It’s that time of year when we make lists of the things we will do differently in the year ahead so that we will be happier, healthier, and more successful this time next year. While self-improvement is all well and good, isn’t it more fun to think of how others could do things differently to make our lives better? In that spirit, I’m sharing five New Year resolutions for my fellow bloggers. 😉
1. I will stop using captcha. Is it just the blogs I read, or has captcha made a comeback recently? I would love to comment on your post, but I honestly can’t read the captcha code 3/4 of the time. I know spam is a problem, but there are better solutions. (I’ve got the “Anti-Spam” plug in and it seems to work pretty well.)
2. If I participate in a link love group or link-up, I will participate. Link love and link-ups only work if you spread the love–don’t just drop your link and run.
3. I will disclose sponsored posts up front. I can usually spot a sponsored post by the end of the first paragraph, but I’m still annoyed if the sponsorship isn’t disclosed until the end. As I understand the FTC guidelines, the disclosure should come up-front, before any links to the sponsor’s webpage or product (see Example 21). (You can read my post about the FTC rules here.)
4. I will not use ads that pop-up over my content or chase my readers down the page. I visit your blog to read what you have to say, not to click through an ad for Pantene, and how will I know if I want to subscribe to your newsletter if I can’t even read your posts?
5. I will not apologize for not blogging. I know many bloggers feel obligated to keep to their publishing schedule no matter what, but you don’t have to apologize for taking a few days or weeks off. If you know ahead of time, let your readers know, but if life just gets in the way, don’t feel bad for making living” a priority over “blogging”–even if “living” just means curling up under a blanket to rest. On the other hand, when bloggers decide to stop blogging, I always appreciate a “farewell” post so I don’t worry about them.
[Tweet “New Year’s Resolutions For Bloggers”]
What would you like bloggers to do differently this year?
![The Ultimate Coffee Date](http://got2run4me.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ultimate-Coffee-Date.png" "The Ultimate Coffee Date")
Great tips! I’ve noticed an increase in captcha lately as well! I can never get it right. Good to know about the disclosures, I ended up putting some at the bottom more so for aesthetic reasons. Will be placing them up front after reading your post/guidelines.
You can put it in a pretty image near the top of your post, as long as it is “clear and conspicuous” 😉
AMEN!!!! Yes, to every single one of these!! I need to remember the last one…i always feel “bad” when I can’t post as much as I want…and WHY??? That will be one of my goals this year…write my blog for ME and not everyone else. Of course I love interacting with my readers and I would hate to lose that but if I lose readers because I take a week or two off, I didn’t want those readers anyway, right?!
I am so glad when bloggers figure out an alternative to captha! I am usually okay when I have to enter the numbers but when captcha is all letters, well then that messes me up and like you I can rarely figure it out to type it in correctly!
Good luck with the rest of your blogging goals!
I love #5! With my sporadic posting of late, I’ve tried really hard to not apologize as it is one of my blogger pet peeves as well.
It is so hard to resist! But, really, we all get it! 😉
A great list. I do not like all of those ads either. The more simple a blog looks, the more likely I will continue to read. I appreciate readers who take the time to comment! Hope you have a wonderful 2015!
These are great! I have to say, Captcha is so frustrating to me. You can moderate your comments before they go up to avoid spammers. I’d love to see less of that this year! Happy New Year!
OMG I LOVE this!!!!!!
Your #5 is one of my goals as well. We can’t live life from behind our computers or constantly with our smart phones in our hands. Life happens, and if that means that there isn’t as much time for blogging as we’d like, then so be it. I took most of the week of Christmas off from blogging, and it was just the break I needed.
Great goals for blogging! I have the same problem with captcha!
Great tips! I hate catch a it’s really annoying and not necessary. I also think it’s really rude for people to drop their link and not comment on others posts in return. Hope they are reading your post
LOL, maybe not!
Great post. Love these tips and resolutions. I’m not a huge fan of captcha, frankly because it’s not like it can’t / hasnt been beaten anyway. I also really hate pop over ads. Also bugs me when it’s like for “like me on facebook” but I have already liked and the pop up even shows it. Needs smarter coding.
I will never Like on FB based on a pop-up ad! 🙂
Thanks for sharing, great tips!
A huge yes to all of these!! I thought it was just me on the captcha but I do feel like it’s made a comeback – no bueno!
These are GREAT! I’m guilty of #5, but I’m going to work on not apologize for living over blogging. That’s the way it SHOULD be!
I’m playing catch up to a week’s worth of blog reading and can’t even count how many blogs are using captcha again – wonder why?!
I’m with you on not apologizing for blogging/lack of!!
i love this post so much! so so true. i’m pinning it in hopes the masses see it 🙂
Yeahhhh, captcha drives me nuts, but I attempt to read the stupid code and comment anyway. (75% of the time, I actually succeed. I must be evolving!)
These are all great blogger goals! I hope people who just drop their link and never comment read this post as well. 😛
Yes! Yes! Yes! All of this. How are people still using captcha?!
#5 totally – I always said I would never apologize. I think recently I said something about how I had barely had time to write because my kids needed Christmas presents and that’s how I was spending my online time, but I tried hard not to apologize! 🙂 The captcha – I do not understand it. Get rid of it! However I do usually put the disclosure for sponsored posts at the bottom, and have been instructed to do so by some agencies. I will look at the detailed rules!
Hahahahahaha… number 1. yes, yes, yes
Yes, 100%, absolutely!
Captcha makes me feel like I’m prematurely aging. (Who CAN read those? Pre-teens?) I’m using Akismet and it takes care of the spam; I can just run down the spam before I hit delete, so it saves a ton of time.
One of the things that can be intimidating to newer bloggers is that the old guard seems to obsess about editorial calendars. I’ve got a really full life, so I don’t always have a steady stream of posts. The posts I do have, I make quality.
Thanks for sharing these.
Yes! As a reader, I would rather have no post than one that seems that it was published just for the sake of publishing something.
These are great, Coco! I’ll be sharing these in tomorrow Friday Favorite’s link up 🙂
Pingback: Friday Favorites 1/9 - Virginia BloggersVirginia Bloggers
Great blogger resolutions! I’m especially inspired to put #2 and #5 into practice!