", trying to copy "Swaminomics" of TOI. Finally, I had to settle with this one, that too copied.

5 – Over-thinking your posts:- Over-thinking a post has got to be like burning the cookies. They still have a sweet taste, but it sure is tough to chew on. Some of the best posts I have written have been completed in one flow without wasting much time.

6 – Under-thinking your posts:- But I am also a big fan of editing and taking extra minutes to re-write. (I spend hours on posts when I am passionate about them. But that’s my personal approach to blogging. And I love doing it!). Though it contradicts with the upper one, but try avoiding both of them.

7 – Last but not the least :- I came to know of this one from one of my best friends, that before you start composing, try reading the minds of your readers(in case, there are any), frame posts that might generate a substantial amount of interest in them. My last post on corruption proved to be complete failure, it was so boring, even one of my analyst could not read it in one go.

So, I guess I am committing the same mistake again, that is the current post is also getting lengthy as usual. Hence let me wind up saying that if you are a blogger, feel free to share your own mistakes! (And if you’re not a blogger, well, you can still share some of your mistakes, too.)...Thank you!