Common Blogging Mistakes pt. 1

As part of the Daily Blog Tips Blogging Mistakes Project I thought I'd take the time to read through some of the great submissions. I also thought I'd take the time to comment on each of the great posts submitted previously. This is part one in my series of comments on these great posts. You can check out the full intro to the series here.

1. Thilak, from BlogTalks.net, makes a great point about offering an email subscription box on your blog. While I don't have any email subscribers I understand why many people are more apt to go with email over RSS.
2. Clever Dude has a great post about attribution that I think really says a lot. Of particular interest to me was the idea of proper attribution. In the blogosphere it's common to quote, reference and even borrow from other sites. While blogging is really about community it's important to know how to provide proper attribution to sources. The last thing you want to do is rile up a community like Flickr, digg, or DeviantArt.
3. There is nothing worse than blogger's block ... nothing. WalletRehab touches on this in his entry about blogging mistakes, Dfinitive also talks about it in a way. It's important to have things to write about as well as to write often. The trick, which WalletRehab points out and which I've learned over time, is to schedule some posts in advance. If you have a post idea that can wait a day or two then schedule it in advance (I wrote a WordPress tutorial on scheduled posts previously). It's basically saving a post for a rainy day.
4. Fighting to Stay Awake writes on something that I only just got into myself - finding focus. Personal blogs are great for writing about anything - the thing is that the wider your topic base the smaller your audience can become. People don't read gaming blogs because of movie posts, nor do they read web design blogs for gaming posts. Having focus is essential for a new blog.
5. Didn't You Hear offers up a great tip for anyone getting ready to launch a blog. As Cory points out, Didn't You Hear has an apostrophe - which doesn't go into an address bar. While Cory ultimately loves Didn't You Hear, and I think it's a cool title too, you've got to be aware of what problems your domain name / blog name might cause. Beer Wine and Food offers up a similar annecdote concerning getting started and naming your blog.
6. Here's a great tip from Viral Voice that I have some experience with. Don't change the name of your blog, or the URL, after you've launched! In the same regards you should always flesh out some of the final details in advance of launching. Changing a title or URL can cost you an audience that may take months to rebuild.
7. Another major mistake I experienced early in my blogging run involved over-extending myself. Green Llama points this out as well. While many people recommend running multiple blogs it can be overwhelming to launch too many too early.
8. TechTraction has a very, VERY, in-depth post concerning self assessment. One thing I want to concentrate on from it involves the sidebar. There are tons of great widgets out there - that doesn't mean they ALL have to be in your sidebar. For more on self-assessment be sure to check out their post.
9. You've probably heard about employers searching for online profiles ... SuperFastReader makes a good point about seperating your work life from your blog. While writing good content is important you want to be sure you don't compromise your profesional persona in the process.
10. Internet Poised has a great list of common blogging mistakes that I think everyone can occasionally relate too. While blog design is important, you never want to overdo anything. Too many ads, too much time on design, and even too many posts can be a real detriment to your building a blog's audience.