14 Ways to Screw Up Your Blog

Reading Time: 7 minutes

Certainly, you’ve often thought about how you can develop your blog, gain more clients, and earn more from your business.

But what if I told you that there is a fine line between your good blog and one that might be screwed up?

Or maybe it’s already happened?

Here’s a list of 14 ways how to screw up your blog, and find out how to actually avoid it!

1/ Copy-Paste from ChatGPT

Undoubtedly, ChatGPT is an absolute game changer on the market.

However, there are certain issues where it might do more harm than good for you.

Writing content for you. From A to Z.

Firstly, no one wants to read copy-pasted materials on your blog, as they can find the same content themselves, specifically in ChatGPT.

Secondly, running your blog is about your uniqueness, sense of humor, and the depth of your writing.

Nowadays, everyone can recognize when “that” was written by Chat, so you’ll automatically lose credibility if you practice this regularly.

Moreover, by using ChatGPT, you’ll never develop your own writing style, one that’s characterized by yourself, your sense of humor, and your recognizability.

Use ChatGPT to gain ideas, save tons of time, and grow your company faster, but not to mindlessly copy-paste what was written.

2/ Copying Other’s Content

Does anyone still do that nowadays? Sounds trivial, isn’t it? 

Unfortunately, yes.

Google scans the content on various bloggers’ pages, which turn out to be someone else’s.

Plagiarism not only lowers the Google ranking of your website but also makes you lose the trust of your customers.

After all, who wants to read someone else’s copied content, especially on your website?

Not to mention the issue of plagiarism—it is currently punishable, and nothing good hides behind this method.

Always create your own, original content. The more unique ideas, the better. In this way, you will attract an audience that will become advocates for your brand.
The more such people, the better for your business and your community. There is only one way to achieve this: Be original.

3/ Write Completely Off-Topic

This blog is entirely dedicated to internet marketing. Now, imagine if I started writing about running or fashion on it. What do you do? You’ll never read it again, right?

If you write about marketing—stick strictly to that topic.

2 reasons why:

a) Habits

The audience gets used to you through the prism of your content. Apple creates electronic devices, not electronics and fashionable shoes.

Define your expertise and reach your niche. Such a strategy will definitely work and pay off for you.

b) Google Ranking

Your audience is fundamental, but what Google thinks is the background.

If you want to skyrocket your blog or e-commerce, then stick to your guns and write on the chosen topic.

You need to know that Google rewards those websites that create consistent content for every post. Write many of them and revolve them around a similar topic. This strategy allows you to gain more customers and find your page in the top rankings.

4/ Write Short Posts

Out of all the posts you’ve written—what’s the average word count?

If you’re counting and, on average, your posts have more than 1,500 words, then you’re on the right track..

Longer posts:

• Generate more traffic and backlinks.
• Have a lower bounce rate.
• Are read more often.

Ideally, the word count for each post should be between 1,500 and 3,000 words. 

In such cases, Google perceives that your site is content-rich, and as a result, it positions the keywords contained in those posts faster and higher.

Of course, don’t overdo the number. A post with 10,000+ words might be too long, and one with 300 words is unlikely to rank highly.

1,500 to 3,000 words is the ideal range. To gain more robust traffic, focus on these numbers.

However, if you have a great topic to write about but exhaust the subject in 500 words and your other post is 3,800 words long, that’s okay. Exceptions happen, and they don’t reflect negatively on your blog.

5/ Rewrite Past Posts

As you might guess—editing posts is not the best idea. Unless you do it just after posting the primary content.

Imagine you’re reading a book titled XYZ this month. You come back to it half a year later and see completely different content. Something goes wrong, and you wonder if it’s still the same book, right? The same goes for your blog when you rewrite your posts.

If you gather the right audience and clients, they will draw their knowledge from your posts. However, if they are frequently edited, then your content won’t be taken for granted.

Before you officially click “publish”, read your post twice. Check for grammar and stylistic errors. Correct what’s needed, then hit publish.

This is the best practice used by writers and bloggers around the world.

6/ Allow Too Many Guest Posters

Don’t get me wrong—guest posting is a valuable strategy for acquiring backlinks and even earning money. But…

If you allow too many people to write posts on your blog, it becomes dangerous. 

Especially if they are not specialists with a reputation in the industry, but bloggers who are somewhat starting their journey and promote everywhere—the same post.

You must thoroughly check the content of the guest poster before you publish it on your site.

Firstly, has this content been published somewhere else already?

Secondly, what is the value for your industry and your readers? How relevant is it to your blog and its content?

If you are sure that posts from other guest posters (especially those who want to pay you for publication) are of high quality—go with it.

In another situation, consider what’s going to be the outcome. If it’ll be negligible or almost none, don’t give it a shot.

7/ Write Anti-Evergreen Content

This point refers to how long-lasting the post you write will be.

• 100 ideas to increase the visibility of your site in 2024.
• 21 ideas for quick content writing in 2024.
• 18 tactics on how to gain clients in 2024.

These ideas sound great, but write them all without the dates. Now, your ideas will be unique, timeless, and you can refer to them in a month or in 10 years.

This is the essence of evergreen content, which can serve you for years.

What’s its relevance to the audience?

If you write about something that is only relevant this year, no one will click on it in 2025—it will seem outdated. 

But let’s face it—it will still be very relevant, but you will be the only one who knows that.

And you want to attract clients and generate traffic for your blog without any time constraints.

So, write content that everyone can relate to without any time frames.

8/ Don’t Insert Statistics

Statistics are essential.

They confirm the credibility of the information conveyed and highlight your expertise.

Otherwise, how can people trust that what you’ve written is reliable?

Back then, the reader might simply not believe you, but in today’s age of fake news, people are rather skeptical. Especially if you bring up topics that can refer to all of us.

When you talk about data, embed its source, demonstrate your expertise, and show that you’re worth someone’s time.

Only in this way will you gain and retain valued clients.

9/ Don’t Insert Infographics

Why are infographics so important?

2 reasons:

1. They make your content skimmable.

2. They are one of the best sources for backlinks.

As humans, we’ve been accustomed to images since the dawn of mankind. That’s precisely why infographics work so well.

Your audience can easily verify what to expect from the content and will focus only on the key points relevant to them, instead of leaving your blog after the first 20 seconds.

Moreover, posts with infographics typically receive 30% more backlinks than those without them.

Infographics are an excellent and free method to acquire high-quality backlinks, which will elevate your website in Google’s rankings.

Creating infographics:

• Pay attention to statistics.
• Ensure they are coherent and skimmable.
• Highlight essential keywords for the respective post.

By doing this, you’ll quickly and efficiently elevate your site in organic search results, and you’ll gain robust traffic faster than usual.

10/ Don’t Use Traffic Sources

Writing a blog just in your spare time is certainly fine, but if you want to treat it as a business, help people, and earn decent money from it—you need to change your strategy.

I assume that if you’ve taken the step of starting a blog, you probably have experience in some field. People who could potentially be your clients or readers use social media. And this is precisely your advantage.

After hitting “post” on your WordPress panel, share the same post on various social media platforms: LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

There are so many traffic sources that you can literally squeeze them to boost your traffic and broaden your reach.

The broader the reach, the greater the chance to better show up with your expertise.

11/ Never Interact with Your Audience

We love interaction and the endorsement of others—this is a psychological fact.

And without delving too deep—respond to the comments of your readers, let them feel that you are with them and for them.

Anyone who comments on your blog likely has a bigger idea to convey, or wants to learn more (a potential opportunity for your earnings), or wants to correct an observed mistake (another chance to earn more and avoid further mistakes).

Of course, there’s hate, which you can’t avoid. But as Patrick-Bet David says; we don’t need consulting firms as long as we have haters. Agree?

Regularly interact with your audience, thank them for providing you with knowledge, and give them a sense of influence.

By engaging with your audience, you increase your chances of acquiring new clients, and your current ones will stay with you longer.

Interaction is a small step that can have significant consequences.

12/ Put Too Many Ads on Your Blog

It’s self-evident; no one likes it.

Advertisements are great, and thanks to them, your blog will earn money. But too many will deter your audience.

The best practice and the most influential bloggers recommend three ads:

• One ad above the post, 300×250 square,
• One ad below the post, 300×250 square,
• And the third above the navigation menu, 300×600 square.

Of course, you shouldn’t forget about a solid call-to-action button.

Three appealing but not off-putting ads will do a really good job on your blog.

13/ Write Long Paragraphs

What do you think when you see a paragraph with at least 20 sentences? You would rather not keep reading, right?

That’s what everyone thinks.

In an ideal scenario, each paragraph should have 5–10 sentences, so 7/8 are the perfect numbers.

Don’t worry, it doesn’t always translate that way.

Sometimes one sentence is enough.

However, at times you need to extend a sentence to give it its full meaning.

But remember to write shorter yet more substantial sentences and paragraphs. This practice will bring you juicy fruits.

14/ Use Too Many Words per Sentence

Short and substantial sentences are the foundation.

And this is precisely how you’ll maintain your reader’s interest.

The ideal scenario suggests that sentences should have 6–12 words.

So, 9 is the absolute ideal.

But it doesn’t always have to be 9.

Sometimes two will do.

Like here.

And sometimes you need to write 18 words for the sentence to be complete, and for your reader to receive a full and coherent message.

Like above.

Conclusive math for today: shorter sentences = better sentences.

Do you know more methods to screw up your blog? Or perhaps you already experienced it?

Let me know in the comments, and I’ll get back to you!

And maybe we’ll write a mutual post? Why not!

However, if you have a private matter, feel free to hit me up in private: LinkedIn & X.

Thanks in advance,
Simon

Author Profile

Simon Gorlak

Simon Gorlak is a Digital Marketing Expert with over 8 years of experience. He specializes in 3 areas: SEO, Copywriting, and Email Marketing. Simon's blog gathers knowledge that helps Marketers & C-level to increase profits from their online businesses. Also, his content helps to reach the most difficult customers, make others' content to be read & purchased. Besides digital marketing, Simon speaks 4 languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Polish & works as a Head of Business at an Indian Start-up.

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