Five Mistakes That Are Hurting Your Blog and it’s Growth
For the past few weeks, I’ve taken the time to engage more within the blogging groups/communities that I’m part of. Needless to say, I’ve read a ton of posts and encountered lots of mistakes that I’m sure has hurt their blog growth. Regardless of the niche, these same five mistakes are annoying and can cause people not to visit your website again. . . hence, hurting your growth. So here’s five annoying mistakes that you need to avoid!
Not Having a Read More Link
When I enjoy a blog, I tend to scroll through to see what other posts they’ve written. It’s a huge inconvenience and slightly annoying to scroll through an entire blog post just to see the next one. I know some people don’t like using read more links and I can’t for the life of me figure out why! If you have a great preview paragraph, people are going to click. To be completely honest, I click by just reading the title because it interests me and I want to know more! If you don’t have the read more link, there’s a high chance people get annoyed and just click off. No one wants to be forced to read a post that doesn’t interest them.
Complicated Website Design
I know everyone loves those high end websites with all their pretty buttons, slide down menus, features and all that other stuff. Sure, it looks great aesthetic wise but the issue is, it isn’t user friendly! You know the ins and outs of your website because it’s YOUR website. The average random reader doesn’t know to slide this over to see that feature and to hover over whatever other pretty button you added to find the categories page. All we want to do is. . . get to where we want to go. . . NOW! People don’t have time to figure out your website, so it’s more than likely that they’re clicking off.
Ads, ads, ads
Oh my goodness. . . the amount of ads that I’ve seen on these blogs and websites are absolutely ridiculous! I know y’all want to get your coins (we all do) but there’s no need for you to have 8 ads pop up in my face in less than 60 seconds. I’ve seen SO MANY annoying ads that I have to make this section its own sub section.
- Too many ads – Do we really need to see your Nissan ad 5 times throughout the post?
- Too large – What is it with the ads that take up the entire screen? Some of them I couldn’t find the exit out button. Just an FYI, this is SUPER ANNOYING for anyone whose visiting your site via mobile.
- Nonstop – One blog I visited, had the same popup every time I went to a new page. I had to physically exit out of it every. single. time. Of course I was sick of reading that popup ad more than their actual content, so I left their blog completely.
Not mobile friendly
I rarely know anyone that does things on their computers anymore unless it’s required. . . this includes reading blogs. If you do not have a mobile friendly website, then you’re seriously hindering your blog growth! Not only does your audience appreciate it but Google does as well. It’s a known fact that Google ranks mobile friendly websites higher than those that aren’t.
Complicated comment section
The point of these blogging groups/communities is to engage, so naturally I will read their post and leave a comment. I can’t tell you how many issues I’ve ran into by just trying to engage on a website! Some of these blog comment boxes require way too many steps and are too complicated. It’s hard enough to get people to engage, so when someone tries/wants to, it should be as simple as possible. All I want to do is enter my comment, type in my name, email address and hit publish/post. That’s it! Why do I have to sign up for your blog? Or choose how to post the comment via whatever social network? Just let me post the comment and go on my way!
I know this post sounds very nick-picky and harsh however, it’s exactly what your audience may be thinking! People are busy and want quick satisfaction/results; they come to get what they’re looking for and move onto the next. So everything on our blogs/websites should be quick and easy to do, with no additional thinking required! I hope this post helps you to avoid these small nuances and if you have any additional mistakes to list, please let me know in the comments! Don’t forget to subscribe and we’ll speak soon!
Until next time ASSASSINS. . . Stay Disciplined!
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These are really great tips! I’m following all of them, I would add one more and that’s too much ads! It’s such a turn off for me. I can’t spend too much time on someone’s blog if they have too many ads. I know it’s not a tech mistake but it’s really annoying!
Too many ads is definitely a turn off, I completely agree!
I totally agree with all of these things listed! It’s so important to have a friendly blog design. You definitely want things tailored to your readers!
You are absolutely right about it. I hope I have all these points covered on my blog. 🙂
❥ tanvii.com
Your tips are excellent! and crystal clear explanation! I have been improving my blog for quite a while and I think I have all these issues solved. I still need to work a lot on creating catchy titles, I’m not very good at it.
Thank you so much! Yes, improving our blogs does take a lot of education mixed with trial and error! As far as titles, I’ve found that these work best:
“How to…” “5 Ways to..” “Ultimate Guide to..”
People love to read something that’ll guarantee them instant resolution to a problem. Hope that helps!!
This is so informative. Glad I was able to read this, There are really things that can be annoying to our blog growth.
Thank you for reading!
Great tips for someone new to blogging or even someone who considers themselves a pro and needs a reality check. I one thing that bothers me is when I have to create an account to leave a comment. n
Oh you made a great point with creating an account to leave a comment! I really don’t like having to do that either… it can really cause a person to click out of the site altogether and not engage. This is the biggest issue I’ve seen thus far with commenting on other blog posts.
There is nothing worse than any website having any pop-up ads let alone a bunch of them. I like to keep my blog clean with just a couple of stationary ads that do not get in the way.
Stationary ads I don’t mind too much but if it’s A LOT of them I can get annoyed/sidetracked as well. You’re so right though… nothing worse than those popups ads!
While reading this, I had to open a new tab to cross check my blog with your tips! It’s always nice to have an outside perspective on these types of things, I know when I update the layout of my site I send my link to random friends and ask them about how intuitive and user friendly it is. We all blog for an audience, it’s always best to keep the reader in mind and make sure they are having the best experience on your site. These points are totally helpful for anyone who wants to make sure they aren’t alienating their reader!
So funny that you opened another browser to cross check! I do the same when I’m reading tips as well LOL! Totally agree that it’s a good idea to get an outside perspective on the user experience. Especially from readers (mostly people we don’t personally know) who will give their honest feedback. Thank you so much for reading and I’m glad you found it helpful!
Some great tips for anyone who owns a blog. Another thing to note about being mobile friendly is the Google has announced that they are preferring mobile-friendly pages now too.
I completely forgot about that announcement made by Google! You’re so right!
Thanks for this review. I thought my blog (natashalajolie.com) was not fancy enough but after reading your post, it looks like it might be an advantage for readers. And It is also ads free!
It’s definitely an advantage… especially if it’s super easy to navigate! No need for all that fancy stuff because people are there to read your content!
Ads are probably it for me as well. I agree that having ads pop up especially on every click of a blog would just deter me away from it.
Right… I end up reading more of their ads than the actual content! People really go overboard with the ads sometimes.
This is a really handy article. You provided some really great tips especially for newer bloggers who may need some guidance.
Thank you! Helping newbie bloggers (even though I’m still considered new) is my main focus!
I hate blogs with too many ads as well. They are hella annoying.
LOL! That was the perfect response!