Ever felt like you wished some one had told you about what mistakes NOT to make when blogging before you MADE the mistake?
Well I know I have so here are my five top mistakes made by new bloggers:
#1 Copying and pasting text written in Word into blog post
When you copy and paste text from MS Word, emails, other word processor applications, websites etc into blog posts it transfers extra code which you normally won’t see unless you click on the HTML tab. Trouble is you mightn’t be seeing this code but your blog might.
This extra code cause problems including changing font size and type, messing up the appearance of your blog sidebars and stopping your blog from loading in Internet Explorer.
Read Why you shouldn’t write your blog posts in Word to learn more!
#2 Using copyright images in blog posts
While a picture is worth a thousand words getting into trouble by using copyrighted images isn’t! Just because an image is on the Internet doesn’t mean you are allowed to use (even if using it for educational purpose).
Read Copyright and Using Images in Blog Posts to learn more!
#3 Uploading images from digital cameras without resizing
Just because you can upload images directly from your digital camera into a blog post doesn’t mean you should! Besides taking longer to upload your image, it uses up blog storage space unnecessarily.
To learn more read:
- How to resize images before uploading
- Image widths in blog posts
- Is a picture always worth a thousand words?
#4 Forgetting to Link
Linking is a really important part of being a blogger and linking isn’t hard but for some reason most new bloggers forget to link!
It’s good blogging etiquette to link to:
- A person’s blog if you mention a blogger
- The post if you are talking about a particular post on a blog
- Articles and websites when you write about them
To learn more read:
- STOP! Don’t Press Publish! Have You Remembered to Add The LINKS?
- What’s A Pingback? And How To Write Links
#5 Copy and pasting other bloggers posts
Sure it is nice to like another bloggers post BUT you can’t copy and paste their entire post into your own blog post! Besides the fact you might be breaking copyright, this is both plagarism and extremely bad bloggers etiquette.
Would you accept students work that had been copied? NO! So don’t do it to other bloggers.
FINAL THOUGHTS
These were my five top mistakes that new bloggers make! What have I missed? What else do we need to warn new bloggers about?
I plan to follow up with a more detailed post on Why you don’t copy and paste other bloggers posts! What advice would you give new bloggers on this topic?
Image by skoczek licensed under Creative Commons ShareAlike 2.0.
If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider 
Subscribing For Free!
Thanks for a marvelous posting! I really enjoyed reading it, you could be a great author.
I will always bookmark your blog and may come back down the road.
I want to encourage yourself to continue your great posts, have a nice day!
Feel free to surf to my web site – hcg weight loss drops
Hi! I found your site from Larry Ferlazzo list of “How to be a Better Blogger.” As part of my EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL, I had to write my own blog post assignment. (If you follow the link to my site you can read for yourself.)
I really appreciate the advice you listed here. As a new blogger it is easy to be overwhelmed, at least I was. The one thing I would add to this post would be to proofread. I do not think a person’s blog has to be perfect at all times, but I believe as educators or at least educated people we owe it to ourselves and our readers to have readable posts! Perhaps you didn’t mention it because it should go without saying. However, after reading several blogs this semester, I’m afraid it is one that even English teachers often violate.
Can you help me change the font size on the links to my “pages”?
@questforcollege, that font size looks normal for that particular theme. I wouldn’t recommend changing it. Is there a chance the resolution on your monitor needs changing?
@Sue Waters, i think maybe i just need to find another theme that has a similar formatting, but with smaller font.
can you recommend one?
@questforcollege, Most themes have fairly similar font sizes and types because they have been designed by theme designers to cater for online reading.
Choosing a theme is hard. You will often like most of the features but one aspect will annoy you.
I’m glad I’ve read this post of yours. I was particularly caught with “Copying and pasting text written in Word into blog post.” I did not know about this and I thank you for this valuable information.
Thank you. Thank you. 🙂
Great blogging advices, using copyrighted images is an great issue always, we must be careful with that. And gramatical issues are normal, but we must ensure the quality of our content.
Nice blog I like this skin
Hi there,
Thanks for all the helpful tips – blogging is opening up a whole new world for me! However, in my early beginning stages and since in trying to support other members of staff, we have encountered problems. Previous staff members setting up blogs in similar names that other classes may need to use etc. Is there any way of deleting blogs that already exist?
Kind regards
Faye
Hi Faye, yes they can delete by going to Settings > Delete blog. Trouble is that once a blog has been deleted that blog URL can’t be re-used. You would be better to get them to change users and then remove the content to reuse.
Nice article. One thing about the “Copyright” images… I agree we shouldn’t be taking other people’s works and plastering them all over our own without permission.
However, there is nothing wrong with using an image under “fair use”.
I don’t own the website or get anything from posting this link, but this could help a lot of bloggers out. It’s a legal guide for Bloggers, it’s free, I don’t even think they make you sign up. The group is called EFF (Electronic Fontier Foundation), I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys spending a lot of time on their blog (or is planning to do so).
Here’s their link: http://www.eff.org/issues/bloggers
Hope this is helpful,
Jason
ExcellenceInAmerica.com
Hi Jason, the whole image debate is always an interesting one as I mentioned above. There is the whole copyright, fair use and then to add into the mix nothing like a bit of blogger rage. I’ve seen bloggers shamed when they have used copyrighted photos from Flickr or haven’t attributed properly.
Thanks for link to the article. Freedom of speech is an interesting one as here in Australia we are not protected by Freedom of speech.
Thanks for this post! i didn’t know that copying from word can cause to changes in font size and type.
This is an excellent article, thanks a lot. I will be showing this to my friends.
Tēnā koutou katoa – Greetings to you all
Sue! What a fantastic example of getting commenters involved in worthwhile discussion. It’s taken off like a lit bonfire of dry sticks, candle grease and gunpowder.
Maybe you should write us a post on how you invoke this sort of amazing discussion, for you sure are good at it – this post is not in isolation. It would be great mind-fodder for those of us who are scratching around wondering how to get some synergy going in a discussion.
One thing I’ve noticed about the quality of the commenters drawn to write here is that they read other comments. Many (other) commenters don’t. In fact, they write their comments as if no one else has said a thing, and often I find this against posts that have attracted many other comments.
There’s a I-don’t-know-what here that smacks too much of learning for me to remain quiet about it. 🙂
Catchya later
Hi Ken, actually this post caught me totally unaware. I was lying in bed in Norfolk in USA. Thought I really must write a post as I do have some time as I wait for people to wake up. What can I write about? Well I had just let Beth Kanter use my post Five top tips for writing better blog posts when I thought why not write on five common mistakes?
In terms of discussion, generally shorter posts are more likely to engage discussions while long posts are more likely to be bookmarked. Off course ones that are controversial will also have discussions.
Totally agree I have a brilliant blog community that interacts with each other, helps answer each others questions — it is great to see everyone working together to help each other.
Hey Sue… Hard to believe it had been almost a year and a half since I started blogging. Glad I did it here. I like even the superficial “feel” (even aside from the real stuff) of community we have.
One thing I did early on -which later contributed considerably to my “style” of blogging- was to split up text blocks with three things:
1. Space. Big blocks of text are just too much online… particularly if you only run a two-column layout. Paragraphs are cut up smaller when blogging.
2. Headers. Headers help your readers find the “sections” within the larger body of text. If done right, they can also provide a bit of a preview for the upcoming text as well.
3. Images. Nothing breaks up text better. Our eyes need images (especially on a massively white theme like mine). This one tip has turned into something I really enjoy quite a bit. That is, finding amazing CC art that helps to illustrate my ideas, and spreads the reach of some other creative people. There are times I have spent as much time finding just the right images to help my message… as I do writing the text. I am also overly careful about good attribution and thanking folks directly for sharing their work.
I write particularly long posts a good deal of the time. That is sort of out-of-the-box for what most folks do/advocate for online writing. However, that is what seemed to help me synthesize the ideas I was deeply reflecting upon. In the end, it helped me to be able to put forth fairly detailed constructions for people to ponder… and as it turns out, several folks even enjoy the….. slower approach.
Anyway- thanks for what you do, keep up the good work… nice finally meeting you in DC at NECC, and hope we meet again soon!
😉
Sean
Heya Sean, I was disappointed that we didn’t get an opportunity to catch up for longer at NECC. Thanks for taking the photo. LOL 2 of your 3 are the same as in my tips for writing better blog posts. You definitely need to use these methods for longer blog posts.
Not convinced I ever want to do that plane flight again 🙁