Are You Making These 10 Mistakes On Your Blog?

Since I started blogging nearly 2 years ago the features that a lot of bloggers included in their blogs have changed dramatically as the social web becomes a vital component of the way we use the web and integrated into the online world.

So it’s time to take a fresh look at what functionality you should be including if you want your content to spread and to enhance and amplify your personal brand.

Let’s take a quick glance at what’s happened in that time to place some perspective on why your blog may need fine tuning or major surgery.

Facebook in 2009 was only a quarter of what it is today at 150 million users, (it now has 600 million) and Facebook pages for companies had only been available for a 12 months with not many corporates using it to connect and spread their brand on the social web.

Twitter at the start of 2009 only had 8 million users and it is now approaching 200 million and has become a mainstream social networking platform with real clout.

The rise of the social network is just one major reason for you to take a good hard look at your blog and see if you are holding back its growth by making these common mistakes.

So Are You Making These 10 Mistakes On Your Blog?

1. Missing the Facebook Share Button

Facebook has become the the default social network to join and in a  lot of countries more then 50% of the population uses it to talk to friends and family and contacts. If you are serious about spreading your influence and  content placing this button on your blog is a “must”  so that you make it just two clicks for people to share your content with their hundreds and in some cases thousands of Facebook “friends”.

2. The Retweet Button is not present

This is an absolute must. If you want people to spread to your content to their Twitter followers then make it easy for them. You don’t want them to have to cut and paste, shorten the URL and then go to Twitter and then tweet it. This must have function just requires 2 clicks by your reader and then  your content is being placed in front of all their 1,000′s of  followers

3. Credibility Banners are Strangely Absent

This should include awards you have won, books you have written and also as you grow your readership and subscribers you should display the number of followers on twitter and anything else that displays and enhances your credibility which is dependent on your industry and market niche.

4. No “Facebook Social Plugin”

This allows people to like your Facebook “page” and so become a fan. Why should you do this?

Essentially when Facebook users become a “fan” of your branded page, they will be notified of your status updates anytime you update the status on your brand page, via the primary news feed on the homepage. So as you publish content or update on your Facebook page this will push your update out to your fans, growing readership and engagement.

More reading: How To Develop A Facebook Page That Attracts Millions Of Fans

5.  Cannot Read Your Blog On A Mobile

Mobile access to the internet with the rise of the smart phone and the iPad is one of the fastest emerging trends on the Web and making sure that you have a blog that is easily readable on mobile platforms is essential if you want to stay ahead of the curve and make it easy for your readers to view your content anywhere,  anytime and on the go. If you have WordPress blog then this is easily done by using a  plugin that lets viewers read your posts on their iPhone or smart phone.

6. Subscribe By RSS or Email is not present

Pushing you content out automatically once you have published a new post to readers who opt in via email subscription or RSS  is essential to increase your readership. This “must” be included.

7. No Follow You Buttons On Your Social Media Channels

These should include Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and you could also add YouTube if you like, though this is optional unless you are a big video blogger.

8. Free Offer To Subscribe Is Nowhere to be Found

To drive subscription it is important that you offer something for free. This can be done  by offering a free ebook or download such as Video Twitter Tutorial such as Social Media Examiner does on its blog which has been a major driver for its growth.

For more on that read:  10 Secrets Of A Successful Social Media Blog

9. You Don’t Display Your Popular Articles

You need to tempt people to read other articles that other people have found to be very popular and interesting so highlighting these articles promotes your top articles.

10. Your Comment System Only Allows Log in via Email

A lot of people are now connecting using Twitter or Facebook Connect and providing an option that is not just an email to register for a comment reduces friction to comment. One comment system used by a lot of bloggers is Disqus

What feature can you implement today?

Image by kayaker1204