This list includes many of the things that annoy me as a reader of blogs and an avid pinner on Pinterest. I would say I am more of a learner and observer than an full time blogger at this time. As I have been reader blogs to learn how to be a better blogger, I have noticed many of these issues over and over again, even from the pros. Most of the time I will leave a blog right away and not return with any one of these problems. I hope this list can open a discussion about what readers really want and how to engage them better. Not only for me but for all bloggers out there.

These are not in any order and are not meant to upset any one. I think it is just as important to understand what is not working as it is what is working. We are all learners here, right?? Sorry if I am using the wrong terms but I do not self host yet, so I am not familiar with those blogging terms and coding.

 

1. Unclosable opt-in pop ups or landing pages. I have seen a few of these with no close or x out button, so I will just leave before signing up every time. To me it is a little (well more like a lot) pushy. I don’t mind pop ups per say but how do you know if you want to know more information if you haven’t even read your post first.

2. Landing pages that doesn’t move, therefore making it impossible to read your blog. I am not sure if that is even the right term for this but it is a half page pop up of sort that covers the bottom half the page. I have seen this mostly on BlogLovin so I am not sure if this that platform or the blog it’s self. But between the header on the top and this pop up on the bottom you can’t read but 5 lines of the article at time. I will leave these blogs too  knowing they have good information on them but I am easily distracted so with limit area to view its super hard to read.

3. Pins that take you to your homepage and not the article or pin graphic. I know sometime you move or delete a post so the pin may send you to your home but it is annoying no the less. I just click on a pin from an Blogging Expert and after much loading (which is also a tip) it pulled up her home page where I didn’t see said pin any where (this time I really looked). I am not sure if it on purpose or not because I know do have a lot of pins that go to my home page but these are not articles or anything.

4. See more for the full article. What are these called “click through” to see the whole article? I have several of these on blog article but mostly on spam websites that want the ad money more than their content. Most of the time I will not click to read more after reading the 2 or 3 sentence that are there. Often times I am confused as to where the article is before seeing the see more button because it doesn’t jump out at me.

5. Readers are lazy and tend to skim read an article before fulling reading it. I for one skim read everything and only pull out the important parts but I have dyslexia so reading a lot of words can get mixed up in my mind. I once read that bolding text is important to help reader skim better and also keeps them focused. Much like I did here. Also too much fluff can distract reads, unless its a more personal post.

6. Readers are visual, we like an article that is broken down well and is visual appealing. We all know photos are so important to get a readers attention but that’s not where it ends. I like many others, like a pretty organized blog and will stay longer if it is easy to follow. This will also lower your bounce back rate.

7. Having to login to a program to comment on your blog. I love to comment on blogs but there are some programs that request you to login in to comment, I won’t for the most part login. I much prefer those that you can comment as a quest or that I am already login in with. On the plus side, I have noticed this improving for the last couple years with all the news programs available.

8. Slow loading pages like anything else everyone is in a hurry. A slow website will more than likely result on low traffic. I know if I am loading for a while I will just close it out, it is something I want to really read I will try again (I know somethings its my internet too).

9. Stop copying others ideas, be original. Come up with your own content or at least put your own spin on someone else content. I try really hard to make my content different but I know sometimes that is impossible because there are just too many people online these days. Something that is important to get more traffic it to fill a need or solve a problem others are having. If you have original content your readers will notice and share too.

10. Title that doesn’t match your content. This one is a new one for me, I only recently noticed when a title doesn’t match what you have written about. For example, I saw a pin with 10 ways to …. in the graphic and I was looking for a list and there wasn’t one.. Again I am a skimmer (I looked for list first) and after reading the first paragraph I closed it because it didn’t match what I was looking for. With that said the Title was great and I was really hoping to learn something new for it. Titles are extremely important to attract your readers but we know that already.

11. Not responding or interacting with comments or questions. I know once you get to a certain point responding to everyone is impossible but I think answering relevant question are very important. Answer relevant question can keep a blog post alive for a long time. I have one post that still gets comments 3 years later, I do respond to all of them. As a reader will read comments to see if there is more information or an answer to my question before asking.

12. Not writing from the heart. I prefer blogs that are more personable than written like a owners manual. But this can vary greatly depending on your niche and what you want to say. I find there is a happy medium between personal and professional.

13. Not checking broken links, broken links on Pinterest are very annoying and can lead to lower ratings on Pinterest and Google. I know it happens to everyone including myself but checking them regular can help. Two months ago I had 3 broken links and didn’t even realize it. I delete those pins and like I said before I have a better ranking now on Pinterest.

Which one annoys you the most?? Please share even if it’s not listed, we can all learn from our mistakes, Right??