Dear Blogger,
I enjoy reading your blog. Sometimes you make me think. Sometimes you make me laugh. Sometimes you give me a glimpse of a totally different lifestyle. Sometimes I learn something from you. Sometimes I just enjoy reading about how someone else juggles work, family, fitness, food, etc.
I know that many bloggers monitor the statistics on their sites. I learned from Katy Widrick that it’s better for you if I read your posts directly on your site rather than in Google Reader. I know that the bloggers I follow enjoy getting comments (I do too!) and I usually will leave a comment if I have something to say about (or in response to) your post.
But (and here’s why this is in my “venting” category), I am busy. I don’t have a lot of free time. I enjoy spending time reading and commenting on blogs, but I don’t like to waste time waiting for your blog page to load with all of its fancy plug-ins and add-ons and (seriously?) pop-ups. I will run away (“back” or “x”) if I can’t load your page quickly and I won’t come back if you have pop-up ads–they just scare me from a virus/malware standpoint.
Now for those comments. If you want comments, please make it easy for readers to leave comments. First, make it easy to find the comment box. If it’s not on the same page as your post, check the font size on the “comment” link, especially if you welcome visually challenged readers like me. 🙂
If you really need to weed out spam comments, test out the system that you are using. I think there must be some incompatibility between my computer (or browser, IE7) and some of the Blogger captcha plug-ins, because sometimes I have to hit “post” three times before a captcha code will show up. I will accept that this is a problem on my end and keep clicking, but I encourage you to view your blog as an external reader and try leaving a comment to make sure the process runs smoothly.
I also have learned (the hard way, of course) that sometimes logging in through OpenID will erase my comment. So, when I remember this issue, I write a comment, copy, log in, paste into the now-blank reply box, and then submit. Again, this might be an issue between OpenID and WordPress, but it doesn’t happen on every blog. If I am really pressed for time, I may select “anonymous” although I will leave my name, so just know that it’s nothing personal and I’m not hiding anything.
I am new to blogging, but I want to point out some cool features of WordPress that make my own comment review process go pretty smoothly. I have my comments set up to require my approval before publishing. I probably will change this eventually, but I am comfortable having it this way for now. That said, WordPress lets me approve a commenter, so that when the same person leaves another comment (on the same or different post), it will publish automatically. Also, WordPress has a built-in akismet program that seems to do a good job of identifying spam, although sometimes it tags non-spam as spam (this is easily rectified). Maybe when my blog is older spam will be more of a problem, but for now the basic WordPress tools are all I need.
What about you–do you have any pet peeves about blogs?
Aside from content, what makes you like or dislike a blog?
![The Ultimate Coffee Date](http://got2run4me.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ultimate-Coffee-Date.png" "The Ultimate Coffee Date")
Yes! Preach!! 🙂 I have a hard time too leaving comments sometimes! It drives me bananas because I try & leave a thoughtful comment. Sometimes i'll receive comments and think, "Did they even read my post?".
I don't know how my own blog is set up, I should visit it while logged out to see.
I hope your post is an eye opener for some bloggers out there!
I like your comments about comments. I also review my comments and approve them. For me is really easy because my blog is so new that traffic is very low. I centainly follow your advise in my blog. About your question, right now, I have no idea how to improve traffic. I already connected the blog to Facebook and Twitter but I would really like others to read my blog. I have been actively participating in the wordpress community and spend 30 min in the morining and an hour in the evening to read and comment post. I believe blogging is more about expressing than traffic but you always want somebody to read the posts. Have fun and keep writing.
YES!!! I hate when its work to comment on a site. Won't do it.
Good post! I am a new blogger too and still am learning all the WordPress features. Now I'm going to check out the wordpress community. Thanks!
~amyontheprairie.com
Anyone find the irony in leaving comments about a blog post about comments…
I agree with your post! I love reading fitness blogs but can't stand when they're not in easy to read format.
I have my own and the idea is seductive to add pages, links, pop-ups, advertising, blah blah blah. But then I take a step back and realize, while my blog is for me, its also for other people out there. Those same people who are on a journey and need a lil help, a pep-talk, or just someone to comiserate with.
I can do those things without cluttering, spamming, or annoying the bejeezsus out of everyone.
I totally love the irony in commenting. Thanks for pointing that out DubyaWife. I too hate those captcha thingies. I've got the same wordpress askimet spam protection and it works well. I love that I only have to approve a comment once from a person.
On another note, the thing that annoys me about my Google Reader is that if I read anything on my phone, it doesn't mark the blogs as read when I'm reading on the computer. It's like the mobile version doesn't talk to the desktop version.
My Google Reader does that with posts I clicked through on my PC too. I think it just has amnesia.
Sent from my iPhone
test… (just testing fixing my name to comment, hope you don't mind!)
Well said — all of it! (And not just because you linked to me hee hee)
One note…I find that even some of the bloggers who get tons of traffic and have huge communities don't really understand how plugins, widgets, HTML and other tools work. So you're absolutely right that they SHOULD fix these issues, but I think it's crucial that we share what we know and try and educate people about improving their sites.
And you've reminded me that it's always a good idea to come to your own site as a stranger. Subscribe, so you see what it looks like in a reader. Visit in various browsers to see how things load. Try and leave a comment; subscribe by email; use the share buttons, etc. If YOU can't do it on your own site, it's time to make a change.
It's definitely easier when there are no glitches to comment. As far as i go, i really enjoy getting feedback from readers! It often helps me out personally, hearing what my readers have to say! I love "comment love"
Love this post! I definitely appreciate comments on my blog, so I try to return the favor to my fellow bloggers– but sometimes it's a PAIN! I am more likely to leave a comment if it's quick and easy, just like it is here! 😉
I do love Google Reader – if a post seems worth my extra click, I'll just open the actual page (especially if I think there are pictures involved… my reader and browser don't really let me see pictures when I'm in reader mode!). I do love comments on my blog… and I think I have the comments open to anybody (no approval). I do get an email notification when people post, so if I don't like it, I'll just delete later, ha! 🙂
Also, I do have an app thingy to keep track of my visitors (unlike wordpress, I don't think blogger automatically has that… but I don't know, I haven't messed with the settings in a while!)… I LOVE it! Even if people were driven there for something else and didn't actually read much, it is pretty cool to see how far your blog can reach! 🙂
What I like? Interesting content… pictures… links to cool things… overall, a good story being told! 😉 I don't like lots of acronyms, almost-cryptical things!
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I hate it when I make a spectacularly fantastic comment but then I go back and look at it later and it turns out it was incredibly stupid. C'mon… don't do whatever it is you do to make my fantastic comments turn into stupid ones. C'mon!
But I paid extra to have that stupidifying plug-in on my blog!
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