A blog can be an excellent creative outlet, a potential source of income, and an excellent way to share your knowledge and experience with the world. As with any online venture, there are some things you should keep in mind when starting a blog; the following are 5 crucial things you should not do when starting your own blog.

DO NOT…

#1: Start your blog without a plan

Never start up a blog without having a plan set in place first. What will your blog be about? What is your target audience? How will you market your blog? Create a simple plan outlining how you will run the blog–along with your goals for your site.

#2: Publish content too infrequently

You don’t have to post something significant every day. However, you do need to publish content on a regular basis if you want to hook modern readers. Try out different posting schedules to see which one works best for you. 

#3: Ignore social media platforms 

Social media is crucial for modern blogs. You need to set up at least one or two complementary social media accounts (such as a Twitter or Instagram) so that you can promote your blog on a different platform and grow your potential reader base. 

#4: Post content that isn’t high quality 

It can be tempting to toss out mediocre content simply so fill your blog queue, but readers can be picky: if you post low quality content, particularly in the early stages of your blog’s life, they may just click away and never come back.

#5: Assume you’ll go viral overnight

It is very rare for blogs to go viral an explode in popularity overnight. You might not start seeing significant reader counts until you’ve been regularly blogging for a year or more–so be patient, keep at it, and do your best to promote your content.