10 Mistakes to Avoid on Bluesky (and What to Do Instead)

This post was originally published in [2025] and has been fully updated for 2026 with new data and tools.

Switching to a new social network feels like moving to a new city where you don’t know the local customs.

If you treat Bluesky exactly like X (Twitter), you’re going to struggle. There are specific mistakes to avoid on Bluesky that can get you muted or blocked before you even find your community.

Here are 10 big mistakes to avoid.

• Ignore Bluesky (like I ignored TikTok for a long time)
• Not filling out your profile
• Posting robotic stuff
• Self-promotion and over-posting
• Not having a strategy
• Not understanding the culture
• Not having “all the above” mentality!
• Not creating a custom feed
• Not muting and blocking
• Ignoring lists and feeds
• Not using a custom domain

Keep reading, and I’ll share why Bluesky is worth considering, how to avoid these mistakes, and 1 strategy to leverage the platform to make the most money.

Bluesky vs. X (Twitter): Why writers and creators are switching in 2026

The app Bluesky gets around 196 million visits per month and is similar to X (formerly Twitter). X gets around 600 million visits a month.

However, X has 3 things working against it.

• Elon Musk, the owner of X, is very controversial politically, and some people don’t want to be associated with it.
• X’s AI tool Grock has said some VERY crazy things (like praising Hitler).
• Some people miss Twitter and don’t like X.

Meanwhile, Bluesky has a few things working for it.

• What makes Bluesky different is that users can operate their own servers rather than rely on the site’s official servers. Users can switch them anytime, without changing their name, timeline, or friends.
• Not many ads on the platform.
• Customizable algorithms and feeds: Bluesky allows users to choose from over 40,000 custom feeds and even create their own.
• The name “Bluesky” sounds friendly, and “X” some could think of an adult site.

Bluesky Profile Optimization: How to avoid looking like a bot and get followers

The one thing the platform and people are on the lookout for is BOTS.

You know, robots that post stuff. To tell you the truth, I had an amazing thing going with Twitter and autoposting stuff and recommending affiliate products.

It wasn’t a bot, but an autoposting thing. It was SO good.

Sadly, the product got discontinued.

One way to NOT be a bot is to put a picture of your face on your profile and fill out your info. Plus, it comes off more trustworthy if you show your face.

Authentic Bluesky Content Strategy: How to use AI without getting banned

It seems everyone is cracking down on AI now.

I see it in subreddits; I see it with Quora. I’ve been banned 4 times on Quora, and no, I did not use a bot for anything. Heck, 1 account was all handwritten, and I never posted 1 link.

The last time, they reinstated my account (oops), but it’s at the point that I’ve taken a break from the platform due to protecting my mental health (I got so angry).

LinkedIn is the same way with cracking down on AI.

That’s not to say don’t use AI, just use it to improve the user experience! I wrote a whole post on 10 ways to use AI with blogging HERE.

There is a right way to use AI and a wrong way!

Overly robotic or corporate talk gets ignored or mocked (plus it’s boring). It’s the same with Reddit, which can be brutal sometimes.

The more human you can be, the better. Authenticity and humor are all good! People are craving these human interactions.

How to promote on Bluesky without being spammy: A guide for marketers

This is the same as Reddit.

There is a careful balance here, because you want to use these platforms and not have them use you!

So you SHOULD promote, otherwise, why be on the platform? You just want to give value first and not annoy people.

You have to promote appropriately.

If you post something and at the end say, If you’re interested, I have free guides on this in my profile – it’s helpful.

If you constantly post links that are random, purely to make a sale, that’s not helpful.

The more helpful you can be, the better!

Also, posting too much without engagement can be bad (which I admit I do sometimes). Sticking around after you post and like, and comment on others can be a good idea.

I know the LinkedIn algorithm looks at it and will promote your post the more engaged you are.

Bluesky Marketing Strategy: How to turn followers into an email list

These platforms make money off us! So, YES, you should use these platforms and not have them use you.

People getting abused and addicted to these platforms are leading to depression, mental health issues, and burnout! Don’t let this happen to you.

How do we use these platforms?

I recommend having a strategy and sticking to it!

My strategy is to create a TikTok video and post it. Then download the video and post it on all the platforms I can, mostly driving traffic to my profile.

My profile leads someone to a landing page, and I collect the lead. Then I use email and my website to communicate.

If you’re curious about how to create a landing page and how to do email correctly and earn money from it, I created free guides about it HERE.

Email is important because, when done correctly, you don’t even need that much traffic! It’s the basics and the foundation.

Do you see how I lead people from platforms I don’t control to places I can control? If you want to know how to get the MOST traffic for little effort, I wrote a whole post on it HERE.

It’s about taking 1 short video and reposting it to LOTS of places. It’s an amazing strategy, and I highly recommend it.

What is the AT Protocol? Understanding Bluesky’s decentralized culture

What is the culture?

• It’s decentralization,
• custom feeds
• AT protocol

Decentralization – means different providers run different parts of the network. A user can switch providers while keeping their data and identity.

Custom feeds – This means you can choose whatever you want in your feed. If you want nothing but cat pictures, you can do it.

AT protocol – AT Protocol is an open standard, meaning anyone can build on it and create new social media experiences.

Why not having all the above mentally is bad!

What makes crypto awesome? It’s decentralized, meaning 1 person doesn’t control it and instead ALL the little people run it (sort of).

We “should” think the same way!

Meaning use as many platforms as possible so you’re not weak and dependent on 1. If you rely too much on 1 platform and you get banned or there is an algorithm change, you are vulnerable.

I will say it’s important to maintain your mental health, and it’s ok to ban a platform too.

I did this with Quora, because I was getting WAY too angry with the platform.

I’m just saying, use as many platforms as your mental sanity and time can allow! Why not use X and Bluesky both?

How to use Bluesky Custom Feeds to find your niche and target audience

Being 100% honest here, you probably want to engage with some people (your niche audience) more so than random people.

Not to say I don’t like talking to random people, but you get my point! You want to use these platforms to promote your website, business, service, or products.

If you are not on these platforms to promote something, then you need to ask yourself…

If you don’t have a good reason for this, then maybe don’t use the platform.

If you are not sure about choosing a niche, then I created a post on how to do this HERE. After you know your niche, you can select feeds, discover new feeds, and type in your niche.

Then, pin the feed

Now you will get a list of hungry people in your area that you can follow, comment on, and engage with your target audience.

I know on Twitter, if you follow so many people, some of those people will follow you back.

That used to be my strategy: follow 30 people a day, and it worked; my following grew. Not sexy, but it worked.

Probably works the same on Bluesky.

At 1 point, I had 10 Twitter accounts, all growing and promoting various products and services. Then that party ended. I miss those days – maybe Twitter caught on, and the product I was using didn’t work anymore.

You could also add more niches to your feed. For example, I chose “blogging,” as another custom feed to follow.

Whatever you’re interested in, you can add it to your feed. Now, when you go to your home page, the feeds will be added, and you can see them at the top. I added 2 “affiliate marketing and personal blogging” that you can see in the picture.

You can also click on each one, such as “personal blogging,” and the feed will only contain posts about that topic.

This way, you could bounce between different feeds.

Oh, and what is SO cool about Bluesky is you can use your custom feed to come up with ideas to create content around.

I’ve done this by finding a great LinkedIn post and posting something similar on Reddit, and it got a lot of traction.

How to mute and block on Bluesky: Step-by-step guide to safe moderation

You do have the option to mute or block accounts. Yeah, some people on social media suck; you have the right to mute or block them.

It’s a very cool feature! I should probably learn how to do this on Reddit for some people (If I can)!

• Muting – this prevents you from seeing posts from this account. The other user doesn’t know this.
• Blocking – this prevents any interaction, including comments and messages. The other person knows you blocked them.

If you click on an account (the 3 dots), you will see a list of options, including muting and blocking.

Bluesky Lists vs. Feeds: How to organize your timeline for maximum reach

Some people get these 2 mixed up.

• A list is a collection of users
• A feed is a collection of various feeds

You can add someone to a list by clicking on the 3 dots, and right above the mute account is “Add to lists,” and that is where you can add someone.

This can work if you have a bunch of people you learn from in a niche. Then you can see what they are posting and possibly use it for inspiration. Cool right?

How to use a custom domain as your Bluesky handle: A branding guide

This is something I did not do but should.

My domain is trustthelink.com I could use that domain as my handle for Bluesky. Oh, and you can change your handle anytime.

This way it can help with branding, and if someone searches your domain, your Bluesky can come up. It’s just a cool extra feature!

Conclusion

Blue sky is a great weapon to add to your toolbox. There are plenty of other amazing tools, and by FAR my favorite is short videos.

Short videos can be used on Bluesky as well.

In fact, I created a whole post on how to repurpose a short video this way, 1 post can be re-used, repurposed for the most views and traffic.

This way, you get lots of traffic without burning out. Hey, it’s the summer when I wrote this, and I live near a beach.

I’m going to jump in the ocean!

You can view this post on creating a revenue stream with short videos HERE.

Hope this post was helpful. Bye for now.