1. Failing to explicitly define a blog's niche
Niche is a term used to define a blog's content focus - the range of topics that make up the blog. Explicitly defining a blog's niche is important because it enables the blogger to identify what and what not to publish. It also enables him to identify his target audience and deliver content suited to the target audience.
2. Focus on traffic and not on content
The golden rule here is not to worry too much about traffic generation. Focus instead on content quality and delivering value to your audience. If your content is great, traffic will never be an issue.
It is essential to review posts for spelling and grammatical mistakes before publishing them. In addition to scanning for errors, a full review will help you identify (and include) 'points' which you might have missed out on while creating the draft.
4. Overwhelming the audience with advertisements
Advertisements are a necessary evil that help a site survive. However some bloggers are so obsessed with earning quick money from their blogging endeavours, that they overwhelm their audience with advertisements - the result being that they (the suffering visitors) leave the site never to return.
5. Writing up way too many blogs
Some bloggers start far too many blogs to be able to update them regularly. Thus none of the blogs gain in popularity - with the blogger loosing interest in and giving up on blogging altogether.
6. Writing about something you hardly know anything about
By attempting to write on a topic you know nothing about, you do yourself no good. You will end up penning a 'shallow' post and your readers will find that they know more about the topic than you do.
Social media harbours tremendous potential in bringing your blog both recognition and success. As a blogger you simply cannot ignore the power of social media. Thus its important to have a social media presence and make your content more 'shareable' by incorporating social media buttons that make it easy for your visitors to share your content on social media platforms
8. Failing to build anticipation
The important to remember that your audience will only read through a post, if you are able to build anticipation and interest with the first few lines.
9. Embedding too many third-party applications
I find many bloggers embedding too many third-party applications or widgets onto their blog. Their argument for doing so is that it increases user engagement. However, what they fail to realise is that these applications are actually distracting the audience away from your content. Moreover, these applications can slow your site down to a considerable extent, thereby impacting it search engine rankings.
Have anything to add to this list? Feel free to comment.