Are you overwhelmed with all the blogging advice you find on the Internet?
Blogs have been rated as the fifth most trusted source for accurate online information. (Source: HubSpot)
However, what if blog posts tell you different advice? How do you know which articles to believe?
Conversely, bloggers also complain that blogging tips articles say the same thing, but the tips don’t work. What should you do?
The answer: Base your decision on tested methods. These include case studies and tips based on research.
The twenty “tips” in this article are myths.
This post will present these falsehoods and explain why they are blogging myths you should ignore.
- You can know with certainty what keywords your site ranks for. It may have been true once upon a time, but now it’s one of the blogging myths. Google announced that Page Rank is dead on March 7, 2016 . Sources: Kate Chan and Moses Nueman.
- The way to overcome writer’s block is to write. It’s a myth. According to SelfAvenue.com, there are many ways to overcome Writer’s Block that have nothing to do with writing.
- Publishing content daily on your blog is difficult. It’s a myth. According to Gretchen Rubin, of the Happiness Project Blog, it’s easier to post every day than not posting that often.
- Paid promotion is always better than free promotion. Myth: According to an article on Kingged.com, trying to rank higher in search engines organically will be 94% better for your blog growth in the long term than paying for promotion which has more short-term benefits.
- You should write about whatever you want. It may be your blog, but this is a myth. You need to write for a target audience. Unless you are a humor blogger, readers want to be empowered by your posts. Your musings will soon get old, and your readers will move on.
- You should only promote new content. This is another one of the blogging myths. Promoting older content is an effective way to repurpose your blog posts. Many newer readers haven’t read your old content yet. If your page views and comments indicate many people read your post when you published it, there’s no reason your newer readers shouldn’t enjoy it as well.
- There is no way to know the best time to promote your blog posts on social media since your readers are all on the Internet at different times and in different time zones. Myth: Many articles have been written about how to know the right time to publish such as How You Can Know When It’s Time to Blog. There are many free tools that will promote your posts during optimal times for you such as Hootsuite and Buffer. According to Kingged.com, it is easy to promote at the best times for your followers depending on the social media site you are promoting on.
- Blogging helps your writing. Myth: According to the Huffington Post Guide to Blogging, the format for writing blog posts and other genres are so different that often blogging stifles the ability to write for other genres like creative writing and essay writing. Consider this comment from a blogger: I need to write, not just blog posts.
- Blogging is fast. Myth: According to the FillingtheJars blog, it takes four hours to produce a blog post from start to finish. That is my experience as well.
- Blogging is done in isolation. This is one of the worst blogging myths. According to WordPress.com, associations are everything in blogging. You can help other bloggers in so many ways. Our Blogger Collaboration group will get you help with your blogging tasks if you need.
- There is no way to predict if a post will be successful or not. Myth: There are certain factors which will lead a post to be more successful than others.
- Your About page should start with many details about you. Myth: Your About page should start with an explanation of how your reader will be helped by subscribing to your blog. How many details should this involve? According to Neil Patel, within the first five seconds of reading your post, readers should know why your blog would be valuable to read. My article How to Write a Killer About Page that Will Attract New Followers gives instructions on how to write an effective About Me Page.
- Google will penalize you for duplicate content. Myth: According to the folks over at Medium, Google has more important things to worry about than duplicate content. However, if you are worried, change your headline. (Note: In order for Google’s readers not to encounter the same content twice, Google might just have one of your posts in their search engine.)
- Google will penalize you for link swapping. Myth: You should swap links with like-minded bloggers. You will help your readers get a new perspective on content in your blogging niche. The Famous Bloggers blog explains link exchanges are a good idea in moderation. To help readers find bloggers in their niche to swap links with, Mostly Blogging has a Link Exchange. If you are a subscriber of this blog, and you’d like to be added to the Link Exchange, let me know in the comments section.
- Google will penalize you if you link back to your own articles in your posts. On the contrary, linking to your own articles is an effective way to repurpose your older blog posts. The Complete Guide to Hyperlinks gives instructions how to link to another article within your site.
- If you change from WordPress.com to self-hosted, you will lose all your followers. Why it’s a myth: The Jetpack Plugin helps you transfer your followers. More information is available here: https://jetpack.com (Note: I am an affiliate of A Small Orange. I hope you will go through my affiliate link if you decide to self-host.)
- You can create a successful blog if you think of blogging tasks as chores you need to accomplish. Myth: According to blogger Ryan Biddulph, you will be able to connect with other bloggers and find your creative energies needed to blog if you relax.
- Blogging is putting out blog posts. This is another blogging myth. According to Biddulph, blogging is much more than churning out blog posts. For example, blogging entails reading and writing articles on topics you are passionate about and having fun.
- People don’t read content on the web. Internet users are so busy, people scan the web looking at pictures, skim, and just read subheads. It’s a myth. According to research conducted by the Gennibles blog, people absolutely still read content they find on the Internet.
- Reading blogging advice is a waste of time since what works for one person may not work for someone else. Myth: According to the Pages Unbound blog, there is definitely a place for blogging advice in the blogging community for the following reasons:
- “Blogging is a genre, with certain conventions and expectations. As with any other genre of writing, it’s helpful to know the basic ‘rules’ before you decide to break them.”
- “Another important reason to read blogging tips is so you can save yourself time by reading about other people’s experiences.”
- Finally, new bloggers often have no one to ask for help when they first start blogging.
Conclusion
Due to the wide variety of blogging information on the Internet, bloggers are going to have to sift through the online noise to draw their own conclusions about which tips are credible.
Hopefully, this article helped you come to those decisions.
Readers, please share, so other bloggers know these are myths they should ignore when making blogging decisions.
In closing, do you know any other blogging myths?
Do you think any of the “myths” I’ve cited here actually have credibility? I look forward to your views in the comments section.
Related Post:
7 Tips I Wish I Knew When I Started Blogging
