Comments on: 10 Things Your Blog Doesn’t Need

By: Mary McDonald

Mary McDonald — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 11:30:35 +0000

Great tips. There is one person I follow who plays music. If I’m at home, I don’t mind it, but often I’m at work and don’t always remember to mute my sound. When that music comes over, it’s like, Yikes! I then click out asap. I might come back to leave a comment, or I might not.

Thank you for mentioning the dark backgrounds and white type. I am, ahem, not a 25yo any more. I just got bifocal contact lenses, which helps, but it still is an effort to read tiny white print on a black background.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 18:25:28 +0000

Oh so very true, I hate blogs that force music on people more than anything. And animated gifs just distract!

By: Law

Law — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 07:36:20 +0000

11. Dont stress readers with pop-up or big letters in pages/sidebar/articles with subscribes to this.

One place in sidebar is enogh.

By: Julie - Fine Tooth Comb

Julie - Fine Tooth Comb — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 02:23:47 +0000

An interesting post! It’s amazing how many of the 10 items you listed were “in” even as recent as a few years ago (#1, 2, and 6 particularly). Even if a blog has great content, any of these items can scare away readers.

By: Joshua Dorkin

Joshua Dorkin — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 00:04:52 +0000

I’m with the first commenter, Keith. It seems that a lot of bloggers these days are using a list building pop-up, which is a quick way to get me to leave. The only thing more annoying is that damn music.

By: Bucksome Boomer

Bucksome Boomer — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 13:57:35 +0000

Thank you for these tips. Would it be rude to email this article to violators….

I second Marian’s addition which would be blogs that require registration to leave a comment. It really discourages interaction.

By: Scott R. Sheaffer

Scott R. Sheaffer — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:11:16 +0000

Right on the money. I think most seasoned bloggers know these 10 points but it’s good to have them reaffirmed. Excellent post. New bloggers please take note!

By: Kirsten Lesko

Kirsten Lesko — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 17:27:57 +0000

I love the tip about the badges. Sidebars do start to take on that boyscout vest look!

By: Harsh Athalye

Harsh Athalye — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:25:47 +0000

Absolutely correct regarding flashy backgrounds and tiny type. I mean, what’s the point? If you are going to make reader wear magnifying glasses just to read your article, why should anybody just look at it, let alone read.

Great tips!

By: Didi Lorillard

Didi Lorillard — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:11:48 +0000

Ads, especially the animated ones, that go to body image are annoying. There is one of a woman lying across the top of the page on her side looking at you and every time she breaths her belly gets bigger. Then her belly recedes. Animated ads that make me feel fat and bad about my body are irritating. This one says, “1 trick of a tiny belly: Cut down on your belly every day by using this 1 weird old trip.” It links to a questionable diet scam.

By: Julius

Julius — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 20:55:48 +0000

Auto-music not only annoys most of us, but it also makes it difficult for people who use assistive software (e.g. screen readers) to access blogs.

By: Robert Scott Lawrence

Robert Scott Lawrence — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 20:11:58 +0000

The just-say-no-to-music recommendation is on the money for sure — I bought my vizsla from a really nice couple in the midwest that had the most hideous, irritating tune on their website — and you couldn’t turn it off!! Had to hit mute to shut it up.

By: Debilz

Debilz — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:40:25 +0000

10. Plagiarism

Totally agreed! It means you can’t be creative, even if you’re using someone else’s post for source.

And again, thanks for the great tips!

By: KK

KK — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 16:44:29 +0000

Barbara Barbra.

2. Animated Gifs: Sure, they were cool in the late 90s.

No, they weren’t.

By: Daniel Scocco

Daniel Scocco — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:20:23 +0000

@Robert, it is a temporary issue. The links are coming back soon, with some novelties in the comment section as well.

By: Kim

Kim — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:49:51 +0000

Great post – and yes I have had the auto-music come blaring out while I was surepticiously trying to surf the web at work – BUSTED!
As a blogger user I have only turned on comment verification for posts older than 30 days. It works very well (and doesn’t annoy readers!)
My other “peeve” is unjustified text – it just looks wrong most of the time (except on a white background – and this is not the only site I’ve tested it on)

By: CJ

CJ — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:41:03 +0000

I agree with all these items. I really think there needs to be 12 items tho: (11) – the popup as you leave the site as Richard mentioned and (12) the video only option. I usually can read faster than your video, but nothing worse than a text intro with all the meat in the video.

By: Harrison

Harrison — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 05:00:46 +0000

robert… I was surprised to see there are no comment authors links here anymore…

By: Ed

Ed — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 01:14:20 +0000

sweet advice d00d. i especially like your point about autoplaying music. it is very annoying especially when little kids start putting loud rock songs on autoplay. i admit it sometimes i actually get scared by this especially when it catches me off guard

By: Lolli

Lolli — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 01:07:30 +0000

Amen! I wholeheartedly agree with all of these tips! Scary Mommy knows what she’s talking about!

By: robert

robert — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 00:46:01 +0000

WHAT YOU SHOULD NEVER DO–remove comment authors link.

Read my blog and leave a comment, but don’s expect me to give you a backlink because all I want is Google rankings and 43,000 subscribers sends a bad message in my book.

If comments and links are that much of a problem, you shouldn’t be trying to build a community with a blog!

By: Cougel

Cougel — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 23:20:17 +0000

Great post and helpful reminder. I’m going to make sure I make my font bigger! Blogger keeps messin with me 😉

By: christy

christy — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 22:32:46 +0000

I agree with every single one of hers and would add avoid having advertisements that move around the screen – they are so annoying!!

By: Tigersue

Tigersue — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 22:01:37 +0000

I will keep my music and I will also keep comment verification. It isn’t just spam but some pretty horrible spam that I keep out. If your comment isn’t worth that short time to put it in that I guess it isn’t worth it.

By: Jerseygirl89

Jerseygirl89 — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 20:08:01 +0000

Great advice. Especially about the music – I think auto-music should be banned on all sites, as well as elevators and grocery stores.

By: Krystal

Krystal — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:57:41 +0000

I loved this!! I hate visiting blogs where I’m having to locate the volume button because I don’t want to listen to the music while trying to focus on their actual posts. Also agree with the Animated Gifs. Takes away from the reason we visit blogs which is to read the posts.

By: Jo Anna

Jo Anna — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:52:09 +0000

Straightforward. To the point. Nicely done. Cleaning up my sidebars now. 🙂

By: Arie Rich

Arie Rich — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:47:28 +0000

OMG, I cam across this post by accident and I am so glad I found it. These are some really really basic rules that every blogger new or old must read and follow. I’ve been noticing that many of these rules are broken continuously left and right and it is extremely annoying. The music playing, the flashy background with tons of graphics and pictures of yourself and slideshow banners of yourself. The Badges! Yes! ugh! Badges that we don’t even really cared for.
I had to share this on Twitter, it must be stopped! LOL.

Thank you!

Arie Rich

By: Harrison

Harrison — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:35:50 +0000

Having to enter a code to leave a comment is not a big deal. If entering in a few letters prevents you from leaving a comment then maybe your comment wasn’t worth it anyway. As for the rest, I agree.

By: Kiesha @ WeBlogBetter

Kiesha @ WeBlogBetter — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:21:07 +0000

I don’t care how good the content is – I absolutely can not stand auto-music or any other auto-audio! You can’t assume all of your readers are in a place where they are ready to hear your blaring music or talking. Some people may be in a library or at work, or simply don’t want to be bombarded.
Thank you for including that as #1 – it’s definitely my number 1 pet-peeve.

By: samuel

samuel — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:17:34 +0000

i think bloggers must be creative!!!! nice post!

By: bee

bee — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 16:07:49 +0000

very suitable for beginners…

By: Suzanne Franco

Suzanne Franco — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 16:02:17 +0000

Ditto with everyone else here … especially the auto-play! Geez! Give us a break already huh? 😉 Thanks for the great post. *SmiLes* Suzanne

By: Funkidivagirl

Funkidivagirl — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 12:53:40 +0000

Auto music and comment verification kill me!

By: Chris Peterson

Chris Peterson — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 12:28:10 +0000

What you are saying good. If a blogger need to his blog more popular then he should avoid this type of silly mistake otherwise he will lose his visitor attention

By: Omer Greenwald

Omer Greenwald — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:25:49 +0000

I would add: 11. ads that take the focus from your content.

By: neel

neel — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 09:27:01 +0000

It is true about no music and no pop up law… but as V.C speaks most of the bloggers are smart enough to know all this and act accordingly.

By: V.C

V.C — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 08:22:39 +0000

I think bloggers nowadays are smart to avoid these silly mistakes.

By: shendy wilandria

shendy wilandria — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 06:45:57 +0000

very nice info . i need that as a starter blogger .
dailyblogtips.com very help me so much ! thank you !

By: David Hutchison

David Hutchison — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 06:18:22 +0000

ego.

Check it and let the content speak for itself.

By: Richard Scott | Jewelry Secrets

Richard Scott | Jewelry Secrets — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 04:47:31 +0000

Amen! I agree to all of these as well as the popups. Something else that should have died years ago but you still find it now: Scrolling Marquees! That’s enough to send me over the top.

By: Marian Schembari

Marian Schembari — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 04:10:03 +0000

Oh my goodness, agreed agreed AGREED. I also can’t stand when you have to register to leave a comment. How does that benefit anyone? All it does is prevent people from commenting and NO blogger wants that!

P.S. Just saw that Deb thanked you/agreed three times as well. Apparently this post is so magical we all need to repeat ourselves over and over and… wait for it… over.

By: --Deb

--Deb — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 03:26:57 +0000

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Especially for the no-music, and no-animations rules. I detest sites that force me to listen to music … even worse are the ads that automatically start playing. Either are terrible if I’m sneaking in some web-browsing at work.

Of course, the spelling and grammar rule shouldn’t need to be said at all, but, sadly….

By: Keith

Keith — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 03:17:48 +0000

What about the annoying popup insisting I sign up for your list, and then when I try to close it another one pops up saying “WAIT, we have something special for you!”