I was reading over at JohnChow.com and found his top 10 blogging mistakes to avoid so I used it as a basis for a little self test. I left off number 10 because we'd hate for his head to get any bigger than it is since he already is the root of all evil. He is running a contest along with 1234Pens.com, a site that makes promotional pens, to win a Nintendo Wii so if you're interested don't hesitate to give him 3 free back-links with nothing in return except for the slim chance to win a gaming system. If I win the gaming system I'll probably fall off my chair, hehe.

Enough of that drivel, here is my little self test based on John's list:

Blogging Mistake #1 - Not Updating
Guilty! I truly believe content is king and I know if I don't write a post or two on a regular basis I might as well just hang it up now. I'm really trying to do better in this area.

Blogging Mistake #2 - Blogging Only For Money
Innocent! I don't really expect to make any money from this blog. If I ever do make money from my blog it will probably be the biggest surprise of my life. No, I'm not doing this entirely for money. I'm doing it because I truly enjoy it, and to prove to my husband that I can. *grin*

Blogging Mistake #3 - Rushing a Post
Innocent! As a matter of fact, I think my biggest mistake is just the opposite. I take so long to make a post it is pathetic. Sometimes I take so long to formulate posts in my head that they never do get written. This leads me back to Mistake #1 - Not Updating.

Blogging Mistake #4 - Not Being Personal
Innocent! I'm an old BBS Sysop from days gone by and running a website is similar in a lot of ways, especially when it comes to interacting with visitors. I believe being personal with your visitors is one of the biggest factors to running a successful blog or website. And you have to let your personality shine through.

Blogging Mistake #5 - Being a Copycat
Innocent, mostly! (I hope! hehe) I would never copy and paste an article word for word, but this very post uses John Chow's "10 Blogging Mistakes to Avoid" as a basis. I am however, putting my own spin to it and adding my own opinions. So I don't think I'm being a total copycat here.

Blogging Mistake #6 - Not Replying To Comments
Innocent! I think this ties in with Blogging Mistake #4. It won't happen here. I love my visitors. I love my comments. My blog uses the "do-follow" rule. Everyone is welcome to comment and slip in your URL for a back-link. hehe

Blogging Mistake #7 - Not Giving a Full Feed RSS
Innocent! I'm not even experienced enough to even know how to give a partial RSS feed yet, so my feed is a full RSS feed. Not that anybody would at this point want to subscribe to it. But nonetheless, the full RSS feed is available.

Blogging Mistake #8 - Not Reaching Out To Other Bloggers
Needs Improvement! I do this a little but I believe I should do it a lot more. Just like real life - I need to get out more. :P

Blogging Mistake #9 - Writing For Google Instead Of People
Innocent! I try to optimize my meta tags and descriptions for Google, but as far as my writing goes, I'm not really into optimizing this site for Adsense. Frankly, I'm sick of Adsense because nobody that visits this blog is going to click on an ad titled "Get Your Blog Here". Everybody has a blog already. duh

Those are the 9 blogging mistakes for the self-test. There were 10 at first but I thought the last one was a bit silly so I omitted it from my list. This is my blog. I can do that. :)