Common sense, unlike blogs in the niche of making money online, is one of the rarities on the blogosphere. Whether it’s people proclaiming that you can make millions just by giving away your SSN or by buying a ten dollar e-book, there is no absence of idiocy on the net. Here are ten newbie blogging misconceptions for your intellectual viewing pleasure.
1. “Alexa is TOTAL BS.”
And this statement is totally UNTRUE! While Alexa may have some discrepancies in it’s rankings and you may be sad that your site is still in the millions, the general positions of the sites on the web are expressed well. You shouldn’t just dismiss any form of online rankings - your competitors don’t, after all.
2. “Linking to authority sites with high pagerank will help my blogs pagerank”
You wouldn’t believe how many times this issue pops up on Digitalpoint (three, at my count). Linking to websites does nothing for pagerank - it’s only determined by the sites that link to you. Sorry, but Google probably doesn’t care whether or not you link to it.
3. “You NEED to post once per day”
There isn’t a blog police that will kidnap you and brutally beat you if you leave your blog alone for a day or two. You can still achieve high traffic levels by posting once every two or three days.
4. “Don’t monetize from the start!”
Monetizing your blog is perfectly fine at any time - just don’t splatter your page with ads like some crazed college art student. As long as your advertising isn’t intrusive upon the content, it’s alright.
5. “Blogger is better than Wordpress.”
The falsity of this statement is self-explanatory.
6. “Dofollow blog comments are worthless”
The key word here is dofollow. That means they’re counted by search engines. That means they help your rankings. They’re just as good as any other link you can get on a blog.
7. “Blogging is easy”
Even if you’re an expert in your niche and you’re writing about the passion of your life, you will be starved for ideas on some days and discouraged on others. The key is to keep on being consistent in blogging.
8. “I can StumbleUpon my own posts”
If you stumble your site more than once or twice, it starts to get suspicious. Even if you’re an active user, your thumbs up will eventually become devalued and you’ll possibly be banned from Stumbleupon.
9. Chow, Rowse, Shoemoney, etc. are blogging GODS.
While these probloggers are undeniably successful, their word is not the law - you should do your own independant research and thinking before following their advice. Hell, even Blog Badly is only right 99.9% (repeating, of course) of the time!
By Tom - StandOutBlogger.com on Jun 26, 2008 | Reply
great points there. I especially like no 4. I believe that blogs should be monetized from launch. And I wish people wouldnt hold some of the ‘top’ bloggers in such high regard!
By Wii Fit Accessories on Jun 26, 2008 | Reply
Haha… these are hilarious! I stumbled for you…
By Coral Snake on Jun 26, 2008 | Reply
this is all very true , and funny to read because you know that these are the exact moves of so many newbs out there ….
By failureblogger on Jun 27, 2008 | Reply
Yeah i have a hard time staying consistent!
By Jonathan on Jun 27, 2008 | Reply
The whole “don’t monetize in the begining” thing comes from the “snob blog” clique, that is, bloggers that consider what they write to be akin to a classic novel and worthy of reverence, not to be “tainted” by ads.
I have a more down to earth opinion.
By Melvin on Jun 27, 2008 | Reply
9 is very right… One thing they have in common is they don’t really give the best content (especially chow & shoe)… bu of course their tips are worth listening to…
By Bruce on Jun 27, 2008 | Reply
Great list. I agree with all of it except the Alexa, that is crap, but I do agree many advertisers swear by it so its useful in that regard. I just would not spend a lot of time trying to improve Alexa rank. Driving traffic is a good use of time so Alexa rank should improve as a result of the traffic building tasks
By Corey Freeman on Jun 27, 2008 | Reply
Nice points you got here, haha. I totally agree with the idea of doing your own research. I hate blogs that just link to other blog tips!
By Wanjiku Unlimited on Jun 28, 2008 | Reply
Hi Nice site. By the way it’s the one advertised on my sight right now.
Thanks for these tips especially No:4. I’m registered with Kontera and sometimes they really do splatter my page with adverts. Sometimes I have upto 12 words in just one post with their characteristic underscore. I often feel like it’s too much.
Thanks once again for the tips.
By Are You Writing Garbage - Keys to Great Articles on Jun 29, 2008 | Reply
OMG, Finally someone said it!!! Number 9 is right on the money!!!!!!!!!!!!
In fact, I have to say that lately Shoemoney has really been writing some disappointing content, mostly just unusable blurbs and vague five line posts like SEO is dead.
It is so much better to read blogs that actually have hands-on information like this one, with stuff you can use for your marketing efforts, then reading some unusable crap and following some would-be “gurus” who really do not offer any usable information.
This was a great post Max, great simple list that can be used to move forward to success!
Thanks!
By Link Building Bible on Jul 1, 2008 | Reply
HAHAHA dude… these are classic…. it’s sad to think that some people are actually doing these things.
By bans on Jul 2, 2008 | Reply
Talking about Alexa… It is doing showing some strange results for me. My traffic is up 3 times last month yet the rank got worse.
By Golf Books on Jul 3, 2008 | Reply
I think early in my blogging life I believed all of those, except maybe about linking out for page rank. From what I know though a couple of link outs to major sites does give you a touch of credibility in the almighty Google Algo. It’s hard to verify these things unless you do massive testing on your own.
Bruce
By Mr. Javo on Jul 6, 2008 | Reply
Nice tips for newbies, some of them are pretty fun
By thebox on Jul 6, 2008 | Reply
Well, first, regarding Alexa ranking, if someone say that is crap then witch ranking is good? Google Page Rank? Or maybe Yahoo ranking? I think you should consider all of them. And for the “Don’t monetize from the start” I do need to ask, witch start? The one when you get started with a blog or the one when that blog start reciveing traffic? I think there should be ads on your blog but like this post say, don’t abuse it
By Lindsay on Jul 7, 2008 | Reply
Don’t tell anyone, but… I have blogs I only post to once a week! Or less!
Of course my main one gets daily attention, but that’s because it’s fun to write, and I don’t have to delve deep into my brain for meaningful articles that provide awesome value to people. That’s hard to do on a daily basis, and probably why a lot of young bloggers burn out.
Anyway, nice list, and a fun read!
~Lindsay
By Carnival of Making Money Online on Jul 8, 2008 | Reply
“3. “You NEED to post once per day”
There isn’t a blog police that will kidnap you and brutally beat you if you leave your blog alone for a day or two. You can still achieve high traffic levels by posting once every two or three days.”
Worst misconception ever. While you’re starting out you should write AT MOST one post per week. The novelty will wear off soon enough as it is.
By bloggernoob on Jul 15, 2008 | Reply
individually, ranking systems don’t say much, but put them together and have a fair assessment of a site. the point is that it helps you sell links. the ones complaining about it are usually the ones that don’t have it.
By Ali on Jul 16, 2008 | Reply
I think Alexa is BS, I don’t care much for it.
By JoshWink on Aug 13, 2008 | Reply
Oh, Thanks! Really amazing. Big ups!