Blogging can be a powerful tool when done right.
A piece of content on your website that has the potential to, once created, passively bring in hundreds, if not thousands, of monthly views for years to come.
What business wouldn’t want to capitalise on that?
The problem I’ve seen is that many businesses start with great intentions, producing a few outstanding blog posts, but that momentum quickly stalls due to avoidable mistakes, resulting in poor outcomes.
In this post, I’ll be diving into some of the most common mistakes I see on business blogs and how I’ve addressed them for my past clients.
1. Blogging Without a Clear Goal
A clear goal for your post is the best foundation you can have before writing.
- Is this a post to support our services?
- Are we looking to solve a problem?
- Are we building local relevancy?
Questioning why you’re creating a post helps put the format, flow, and keyword optimisation into frame.
It’s also very easy to see when this hasn’t been taken into consideration. Headlines that don’t follow each other, a lack of clear call to action, and a lack of structure are all common signs that there is no clear goal in place.
How to fix: Define one primary goal for your blog content, whether that be to support SEO, generate leads, or build trust. Then, when it comes time to create, keep this goal in mind to ensure consistency and uniformity throughout your blog.
2. Writing for Yourself Instead of Your Audience
Writing for yourself isn’t inherently bad. The issues arise when you’re looking to support your business through content, but instead, your posts sound like personal memos.
Creating content with this tone can be jarring for users, as they expect a more professional presence via a business blog.
I’ve seen some great posts that have a more personable tone and offer great value. On the flip side, I’ve also seen some personal posts that, unfortunately, are just that and don’t offer any educational value or trust-building content.
How to fix: Use FAQs, sales objections, or common pain points to shape content topics and tone before writing. You can make this more personable if your brand TOV allows for it, but having the frame of what you’re targeting in mind will help you keep focus and avoid non-relevant storytelling.
3. Ignoring SEO Fundamentals
As a content writer myself, nothing hurts my heart more than reading a post and questioning, “What am I reading?”.
The absence of keywords, unclear post titles, lack of metadata, and failure to adhere to best practice formatting can be immediately apparent on a page. It would be like reading a book without any page numbers or chapters. Not only does this have an impact on the reader, but it also represents a significant missed opportunity for rankings.
The other end of the spectrum is the same. Seeing the same keyword in every sentence becomes equally tedious for a reader and another “don’t rank” check on the search engine checklist.
How to fix: Focus on one topic per post and ensure the fundamentals are accounted for during post creation. You can leverage SEO tools like Rank Math or Yoast SEO to highlight key issues with content structure and keyword implementation. Fortunately, there are many quick SEO fixes for your blog posts that you can implement in no time at all.
4. Posting Inconsistently (or Not at All)
Search engines reward consistency. Similarly, people also benefit from more consistent posts, which offer more opportunities to build trust and, thus, make purchasing decisions with greater confidence.
The hard reality of blogging is that it takes time to see results and even more time to create the content in the first place.
I see many businesses speeding out of the gate like a greyhound and then quickly hit a dead stop. Websites with a few blog posts dating back three years, almost like stepping into a town with a few people that refuse to leave, but no one has joined since.
Saddening, but there’s an easy solution.
How to fix: Create a simple content calendar that works around your achievable blogging frequency. How often you should post on your blog should be guided by your capabilities, not a set number. Even if you post only one or two times a month, consistency builds results and ensures your site is regularly updated.
5. Forgetting to Internally Link or Add CTAs
Many blog posts are often islands.
No ports, no ferries, no planes to other islands. Once you arrive, you’re essentially stuck there.
That’s the reality for site users who stumble upon that post. No internal links or CTAs to push them to take the next action or to guide them to another island on their journey across your brand.
Failing to include these is paramount to removing the ability of a user to convert. Internal links and CTAs not only guide users to their next destination but also provide strong relevancy signals for search engines, aiding in SEO.
How to fix: link to service pages, other relevant blogs, or lead magnets where organic opportunity presents itself. End each post with a strong call to action that matches the content topic. Internal linking doesn’t have to be done immediately upon post-completion, but it’s a good habit to set aside time to ensure each post has strong internal linking.
6. Treating Every Blog Like a Sales Pitch
Nothing bothers me more as a general site user than feeling like I’m being sold to every second.
Service pages and product pages, of course. I expect to be sold to. However, a cloak-wearing, service-smuggling sales piece masquerading as a value-driven blog post is not something I expect.
Constant self-promotion can turn readers off, especially when you’re presenting content as a means for them to gain value. Blogs are for value-first engagement, not direct selling. You can, of course, add cues within the content that suggest, reference, or redirect to your services, but the main content itself should focus on providing the promised value.
How to fix: The 80/20 rule works well here as a guide. You want to keep 80% of your content focused on value, with the remaining 20% allocated to positioning through internal links, CTAs, and general cues throughout the content.
7. Abandoning the Blog Too Early
If you’re looking for a “get traffic quick” solution for your business, your blog is 100% not the right channel.
Most blogs don’t “work” after two or three posts, which is unfortunately the reason many business owners ask whether they still need their business blog at all.
It’s a compound asset that works more effectively the more you invest in it. Domain authority, age, and current SEO also play a vital role in determining how search engines view your site. Older sites, even if they don’t have a currently active blog, may see quicker traffic increases when they do start creating content compared to newer sites.
How to fix: Measure progress by looking at traffic growth, keyword visibility, and content repurposing opportunities, not just instant leads. Sometimes, a blog can help drive keyword growth and main-page visibility rather than traffic on its own posts.
Want Your Blog to Work Harder for Your Business?
Blogging is a strategic, long-term asset that your business can use to generate traffic alongside other SEO efforts.
The great thing about blog posts is that, even if you’ve made some of the mistakes I’ve listed here, you can go back and make changes, and search engines will love you for it. Most of these changes are easy to implement (in terms of complexity), but if you have posts where you’re not sure what the goal is or why it was created, it could be best to rebuild it into a new post.
Or, you can optimise it as best you can and let it do its thing. It might surprise you.
If you have an older blog you want to refresh or are looking to start up a new blog while avoiding these mistakes, get in touch. We can work together to solidify a strong, strategic blog for your business.
FAQ: 7 Blogging Mistakes to Avoid
How many blog posts do I need before I see results?
There is no set number for this, as it also takes into account other factors such as domain age, authority, current site SEO, and more. 10-15 is a loose guideline for businesses to see traction. These posts, however, should be optimised and delivered consistently.
Results build over time, so while it may take a while to gain initial traction, this compounds as you post more blog content.
What’s the best frequency for a business blog?
The hard truth here is that the best frequency is one you can maintain consistently. Once a week is great for momentum, but it depends on your ability to create posts.
Twice a month is a good starting point, and as you begin to build the habit and get better at writing, you can aim for more. If you’re looking to hire a blog writer, I would recommend a minimum of once a week.
Do I need to use SEO tools to write blog posts?
Not at all. I would even go so far as to say that if you’re unfamiliar with these tools and what their reporting means, stay away from them.
Tools like Rank Math, Yoast SEO, SEMrush, HubSpot, and other SEO alternatives can help guide your keywords and structure, and provide a great overview for optimisation. They do, however, have a lot of bells and whistles that, for the average user unfamiliar with SEO, may not be immediately useful.
I have seen some business owners reference data, numbers, and goals from these tools that, in relation to what they’re creating, aren’t important, which has led them to focus on the wrong areas and, in some cases, overoptimise.
If you want to use these tools, that’s great, but I recommend learning them before doing so.
