What I've learned about blogging


When I started blogging, I think I was like a lot of people. Just looking for a place to write, say what I want to say, document my family growth, etc. After a year and a half of blogging I started thinking about "expanding" and looking to reach out to others, maybe do a review here or there, share things I'm making.

Along the way I have learned a lot from other bloggers. Especially in the last 6 months. But I am still learning and will continue to learn for as long as I blog.

Here are some of the things I've learned (Keep in mind, this is only my opinion!)

-Turn off Captcha Verification!
Have you ever commented on a page then gotten to captcha and just about walked away without publishing your comment? I feel like this every time! I will admit, when I first started blogging I used captcha.... until I started regularly commenting on other bloggers pages, and realized how annoying it was! I turned it off immediately. I didn't want spam getting on my page, so I instead have the comment moderator on so that I have to read the comment before it shows up on my page. I get so few spam comments anyway and I like to know when a new comment in posted so I can reply. Which leads me to my next topic....

-noreply-comment 
For a while I would try to keep up with my comments on the page where the comment took place- until I started having my comments emailed to me! Now I love being able to respond to people via email! Mainly because how often do you go back to the page to check if the blogger responded to you? I try, but usually fail at going back to look!  But sometimes bloggers don't have their email set up and you are not able to reply. Plug in your email so that I can email you back when you comment on my page.

-Music
Just.Don't. But if you insist on having music on your page, at least make it so that it doesn't auto play. Nothing drives me more crazy than when I go to a blog and music starts blaring because I forgot to turn the speaker off after I've watched a clip of something else. If I go to your page and music starts blaring, I will typically just close out.

-Page views counters
I think page views are great for our own viewing, but I'm over showing them off. I sort of feel it's like withdrawing your paycheck and saying, "Look how much I've got!"

-Ads/giveaways/reviews/sponsor begs
I think all of these are great as long as they are not overdone! I love reviews because they can be really helpful, and I am excited to be getting to do some reviews of my own. But if you constantly do reviews, and your niche is a "mom blog", I might start to skip over them. And if you are constantly asking for sponsors, I will keep on going.
I also try to steer clear of bloggers who say, "follow me and I'll follow you". Again, I have said this in the past, but now that I am more into blogging, I'd rather have readers who actually read my blog, instead of just adding to my follower count.

-Too busy blogs
If you have so many ads, sponsors, clutter, etc. on your page that I can't even find your post- then it's a problem!

-Unreadable fonts
I've debated over my own font since I changed my page almost a year and a half ago. I love this font but the exclamation point looks like an "l" or "1"... {{{ See !!! }}}  Just because you can read it, doesn't mean that everyone else can!

Well.... That's that! Like I said, these are just my views and thoughts about what I've seen since I started blogging.

So what do you think? What drives you crazy when it comes to blogging?

12 comments :

  1. Definitely blogs that are too commercialized are a turn-off for me.
    And honestly, I'm surprised that people still comment "I follow you if you follow me" kind of stuff. It seems to be pretty universally despised. Of course I like followers, but how about everyone can just follow my blog if they are interested and want to keep reading, and I'll follow their blog if I'm interested and want to keep reading. And then we'll all be happy and honest.
    It'll never happen, but it would be nice!

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  2. Great post! I agree with you on all of this. I enjoy the giveaways, link parties, etc. And I understand that you have to market those but I've found that some bloggers only post about giveaways. I don't see anything from them except for "check out this giveaway."

    I will follow blogs that I like and ask for a follow back. Of they don't follow back, that's ok. I'll still follow their blog.

    And catcha and no-reply bloggers are on my "drives me crazy!" list. :)

    Have a great day!

    Julie

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  3. the music thing bothers me too. haha. my blog is newer (even though i blogged for my showroom for almost 2 years prior) and it feels like sometimes if you dont have lots of followers nobody pays attention but you are right- i really only want people who find my blog a fun 2 minute escape each day and want to read what i have to say. i enjoy your blog and always find it fun to stop by and see what ya got to say! :) have a great week!

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  4. Thanks for sharing your list! I had thought about one day learning how to add music, but I see your point, so maybe I'll not bother, especially since I've got so many other things I'm still trying to learn. :)

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  5. I have to say that I agree with each and every single one of these!

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  6. Agree with your points! I am so over saying 'I've followed you please follow me back' I would be way too embarrassed to ever do that, amazing how many people do it and don't even make one comment about the post.

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  7. I agree with pretty much all that you said ESPECIALLY the "follow me and I'll follow you" I've been suckered into following blogs that I have nothing in common with and just clog up my feeds. And it's true, who wants a bunch of followers if they don't bother to read your blog! Great post!

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  8. i've leaned the hard way about the ill follow you back if you follow me! hahaha... i agree with melanie! i dont want numbers ... i want readers!!! oh and i'm down to following people on only one platform! Oh... and re-tweeting your post 10 times.... well... we wont go there...!

    Great post!

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  9. I agree with the captcha comment, I hate it because sometimes i would type it wrong and then start over or my comments would just disapear!

    I like your font a lot but agree about the exclamation point it does sometimes look like a L or 1!!!

    Great POST!! keep it up

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  10. I'm pretty much in agreement with what you've brought up, although I don't mind give-aways because who doesn't like free stuff? ;) Apparently some people don't. I do have to say that your font is really hard to read because it's so light. It almost blends into the white background. My eyes are starting to hurt trying to read it, lol.

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  11. So many thoughts, too little time. That combination drives me crazy about blogging! Your newest follower from Chaton's World http://chatonsworld.blogspot.com.

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