It is very rare for someone to say “Your blog irritated the heck out of me”! It isn’t because people are all so nice - no, it is simply because they just leave your website right away!
Are you driving away traffic because your blog is just plain irritating? Perhaps?
In the blogging world today there is a massive amount of stuff churned out for you to add to your blog, and sometimes the temptation is high to keep on piling it all in. Does your blog look crisp and professional? If not, perhaps you can chop away at some of the riffraff that has accumulated on your blog. Get out your axe and let’s see what we can take off…
There is one big thing to keep in mind when you write/develop your blog … I’ll get to that later…
Pop-up subscription notices
Like everything in this post, this is not taboo in your blogging, but use it with extreme caution. I complained recently to a blogger, they had a subscription banner that you just couldn’t get rid of.
If it sets a cookie and only pops up the first time the visitor visits your site, then it’s okay. Even then, I don’t like them, and I think it is far better to not have them at all.
How can you turn this around
Here is one great use of these pop-up things I have seen that will make your readers happy to visit your site - if you give something really meaningful away to them. In most cases this will be an e-book.
Half of your ads
You want to make a couple bucks from your site? Me too. Are you? Why not - maybe it is because you chase your readers away before they have the chance to fall in love with your blog.
You can certainly run ads without offending anyone, and a reasonable number is okay, but take a good look at your website and ask yourself “is any visitor to my site going to look at the website and think that the site looks fantastic?” Use that as your measuring stick.
How can you turn this around
If you have material that you have produced, such as books or software your visitors know that you are going to be selling that to them, and you can make it really obvious.
Your blog’s design and structure
Okay, if you never get down into the code of your blog this isn’t relevant to you and it is a bit dated, but I think it is still happening all the time. Make sure your website style is done with a good CSS file, so that you have a faster load time.
How can you turn this around
Well, in your header you can go ahead and do some stylish things, using images and whatever you like, just make sure it doesn’t waste to much time loading and make sure it looks really professional.
This presentation will help you 
Like this presentation? Feel free to embed it on your blog using the code below!
Poor quality Pictures
If you like to use an image for every post - which I do, make sure that you get images that catch a bit of attention, and look quiet good. Where do you get them? Well, of course, you can take some yourself - if you write about a topic, perhaps you also photograph relevant stuff. But, there is a much easier way - use Google Image Search to find good pictures.
Most importantly, go into advanced options and choose a sharing license, and give proper attribution to the author. Don’t, don’t, don’t use people’s images without their consent or a sharing license. And if you can, just drop them a note to say you have used their picture. They may become a fan of your blog.
Baggage
Simply put, too much stuff on your website. Each page of your site should either be telling your visitors where on your website they might find what they are after, or it should have one main story. If you have a bunch of scrolling media updates, Twitter feeds and so on, consider chopping some of that back.
Look at each page and ask yourself “Aside from reading the content, what are the most important things that I want my visitor to do”. Is it a subscription or an ad you want them to click on - well if there is too much stuff going on, consider chopping out a good deal of what is not important.
Consider it this way, they may only pass that page - or your whole site - once, so give them the chance to do the things on your site you most want them to do. Don’t hide it amidst to much other stuff.
How can you turn this around
If you have updated content (blog posts, for example), one of the most important things to you would be subscriptions. Make it easy to find the subscription by having it at the top of the page as well as at the end of each post.
By taking away some of the other content, you can add more of the important stuff, and I think your feed icons and text is perhaps the most important thing - other than your text, on most pages.
Animation
Oh… I can’t stand it anymore! They’re *blinking* and *beeping* and *flashing*!
Simple one - don’t irritate the heck out of your blog visitors. I know that many ads that you get through affiliate programs are like this, but, again, think of your visitor. Sometimes I really want to read something and actually leave a site because the content is right beside something flashing at me.
At least put it far away from where your user is reading. Distracting a visitor to your blog with silly things is really not a cleaver way to build up a following for your blog.
One way to turn this around is in educational material. Explaining things like Longshore Drift can be done really effectively with animations.
…It is all about one thing - letting your reader have a good time on your blog!
It is all really saying a lot of the same thing - see your blog through the eyes of a would be visitor. There really are a huge number of blog out there, all competing for the user’s attention. Give the visitor a good reason to stop a while, to take it in and give them the desire to visit again.
Vernon is starting a project on his personal blog Sandcurves.com, exploring the theme “Developing a Meaningful Blog”.
Susan Smith says
Thank you for the handy information, especially the part about Google images. I did not know they had advanced image search options for reuse.
Thanks!
@ Jane,
Thanks so much for the chance to do a guest post on your blog
@ Susan,
I’m glad you found it useful.
Hey, Jane! I can’t agree more with simplicity…I use Thesis theme with minimal elements on it, as I want my readers to focus on content. Glad we feel the same about the excessive flashy things on a blog. Alison
Pictures are indeed part of the elements in blogging. It should be relevant to your topic and you can get these type of pictures at free royalty photos just like at freedigitalphotos. Another element that bloggers should consider is the headline. It should be an eye catcher so that people would be compelled to read your content and catcher their attention.
Aaron says
You say that pop-up subscription boxes are something you don’t like nor recommend, but the moment I entered your site there was a pop-up subscription box. How can I take what you say seriously if you don’t practice what you preach?
Aaron, you have to note that this is a guest post and the views in the post are those of the authors. Not mine! I’ve kept the pop up coz it works for me!
hi jane
nice article i always learn some thing from your articles and its also helpful with me. thanks for sharing.
A blog post warning bloggers against irritating readers that has a pop up advert obscuring your blog post? Seriously? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen.
Obscuring your content with an adv tells me you don’t want me to read your content. I will comply. It also tells me you’re incompetent.
You probably did not read my note inside the blog post and skimmed
Thanks for your comment anyway!
I didn’t skim. I stopped reading when you told me to with the pop up. If you care so little about your content that you’ll cover it up, why should I read it?
Good luck with annoying your readers into submission. I choose to respect my readers and my content.
You will not see me here again.
You didn’t skim, but read the post and still didn’t get the point? Well this is a guest post and the views are author’s own. Something that works for me need not work for someone else and vice versa. At the same time, guest authors have their right (at least on my blog) to express their views. And commenters too
First read what’s inside the blog spot, Not commenting on the way it looks.
I think it is right that we should use pop up with extreme caution. I personally get irritated with such pop-up. But pop-up only don’t make me turn off blog, the content did.
Vernon, love the images you used here and the SlideShare is just really awesome! Pop-ups irritate me and at least yours did not stay up there for long, but on mobile they can cover an entire post and if I can’t click off it, I’m off the blog in a NY second. I just saw your comment that they do work. I’ve read that before too. It really comes down to leaving your visitors value and having a pleasant experience on your site - thanks for sharing these tips!
Hi Jane
I think I am going along the right lines as to what you are saying here and that is I have cut out everything that is unnecessary so as to just concentrate on what is important. So that my site is straight to the point so people find what they are looking for. Lee
Hi Jane! I’m a newbie, so I found this post extremely helpful! I was completely unaware of the whole sharing license business with borrowed images, so I’m relieved that I’m aware of it now before I get into any spats. Your blog is phenomenal!
Also, I admire you greatly for your medical physics studies! I’m off to my first year of college at the University of Pennsylvania, and I’ll be majoring in physics
Thanks again, and I’ll always be looking forward to your content!
Thanks for the tip, Jane! Pop-up notices must be used with extreme caution. Before, I followed a particular blog and I really wanted to read it everyday. After several months, pop up ads were blocking my view and keeps on popping. It was so irritating so I stopped reading the blog.
Thanks for the advice! I definitely recommend keeping clutter to a minimum to encourage people to stay on the page. I would also recommend making it easy to navigate to older blog posts.
Brumor Kelly says
Hey I strongly agree with you on the point of animation. There is no need of flashing & beeping to become a center of attraction. It is really very irritating to most of the readers so one should explain things effectively without animations. Thanks for these important point. These are really helpful.
Kevin says
This is a fantastic article, especially for newbies like me. The layout of the blog plays a crucial role in attracting readers. It should facilitate simple and easy reading. Too many widgets and themes can make your page load slower.
Thanks for the advice.
I love these tips! I’m just a newbie blogger so this is really helpful. I want to start right since I’m planning to get serious with my blogging hobby.
Hello Jane,
Yeah all the mentioned elements would really make our blog down, whilst it would result in loosing the readers and visitors. Blog is the main thing which we need to work and make it look elegant and beautiful.
thanks for the tips.
Hi Jane
Yes this things sure bring an bad reputation about our blog especially with images and designs which need to catch the attention of the readers and also should be easy accessible i too had pop ups that doesn’t give an good impact and proceed further..