As a blogger, one thing I do a lot of is read other blogs. Finding good blogs to read isn’t difficult. I find them through Pinterest, through Facebook, and even on Instagram. I also find them through reading other blogs. We bloggers like to help each other out and share each other’s good work. I really like supporting other bloggers, but there are some blogs I have stop reading as soon as I open them up. Sure, some topics don’t interest me. For example, as a 40-something woman, blogs about makeup for millennials or journaling for college students don’t really grab my attention. But even if the your blog is on a topic I find fascinating, there are several things about it that will make me stop reading and move on to another site as quickly as possible.
My Cup of Cocoa is a blog dedicated to gratitude, happiness and favorite things. I try to keep a positive outlook in all my posts. This post is not meant to criticize anyone. I just want to let you know how I think some blogs can be improved. There have been too many times when I find a blog post that I really want to read, but one or more things keep me from getting to the end of the post and commenting on or sharing it. As bloggers, we all want to have our work appreciated and shared. Here are 5 things I don’t appreciate in a blog.
5 Things That Make Me Stop Reading Your Blog
(and 5 Easy Fixes)
1. Too Many Pop Ups
Picture this. You log into a blog that you think might be really fun to read. The color theme is great. The images are bright and clear and inviting. Everything is pleasing to our eye. And then a small window pops up asking you to sign up for something. It blocks your view and, even worse, you have a hard time finding the teeny-tiny X that lets you close it. Or, shudder, more than one window pops up! Sometimes I will stick around, close the pop up and read the blog, but if it takes me too long to find the “no thanks” button, I just move on.
When deciding on how to use pop ups on you blog, consider how you feel about pop ups on other sites. My fix suggestion is to make your site user friendly. If you must have a pop up, have it show up on the bottom of your screen where it doesn’t block everything. Another important thing is to give your reader more than 10 seconds to read and get interested in your blog before a pop up interrupts them.
2. Too Many Ads
I can’t stand it when I’m trying to read a blog and half of what I am looking at is advertisements. Sometimes this gets so bad that I can’t tell what is blog and what is ad. You know the sites I’m talking about. I keep my ads to the side bar and the bottom of the page. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll put one in the middle of the text if it relates to what I am writing about.
Yes, it’s nice to make money from your blog. But you need happy readers to do that. Too many ads make the reader’s experience less than desirable. The fix I suggest is to be careful in considering your ads placement and only work with companies that allow you to choose where the ads go. It’s your blog, you should be in control.
3. Bad Language
There are two kinds of bad language I’m talking about here. The first is bad grammar and writing skills. It’s hard to read something that is badly written. I’m guilty of grammatical mistakes. We all are. But when I find a blog that is full of bad grammar and spelling mistakes, I usually stop reading it.
Don’t worry. There are fixes for bad writing skills. One is to make sure you edit your posts before publishing them. If you need extra help, I recommend grammarly. You can use it for free and it corrects most of your writing mistakes. Another is to write, write, and write some more. The more you practice, the better you’ll get. The last suggestion I have is to read more. Reading improves language skills in kids and adults. It will expand your vocabulary and enhance your writing ability.
The second bad language I’m talking about is cursing. I will probably sound old-fashioned here, but if I see a blog title that uses curse words, I skip the blog all together. And if I land on a blog post and find excessive curse words, I stop reading and find a new site instead. Language has power. I choose to use my language and power for positivity. Using curse words in your writing may grab some attention, but is it uplifting? Not really. It often comes across as aggressive or, at best, flippant. I’m not saying there is never a use for an expletive, but I am saying you should reconsider using one if you don’t really need it to get your point across.
Looking for a better word to use? I often go to thesaurus.com when I need some word inspiration. It’s a great place to help you build a better vocabulary and improve your writing skills. It’s not a hard fix to use other words. You just need to know where to find them.
4. Difficult Fonts and Busy Backgrounds
When I first started writing My Cup of Cocoa, a friend gave me some good feedback. She struggled to read the font I initially chose. She was reading the blog on her phone and the font I chose was too faint for her middle-aged eyes. I changed it and she can read it much easier now. As a forty-something myself, I can appreciate her problem. It seems that every few months, I find my arms have gotten shorter and I have to hold my phone out further from my eyes to read it.
Another common mistake I have seen on blogs is putting the text over a busy background. Think about almost every book you’ve ever read. The text is on a solid and usually light-colored background. Our various blogging platforms offer a huge variety of options. We can usually pick background colors and even patterns. But just because we can choose them doesn’t mean we should. If your readers have a hard time reading you words because of distracting backgrounds or small, light-colored type, they will probably stop reading your blog.
The fix I recommend is to look at some blogs you really like and find easy on your eyes. Look at professionally designed blogs. See what they do and use it as your guideline and inspiration. If you want a large readership, like those big blogs have, you’ll need to make your blog easily readable.
5. Trying to sell me something right off the bat
Does anyone like this? I can’t imagine they do. It’s almost like telemarketers calling your home. Yuck! I have often clicked on a pin or a Facebook post hoping to find some great information. Instead, I find a website that offers to sell me some information. To me, these sites aren’t even blogs. You know the ones I mean. It would be like you clicking on “5 Things That Make Me Stop Reading Your Blog” and instead of any helpful hints, you find a “great deal” on my ebook. I can’t tell you how many of these “blog posts” I’ve seen. The sad thing is, I might actually want to buy that ebook, but I’ll never know because the writer hasn’t sold me on their credentials, their writing ability, or their sincerity. They just want to sell me something.
This problem is an easy one to fix. Don’t try to sell me something without selling yourself first. Blogging is a personal business. Your readers need to know who you are and what you value. Think about the really successful blogs you know about. They are written by people who share their personality along with their ideas. Blogging is not a get rich quick scheme, no matter what all those pins try to sell you. If you build your readership through good writing, fair advertising, and personal outreach, you’ll build a more successful blog in the long run.
There you have it. Five ways to make me stop reading your blog and fixes for each one. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this post. Do you have any other peeves when it comes to reading blogs? Do you disagree with me? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love it if you’d share this post with other bloggers or bloggers-to-be.
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