1. Cluttered: A layout cannot be "too simple". Sidebar should not exceed content on page.
2. Pop-Ups: Kill it with fire! Sponsored posts/side bar ads are less obnoxious.
3. No E-mail: I often skip potential collaborators because there's no way to contact them!
4. Slow Load: Save most images as web-friendly .jpg and limit the amount of posts per page.
5. Hunting: Social media/subpage/shop links should be near the top of the page. No hunting necessary.
Thrift Core Changes: Behind-the-scenes between reselling stuff I'm 1) going through hundreds of pages in my archives to turn them into a lists for easy browsing 2) brainstorming a new simple layout and 3) Trying to schedule more time for DIYs and well-researched posts.
Questions for you, HALP! How you felt about those "click to read more" layouts where you have to click a link to read the rest of a post? It would allow me to write longer/more picture-heavy posts without affecting Thrift Core's load-time. Do you want more long posts or the current healthy mix? Again, open to guest posts, collabs, and suggestions. (Just e-mail.)
Let's discuss in the comments, what do the best blogs have? What do the worst ones have? Be brutally honest, it's the best way to improve.
Gotta agree. Clean and easy to find things. I don't run into it much anymore but I don't care for music.
ReplyDeleteOh same here! Yeah there should be an option at least, annoying when you're browsing the web with your speakers up and music you didn't want to hear blasts on. My mouse will swiftly close that window and there goes your reader.
DeleteI personally don't like the 'click to read more' posts. I almost never click them and I actually used to follow a lot of bloggers that did that but I found I wasn't reading their stuff so i unfollowed. If you're gonna make a big post just make it a big post.
ReplyDeleteBest thing about blogs, they're simple, clean and easy to comment on.
Worst things about blogs... bad colour choices, too many click-able links and boxes? Making me scroll for too long...
That's the thing, you don't have to scroll for too long with the "click to read more" posts. But like you said, they seem to scare people away so I had mine up for only one day before I switched-back. Thanks for the frank feedback, gives me some things to contemplate, hmmm... ;D Like with everything, helps to make it all as simple as humanly possible.
DeleteWell just make it like 1 - 3 posts per page if they are super long... i mean loooong scrolls, like 8 posts per page and each post had 20 pictures and 5 paragraphs. lol I don't mind scrolling for a bit but not when the scroll bar is super tiny.
DeleteYeah I hate those too. Mine are 3-5 posts per page max, usually 3. I do like how the "click for more" also lets new readers see different posts easily at-a-glance but the cons (people hating it/leaving) outweigh the pros.
DeleteI agree with your list of annoying bloggy things. Another thing I can't stand is poor spelling and grammar. When bloggers can't use the proper form of "to", "two" or "too", then I can hardly keep reading. Or the wrong "their", "there" or "they're". Drives me crazy.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the "click to read more", I only click through if it's something that I really want to read. Otherwise, it's too much effort or takes too much time for it to be worthwhile to me. lol Yes, apparently I am that lazy.
Yes, typos can throw you out of a post. So mad at myself because I have excellent grammar/spelling skills but will make the simple crazy grammar ones, gonna work on not only that but raising my reading level. It really helps to have an extra set of eyes read the post, read every single word slowly outloud, or to write it at night, then come back to it in the morning. All of the best posts "marinate" and are edited/improved for a week at least. Trying to write ahead more so I can do that.
DeleteI try really hard to use proper form, but its just not something my brain can grasp. Hell even Hemingway had issue's with it. So give people a break. Not everyone can be a grammar snob.
DeleteIt won't typically take me out of a site since I realize a lot of blogging duties are done in haste so we can move on to the real money-making tasks that sustain a biz- or just real life- but I do strive to improve writing in every way. Keep on my toes, peeps. The sites I admire the most are the ones with very clever wordplay, I want to get back to that in my writing.
DeleteVan you hit on one of my pet peeves...the click to read more posts. I don't understand the popularity of that format. Please explain it to me if you get it. It seems like some of the blogs I read for a long time and were established blogs eventually 'improve' themselves by switching to the click to read more format. I grumble when I see that and sometimes click away to something else. I may sound like I'm over reacting but I do not like it :)
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I dislike is the use of several different fonts within a blog post. Some people just seem to love 'decorating' their blogs with fonts. It makes things hard to read.
Lastly, no pictures. I gotta have me some pictures.
I remember, sometime last year, a blogger said that someone had "cloned" her blog. She started using the "click more" format to read the entire post to keep anyone from copying her blog again. If someone is on my blog roll or my reading list, it means I want to read what they write so I don't have a problem clicking on a link to read more of the post. At the very least, I do it out of respect for my fellow blogger who took the time to write the post.
DeleteThe format allows new visitors to see a wider range of content at-a-glance, it allows for much faster page loading time, and to many, looks more tidy. It's more of a new-web way of doing things, the way many of us continue to blog with lots of one landing page is very web 1.0. But I prefer simple so that doesn't bother me.
DeleteGotta agree on too many fonts and generally too much in one post, less is more. I would have added photos to the list but some of the sites I enjoy/respect have no photos and wow me with their well-researched arguments or clever wordplay.
You reminded me of another thing I hate, flash animation intro to a site. Just too much, unnecessary to me. It's nice to have an option to watch a video about a brand embedded in the site but being subjected to an animated intro against your will before you enter will scare me away unless I -really- need info or something from that page.
Clamco: That's awesome of you :) I feel the same way, if it's a blog I've followed for years I feel a connection with the writer and will click through all kinds of stuff to keep following. In most cases.
DeleteAnother one. Having to prove I'm not a robot to comment on a blog. I know some bloggers get a lot of spam and have to do it. I don't mind typing in the numbers but when it's letters all smooshed together and faded I have to sometimes refresh and get another set five or more times! They are so hard to read. Often I give up as my comment just doesn't seem that important LOL. I don't know if people have a choice to choose the number format or the letters but please if you do and you're reading this choose numbers!
ReplyDeleteYeah I always suggest not having that at all whenever possible. I can just go back and delete the spam easily rather than push the approval stuff on people.
DeleteI really hate word verification. The numbers are better, but really, the whole thing slows me down. I don't mind if the blogger has to moderate the comments, but at least make them public in a timely manner. Sometimes my comments don't show up for a few days.
DeleteSome people don't even know they have it, I think it's a blogger default for one. I didn't know I had mine on for the first year of blogging. Always helps for us all to comment back and look at our blog as a reader does, helps us eliminate the annoying stuff.
DeleteI agree about the word verification. I feel like I'm taking an eye test every time I have to do it.
DeleteThat reminds of another one, there are some blogs that won't let you comment unless you login to certain accounts or make an account somewhere. I will sometimes try to push through and go through the flaming hoops to comment and it still won't let me and I have to give up. I wonder if anyone has recommended SUPER SIMPLE commenting aps? I try to keep mine as simple as possible but some people still have issues.
DeleteHATE word verification. And it does not stop spam anyway. Moderate your comments and turn off verification.
DeleteFor me blogger seems to have upped their game with keeping spammers out anyway. Yay!
Deletewhat bothers me most is a lack of proof reading. Just because auto-correct doesn't highlight a misspelled word, doesn't mean it isn't occurring. Like in your photo at the top of your post - I'm guessing that was intentional?
ReplyDeleteI also don't like having to jump through hoops to leave a comment, such as with word verification. Blogger gives you the option of moderating comments before they are published. This has helped keep spam off of my blog. Some other blog hosting sites require you to create an account in order to post a comment which I won't do.
Ha, I'd love to say it was but it was not. No spell-check in adobe photoshop when adding text, that'll learn-me to look carefully. I changed it and added a big red check to show it is not spell-checked ;) ha! Embarrassing. I'll slow down and be more careful, many of us are doing lots of things at once and are not slowing down to focus on one thing at a time to diminish errors. Bad excuse but it's the reason for too many errors.
DeleteAgree with your peeves. Some of mine-- so much "junk" that it takes forever to load on my ipad. Forget it. Proving you're not a robot. Super loooooooong posts. Don't have the time. Black backgrounds; kinda hard to read. 100 link-up parties on a single post. Some times people don't make it real clear which picture they're talking about-- the one below the text or above?
ReplyDeleteNot a fan of the click to read more angle. I once read it helps stop people from stealing your content. Don't know all the details on that.
Will be interested to see what other people have to say!
I've read that black backgrounds with huge fonts are supposed to be easier on the eyes that reading pages on the standard white background, which is similar to staring at a light bulb for an extended period of time! My eyes are eff'd if that's the case with all the web writing/reading I do most of the day. But I agree, black is usually oddly off-putting. Never heard of the content-stealing prevention angle on that!
DeleteYou seem to have tapped into a well of my blog pet peeves...Sorry I can't stop the flow now. The blogger who posts apologizing for not being around much and how much better they are going to be moving forward and then disappears. You keep checking their blog hoping they return...nothing...nothing...This cycle sometimes repeats itself several time before they finally throw in the towel.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Nancy on that one. I keep an extensive blog roll, but if you don't keep adding content on a regular basis, you get the boot.
DeleteNo one should ever post "Sorry I've been such a bad blogger" posts unless they're explaining some emergency. Otherwise, yep, agree. Establish a schedule and stick to it, vital to sustain a blog. How do either of you feel about multiple posts in one day, though? May have to edit with that, forgot to ask that question...
DeleteEbay Scavengers posts two podcasts every Monday and because I know that I look for them both. But if you randomly post more than one post a day I might not realize and just see your most recent post when I check my list of blogs on my sidebar. I think it would depend on the content too. I'm mostly interested in reselling so I might not appreciated more content on other subjects. But that's just me. I always enjoy your writing though Van. Would you be doing additional blog posts yourself or have guest bloggers? If I were trying to post multiple times a day all my own content I think the quality of my content (not that I think my content is that great) would go down and I'd run out of fresh material. I only post a couple of times a week and don't always feel like I have something interesting to say. Hope that helps.
DeleteThanks! I thought I'd be ready sooner to do multiple posts a day but I haven't schedule in the time to do that AND have them of the highest quality yet, I have more ideas than time. I'd definitely have to maybe share the new editorial schedule first and let people know when to come back for posts. Eventually I may share what will be posted ahead of time. Thanks for the feedback.
DeleteI don't care if bloggers do "click to read" as long as it doesn't affect the post in an RSS reader. I can't stand reading in my reader and then having to click out of it to read the rest of the post. It feels like forcing people to click in order to get more views in order to get more money from advertisers.
ReplyDeleteMultiple posts from Design*Sponge don't bother me because they're all SO good and so beautiful. I briefly subscribed to Apartment Therapy and couldn't handle the number of posts. It's the one site that I'll just visit and scroll through once a day to see what I want to see... So if you are providing really awesome and varied content, more than once a day (within reason) is OK with me.
Vagueblogging really gets on my nerves.
I never saw it that way with the extra-clicks, always thought it made it easier for people to read/scroll a blog if they don't drop in daily. I can see that, though. Thanks for the honest tip, agree, if it's all high quality it's worth it. If it's filler, NO! I want to work up to multiple posts one day but don't have the time (organizing eBay photos then listing away between checking on the blog/e-mail/social media) yet. Gonna work hard on making it though.
DeleteHaven't heard of vagueblogging before, a buzz word or, I assume, exactly what it means, unclear filler writing? That's never good, either. Each post should have one, clear point.
Similar to vaguebooking... when people are like.. "Life's so hard right now" and beat around the bush for attention. blech. I'm avoiding blogging right now because I *do* have hard news to share and don't feel right posting about it yet and don't want to gloss over it and it just feels awkward and weird. So I'm avoiding it altogether. ha!
DeleteClick to read more. No thanks, I don't want too. Then the blogher popups, typically on a ipad you can't close it down and even if you do as soon as you click on another link, It pops up again. Don't tell me you make so much money off it, its worth losing follower's for it.
ReplyDeleteDayum, even if it's a blogger you like and have read for years like me? ;D I get it, seems like more people hate than enjoy that feature so it won't reappear on my site. I agree on the pop-ups, can't believe it works well for some but I guess it does if people keep them up.
DeleteI have to say I hate when you cant follow a blog that you want to follow. There is no follow this blog button. I find that weird. One of the things I find most impressive about your blog is that you always take the time to reply to everyone. I think you are the only one. I post comments on other blogs and they never reply, seriously! Its very impersonal and it makes me think that they don't care about their followers. So when I started my blog, I was sure to reply to anyone who comments. If someone takes the time to read my blog and they take the time to comment, I should have the time to acknowledge them. I also prefer clean blogs, without ten thousands ads! I also get real bored when a blog is all about the incredible photographs, but they have weak content. Like they spend all this time getting together the perfect picture and they have nothing great to say. I would rather have crappy real life pics and something entertaining/useful to read, Your pics are always lovely, but they are not overly staged and fake. Such as a stack of pretty books on a nightstand with a doily and a cup of tea in a pretty mug, and a Victorian lamp and a pair of glasses overturned on top of the stack of books. And then it will say something like " a calm evening at home, enjoying a cup of tea with my favorite book" Wow, who gives a shit! How fake! I would rather see someones night stand with some crumbled receipts and some loose change and a pair of nail clippers. Because at least I feel they are genuine.
ReplyDeleteOoops, can't see the follow options on mine? There's an e-mail one, an RSS option and an e-mail option but I do need to make it all more obvious. I had it all at the top at one time but it seemed obnoxious. The follow me is now near the bottom of the right side bar along with follow by e-mail. Will definitely work on making that more obvious though.
DeleteI agree on the lack of feedback. It's easy for me because I'm usually on the computer several hours a day listing things/editing photos/working from people and it's nice to switch to the blog and social media for a quick break and reply to people. And it's my favorite part of blogging, genuine interactions, meeting people. You learn and grow that way, like how I learned I had a honking typo on this blog improvement post!
And soooo agree on the "fake" staged content. Same here, would rather have blurry personal photos with enjoyable content than super staged photos with filler content. Other blogs with their amazing photos/homes do help me push the bar and have inspired me to really improve every day with taking photos but I never want to go in an impersonal direction with it.
I usually reply to comments through the email I get saying I have a comment. I wonder if the people leaving the comment see that reply?
DeleteI believe depending on the comments system some people can select to have all replies to a comment automatically e-mailed to them but most won't get an automatic response. I love a responsive site and do my best to reply to all comments/e-mails/social media messages ASAP. Good tactic for any business! People want to feel safe and -heard.-
DeleteHahahahhaahahahahah funny and realistic point, when bloggers post cool pics and nothing to say, I totally agree. But I still follow some blogs with poor writting, just because I love so much their photos and iam passionate about photography, this way can get inspired and get good ideas.
DeleteI think it definitely depends on what the photos communicate. I love some blogs that are mostly just photo blogs, most of these are travel blogs/craft/art, something that shows us a peek at exotic places or lifestyles. One I love is curatingcuteness.com, never get tired of her beautiful photos of her explorations. Simple, but lovely.
DeleteOoo I agree with many of Nancy's points. And the vintage goods poster. I also tend to stop reading blogs when they lose that small - town feel....like I used to love reading the pioneer woman but she had too many followers and is entirely too impersonal....not sure what a blogger would say about that...i suppose the goal is to gain readership but holy heck. I don't like feeling like just another sheep in the crowd follower....i like reading blogs that make ME feel like a creative, special person who sought out the exact content I want to view and started following the writer....i don't like following blogs just because they're popular and everyone else loves them. Weird, I know. I like to think I am unique in my READERSHIP. Also...i hate reading a fave blog to find today's post is about their family or kids or dog....unless it is to offer some kind of advice to make me feel better as a mom. And then I will specifically follow that type of blog for that type of content....but i don't want to see it on a blog I follow for it's vintage emphemera, design style, etc. I do, however, disagree with an earlier comment in that I sometimes love just a post with expertly assembled photographs. That is sometimes all I need for inspiration. Sometimes the writer can't do justice to the image with her words and then the whole experience can be a wash for me. So I say let the image speak for itself sometimes. And BURN BlogHer. Ugh. And heck no to the comment verification. And I especially love the writer to follow up on comments. You are the best I've ever seen at that, van. I really like your content, and the totally communal, conversational nature of what you've got going on here. You sometimes strike me as the coordinator leading a great big happy family of creatives here. And no, I do not like to click to read more
ReplyDeleteThe added wait time to load should just occur upfront rather than making me click a second time and wait again. I need instant gratification. I don't like to work for my content! So now that I sound like a totally selfish, lazy pig, I am done.
I agree that sometimes the photos only posts can be good/inspiring, and some photo-only blogs are good. But the photos usually have a purpose, they're telling a story. Some of those blogs work but I think the best will have a mix of short and long posts that are well-balanced in their distribution.
DeleteThanks for the kind words and being brutally honest! Really appreciate it. Definitely agree, one can get lost when a blog gets too big. I wonder if there's any way for a blog to be huge without losing that personal feeling?
Easy way to comment (don't like comment as), click to read more, and TOO many contests. It almost seems like bloggers are just a circle of people each trying to promote their own blog. Sometimes I wonder how many people are reading that are just reading.
ReplyDeleteAll great points, I really like to try and include the reader and bring in people from outside the "blog circles" - like my "real life" friends/collaborators, blogs outside my subject, local artists you may not have heard of, etc. "Comment as" - is there where you have to login to an account to comment?
DeleteTotal techno clutz , so bad things happen when i play with HTML, I would really like to add an ebay shop button can i find one ? can i hell . Blogs with different formats baffle me. I refuse to be organised , im a card carrying member of the Chaos club
ReplyDeleteIt's tricky when you're first messing with it but you'll get the hang of it. Nowadays we can google any .html problem and find an answer. I had to whip out the calculator, can't believe I've been making websites/playing with .html for 16 years. Still love it. As for organization, I DREAM of being pedantically organized in every element of life one day. It goes against my mostly right-brained ways but I'm up for the challenge.
DeleteUgly photos.
ReplyDeleteBright, clear, creative photos are imperative in DIY/lifestyle/retail blogging for sure.
DeleteWow! There is a lot of venting going on here! When I started my blog it was just for me. I started writing about my diet and weight loss 4 years ago and got some readers/followers from that subject. Eventually I started writing more ebay posts and that's when readership picked up. I don't have that many publicly shown followers, but I get a lot of hits. Readers seem to use my blog as a hub to go to other blogs in my blog roll. I can see all that activity on my Feedjit. I write about thrifting and ebay, about my pets, about my life and I try to be as honest about myself as I can. If readers enjoy it great, but I'm not in the blog business nor am I an artsy photographer. Blogging is my hobby, I really enjoy it and I've "met" so many nice people over the years. I don't have any ads on my blog because I feel that if I'm writing about minimalism, thrifting and living frugally, it would be hypocritical. But that's just me.
ReplyDeleteI started my blog for fun on the side while I was a pro-blogger/copywriter/online marketer person full time. I did it because I've loved the process of making websites since I was 11 and needed and outlet, but over time it grew to my business. I'd have to say, though not usually DIRECTLY- it's been the biggest factor in my ability to work for myself. The materialism element of what I do and my morals conflict within me often, even reselling often goes against my minimalism/back-to-nature/hippie ways internally. Sometimes I'm tempted to remove all ads but I want to transition to more writing/blogging as income and gotta make a living. I am trying to evolve my blog/writing so the ads make sense and there's a healthy balance between my extreme frugal/whole living ways and the more indie materialism I like. Tricky tightrope to walk but I'm on it...
DeleteI use the read more to avoid spoilers and if I want to show case a TON of pictures. I mention it in my blog letting folks know that "Hey to save load time, photos from my vacation are behind a cut" or "Spoilers for my review are behind the cut" otherwise, I hardly ever use it.
ReplyDeleteMy bigges peeve is the proving I am human. I don't mind the numbers, so much easier but if it's words/letters I will not comment.
I don't have it on my blog and if I do come across spam, I just delete it. I'm working on my pictures/picture taking because I get no natural light what so ever. My pictures really suffer.
For when I have a metric ton of photos to show I do believe I'm going to upload the photos to Flickr and link to it for anyone who chooses to browse from here on out and keep posts on the shorter side. Flux of spammer attacks ebb and flow in their tenacity. They've been slow on my blog for a while though they do sometimes attack past posts where I'm not watching, I'm learning as I make archives!
DeleteGood photos are tricky without natural light, I want to get with photography pros and research on that. My posts have definitely improved greatly since moving to light-filled apartments and most importantly upgrading to an SLR.
Videos from youtube!! Or playlists!! I dont like when you have no way to follow a blog you enjoy. Dont like to read negative thoughts all the time. I guess its all said above. I think your blog is awesome and I also want to say thank you to reply to all comments, thats so adorable from you. Whenever I visit florida I wanna meet you up =)
ReplyDeleteYou mean add videos from YouTube, and Playslist, or that they're annoying? I want to add both. :D Thanks for the kind words, do let me know when you're ever in Florida.
DeleteMy main pet peeves:
ReplyDelete1. A white blog with black text. It's just poor design leading to headache-inducing eye strain. Why haven't we all figured out that reading by staring into a light bulb is no good?
2. Flashing sidebar ads. Because I can't focus on your text.
3. Blogs with a "read more" link. If I wanted to click to read you blog...actually I don't and wouldn't. I just want the information available to me in one spot. (I feel the same about magazines that have the story continued in the back.)
4. Unable to comment. I know some people turn off comments for a reason, but if I've got something to say, then I just want to say it now!
4a. Captchas on comments. Come on!
All good points. I fear the damage my eyes have suffered from years of reading black text on a white background on computers for years on websites and word processing programs.
DeleteI just don't understand. The solution is so easy : light grey background, dark grey text. Less contrast, less eye strain. Or, of course, utilize the myriad colors available to us. Whatevs. No one is changing it any time soon.
DeleteClick to read more-I never do either!
ReplyDeleteWord verification sucks!
Replies to comments on the original post.......I have not the time to come back again to see if there is a reply to my comment;I resent that the blogger thinks I have nothing better to do than retrace my steps! I will always go to the commenters blog to reply IF it seems necessary to.
XXX
I'm starting to e-mail to reply to people if they're asking a specific question. For others reading the comments it helps them to see my reply most of the time.
DeleteAlright Van here is my list. I thoroughly enjoy your blog! I don't use a blog feed or some app to alert me when a post has been made on a blog I follow. I usually wake up every morning, check work emails, read some work related news stories, then type "thriftcore.com" in my browser and up your website comes. I think you put something in Thriftcore's water because I truly look forward to checking out thriftcore each morning.
ReplyDeleteI only follow three blogs consistently and yours is one of them. I follow your blog too because you update your content on a near daily basis and it's good content to boot. Content of posts triumphs over everything else for me and usually I can ignore or look around other things as long as the content of the posts are good. I also enjoy how well you comment and interact with your readers, you respond to almost every comment and it's nice to see how passionate you are about your content.
Otherwise that's my peeves, more like saying keep doing what you're doing because it certainly has me hooked!
Thanks so much Jay, I really appreciate the kind words! I'm putting my damn self through the wringer trying to do too much so it means a lot! Gonna keep working hard on it. Oddly enough I don't use a reader, either. I just memorize my favorite blogs/websites/web comics and go to them, haha.
DeleteOne more thing, I love your Etsy store but I really like the shop that you first had, I think it was storenvy you were using? It felt very "undiscovered", almost like finding a hidden gem, but I understand about being where the traffic is and using Etsy over storenvy, though it would be nice to see something like what you had with storenvy!
ReplyDeleteThat's funny I was just thinking of Storenvy, it's still there waiting to be pimped out. I'm going to be adding a bunch of items over to it as soon as I'm done filling up eBay. Was it that fact that the photos were very casual around-the-house photos that made it different, the format, or both? I'll be moving my more pro-Etsy item photos over to it but may keep a mix of home-staged photos with the pro to set myself apart/keep it more casual.
DeleteI'm a bit weird because the world seems to be in love with online videos and I hate them. I recently visited a blog that had video podcasts but also had a summary of each below each video, and that was just perfect for me, all I needed. Maybe I'm just too impatient to watch through, I just want to read and be done with it. Of course some people would rather watch a video than read.
ReplyDeleteBlogs annoy me when they only have snippets of each post on the main page so you have to click through to read anything in entirety, then click back to get to the next post, etc. Just put in the whole post. Like you do!
I have been guilty of this myself. Oops.
I really enjoy yours.
I was going to switch over to that format so I can have long posts without taking up too much room/load time but meh, I'll just have extra photos linked over in Flickr in those cases and keep posts maybe 9 photos or shorter. I used to hate videos but love them now, I watch tons of them (more like listen to) while I'm working. When/if I do add video content I'll be inserting them into a post with content. I still love writing first and foremost.
DeleteI know they're important for bloggers who are doing it as a business or part of a business but call for sponsor posts are kind of annoying. I mean i get why they exist I know they're a necessary evil but having to see them every month in a bunch of blogs gets old. But i have no way to fix that.
ReplyDeleteI also dislike when there's no way to follow a blog with say bloglovin'/ email/ rss etc. if i can't follow it on a reader/ e-mail/ bloglovin' etc chances are I won't be reading it much.
When people have too many sponsored posts. I get having a few but I feel like if you're gonna do a sponsored post it should be for a company/ product that's relevant to you/ your blog. Also bloggers who complain about how they were contacted by a company to do a sponsored post but they don't pay so they didn't do it. I get that may be frustrating especially if blogging is their main job but if they do it more than once it's kind of like throwing themselves a pitty party and i just stop caring. I'm not gonna stop buying from a company just because they won't pay you to do a blog post.
Playlist posts can be annoying too but i dunno that may just depend on my mood a whether or not I'm into the same music. i just rarely ever listen to them to be honest and i'm not sure how many people really do.
I hate having to write my own sponsor posts but I don't mind reading other people's at all, very strange. ;D I rarely do sponsored posts within my blog's content even though I'm often asked. I just -REALLY- don't like surrendering my precious content space to an ad, I love my content and doing that would take a piece of my integrity personally. If sponsor posts ever happen for me (maybe four at the most) they were integrated into content I was going to publish anyway to keep it natural. I'd love to collaborate with health food/natural hygiene/quirk houseware & magazine brands into the future because my heart's truly in that.
DeleteAs for sponsor posts, dunno how but I want to make time to do them in a way where they're still entertaining/funny/random each time.
I love your blog! It's truly one of my favorites. I currently receive your posts to my inbox, and the only thing that I could think of was, *not* to change the format so the reader has to click through the email in order to read the entire post. When this happens I seem to fizzle out of reading. I guess it's one too many steps for this distracted Mama ;) (I'm not proud of the fact that I'm a distracted Mama! HA!)
ReplyDeleteI'm learning to make things as simple as possible for buyers/readers is an important step of the process. Food for thought. Thanks for the feedback, Kristen.
DeleteHave a great day Van!
ReplyDeleteOh my. After this post I looked at my own settings and realized I had the word verification turned on and I didn't even know it. Arrg. Changed.
ReplyDeleteThat happened to me too some years ago, didn't know I had it on until I checked, I bet it's the way for a lot of bloggers. Seems to be a blogger default.
DeleteVan, I really enjoy your content, and I appreciate that you reply to comments. It really irritates me when I take the time to comment on someone's blog and never get any response. To me, a good blog is a conversation and it has to be reciprocal.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the conversation is the best/most helpful part of blogging. It satisfies creatively but the feedback forces me to improve and inspires others, love it :D
Deletei like the click and read posts. i look at blogs through bloglovin so they are all the way loaded when i click. but sometimes i go to the actual blog and those links make scrolling and finding stuff easier.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I like that too. Definitely the "way of the future" for blogging it seems, more streamlined, easier to browse, faster page loading.
DeleteVery interesting comments! I'm glad you put this out there as a question, Van. I am guilty of some of these "annoyances" like "click to read more" - lol!
ReplyDeleteI guess I am not a typical blog reader. At the end of the day, it is the writing and the ideas that are presented that get my attention - although with your blog, the photos were what drew me in first, before I read a single word - and I am willing to "work" to get to the rest of the post and to make sure I read every one. I don't officially follow any blogs; I just bookmark the ones I like and check them out once a week. I guess people are too busy nowadays to have the patience to click over to finish reading, which is kinda sad. I will sit for hours and just read blog post after blog post. I know that may sound weird, but I have always been a reader first and foremost.
Having said all that, what annoys me most is having to type in illegible captcha codes in order to leave a comment. I don't mind doing the math, but hate having to decipher the letters and numbers.
This brings me to another thing I don't like - unfiltered comments. I have seen some blog comments sections littered with spam. It clutters up the space and makes it harder to read the legitimate comments.
I also don't like bloggers who don't respond to comments. As others have said, readers take the time out to read and comment; bloggers should at least take the time out to respond to comments. You are one of the best when it comes to responding to comments. It makes the reader feel like you value him/her when you take the time to respond :0)
Because I love to read and follow blogs, I appreciate it when there is a way to view old posts easily, so I really like it when bloggers add an archives list of some sort. I hate having to hit the "older posts" link over and over to find the very beginning of the blog. Yes, I am that obsessive about reading blog posts! I also like it when there is a search box so that I can easily locate a past blog that say, had a recipe for something.
I love it when blogs get intelligent, thought-provoking comments and discussions going, like yours :0) I don't particularly like comments like "Cool!" or other merely complimentary ones. Of course, I have been guilty of leaving comments like that, but lately I've decided to only leave comments if I have something of value to add. Otherwise, why clutter up the comments with the same comments as other readers'?
And finally, I love it when a blogger has a professionally designed website. It just makes the entire blog feel that much more warm and inviting. I have to work on that for mine, as mine is so bare-bones - LOL!
Thanks for the feedback, I'm the same way Serena. I'll read every post no matter how difficult it's become if it's a blog I love/have been following for years. I'm working on my new archive which will have all past posts neatly organized for easy scanning, doing it by hand and holy crap I have hundreds of posts from the past few years! My first blog layout was (intentionally) super bare bones, it's hard to make a super pro layout while you're still feeling out your style of blogging.
DeleteI'm a late-comer to this post so most of my pet peeves have already been mentioned.
ReplyDeleteI think my biggest one is the "read more > " one.
In close second.....the long ones that have some great content but are just. too. long.
Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteadding my 2 cents because I missed all this--I have to say my number one all time pet peeve IS MUSIC do not bombard me with music you like--I will immediately close out and NEVER EVER go back to your blog if you play music--especially the creepy ass music that starts a minute after I open the blog then I'm like WHERE THE HELL DID THAT COME FROM??
ReplyDeletenumber 2 the stupid captcha codes I just quit commenting on them--I know one blogger who used them, got spammed a LOT, so she made moderation AND captcha a must but she still gets spammed so she did away with comments...she writes about how many blog hits she's had on google adsense and I don't think she realizes that those spammers are hitting as visitors...i FEEL for her but come on, no one gets a million hits in a month without being a blog sensation and she is not! so I guess my number 3 is inflated egos be who you are and no one else!
then there is the dreaded click to read more--I'd love to but I just don't my content is there, it's not AWESOME or amazing but it's there and if someone is going to steal it they're going to steal it
I've never heard of "click to read more" for content protection, I always thought it was a way to streamline the blog, make past posts easier to browse and increase load time. I bet in decreases bounce-rate overall because people have more things to browse and explore. A lot of blogs aren't aware they are missing e-mail or have captcha codes (some are automatic). We should all let our fav blogs know, just in case.
DeleteWay late to this, but I didn't notice that anyone had mentioned one tiny thing that might improve user feel on your blog. Your posts have the link to the comments section at the top, so if I've read your post, and decide to comment, I have to scroll back up to the top of the post to do it. It's a tiny thing, but it would be easier and you might get more feedback (although you get a ton already) if you put the comment link at the bottom of the post.
ReplyDeleteThat's some annoying feature blogger may have auto-added no doubt, I don't like it either. I'll look into ways to change it. Thanks for the tip!
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