We all have things that get on our nerves. If you’re a blogger, you probably have a running list of things that drive you mad. Finicky technology, anyone? I read about 30 blogs on a regular basis and browse a bunch more and over time I’ve taken mental note of what’s cool and what’s not.
Here’s my list of what’s definitely not cool.
Read on for my blogging pet peeves!
Blogging pet peeves
Let me preface this by saying I’m no blogging expert and am certainly not perfect. I started blogging in 2009 and Oui In France has been around for 2.5 years and I’ve made my share of mistakes. We all do, but hopefully we learn from them. Also, this post isn’t meant to single anyone out or offend. As a blogger, I know how time consuming it can be and we all have other priorities and focuses, so if you do something on this list and it’s working just fine for you, well keep doing it!
These are my top blogging pet peeves.
When it’s difficult to comment.
Part of the beauty of blogging for me is the blogger/reader interaction. If all communication is one way because the commenting system you employ is impossible and/or time consuming to figure out, readers aren’t going to leave comments. Specifically? Commenting systems that require you to log in, enter a word verification, register or enter a Captcha take too much time. Just name and URL comment fields are awesome. They are my friends. And so is CommentLuv. Simple is good.
Impossible to share your post.
Most of us have lots to do and taking an extra 30 seconds to manually share your post will discourage most people form sharing it at all. But don’t despair — this is one of my blogging pet peeves that’s super easy to fix. Do you have visible share buttons on your site? If not, grab the Sociable Plugin on WordPress or something similar for your platform. It’s easy to install and makes sharing your fun content a breeze. Get it.
Pop-ups that get in the way of reading your content.
Sometimes pop-ups on your homepage aren’t a problem at all. Maybe signing up for your newsletter is a wonderful idea and that pop-up that loads immediately will offer tremendous value. But when your pop-up appears 30 seconds later after I’m 3 paragraphs in, it’s plain annoying. If you have a pop-up, make sure it adds value to the reader experience and pops up at the beginning, before it becomes disruptive.
Blurry pictures all the time.
Pictures are a blog must. They help illustrate points, add personality and are great for social media. We’re all not photographers, but I think we’re all capable of taking a clear shot. If you take a picture that turns out blurry, don’t put it on your blog (unless it’s for artistic effect). If your pictures are consistently blurry, maybe it’s time to get a new camera or brush up on your skills?
No contact page.
Out of all the blogging pet peeves, this one is huge. Maybe because it’s fresh in my mind. Just a few weeks ago when promoting my holiday expat exchange, I reached out to a bunch of other expat bloggers. More than half didn’t have a contact page or their email address anywhere on their site! Or if they did, it was difficult to find. How can anyone contact you if this basic piece of information is missing? No need to make an elaborate contact page but a simple contact box in your sidebar or top menu is majorly helpful when people want to get in touch.
Typos everywhere.
OK, we’re all guilty of this — me included. Pesky typos happen, but it’s still important to proofread your post and at least make sure it’s readable. If grammar is not one of your strong points, maybe have a friend proof your post for you. If you don’t know how to properly use an apostrophe, look it up. Google is our friend. When there are typos constantly, it takes away from your content and makes it look like you don’t care. And I know you do care! 😉
Bloggers who don’t reply to readers’ comments.
We’re all busy and some of us get more comments than others. Some bloggers do their best to reply to just about every comment received and create a great sense of community by doing so. Other bloggers reply here and there. The worst is when a blogger doesn’t reply to any comments. At all. Ever. If we have time to leave a comment, you have time to reply to at least a few.
Readers who don’t even say thanks.
As a blog gets more popular, it’s inevitable that the blogger behind it will start to get reader emails. I love each and every one of you and if you’ve taken the time to email me, I will always write back. But the problem begins after I reply. People write me often asking for advice, so I take the time to write back within a day or two and then radio silence. More than half the time, I never get a thank you or any acknowledgement I took a couple of minutes out of my day to help them. How long does it take to write simple “Thank you!” email? About 2 seconds. Common courtesy, people! If I take the time out of my day to help you find a pharmacy cream, advise you on where to eat, solve your intercultural relationship problems or give general pointers on moving to France, maybe you can at least send a one-line “Thank you” email to acknowledge you’re a kind human being.
I hate those damn pop-ups. I understand why websites have them, but at least have them pop up towards the end. The worst ones are those that demand my email before allowing me to continue reading. I’ll just leave and not return.
Ugh yes the enter the email ones are annoying. And so is welcome music. I hate when I can’t find the button to turn it off!!
Oh I totally understand these pet peeves. I hate the pop ups and I hate when people make it hard to comment (I’ve sometimes emailed people to suggest they change their comment system, sometimes I feel annoying in this respect). A pet peeve i have is when people don’t have an “about” page. I like to know WHO this person is that I’m reading about. If there’s nothing about them then it seems so impersonal.
Yessss, the lack of an about page can be a major turn off! Even just a simple one is better than nothing. And a pic is a must. And what about this pet peeve: Bloggers who ask you if you’ve ever commented on their blog when you’ve been a faithful reader for months lol. Honest mistake really and I really do apologize. You have hair in this pic and on your homepage it’s pulled back or cut!!
thank you
de rien (et bon week-end !)
I agree about the popups, and also the music that someone mentioned in the comment stream! I also dislike badly organized blogs that are difficult to navigate. I have to say though, that on my blog I disabled the comments as I was getting a huge amount of spam and the real comments kept getting mixed up in it. It would take me hours to sift through (and I’m sure I missed some). Instead I’ve put on my contact deals for all the social networking sites on my about page plus my email so if people want to get it touch, they can.
Oh no, that’s no good about the spam. I use askismet (wordpress) and it does a pretty good job. Simple install and then it does its job. Once in a while a spam comment will get through and a real comment will get held but it’s easy. Maybe you can look for something like that? Thanks for your comment!
I go along with all of those except I have not thought about the sharing. Another thing I hate is when I go into a blog and music blasts out, generally music I do not even like. Bad pictures are dreadful, I wonder why people bother. Another personal problem is a post with 30 or so photos, we have a slow connection and I cannot load it, I guess most people have a faster connection than we do!
Have a great Christmas and all the best for 2015, we will be away for the next couple of weeks. T’other Diane
Yes, music can be a deal breaker. But if I can find the button to turn it off and the rest of the content of the blog is great, it’s not the worst thing in the world. Merry Christmas as well and safe travels!
Thanks.
Thanks
You’re welcome. No need to say thanks here though! In my point above, I was referring to people who asked me for a favor that took time out of my day (had someone ask me to get them some prices on random medications at the pharmacy, and I did it because I’m nice) to help them and then silence.
Oh, boy! So glad you had the courage to tackle this subject! Most of my pet peeves relate to spelling and grammar, some made by former teachers! As a reader, I really don’t want to discourage these talented bloggers, but wish I could edit their content. My latest pet peeve is the use of the singular contraction “there’s” (there is) instead of the plural “they’re” (there are) when appropriate, and the substitution of the noun “genius” for the adjective “ingenious.” You may be a “genius” when you come up with an “ingenious” idea. Keep tackling this issue. You’ll be doing all bloggers a favor. Thanks for the soap box. P.S. Anyone out there need an editor? I’m available!
I figured it was time. 😉 After having trouble finding bloggers’ contact info, I was fed up and wrote the post. I really think the bad spelling/grammar ranks right up there for me as well. I know blogging is less formal than traditional media but still, relaxed and less formal doesn’t mean typos all over the place. Thanks for your comment!
I couldn’t agree more on all of this. It’s like you pulled the thoughts from my head. Well said. Blogging is a wonderful world, but it’s a big one, so there are bound to be some blogs that just don’t meet our expectations. hehehe
Was totally channeling you in this post. JK, but in all seriousness I think the same set of issues crop up the longer you spend on the internet so I needed to get all this off my chest.
Excellent post. Thank you 🙂 Why is it people as so remiss on saying those two little words “thank you?” It is very strange.
In most cases, I just chalk it up to people being busy and multitasking, not really thinking about the fact I just spent time helping them. Nothing personal. But really, MANNERS ARE IMPORTANT. Ok, rant over. I seriously have gone to stores for people to ask questions and called places for readers. So come on, common courtesy is to say thanks.
I agree manners are important. There are many reasons why people don’t say “thank you” : they were never taught this, or they are too self centered and in some cases too busy to use those two little words. And some people don’t use them because they think it’s demeaning to them… I try and not take it personal especially when I have gone to great lengths to help someone and never get a thank you. Why should I let my day be ruined but such a person ? But it is still hurtful.
Huuuuge, unbroken blocks of text. My eyes!
Oh yes, that’s a good one. Sometimes I don’t even want to read a post if there are no subheadings or anything to break up the text. And what about tiny fonts. If I have to zoom in, no way!
I agree with all of these!
I also get annoyed when “smaller” bloggers don’t return visits EVER. I mean, I don’t expect everyone I read to follow my blog, but if I’ve been regularly reading and commenting on someone’s blog for awhile, the least they could do is visit mine ONCE.
Agreed! And understand, like you said, that it’s not possible to visit everyone’s site, but if you’ve made a connection and comment, it’s nice to visit at least ONCE. Otherwise, it makes you feel like you’re invisible. Thank you for your comment and happy to be on your site for the upcoming month!
YEs, yes, and more yes. You’ve hit the nail on the head with these. I’ve only had one or two cases lacking a simple “thank you,” but still I can imagine how annoying that must be when you provide all this complimentary help for people, and they don’t even acknowledge it!
I also hate when there’s no about page, or when the writer does have one, but it barely tells me anything about them/the purpose of their blog.
I’m telling you, the thank you thing is INSANE. Someone contacted me asking about the dates and times of a Christmas market at a local chateau. I politely informed them I am just a blogger not affiliated with the chateau (did a post on my visit once that I guess they found) but that they should consult Google and check out the chateau’s site directly for up to date info. I said, “I just did a quick search and it looks like the market is on xyz date from 10am on but you may want to verify for yourself before going in case anything changes. Hope that helps!” And NOTHING.
Great observations Diane,
I recently had some problems with social share plugins so had to change a few around and think they are all working again.
I also had problems with my contact me html form. This was a big frustration since I was unaware until people were saying on social media they were struggling to get in touch with me.
Another annoying thing about being a blogger (rather than reading blogs) are all the inappropriate e-mails requesting guest posts with free links to commercial sites or sites which don’t fit into your niche. Even when you clearly state guest post rules on your site these marketers still ignore it. I try to respond to everyone but it is a loss of my time because these people don’t perform any research.
Like Cosette I hate it when pop ups demand your e-mail to allow you to continue reading. Selling your e-mail to read can be a real pain as it clutters your inbox. They all say the money is in the list. Well after 2+ years of blogging, I like others prefer a range of choices as to how we follow a blog. We should be able to follow via e-mail, bloglovin, feed readers, social media and so on. I think the more options we provide as bloggers the more chance we have of building an audience through the channels our audience wants.
Nice to see you here 😉 Don’t even get me started on emails requesting guest posts or asking for you to write content for them for free. And then link to their business in return for a few tweets. And the worst is when it’s a BCC or they call me Diana or some other major OOPS. I read your post on the Shanghai to Paris flight and I’m still thinking about that massage chair!
Thanks for sharing! Because of your post I have installed commentluv on my blog 🙂 Keep sharing – it helps!
Cool! I actually installed CommentLuv myself only a month or so ago. For some reason I thought it would be more difficult. But took about 10 seconds and was free so why not? Happy you liked the post!
popups are the worst one of the reason I stop reading some blogs I hate having to exit out of something to get to what I wanted to read
Yeah, they really do get in the way! I came across a food blog today that wouldn’t let me continue on to the content until I logged in via FB or my email. It was my first time visiting said blog and I had no clue yet if I wanted to subscribe but I had no way of seeing the content ahead of time (though it looked cool). I x’d out and won’t be returning.
Ha! I agree with all of these, especially the comment one. I hate it when I am trying to comment on someone’s blog, and it is so incredibly difficult. Love your blog!
The worst is when you have to log in with Gmail or Blogger and there’s no name/url option. It always picks up an old account and not the Oui In France one. I have 4 accounts (for work, personal, blog, etc.) and I’m not going to log out of them all and re log in with the correct one just to leave a comment. Ugh! Thanks so much, happy you like the blog 😉
I agree with some of the things in your post. I definitely agree with making comments easier, that’s why use disqus. I sign in once and don’t have to worry about putting in my email, name and url. I also appreciate when I blogger replies to my comments. I know that there are some bloggers that have millions a views and there is no way they will get back to me, so in those situations I either don’t comment or don’t expect anyone to comment. They would be spending all their time commenting, instead of making great content.
Hi there, yes, Disqus is easy to use and I breathe a sigh of relief when I see that or other easy-to-use commenting systems on blogs. And yes, replying to comments (or as many as you can) goes a long way and I always appreciate that as well. Especially if it’s a popular blog!
I agree with all of these, Diane! The one about not being able to find contact information is a huge one I’ve ran into. I have also been to a few blogs who don’t even have their name in their description, which is odd to me!
Yes, the nameless bloggers, ahh! I don’t use my last name on my blog but I make it clear I’m Diane. Just is more personal when you can put a name on the face. One thing that has frustrated me before is not knowing someone’s location. On expat blogs, it’s usually clear but I’ve come across lifestyle blogs and I’ll assume they’re in the US but have no clue where. So I think it’s helpful sometimes to say more or less where you live. Even East Coast or West Coast is better than nothing! Thanks for checking out my post 😉
Hey, I’m an expat too! I’m not an easily annoyed person, but I’m no fan of popups, that’s for sure. And I’ve never had a contact page, because I don’t like have lots of pages on my blog, but I always make sure my email address is on my “about” page! And yes, bloggers who don’t totally ignore their readers’ comments and questions are more likely to get me coming back again and again!
Hello fellow expat ;-)! And yes, the comments thing is so important. I really do try to reply and think it goes a long way. Happy holidays!
This list is great! I completely agree.
Oh I’m totally with you on the comment thing. I truly don’t want to have to create an account and remember another password just in order to comment. No thanks, CommentLuv please 🙂
Yup, so often I’m ready to comment on a blog and their Blogger options are OpenID, some other stuff I don’t have and then my personal Gmail address is always what’s in the Gmail field from an old Blogger blog I had so I just close out. Not worth signing out of everything just to leave a comment!
Captcha is the worst. The absolute worst! I also dislike centered text. I’ll still read it, but I like a clean layout. Posts like this where you made the headings larger are a huge plus! Blog posts should be broken down by category for easy reading!
Yes!! So many blogs have centered text and it’s difficult to read. Sometimes if a post is a list or styled differently, the centered text once in a while is fine but if it’s all the time? Just hard to read. I’ve also come across a ton of blogs with TINY text. So hard to read and I have to zoom in on my browser. Surprised no one has said blogs that DON’T use a white background (like mine lol). I know white text on blog backgrounds is a major no-no and hard to read, but so many blogs are white with dark text that I wanted to be different. No clue if it bugs anyone! Thanks for stopping by
Hi! I’m visiting from the Peony Project and I LOVE this post! When there is no about me page it drives me insane and I’ve almost left right then and there!! The popups are just annoying and I’m with you girl on the comment pet peeve all the way! Thanks for this post!
One of my biggest pet peeves is fonts that are impossible to read. In my opinion, cursive just doesn’t work on a blog!
Hi there! First off just wanted to saw we love your blog and we are looking forward to reading more posts! I would say that one of our biggest pet peeves are people that go onto our – or other’s blogs – just so the get a tit for tat comment, like, share etc. Obviously blogging is all about community and helping each other out, but when a person makes it so blatantly obvious that they are literally just wanting something from you and aren’t actually interested in your material, it really annoys us! xx
hello!! yah, that is totally annoying. luckily i have to say it doesn’t happen to much w/my own blog but i see it all over beauty blogs and other sites i visit. another annoying one is when people put the link of their blog in the comment as if the link next to their name isn’t enough. i recently added commentluv because i think it’s a great way to share content with other readers, but on blogs that don’t have it, i see the additional link in the comment box and it’s too much! thank you for stopping by and so happy you like the blog!
Yes Yes yes. I completely agree with all of these points! Everyone should be made to have Commentluv. It should be standard with wordpress. it is so straight forward and user friendly and as for those darn pop ups. Grrrrrr,
I leave immediately when:
1) There is music I can’t stop in the background (less common now but it was a fad)
2) The font is yellow on black, or red on blue or any weird colour scheme that makes me squint (I’m only 32, alright, I need these eyes!)
3) The blogs only revolves around promoting companies/products and there is little original non-sponsored writing
Oh yes, Zhu, auto-play music with pause buttons that are hard to find are realllllly annoying. Usually I listen for 5 seconds as the page loads and then hit pause, not a fan! I’m kind of going against the grain with white text on a colored background but I don’t find it hard to read or anything. White on black kills my eyes though. And yes, I hate when blogs are all sponsored all the time. Not cool!
I just found this post and I’m reading the comments – we all have SO MANY pet peeves about blogging!! I also hate it when people don’t email me to say thank you, or when they email me with a question like “can I live in France on a tourist visa” without reading all the posts I’ve written on how to live in France, even though I link to them on my contact page.
I also hate it when I can’t comment or pin on Pinterest – most blogs are pretty good with comments these days (question: is it hard to comment on WordPress.com blogs if you don’t have a WordPress account? That would be one more reason to switch for me) but I cannot for the life of me comment on Blogger blogs – way too difficult!
My biggest pet peeve right now is when someone uses a super clickable title but the post doesn’t live up to it. For example, when someone calls their post “The Ultimate Guide to X” but it’s really just what THEY did in a certain place on a single day — that can be super valid and interesting, but I think it’s usually a stretch to call it “The Ultimate Guide.” (I’m not against “clickable” titles in general – we all want people to click on them, right?! – but it’s the inaccuracy and over-hyping that annoys me!)
I have is when people don’t have an “about” page. I like to know WHO this person is that I’m reading about. If there’s nothing about them then it seems so impersonal. I thing change this blog site article and something new thank you.
Thanks diane , sharing for good information. This is very useful me. I like u r great super article. France also offers an enviable climate with reliable summers and a varied landscape providing the opportunity to enjoy both snow-laden, winter escapes as well as hot beaches on the glittering south coast.
I visit your blog for the first time and this is my first article to read on your blog, it was really awesome ..! thank you, Diana.
Learned something impressive about Top blogging pet peeves! I appreciate the reading and got some wise words through this posting. I am going to bookmark the site for further assistance. Thanks and have a good day!
I had to laugh while reading this because I have gotten slightly annoyed at a lot of the same things. These things are a real problems! 🙂
Great insight! (I also hate pop ups!)
Just finished going through your blog and I have to comment, it was an outright hoot. Your writing technique is so engaging, I felt like I was on a wild goose chase with you. The picture you included were also a hoot, and I’m persuadedconvinced that you must have a photographic memory because they were so vivid. Keep it up, it’s a real trip!”