When you or your brand decide to start a new blog and take your industry by storm with your ideas, it’s an exciting time for your team. However, if you’ve never created a blog post with search engine optimization (SEO) in mind, you may miss several glaring mistakes that could cost your blogs their search engine success.

7 Blogging Mistakes Every Beginning Blogger Makes

At Dallas SEO Dogs, we love creating new content for various industries and building our content’s bones with SEO success in mind. If you’re new to SEO strategy or are just implementing content into your plans, here are seven mistakes we’ve learned from over the years and how you can avoid them on your writing journey.

1. Content Creation That Only Serves Your Interests

Writing about what excites you in your industry is one of the main points of starting a blog. While these pieces may spark joy in your fingertips as you write, they don’t always resonate with your target audience. When this happens, your content rarely gets off the ground. It’s okay to write personal posts now and then, but the crux of your content must serve your audience’s interests. Do your research, get to know who is buying your products and services, their pain points, and what they are talking about on Reddit, online feeds, and even your social media pages. Once you know your audience, you can start creating relevant content for them. Eventually, your authority should increase, and you’ll have the freedom to expand your topics and improve the diversity of your posts without sacrificing search rank.

2. Your Writing Comes Off as Mechanical

When you pick up blogging for the first time, you may still be in that collegiate headspace where everything needs to read like a term paper. Stiff, mechanical writing will get you nowhere to create your brand’s voice and connect with your audience. So, own your voice when creating content for your site. We suggest writing as you talk. It may sound silly, but there’s something about everyday lingo that makes audiences comfortable with your content. There will be times when you can get more technical with your content. But in the beginning, try to focus on bringing your actual voice into each post.

3. Your Voice Changes from Post to Post

In the world of SEO, consistency is critical. Once you’ve established your voice throughout your content, make sure it sticks. If your audience connects with a specific tone you’ve presented, changing it up with every post makes your content seem disingenuous and could lead to drop-offs in readership and authority.

4. You Aim for Broader Topics Over Relevant Keywords

Big-picture topics are a great goal in the long term. Yet, when you’re starting your search content journey, it’s best to avoid these and focus on smaller relevant keywords you can base topics around. If you’re trying to start with topics like “How to Make Millions in X Industry,” you’ll be using lots of keywords, but they won’t truly bolster your rankings or create a clear goal for your content. Start focusing on single or long-tail keywords that tie into your big-picture topic. Write out several blogs that highlight them. Eventually, you’ll have the authority and links to write about broader issues without confusing your audience and search engines.

5. No Outlines

Stream-of-consciousness blogging can be fun when you’re writing a personal blog that you don’t expect to rank. However, when writing with search intent, an outline is necessary. Ensuring each post hits with intent doesn’t allow for jumbled ideas or massive detours. Here are some of our tips for creating an outline for SEO content:

• Start with a list of the keywords you’ll use
• Create a general title that uses one of your main keywords (Don’t worry, titles can always change)
• Research real questions people are asking about your topic
• Turn these literal questions into points you’ll address in your content
• Outline your points by relevance (Run your keywords through an SEO tool like SEMRush to determine keyword difficulty and audience interest)
• Start writing your audience-winning content!

6. No Headers

While your main goal is to write for an audience, you still want Google to understand what your content is about during indexing. The best way to do so is to include headers throughout your content. Not only do headers that utilize relevant keywords improve your blog’s SEO, but they also improve the user experience surrounding your content. Think of headers as the table of contents for your blog. If you make them clear and to the point, audiences can easily find the answers to their questions and make a quicker decision regarding using your brand as a solution for their product or service needs.

7. Your Posts Are All Talk, No Action

You want every post to give your audience something earned after reading your content. This is where your expertise as an industry leader comes into play. Rather than skirt around the issues and give vague answers to essential questions, use examples of solutions you’ve personally implemented and provide step-by-step instructions on how to overcome a problem. The bottom line is always ensuring your content is worth your audience’s time. That is what reels in return readers, boosts your authority, and increases your search engine rank in the long term.

Need Help Getting Your Content Back On Track? Dallas SEO Dogs Has Your Solution

Our examples were just the tip of the iceberg regarding the mistakes anyone can make when writing with search intent. Perfecting the craft takes time, persistence, and patience. This can be difficult for a new writer, especially one that already has a business to run on their plate. The good news is that you don’t have to be alone on this venture. Dallas SEO Dogs has a team of experienced writers that can help you project your voice throughout your industry. We’ve helped businesses from all backgrounds excel on search engines and are ready to help you. Schedule your free consultation today with a member of our team.   About the author: Dallas SEO Dogs is one of the leading digital marketing agencies in the United States. We are a close group diverse in ethnicity, gender, age, personality, interest, and religious background. Team members have different experiences, perspectives, and insights into a wide array of business types and audience demographics.