There are millions of blog posts, with two million written everyday. However, only a fraction of these posts have been as big as an Adele song. Hello.

There are reasons for this less-than-ideal success rate. Most blog posts feature more falls than a hover board fails compilation. While the silver bullet for the perfect blog post has yet to be caught, after years of practicing and studying content marketing and the basics of blogging, that shiny object might finally be within reach.

Here’s a look at the common blogging fails I’ve seen (and even been guilty of) in 2015, and how to stop them once and for all.

Ulterior motives

Ulterior motives when blogging results in bad results. As marketers, we want ROI. We want clicks. We want leads. The more you put into blogging, the more you get out of it. However, if you are creating content focused solely on your own agenda, your post will never bear lead-happy fruit. Instead, focus on your audience’s needs and the benefits they’ll experience when reading your post. When you shift the motive from you to them, your audience will be more responsive, and the leads will flow.

Anytiming

Establish a planned approach that includes timing for feeding, nurturing and growing your blog. It’s wonderful that you enjoy blogging on Sunday mornings when the kids are sleeping and your coffee is fresh, however, that may not be the best time for your readers. Not only must you find the right time to post, but it must be consistent. Look at your blog analytics to see your prime traffic time. Then, schedule your posts to launch at that time. Stay consistent with that timing on a weekly, biweekly or monthly basis. Also, look at the analytics of your social channels and find those peak hours. Schedule your promotion efforts around that timing. By thinking about your audience’s best “Sunday morning”, you’ll go from any timing, to the right timing.

Quantity

More is not necessarily better. It’s better to blog less to ensure each post is killer, than to blog just to get a lot of content out there. 90% of all the data in the world has been generated over the last two years, according to Science Daily, so the last thing your audience needs is more content. However, what they do need is helpful information that addresses and solves their personal or professional challenges. Focus on the quality of your work and the quantity of traffic will come.

Author oversight

We are all experts at something, but we are not experts at everything. Justin Bieber could write a blog post about how to perform at a concert, and the Beliebers would be all over it. However, if he were to write about sales success tips for cloud computing, he might confuse a few teenyboppers. Too many times I’ve seen bloggers cover topics they know nothing about, and their credibility suffers. If you must cover a topic, find a credible writer to be the author. Not only will that person provide a helpful, accurate piece of content, but their network will flock to the post. Sorry, Biebs.

A mixed bag

Whether you manage a giant corporate blog or a small personal blog, a content theme is crucial. Too broad, and you’ve got a mixed bag of topics that confuse and deter your audience. Too niche, and your audience is finite. Find a good balance of topics that fit within an overall theme. That way, you’re able to cover all of the topics that you want to cover without going rouge. Think of your blog theme as an umbrella. Does your latest blog post fit under that umbrella? If it doesn’t, leave it out in the rain.

2016 must be the year that we crush our goals. By understanding what not to do, we can be on the path to success, leaving those bad posts behind. Because Google+, Apple Maps, and bad blog posts are so 2015.

Amanda Nelson

Amanda Nelson is Senior Manager of AppExchange Content & Community at Salesforce. She has worked in content marketing and community management for five years, and has a background in account management for interactive and full service advertising agencies.

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