Social Marketing is a powerful force for traffic generation, list building and creating online visibility. And your blog is a powerful part of your social media system. It seems like some people forget that their blog is a significant part of their Social Marketing.

Even when online marketers get how important their blog is, unfortunately many bloggers consistently make 3 really bad blogging mistakes. Let’s take a closer look at these 3 mistakes and what to do instead.

Mistake 1 – Failure to make your blog the hub of your system – Many people neglect the power of their blog in Social Marketing. This is a big mistake because your blog should be the hub of your system. You can communicate more clearly and you can communicate longer on your blog, and thus people spend more time on your blog.

What to do instead - Use a Wordpress Blog and hook it up to the rest of your Social Marketing System. For example, each time I create a new blog post, it is automatically announced on Twitter and Facebook. You can also set it up so that all your articles from EzineArticles and all your tweets from Twitter show up on your blog.

Mistake 2 – Failure to post often to your blog – I see so many people set up a blog and then rarely update it with new posts. When someone goes to your blog and you have not posted in a month, you are communicating that your blog is not important or relevant. It’s not likely they will be back.

What to do instead - There is just no excuse to post at least 3 times a week to your blog, and more would be better. There is just so much you can post: your tip of the week or day, recent articles or turn an article into a several post series, your own videos or ones you find valuable from others, invite guest bloggers. Get in the habit of posting new content at least 3 times a week.

Mistake 3 – Failure to “seed the tip jar” - Part of the lifeblood of your blog is the comments shared by readers. This is how your readers “share in the conversation.” If you don’t have discussions going on in the comments section of your blog then something is wrong.

What to do instead – First of all, invite readers to comment. Invite them right in the blog post. When you email your list or announce your new blog post on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere, invite people to “share their comments and join in the conversation.”

Then “seed the tip jar” in your blog. You know how you will see a tip jar at a coffee house or a bar? Have you ever seen the tip jar empty? I bet not, because the owners have learned to put a bit of money in the jar to “seed the tip jar.” They are using social proof to get the behavior they want.

You can do the same thing by “seeding your blog comments with your own comments on your blog post. This one little strategy encourages others to begin commenting and join in the conversation.

And to learn more about how to leverage the Social Networks for waves of traffic and more, get your FREE Instant Access to our Social Marketing Video Training Series when you visit http://SocialMarketingBlueprint.com/7laws

You’ll get a series of videos, audios and pdfs all about Social Media Traffic & Profits

From Jeff Herring and the SocialMarketingBlueprint.com