I love reading blogs, and supporting my fellow bloggers, but there are a few reasons why I don’t go back to blogs once I discover them. Chances are, if your blog is guilty of any of these, I’m not coming back. Sure, I am one person, but chances are, other people feel the same and aren’t reading your wonderful words.
Are you guilty of any of these?
1. You have white text on black background
Research has shown that web pages that have high contrast text is easier to read than say, pink text on blue background. This means, for best readability, stick with black text on white background.
Now, think about white text on black background. Your readers are staring into darkness trying to make out small bursts of white light in the form of letters. It’s hard to read. Don’t make your readers do it.
2. You play crappy music
Seriously, I cannot believe some bloggers still have music that auto-plays when you come to their site. First of all, it takes forever to load, but even aside from that, why assume your readers want to listen to the latest Selena Gomez hit? We don’t. Get rid of it.
3. You use word verification for comments
Okay, if you have word verification for comments, I might read your blog, but I certainly will not comment. Why have word verification? Are you afraid of spammers? I have a self hosted WordPress blog and I do get my fair share of spammers, but my spam filter catches them.
If you don’t have a spam filter, that’s okay. A little spam never hurt anyone.But I have to ask, why make it more difficult for your readers to comment on your blog post and converse with you about a given topic? Don’t you want people to comment and come back?
4. You write long winded blog posts
For SEO, your blog posts should be somewhere between 500 and 700 words, but aside from SEO, any posts longer than 700 words have the potential to lose your audience. No one wants to read really, really long posts.
Have a lot to say? Consider breaking it up into several posts as a series. And for goodness sake, make your text scannable. Chunk your text. Use headlines and bullets. Leave white space around your blog post and keep it light.
5. Your blog is not mobile friendly
WordPress users have an advantage here. We have a plug in that makes our blog mobile friendly, and easier for people to read on their smartphones. I am not aware of such a plug in for Blogger (if there is one, please let me know!) and there should be.
Why? Because more and more people are reading on their smartphones. Kids, I am up a few times a night feeding my baby. With me comes my phone and a bottle of water. I read while I am nursing, and if your blog is not mobile enabled? It’s harder for me to read that small text and I am probably not going to bother.
Those are just 5 reasons people may not be reading your blog.
For more information about readability on the web, check out this article from Smashing Magazine about Principles for Readable Web Design.
Thanks, I have to say I have passed 4 out of 5. I do have a wordpress and blogger blog. So I don’t know about the blogger one. I will look into it for mobile friendly. My least favorite is the music. If I open a blog in the early am and the music goes off it really gets to me. Thanks, I am going to send this out on twitter. I wish we had something like this group in Palm Springs.
Candi Elm´s last [type] ..Gluten-free playdough recipe
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Girlslunchout Reply:
October 11th, 2011 at 8:00 am
I found out Blogger does have a mobile theme- and it looks great!
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I have run into a few that now have commercials that automatically play when I land on their site. HATE IT! I don’t mind ads (as long as it’s not so cluttered that my eyes go cross) but the videos that automatically start up tick me off just as much as the music. I usually have music or Hulu/Netflix going in another window so I really don’t want more noise.
Angela´s last [type] ..Online Stalking
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Girlslunchout Reply:
October 11th, 2011 at 7:59 am
Who does commercials? If I’d seen that, it would be on my list!
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I love posts like this. Makes me go through the checklist in my head to make sure I’m not on the naughty list! If you happen upon my blog & see something naughty, please tell me!
Mimzy Wimzy´s last [type] ..Meet & Greet Monday – The Martha Project
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Girlslunchout Reply:
October 11th, 2011 at 8:01 am
Check off this on your list, girl!
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Agreed!!
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Points 1, 2,3 and 5 – yes. Yes, yes, yes!
Point #4? Eh… I have to take small issue with that one. My posts average about 800 words. Some posts are 500 words and some have been as many as 1200. That might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but my loyal readers don’t seem to mind. I chunk my text, use images, and employ sub-headers whenever possible. And I always, ALWAYS give my posts a good read-through 2-3 times before I hit publish, just to make sure the flow sounds right. If it doesn’t, or parts seem too wordy, then I edit. But more often than not, I feel like if I edit just for the sake of trimming the word count, then something gets lost in the telling.
I do think blogs that focus on instructional and/or technical content should keep their posts short and to-the-point. But on personal blogs like mine, I really have no problem reading a longer post, so long as it’s well-written. So, I get a little touchy when blog tutorials hammer home the word count issue. And if my longer posts risk turning off readers, then so be it, I guess. As long as I feel I’m staying true to my voice, I offer no apologies.
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White text + black background = guaranteed headache. I never understand why people use that. It doesn’t even look good. The good news is I passed your 5 criteria. Now I just need you to come visit for the first time
Great post. I’ll be back.
Jay
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Definitely not a fan of white text on black backgrounds, or comment verification systems. But also, on occasion, I come across a website that I’d like to continue reading via email… If there’s no subscribe by email option, I’m gone. Sorry.
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