There’s one thing I see a lot of other blogs do wrong.
And that’s what they do at the end of a blog post.
Think about it…
If someone takes the time to read right to the end of your post.
They are a true fan!
They obviously love your work,
So now’s the time to offer them some REAL VALUE.
Doing that will make you more money too.
Here are 7 mistakes I see people make all the time…
1. The wrap-up paragraph.
This paragraph has a title like ‘In Summary’ or ‘To Conclude’
It summarises everything you’ve already said.
Like this…
(Sorry if this is yours, but you really should be spelling ‘goggle’ correctly in a post about the best swimming googles.)
People have these because:
- It’s how we were taught to write in school
- Writers like to fill the last 10% with easy fluff
These are not good reasons!
I’m not saying don’t have a last paragraph,
I’m saying don’t use it to regurgitate what you’ve already said.
Doing so implies that the reader wasn’t paying attention.
And they don’t like that.
2. The related posts section
You’ve seen these…
Or have you?
You probably don’t even notice them because they look like ads.
Your brain is trained to know that they offer no value.
So you’re blind to them.
This section is made by a plugin which means that:
- Thee posts aren’t that related (you’re buying swimming goggles so you don’t care about cycling glasses)
- It’s probably slowing down your site
Ditch this section.
Well, don’t ditch it completely, but ditch the plug-in for sure.
3. The social icons
Randomly sticking social icons at the bottom of your articles?
Do you even know what happens when you click one of these?
Are you ‘liking’ the post?
Are you sharing it?
Are you following?
Nobody knows, and nobody is clicking these.
4. The comments form
Just look at this beast…
It’s absolutely massive.
And complicated.
And nobody wants to have to sign up or log in to leave a comment.
Which is why nobody has.
Your comments form doesn’t have to look so scary.
5. The previous and next links
Nobody cares what blog post you wrote before or after this one.
It really doesn’t matter at all.
Just because there’s checkbox in WordPress for this,
Doesn’t mean you should have it.
6. The crappy mailing list signup
Why on earth would you put your email address in here?
This form gives you absolutely no reason to want to join the mailing list.
What do you hope to get from it?
A handy cheat sheet?
Alerts about sales and offers?
A song about a unicorn called Barry?
No idea.
7. The tags
Why do you have these?
Unless you can tell me what purpose these serve:
- For users
- For search engines
Then you don’t need them.
Get rid.
Phew!
I think I need to go for a walk and calm down after that rant.
I’m not just whining though,
I will actually show you how to do all of these things better.
And how I’ve optimised the end of my blog posts for maximum revenue (from ads and affiliates)
Look out for my email next Tuesday and I’ll share all that with you.
– NSL