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H
ey! Come here! Can we talk? There are a few things bloggers do that I find extremely annoying. Now, I realize that I am NOT a blogging expert, that I am NOT the blogging police and the blogging world is NOT full of people who are even the least bit concerned about what irritates me, but ... but ...
Here's the deal. Chances are these things don't just irritate me, but irritate a lot of people. No! Really! And they might even be keeping people away from your blog, something a lot of us claim doesn't bother us ... right after we blog about how no one reads us anyway so we might as well quit blogging.
Here, in no particular order, is my top ten list:
1. Slow load times. Some blogs are so laden with "stuff" that they takemore than 3.7 seconds FOREVER to load. Vinny, over at The Big Leather Couch recently discovered he had a problem with this (and quickly made the changes to address it). If your blog is slow loading, I'm not going to take the time to wait so that I can read it then leave a comment. How do you check page load times? Free tools, of course! An easy tool to use (with TONS of information) is available [HERE] at Pingdom.
2. Word verification. Seriously people, most of us have no need for word verification. Yes there are bots out there that will generate unrelated comments, but they are usually anonymous commenters. Disable the ability for anonymous comments (I had to do this just last week) and get rid of your word verification. If you make it difficult to comment, I won't!
3. Truncated reader feed. Most people who read blogs regularly have them set up as feeds in a reader. If you are supplying a truncated feed, you had better be able to catch my attention in your first few sentences. Most of you don't succeed. I'm not going to click on your blog entry if I'm not interested in the first few sentences, and I might miss a great post. Usually, folks who do this are caught up in number 4 on this list.
4. Stat counter obsession. GUILTY! If you have dedicated entire posts to informing your readers of your latest blog stats, you are wrong. We don't care how many hits you had yesterday. It doesn't matter how you attempt to phraseyour gloating it, or what your motivations are, it comes across as tooting your own horn and NO ONE enjoys reading it! Self-promotion gets old after a while.
5. Using social media for nothing more than announcing your posts. I use TwitterFeed to announce my blog posts on twitter. There is nothing wrong with using social media as a tool to increase readership, but if it's the only time you show up on Twitter or Facebook, you are wrong.
6. Being too apologetic. When many of your blog posts start with "Sorry I haven’t written for so long," it's either time to dedicate yourself to more regular posting, or it's time to quit blogging. We all go through times when we need a break, but none of us want to read an apology blog.
7. Changing the location of your blog. It is only a handful of bloggers who ever "outgrow" the blogging platform they originally started on. If you are moving your blog every three months because your neighbor found you, or the guy you were dating told all of his creepy friends about your HNT pics and now you need to hide, it's time to consider why you blog. I'm not going to follow you from place to place.
8. Focusing on quick traffic rather than loyal readers. GUILTY! There are some weekly memes that encourage reader loyalty and bring in loyal readers, and some that do little more than generate high numbers for a day. If you are spending more time trying to get those spikes in your stats than you are about growing your readership, you're just stroking your own ego.
9. Writing for search engines instead of your readers. You can always tell when a blogger decides Search Engine Optimization is the key to becoming a famous blogger. Titles don’t make sense, keywords appear in posts for no real reason. SEO is another great blogging tool, but when I start feeling like SEO has become more important than me as a reader, I'm moving on.
10. Not Replying To Comments. GUILTY! (on my Project 365 blog) Blogs are two-way communication tools, but many bloggers forget that. Just as you want your blogging validated, readers want to be validated too. ANSWER THEM! Maybe you can't get to all of the comments every day, but at least make an effort to get to most of them most days. If you aren't going to respond to comments then at least be courteous enough to disable comments from your posts.
Any of you guilty of any of these? Got justifications for why you do them or think I'm being tooanal retentive, obsessive-compulsive, picky? Tell me! Tell me!
ey! Come here! Can we talk? There are a few things bloggers do that I find extremely annoying. Now, I realize that I am NOT a blogging expert, that I am NOT the blogging police and the blogging world is NOT full of people who are even the least bit concerned about what irritates me, but ... but ...Here's the deal. Chances are these things don't just irritate me, but irritate a lot of people. No! Really! And they might even be keeping people away from your blog, something a lot of us claim doesn't bother us ... right after we blog about how no one reads us anyway so we might as well quit blogging.
Here, in no particular order, is my top ten list:
1. Slow load times. Some blogs are so laden with "stuff" that they take
2. Word verification. Seriously people, most of us have no need for word verification. Yes there are bots out there that will generate unrelated comments, but they are usually anonymous commenters. Disable the ability for anonymous comments (I had to do this just last week) and get rid of your word verification. If you make it difficult to comment, I won't!
3. Truncated reader feed. Most people who read blogs regularly have them set up as feeds in a reader. If you are supplying a truncated feed, you had better be able to catch my attention in your first few sentences. Most of you don't succeed. I'm not going to click on your blog entry if I'm not interested in the first few sentences, and I might miss a great post. Usually, folks who do this are caught up in number 4 on this list.
4. Stat counter obsession. GUILTY! If you have dedicated entire posts to informing your readers of your latest blog stats, you are wrong. We don't care how many hits you had yesterday. It doesn't matter how you attempt to phrase
5. Using social media for nothing more than announcing your posts. I use TwitterFeed to announce my blog posts on twitter. There is nothing wrong with using social media as a tool to increase readership, but if it's the only time you show up on Twitter or Facebook, you are wrong.
6. Being too apologetic. When many of your blog posts start with "Sorry I haven’t written for so long," it's either time to dedicate yourself to more regular posting, or it's time to quit blogging. We all go through times when we need a break, but none of us want to read an apology blog.
7. Changing the location of your blog. It is only a handful of bloggers who ever "outgrow" the blogging platform they originally started on. If you are moving your blog every three months because your neighbor found you, or the guy you were dating told all of his creepy friends about your HNT pics and now you need to hide, it's time to consider why you blog. I'm not going to follow you from place to place.
8. Focusing on quick traffic rather than loyal readers. GUILTY! There are some weekly memes that encourage reader loyalty and bring in loyal readers, and some that do little more than generate high numbers for a day. If you are spending more time trying to get those spikes in your stats than you are about growing your readership, you're just stroking your own ego.
9. Writing for search engines instead of your readers. You can always tell when a blogger decides Search Engine Optimization is the key to becoming a famous blogger. Titles don’t make sense, keywords appear in posts for no real reason. SEO is another great blogging tool, but when I start feeling like SEO has become more important than me as a reader, I'm moving on.
10. Not Replying To Comments. GUILTY! (on my Project 365 blog) Blogs are two-way communication tools, but many bloggers forget that. Just as you want your blogging validated, readers want to be validated too. ANSWER THEM! Maybe you can't get to all of the comments every day, but at least make an effort to get to most of them most days. If you aren't going to respond to comments then at least be courteous enough to disable comments from your posts.
Any of you guilty of any of these? Got justifications for why you do them or think I'm being too
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42 comments:
I write for SEO at least twice a week, and unashamedly so!! But, I don't think I treat my regulars any differently. I still reply to damn near every comment, unless I fail to go back and check an older post.
And I dig site stat obesssion. It replaces my former obession with memorizing baseball stats.
Does that bother you? Well, does it punk? Cheers Dana!!
Hey...it's all about me! ha ha ha
That's what our kind of blogging is, we all know that. Quit being so picky, and all those *other things*
I maybe guilty of one or two of these. I try to keep my site stats at very bottom of the page. Not tat I am obsessed with it, but I do like to see who is stopping by for a read. If I read, it is most likely I will post a comment.
I check my stats to see where people are coming from - I get a decent amount of hits a day and I like to know where my readers are from...truncated feeds - I wont read them - difficulty loading I wont go back often - hard to leave a comment - I wont. Loyal readers are my mainstay but new readers keep the ball rolling and it gets hard to respond to 30 or more comments especially if I have fallen behind. I NEVER write for search engine optimization - maybe its time to start.
My biggest pet peeves are truncated blog posts, comment moderation or otherwise making it difficult to comment and when people do a pay for post without any kind of disclaimer that the post is actually an advertisement.
Matt-Man, No! You write for SEO?? I'd have never guessed! Does it bother me? Do you care? That's what I thought ... punk!
Blogger Micky-T, PFFFTTT!
Shiny Rod, what is the significance of knowing who reads? Is it a tool you use to market your blog? I understand that concept, although I think most of us are fooling ourselves if we think we are going to earn a living blogging.
doggybloggy, there's nothing wrong with attempting to grow readership, especially when you are using your blog as more than a cathartic outlet (which I believe is true of you). But for the rest of us? It's great if people want to read you because they enjoy what/how you right, but if they're just landing there because they were looking for Miley Cyrus naked? What's the point?
Jay, what? There are bloggers not abiding by FCC regulations? Surely you jest!
Wow, if I thought for a moment you ever actually visited my blog I would think you were complaining in part about me. (Sorry I haven't been around for awhile...)
But you don't or if you do, you've never once left a comment. So I still read you, but not regularly. I just don't bother to comment anymore. I figured I wasn't racy enough or interesting enough for you, but I didn't let it irritate me. I just changed my pattern.
Maybe that's the key - if you want to tune in, but not be bothered by the things that bother you, just check in periodically. That's what I do. I also have gone through my reader and deleted blogs that continually irritate me. So I hear what you're saying and that's my personal remedy. I just delete 'em. Take care! :)
I shoot for quality readers versus quantity. If its too hard to get to my blog...then I am truly not offended. Those that want to know about me make the effort.
However, I do agree with most of what you say here for the day to day blogger.
I don't have any idea who reads my blog and I really don't care. I know my friends are reading and it is great when I make new friends from it.
You did make some great points and I am changing things based on two of them. Word verification is now gone and I will be responding to comments.
A piece of news, Hmmmm ... I'm not sure how to respond to this comment. Is it a "I *used* to read you but don't because you don't reciprocate" comment or a "Why don't you come over to my place and take a look see?" comment, or something else I'm missing entirely?
I agree, if blogs irritate me enough, they leave my reader (although in full disclosure, yours has never been in my reader but is now), but I also think that sometimes people don't realize that something as simple as truncating a feed read might be keeping people away. One of the primary reasons most of us blog is to be validated, so keeping readers away is kind of self-defeating!
Blogger Joker_SATX, you *are* difficult to get to because your blog won't cooperate with a reader. But then you're not one to complain about people not reading your blog either!
Howard Bagby, WooHoo! Responding to comments - although quite time consuming - is such a nice, warm fuzzy for everyone involved.
I must be too new to blogging. I didn't even know you could check stats. I promise to be better about responding to comments but I think that is my only infraction.
well I do think that people like how I "right" since I get asked to "right" for other blogs fairly often...and if people are looking for miley cyrus on my blog that would be a doozy...and I do find catharsis in what I post...BTW!
I am guilty of the not responding. I don't think people come back and see my responses generally. Well sometimes they do, but not always.
I don't understand all you bloggers checking your stats, is that just a way to boost your self esteem or is it blogger competition or what is the reason? I don't know...I guess since I don't have a blog I don't 'get it'...but doggy is always write..I'm just sayin..at least in his mind, ya know!
Hi My name is Vinny and yes I fall into a few of these
1) My blog used to load slow..NOT ANYMORE...hallelujah I am cured!
2) Nope not me
3) Nope not me
4) OK, I have been know to post about stats...probably once a year..come on over and beat me why dontcha?
5) Nope not me..I don't Twat- I mean Tweet...my posts are up on FaceBook, but I do a little more than that (not much, so I am partially guilty here I guess)
6) I blog too much to apologize, but since I am known to post 5 days a week, if I miss a day, I explain why
7) Only done that once when I bought my own domain
8)I used to do the meme thing..not so much anymore
9)LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL...nope
10)I try to reply to every comment, but do not do it one at a time like some to up their comment count
So, you still likey me then?
Little T, You've yet to be corrupted! Go get yourself a stat counter so that you, too, can be preoccupied with how many people are visiting you and dedicate entire posts to that topic ... or not! *grin*
doggybloggy, *shakes head* Another time, another place, I'd actually delete my comment to fix that boo-boo out of utter embarrassment and fear of looking silly, but now? I'll just leave it there so everyone can see how silly you are!
Karen, or maybe they don't come back because you seldom respond? Chicken ... egg ... chicken ... egg!
snugs, I can see, in cases where people are attempting to make a living either through their blogging or by using their blog as a tool to promote their livelihood, where stats would be critical, but for the rest of us? Yeah ... it's just a way to quantify the number of people that "like" us ... or hate us ... one or the other!
thanks for the visit mama, especially on a post that is right up your alley having had the teenageriness going for a bit longer in your house than I have in mine.
Posted a link to this since I have galactically sucked at leaving comments. Thanks for the reminder!
Oh and shoot me an addy soon will ya? TIA xox
you have such a love affair with passive agressiveness - how's that working for you anyway? I am so glad not to be lumped in with "the rest of us" you would end up making me feel so "silly."
OH BOY DO I HATE WORD VERIFICATION!!! Thank you for making this public!... and the lotsa stuff sucks too... LOL
Bond, likey you? I lova you!
Hope, (a.k.a. truncated post queen), you caught my attention today with just a few sentences so I clicked *GRIN*
doggybloggy, pushing buttons isn't working well for you today, but go ahead and keep on trying if it makes you feel better!
Doc, I appreciate word verification when setting up an account for a new online service, but having to navigate through it to leave a comment on a blog? Not-so-much!
this was about blog peeves until you made it personal - look at yourself!
Was that "Miley Cyrus Naked" shot aimed at me? haha
I thought of a couple of other pet peeves.
Turning feed off so people can't put your blog in reader. That's fine if you don't want many readers, but it also comes across as "my blog is so superior that you should go through the extra effort to read my greatness."
And
Private blogs. Mainly because they can't be read in reader. And because people always go private and then say "If you want to read my blog send me an email." No, if you want ME to read your blog send ME an email. I'm not sending an email to anyone begging them to let me read their blog.
doggybloggy, what? Ummm ... OK ... you must be write!
Jay, of course it was Jay, done in my well tuned passive-aggressive ways! You do use that one on occasion, but you (like Matt-Man) are so in-your-face, over=the-top with it, it kind of neutralizes the whole thing!
I so agree on the private blog issue. I have learned that if a blogger I read regularly, goes private, I might as well not even ask for an invite because if I can't get to them in my reader, I probably won't make the extra effort to get to them at all!
I am always rite! My other blog peeve(maybe this is an internet peeve) is people who are so controlling and powerful on twitter, facebook and blogs but they are such mud puddles in real life.
Not to parrot another person's comment, but I'm in the same boat as Howard. Hell, I didn't even realize that I had the word verification thingy on!
That is now fixed and I will make it a point to comment back in a more timely fashion. I feel so empowered now! HA!
...I will consider myself pre- PFFFTTT'd right now 'cause I'm with Mic on this!...
doggybloggy, kind of like people who try to be so controlling in the comment section of other bloggers but are such mud puddles in real life? Just sayin'
The Burl, woohoo! Another convert! I feel so powerful and She-Ra Princess-y!
Phfrankie Bondo, no, you get a PHHHHHHTTTT! You might be surprised that I actually *do* realize the silliness of all of this.
I had to go and check cause I had no idea if my junk was truncated... I don't think it is but if I am gulity of this let me know and I will try and fix it...
I'm not bothered much by the way other people do things. It's kind of like how we all have different ways of organizing and decorating our physical space, so why can't we do that with our cyber space?
Also, much like in real life, I am awful at jumping into conversations/commenting. I will when I feel like it, and don't when I don't see a need. Then again, I'm not one to get all bent out of shape when people don't comment on my blog. Plus, I've never found a good way to reply to every commenter especially when the comments are just...comments...and not actual discussion. Am I supposed to just put a smiley face or something in reply? Because that's how I'd reply in real life. :)
I just have one pet peeve, which is really an extension of yours about word verification- those who have word verification AND comment moderation! Is that really necessary?
I'm not guilty of any of these. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! ;-)
I'm guilty of not responding to every comment on entries where I feel responding would seem self-indulgent. (like my son's birthday post or the Friday Secrets). I just let those stand on their own - I usually thank the commenters in the next post or two to let them know I appreciated their time. Is that awful?
I don't know what truncated feeds are. So, I might be guilty. But if it's something that I have to DO, I assure you that I'm too lazy to do so. ; And I'm also overwhelmed and don't have time to respond to everyone. THAT I hate.
Me again! I wasn't trying to make much of a point, so you weren't missing anything. It sounded more snarky than I meant it. I was just saying why I don't read you every day, but I still check in periodically and that's what I have learned about managing my blogs.
I checked my feed choice and it says full. I also do not like truncated feeds.
I'm with Real Live Lesbian. (no not that way) I have no idea what a truncated feed is.
I have my peeves too, but figure everyone is entitled to manage their blog the way they want. If what they do annoys me I just move on.
I am VERY quilty of the last one. Even if I comment on someone's blog, and they answer that comment, odds are I'm not going to see it. I rarely comment on comments on my blog either. Maybe I should start doing that more.
Doc, nope! There's no trunc in your junk!
Maggie, don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to dictate how people blog and/or present their blog, but more of a , "These are things you might want to consider if you aren't happy with the number of people visiting your blog and leaving comments."
Hubman, I don't think I've ever run into word verification and comment moderation. That's just down right crazy!
Evil Twin's Wife, but you engage your readers most of the time. I was addressing those that never respond to comments on any of their posts even when readers are attempting to engage them.
Real Live Lesbian, there is no trunc in your junk! A truncated feed is when the reader (or RSS feed) is told only to include the first few lines of any post. It keeps people from being able to read the entire post unless they click on the link from their reader. My experience has been that when people do this it is because they are preoccupied with the number of visitors they have and forcing them to visit to read an entire post inflates those numbers.
A piece of news, whew! I thought it sounded a bit snarky too but decided to err on the side of caution and not take it personally.
Jeff B, no trunc in your junk either Jeff!
Bina, are you trying to tell me I never need to respond to you?? *GRIN*
Yeah.... I'm guilty of a few of those. AND many of those annoy the crap out of me too. So does that mean I'm ok.....they even each other out???? LOL
The worst for me really is the word verification thing though. The new blogger is 'testy' and sometimes I have to ask it several times to GIVE me a word. It def makes me just want to move along.
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