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Over the past couple of years, I have had 3 blogs on the internet. This blog here is my latest one.

Each blog has taught me more than the last and each had their own fails as well. Since the beginning when I first got this idea to start a blog, I’ve always wanted it to become my full-time business.

So, armed with the knowledge of two failed blogs and a brand new one under my belt, I’m going to tell you how my very first blog failed.

Hopefully, this will help you so you can avoid making the same mistakes that I did! I’ll also tell you what I think you should do instead.

So buckle up, this one may get a little long!

Backstory

So, here’s a short backstory of my first failed blog so we can be on the same page when I start the mistakes!

The first blog I had was a health and wellness blog. I wanted to focus on overcoming depression and mental illness.

I had a bit of experience in these two fields, so I thought that was enough to start a blog. Little did I know I’d be so wrong.

Then, I decided I didn’t want to run out of things to write about, so I added cooking into the mix. I thought that fell under the “lifestyle” blogsphere.

I hosted my blog for free on Wix and spent hours trying to customize my blog to look just right. Even set up places for ads to show before I had any to display!

After a while, my blog looked okay so, with zero experience, little planning, and only one blog post written- I launched my blog.

If you’ve been researching blogging for a little while, you may already see some of my issues. (Honestly, there’s a lot!)

Blog mistake #1: I picked the wrong niche

My thought when I started my blog was that I could give people tips and tricks on how to overcome their mental illnesses.

However, my first blog mistake was because I had literally no idea what I was talking about! I mean sure, I could have come up with a few tips but I only wrote two posts before I ran out of ideas- and they never got a single view! Not one! 

I also, for some bizarre reason, decided to add cooking into the mix. Now, some of you may be wondering why that would be an issue– let me explain. I had zero cooking experience.

Since I lived in my parent’s house, I helped with none of the cooking. I didn’t even really like cooking that much (Years later, I still don’t!)

So why in the world did I think adding cooking to my list of things to write about would be a good idea?! I literally was just going to copy and paste other people’s recipes to my blog because I didn’t have any myself! Not good!

I posted one recipe that actually got more views than my main topic before I decided I didn’t feel right taking other people’s ideas. Probably a smart move!

What you should do instead

Pick a niche that you know a lot about, and have a passion for. If you can’t come up with more than one post (like me!) that’s probably not a good topic for you to write about.

I generally ask myself these questions when I pick my niche.

Will you still love your topic:

• After the excitement of your blog launch is gone?
• After you’ve been blogging for a year?
• Once you’ve run out of ideas, after posting 50+ times on your topic?

If you haven’t picked your blogging niche just yet, I recommend checking out these posts; What is a Blogging Niche and Why it’s Important and How to Pick the Perfect Blogging Niche for you!

Blog mistake #2: I had no idea how to blog

The other blog mistake was I had no idea how to blog either.

I had just really come across blogging and didn’t think it’d be that difficult I guess (not really sure what I was thinking!) and thought I could figure it out on my own.

So I did no research and just launched.

Which isn’t a bad idea in itself. I didn’t wait for anything or procrastinate.

BUt then once I realized how hard it would actually be, I still did no research and I wish I would have!

What you should do instead

• Do your research!

Seriously. If you want to start up a business with your blog and make money, you have to know what you’re doing!

It’s like saying you want to own your own shop but not going to school to learn about business!

Just figuring “Eh, hey I got it, how hard can it be?” And buying a shop with zero experience!

You wouldn’t do that if you were starting up any other business so don’t do that with blogging either!

Start Googling questions you have. Just do any type of research.

Snoop around on other people’s blog, see what they are doing and get curious about the business!

That’s why this time around I bought courses and other things to help me along the way! My favorite course right now is Mastering Sales With Ell!

Blog mistake #3: I didn’t promote my posts

If I recall correctly, I didn’t even create social media accounts for my blog!

It’s a big reason why this first blog failed. I’m pretty sure I just posted and expected people to show up!

How did i think that would that work?

People didn’t even know I had a blog, where would my traffic come from? Looking back, it doesn’t make much sense.

What you should do instead

Promote the crap out of your blog!

Create an email account only for your blog and then set up social media accounts on every platform. Don’t just post and expect people to show up!

You can, eventually, get people to come to your blog through organic Google searches, but building up your SEO takes a lot of time and we don’t have months to wait- we have a business to get up and running!

Recommend: The Beginners Guide to SEO Keyword Research

Blog mistake #4: I didn’t plan anything

Not only did I have a topic I didn’t know much about, I didn’t know how to correctly blog, but I also didn’t plan anything! Which is pretty obvious!

I launched with one post and no other ideas of what I would write about. Huge mistake!

How would I have known if I even picked the right topic if I didn’t think about anything else that I would write about?!

I could have saved myself a lot of headaches if I’d realized sooner I had nothing to talk about at all in this niche!

I also didn’t have a posting schedule so I had no idea when I would post next!

What you should do instead

Create a plan for your blog- it’s probably the most important thing!

Before you launch, come up with blogging topics, have a few posts ready, and create a plan of what you’ll post for the first month or so!

If you can’t come up with more than a few topics, many that niche isn’t for you!

Need help finding a niche? Check out this post here!

Blog mistake #5: I used Wix for my blog

This was another big mistake I made. Don’t get me wrong, Wix can be a great website-building tool- but it isn’t ideal for a newbie.

With Wix’s drag-and-drop features, you can make your website look however you want- no templates. This isn’t great for someone who hasn’t done any research on what a blog even is, let alone someone who has never done any website design ever.

Wix has too much to customize! I didn’t know what I was doing, how was I going to be able to create a whole website from scratch?!

What you should do instead

I recommend starting your blog on WordPress.org It’s by far the best website builder and it’s super easy to use.

You can choose a theme and customize it from there, pick a good hosting company (I recommend Siteground) and you’ll be all set to start an awesome blog!

Conclusion

Now, looking back, the mistakes I made seem glaringly obvious and I can’t believe I didn’t notice them before!

These are all good reasons why my first blog failed!

But that just comes from experience, research, and planning! Which I obviously had none of back then.

With all that being said, these are simply just the mistakes of a newbie blogger and I’m glad I experienced them because without that first blog, I never would have gotten to this point in my blogging career.

If you’re a newbie blogger now like I was back then, and you want to know what you can do to set yourself up for success and launch your blog correctly, check out my post on How to Get Your Blog Ready for Launch Day!

It’s the exact steps I took to launch this blog right here!

There are a lot of great tips and advice in that post, so I suggest you check it out!

It’s better to read how someone else failed, and then succeeded, instead of failing yourself and wasting time!

Learn from my mistakes and hopefully, you can be more prepared than I was!

Want to learn more about my second blog and why that one failed? I also have a post on that one as well!

How long have you been blogging for? Have you started your blog yet, or are you still in the planning stage? Let me know in the comments below!