Average But Inspired

Inspiring creativity at home.

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Six Huge Blogging Mistakes I’ve Made (and How They Have Hurt my Blog’s Growth)

It is astonishing to me that as of this week, Average But Inspired is two years old.

I started this little blog on a whim.  I literally sat down on the couch one night, made a WordPress.com account, wrote a post about fruit kebabs and hit publish.  I kept Average But Inspired a secret for a few months and NEVER thought I would still be writing here two years later!

But I’m totally hooked.  I love almost everything about blogging.  The creativity, the friendships I’ve made (probably sounds crazy if you’re not a blogger, but I have made real blogger friends that I have never met in real life!), the fun opportunities that come along with blogging, and probably most of all, the CONSTANT learning that goes on.

And let me tell you, I have LEARNED so much, especially because I have made some of the biggest blogging mistakes during this two-year journey!  Mistakes that, I believe, have caused me to miss out on a lot of traffic and growth.  Don’t get me wrong – I am grateful to be where I am today, but I also can’t help but think where Average But Inspired might be now if it wouldn’t have been for these serious missteps.  These blogging mistakes have definitely hurt my site's traffic and overall growth. But I'm learning from them and moving forward. Don't make the same mistakes as me!

Since I have never written a blog post about, well, blogging, I’m not really sure why I decided to now.  I guess reflecting on what I’ve accomplished over the past two years brought all of this to the surface, and I thought that sharing some of my missteps might help others in Blogland not make the same mistakes.  Note that while this post contains some affiliate links (denoted with an asterisk), these are sincere recommendations of products or services that have helped me correct my mistakes – not included in a cheap attempt to make a buck off of anyone.

So here goes – I’m putting it all out there and I hope it helps at least one person.  Otherwise I wasted a whole lot of time drudging up the past and exposing my blogging stupidity.  🙂

1.  I Ignored Pinterest.

Prior to March 2015, I essentially ignored Pinterest.  I would, on occasion, pin others’ content, and I hardly ever remembered to pin my own content.  In January and February of this year, my average Pinterest daily viewer numbers were in the mid-hundreds and hardly any of my blog’s page views came from Pinterest.

And then in March, everything changed.  At the recommendation of my friend Tasha at Designer Trapped in a Lawyer’s Body, I joined Board Booster*, which is one of the several pin scheduling services available these days.  I joined lots of group boards on Pinterest and then set up my Board Booster account to pin my old blog content to my biggest and best group boards on a recurring basis.  (Note: the awesome thing about group boards is that your Pinterest followers do not see your pins to group boards unless they also happen to be following those group boards.  So you do not need to worry about spamming their feeds because they likely will not be seeing your pins to these boards.  Instead, the thousands of followers of those group boards see your pins to those boards – giving you access to Pinners than you may otherwise not have reached.)

You guys.  I cannot even tell you the difference this has made.  Now over half of my blog’s daily page views come from Pinterest, my Pinterest daily viewer numbers have skyrocketed, and I am gaining new followers every single day.  I would definitely call this a game changer.  And I am KICKING myself for not utilizing Pinterest until four months ago.  I really feel like a total idiot.

Bottom line:  Even if you don’t subscribe to a pin scheduling service, make sure to become a contributor to group boards and pin your content there regularly, following each board’s rules, of course.  I promise you’ll see a difference.

2.  I Moved My Blog Myself.

As I mentioned earlier, Average But Inspired started out on WordPress.com – the free version of WordPress.  About four months into my blogging journey, I decided to move to the Blogger platform because I thought that if I ever wanted to run ads on my site, I needed to be off of WordPress.com.

Instead of researching the pros and cons of Blogger vs. WordPress.org (the version of WordPress that requires you to be self-hosted, but allows you to run ads), I sat down one night and exported all of my content over to Blogger.  It was free, so I figured why not.  I promptly shut down the WordPress.com site and congratulated myself on a job well done.

. . . until a few months later in 2014 when I went to apply for Google Adsense.  And the Googlebots couldn’t find my site.  And Google Webmaster Tools couldn’t find my site.  And I realized my site was no longer even listed in Google.  Average But Inspired was basically invisible on the world wide web.

So not only could I not get approved for Google Adsense, but I could not get ANY search engine traffic at all.  ZERO.

I tried everything I could to figure out what was wrong, but nothing worked.  I even hired an internet development company to figure out what was going on.  A rather hefty fee later, they were able to get Average But Inspired back into Google’s Webmaster Tools, but my site still could not be indexed in search engine results, which meant I was still invisible on the web.  That was money well-wasted.

Finally in September 2014, I bought a new domain name, got an internet web host, and had a professional (Laura Nicholson at Pixel Me Designs), transfer Average But Inspired to WordPress.org.  Almost immediately everything changed.  My site and posts were suddenly appearing in Google search results, and my stats started showing visitors that were arriving to Average But Inspired by way of search terms.  I cannot even imagine the lost visitors over that one year and two months period of time during which Average But Inspired was known only to those who sought it out directly.

Bottom line: Make sure you know what you’re doing before attempting any technical “stuff” with your site.  You can do serious damage.  Also, pay attention to SEO because visitors will come to your site through search terms!  That’s like easy, free traffic!

3.  I Deleted Posts.

Early in my blog’s life, I had a lot of posts that were really embarrassing.  They were poorly photographed, bad projects that I was not proud of.  So I deleted them.

You guys, this really screwed things up for me.

I have no understanding of why this is, but apparently, if you delete posts, it creates bad or dead links in your site.  And then when the little Googlebots crawl around your site, they come across these dead links and they get mad.  (This is very technical, I know.)  And from what I understand, if you have a lot of these, they penalize you!  So much so that your site’s rankings can be harmed and your site can even be removed from Google.

I have a hunch that my deleting posts somehow tied into all of the problems I experienced in connection with point number 2, above.  I just never got a straight answer of why or how.  But even if I had deleted posts without moving the site myself, I’m pretty sure I would have run into some nasty problems.  No exaggeration – I had pages upon pages of crawler errors and NO idea how to fix them.

Bottom line: Deleting posts can lead to dead links, which can cause your site to be penalized by the Google Gods.  Tread carefully.

4.  I Didn’t Have a “Tribe.”

For about the first year that I was blogging, I had so so so many questions and nobody that I could turn to for help.  I literally felt like I was floating alone in the middle of the ocean.

And then one day I got invited to join small groups on Facebook of bloggers with blogs similar to mine.  And my world changed.  I suddenly was part of communities of women who were facing the exact same issues/questions/joys/frustrations as me, and it was glorious.  No question was too dumb, no victory too small.

The support I have received from the women in my “tribes” is incredible, and I am totally sure that I would not still be blogging if it weren’t for them.  Seriously.  I wish I would have known to seek out a tribe of similarly-styled bloggers, as it would have been one of the first things that I did.

Bottom line: If you don’t have a support group like this, find one or create one, pronto.  You may feel weird reaching out to other bloggers to see if they want to form a tribe, but you should get over it.  They will probably be flattered that you thought to seek them out.

5.  I Didn’t Set Any Goals.

All along I’ve treated Average But Inspired more as a hobby than as a business.  And because of that, I never set any real goals for myself or the blog.  In retrospect, I think that was very shortsighted and foolish.

Setting goals, no matter how small, pushes you further.  Goals make you work harder and hold you accountable.  I really believe that if I would have set some goals or benchmarks for Average But Inspired, I wouldn’t have spent as many nights watching The Real Housewives, and instead, I would have been working with a plan and doing things to network, learn about blogging, improve my skills, and more.

As Stacey Roberts said in this great post on goal setting for bloggers, “how can you get where you are going if you don’t know where that is?”  Goal setting is key to having a blog that gets noticed.  It’s time for me to set some.

Bottom line: Don’t be scared to push yourself.  If you want to make something of your blog, you absolutely have to set some goals for yourself.  They might change along the way, but that’s OK.  The goals keep you going in a forward direction.

6.  I Used Sub-Par Photography.

Blogging — especially in the DIY/Craft/Lifestyle niche — is SO visual.  Traffic is driven by Pinterest, and readers are looking for gorgeous photos that tell a story, just as much as compelling writing.

Taking grainy photos with my iPhone, and later a point-and-shoot on automatic mode, did not do anything for my blog photos.  Case in point, this AWFUL photo of macaroni & cheese in one of my earliest posts.  Honestly, why would anybody want to visit my post with a photo like that?  (Trust me, nobody did.  Well except for maybe my mom.  Thanks mom.)

After having every.single.submission of mine to CraftGawker rejected, I finally decided that I could not get away with sub-par photography anymore.  So I’m doing something about it.  I saved up and invested in this new DSLR camera* (it’s a total entry-level model, but that’s OK with me!), and I’m taking an awesome online photography class through Shoot Fly Shoot.  I’m actually learning to use my camera and how shoot in manual mode, which is giving me so much more control over my photos.

My most recent project post (Newspaper Flower Pots) is the first post where I’ve used my new camera and the manual shoot skills I’ve learned so far in Shoot Fly Shoot (I’m not even halfway through yet!), and I think the difference in photo quality is REMARKABLE.  Apparently the people at CraftGawker did, too, because for the FIRST TIME EVER, my submission was accepted!  Hallelujah!

I am thrilled with the progress I’ve made in learning to use my DSLR in just 15 minutes a day.  If you’re interested in learning more about Shoot Fly Shoot, just visit their website or click this image to be taken there.*

Bottom line: Try as you might, you cannot get away with photos that are not bright, clear and compelling.  Every blogger needs to also have a basic understanding of manual photography to truly make it in this visual world.

OK, wow.  We’ve reached the end of my blogging confessions.  I feel so exposed.  But at the same time, I feel relieved to have worked through, or to be working through, many of these issues and to see good things beginning to happen.  We’ll see where Average But Inspired is at two years from now.  But until then, I really hope that this post helps somebody, somewhere at some time.

Thanks for reading.

– Bre

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Comments

  1. I think it’s so wonderful that you’ve chosen to share all of this with those newer bloggers (or self proclaimed veterans like me!) that might just be making these very same mistakes! The last two ring especially true for me and are things I’m still struggling with today. I’ve been so grateful to share this journey with my amazing “Bloggy Tribe” and honestly, have you ALL to thank for holding my hand each and every step along the way. xoxo

    Reply

    • Aw, thanks, Kristi! And honestly, I cannot imagine that you have made any mistakes! You seem to have a flawless system going on over there in the “mountains.” 😉 But seriously, you and the other ladies are amazing and I am SO glad to have your support! xo

    • April! Thank you so much!! I am glad that something was helpful to you. Board Booster has a great free trial period, as does Tailwind. Try them out and see what you think! I hope you find that it makes a difference. I am seriously kicking myself for not harnessing the power of Pinterest (lol) earlier! Have a great night, lady!

    • Hello sweet friend! Thank you!! And oh gosh, I just know that photography will be something I struggle with forever! But at least I am learning that if you work at it, you can improve. And your photography has always been lovely – I cannot imagine that you’ve had any issues with that! Thanks for your note, friend. xo

  4. Great post. I made all the exact same mistakes. Like exact.
    Also – you inspired me to head to my BoardBooster and do a better job making it work for me.
    Glad you are having success with the camera! – E

    Reply

    • Hey girl! THANKS!! Don’t you feel like you want to bang your head against a wall sometimes? Ugh. Oh well, keep on moving forward, right? Good luck with the Board Booster stuff. I think I need to do some tweaking with how I have it working for me, but even at the most basic level, it has definitely made a difference! xo

  5. Great post, Bre! I have quite a few of those macaroni and cheese-type photos on my blog too! Improving my photography has been one of the biggest and most frustrating hurdles I’ve dealt with on my blog and I second the classes from Shoot Fly Shoot. They’re amazing!! Love being one of your never-met-in-real-life-blog-friends and love our Bloggy Tribe girls! <3 <3

    Reply

    • Amy – thank you! Your photos are SO good now!! You have totally worked on photography and made such great strides. And I will forever be grateful to you for mentioning Shoot Fly Shoot because I LOVE IT! Thanks for reading my ramblings. xo

  6. Thanks so much for sharing your true confessions! I’m guilty of all of the above and still struggling along with my point and shoot and using Picmonkey to help edit. I’m still building my bloggy tribe, too. That’s a major one for me…apparently I’m socially awkward both in person and on line as I have trouble reaching out lol.

    Reply

    • Oh gosh, Jenna! I’m still using PicMonkey, too! 🙂 And at least you knew about building a tribe. I seriously had NO IDEA that this type of thing happens! It sounds like you’re getting one going, which is awesome, and I am sure that you’re not “socially awkward.” If there are any bloggers that you’ve begun to build a rapport with through comments on their posts, or whatever, just send them a FB message and ask they if they want to join your group. They will probably do cartwheels of happiness. 😉 Also, I am your newest FB fan. Just liked ya from my personal account. Looking forward to seeing more of your work! xo

    • Aw, thank you so much, Leigh Anne! I really appreciate it. And you KNOW how much I appreciate you inviting me to join your tribe. I am dead serious that this was a life-changing event for me! Your kindness will never be forgotten! xo

  8. These are all so great to point out. I was blogging alone for the first year also. About 6 months ago I joined a few and created my own facebook group. That has been a game changer for me personally and professionally. I have people that get me, pushe and now collaborate with. Amazing! I am still working on gaining Pinterest traction. Congrats on getting accepted at craftgawker. I so excited wlif I get something accepted by them or dwellinggawker. Thanks for these tips!

    Reply

    • Emily, girl you are a mover and a shaker! I am so happy to be part of your FB group and I admire the way you make things happen! I am also tweaking my Pinterest strategy, but the little work I’ve done so far has already made such a difference that it’s very encouraging. Finally, I need to check out DwellingGawker, too! I was so fixated on CraftGawker and their repeated rejections of my posts, that I never even went to DG. Ha! Thanks for stopping by and talk soon!

  9. Happy blogiversary, Bre! Two years is definitely something to celebrate and just look at HOW FAR you’ve come and HOW MUCH you’ve learned! We’ve all made similar mistakes and I just know your honesty and candor is going to help someone get on the right path! (And of course #4 is spot on — Having a tribe is my absolute favorite and unexpected thing I’ve come to love about blogging!)

    Reply

    • Aw, thank you, Carrie! Yes . . . so so many mistakes! Ugh! I’m proud to still be kickin’ despite all of them. 🙂 And yes, tribes are the BEST!! Thanks again.

  10. Bre, I LOVED this honest look back and you are so not alone! I’ve ‘fought’ with my blog, made massive mistakes as well (some I’m still trying to figure out) and enjoyed too many hours of guilty-pleasure books and movies and shows rather than seriously trying to grow my blog. And let’s not even get started on photography! Eek! I feel like I am finally turning a corner…I’m making the move to WP, having a designer work on a new header, working on my photo skills because I am serious about making it! I need to sit down and work on my goals too. The most difficult and frustrating thing for me has been trying to find answers for the tech-y side of things. Congrats on your Craft Gawker post…I have yet to be accepted!

    Reply

    • Oh, Cindy – thank you!!! It’s so nice to know that other bloggers feel that they have made big mistakes, too. I literally felt like such a moron, but am finding that everyone experiences adversity with blogging in some way, shape or form. I am excited for you and all of the fun behind-the-scenes changes you have going on. I just know you are going to love being on WordPress once you make that move. Thanks for your sweet note. 🙂

  11. Happy blogiversary Bre!! Pretty much in total awe of your blog and all you accomplish.:) Thank you for sharing your blogging blunders. Makes me feel a little bit more normal.:) Your tips are super helpful too. This girl needs all the help she can get. So glad I ran across you in blogland! Keep up your great work and I look forward to plenty more of your crafty creations!!

    Reply

    • Thank you SO much, Shannon. And you’re too funny – we all have our blogging hangups – some just more than others (like ME!). Ugh. I am also so glad that our paths have crossed. You’re so talented and an excellent writer; I always enjoy your posts. 🙂

  12. Oh my gosh… I love this post. I run a local bloggers’ networking group in my area and am always looking for great posts to inspire people in different stages of blogging. This one is perfect because it is the perfect example of how great bloggers can still struggle at times. I’ve been blogging for 5 years now and my biggest mistake was not staying consistent. I had my reasons with life changes and going from part-time hobby blogging to full time blogging then back to part time when I scored a great job in social media. Each of these tips are dead on. Congrats on getting to the point where your mistakes are in the past!

    Reply

    • Hi, Jenni! Thank you thank you for this wonderful note! It is so reassuring to know that bloggers appreciate hearing about others’ mistakes and how they worked through them. I was nervous to publish this post because it’s unlike anything I’ve written before, but comments like yours make me happy that I did it. I appreciate you taking the time to let me know what you think! 🙂

  13. Your post is so inspiring to me. I haven’t made too many of these mistakes, but I am still struggling to find my “tribe”. I have always had trouble making friends in the real world, so I guess that is happening to me in the virtual world too. Any advice you might pass along would be so incredibly appreciated. Help? Sincerely, Chloe

    Reply

    • Hi, Chloe! Oh gosh, I cannot believe that you have a hard time making friends. You are always so sweet and appreciative of others’ work! Anyway, I am by NO means an expert on this (especially since I didn’t even know that people have tribes for the longest time, ha!), but first off, I would say to maybe look at bloggers whose style is similar to yours, who have been blogging around the same time as you, and who seem to have a similar social media following as you, and then send them a message asking if they’d be interested in forming a tribe or small blogger support group. Make a secret Facebook group and invite them to it. It may be awkward at first, but with time, everyone will feel more comfortable and you guys will all learn from one another! Another option is to join a larger group, like Bloggertunities, on Facebook. That might be a good starting point, too, although with such a large group it is easy to feel intimidated by asking “dumb” questions. Just don’t be scared to reach out. I’m serious that I think bloggers are flattered when others want to connect! You got this!

  14. I appreciate this post! I have been blogging for two years and I have made pretty much every mistake you made-except the blogger/wordpress.com one. I did start out on WordPress.org. And I didn’t know not to delete posts. Glad to find that out! 🙂

    The best thing that happened to me was to be asked to be in a tribe. I learned so much from those ladies! I’m not currently in one now, but have other groups I learn from. My site has grown leaps and bounds since I started focusing on Pinterest and Yummly.

    I also just got a great new camera and am having fun with learning about photography! I am amazed at the quality of pictures I can take now. Seriously, this post was like reading my own thoughts! Thanks for sharing. 🙂

    Reply

    • Aw, that’s awesome, Sarah! Isn’t it amazing how much learning goes on with blogging? I am glad to hear that you’ve found similar success by focusing on Pinterest (and Yummly). Do you try FoodGawker, too? I’ve heard that’s a fabulous one for bloggers if you can get them to accept your pictures. Cat at The Rustic Willow had a really good post on how to get your photos accepted there, so if you are interested in that, you should check it out. Thanks so much for your sweet note, and here’s to another two (or more) great years for us both! 🙂

  15. Oh sheesh, there is such a steep learning curve with blogging! I make mistakes all of the time! Nice to meet you btw, I am so looking into the booster thing!

    Reply

    • Hi, Jen! Nice to “meet” you, too! And SERIOUSLY! Would you have ever in a million years thought there was so much to learn when you started blogging? And it’s always changing on us, too. Good luck with BoardBooster! I have heard that Corey at TinySidekick offers good tutorials on how to get started with BoardBooster, so they may be worth checking out if you have a hard time getting it set up how you like!

    • Oh Amanda, I don’t believe that you’ve made any mistakes! I consider you an example of a perfect blogger! Seriously! But I guess I will take your word for it that you don’t set goals. I still haven’t set any, even though I said I would when I wrote this post. Hahaha – yay me. Anyway, thanks for your note, lady!

  17. I loved reading this post and I appreciate your honesty! I have made almost all of these exact mistakes as well (and maybe still making some of them!!). I never realized how much I would learn from taking this journey as a blogger!

    Reply

    • Hey, Jenny! Aaaah, I know. It is totally NUTS how much there is to learn, and how many mistakes can be made! At least bloggers are typically a nice bunch and willing to help one another out. I have learned SO much from others! Thanks for your nice note!

  18. So glad I stumbled across this post Bre! I just started blogging this past January and wow, what a learning curve! So many of your points ring true & I’m doing pretty poorly in the goal setting part of it all! i feel your pain with Craftgawker, they’re a picky bunch, but man do I ever get a sense of satisfaction when a photo has been accepted! ?

    Reply

    • Hi, Chandra! Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you’ve only been blogging since January! You’re doing amazing!! And yes, there is such a steep learning curve. It’s totally nuts. Anyway, thanks for your sweet note. It is so reassuring to know other people out there are in the same boat!! 🙂

  19. These are some fantastic tips! The only thing I would argue is deleting posts. It is perfectly ok to delete your old or embarrassing content so long as you use your own dead link checker and go through and remove them. Deleting your posts is a huge and drawn out process that takes a lot of time but it is definitely worth it!

    Reply

  20. Saw you across the way at Randolph Street Market but didn’t meet you yet and through insta found your blog. LOVE your blog and this post is incredibly helpful! 🙂 We are getting ready for a theme transition. Still hosting from WordPress to WordPress but it is still super scary! This is our first conference and we are learning. Hopefully we can get a “tribe” 🙂
    What a difference in the dslr photography too. That is something I am saving up for too! I hope we can meet tomorrow!
    Jenny from Renovar

    Reply

    • Hi, Jenny! You are SO sweet! I hope to meet you tomorrow, too! This is my first conference and I was so nervous this morning, but thankfully I calmed down because everyone there was so nice! Isn’t blogging a total learning process the entire way through? I could probably have 50 other things to add to this list of mistakes, but I had to be brief. Ha! Thanks for your sweet note and I will see you tomorrow!

    • Oh, Celena – that is so sweet of you! Thank you so much for letting me know. 🙂 I’m really glad you liked it. Hopefully you won’t make the same mistakes as me! 🙂

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