Common Blogging Mistakes pt. 2

As a response to the Daily Blog Tips Blogging Mistakes Project I decided to write up a brief synopsis of some of the results submitted by fellow bloggers throughout the blogosphere. After a brief hiatus (I've been sick this week) I'm back to offer up part two of the series. You can read the first part here or check out the original list of project participants. Without further ado - here we go:

1. Blogging Contests are great ways to drive traffic and encourage readership. The only reason I haven't tried it yet is my own fear of the logistics involved in it. While I haven't done much research yet I've bookmarked Robert's account of his first blogging contest. It's a must read for anyone thinking about running a contest! A decent followup to this is Nathan's submission - as Nathan points out, contests/challenges are great but don't mean much if you don't have the traffic to generate buzz around them.
2. The next submission came from Daniel himself. This is a great tip for anyone who is setting up a blog on their own URL. If you're starting your own blog then you MUST install WordPress in your root directory. The only real exception for this would be a site where the blog is a secondary part of the service.
3. Madhur Kapoor makes an interesting point which all bloggers should take to heart. Whenever possible you should try to include some type of media. Be it a graphic, a movie, or some type of animation these types of media are essential for making your blog more readable and intersting.
4. Mapelli.info has a great tip that I just love. The mistake they list is basically waiting 25 years to start blogging. It's never too late to start blogging and, if you've got a lot to say about something, you shouldn't hesitate to start. I would recommend boning up on the basics but once you're ready blogging can be highly rewarding.
5. Life Rocks 2.0 offers another great tip that I'm sure we can all learn from. Sometimes we have the inclination to do everything in our power to keep readers on our site. Opening links in a new window isn't a good way to do this. Generally speaking your content is the best way to keep people on your site. Provide good content and your readers will return for more.

Stay tuned for more ...