An easy mistake to overlook is not thinking about your audience.
- Who will read your posts?
- How often would they like to receive a new post?
- How long should your posts be for your audience?
- What kinds of topics do your readers like to read about?
Not taking these questions into account will greatly diminish the power your content has on your readers. Consider the demographic for your blog. Get a clear idea of who will be reading your content regularly. This might seem difficult to know in advance. But think about it this way: who is the ideal reader for what you’re offering? You can’t look into the future and know exactly who will be reading your stuff, but you can get at least get a rough idea of where you should aim your content.
You might be thinking: I’ll cast a wide net and catch a lot of different readers by covering a diverse range of topics. This might seem to simplify the problem at first, but it’s a losing strategy. Return readers expect some consistency. If you’re writing about movies one week and then about recipes the other week, you might confuse your readers. Unless you’re a website that creates recipes based on movies, this hybrid style will surely send most readers running.
Likewise, consistency matters in publication as well. If you’re publishing a new post every day and then suddenly disappear for a month or two, both human readers and search engines will have trouble following you and understanding what your site is all about and what you’re offering.
You may find, after a few months of blogging, that new data is coming in about your audience. This might surprise you, and you may want to change course to satisfy your growing audience. Course-corrections can be a good thing if they are based on solid data. Make sure you are considering the consequences before making any drastic changes.