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What drives you AWAY from any blog?
Posted by meghamathur • 10/29/07 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: blog, blogger, blogging, Posts
All of us here love visiting each other's blogs. We learn a lot of things from our visits.
I have come across quite a lot of blogs that drive me away from them. Having said so, I mean, things in the blog that distract me to the extent, that I at times leave the blog without reading or not staying at it more than 5 seconds.
Share with all, what are the things that distract you or drive you AWAY from any blog??
It'll help us all make any needed changes in our blogs too.
User Comments
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First and foremost to me is the long time taken to load the site. If it takes too much time, I immediately close it.
Content, layout, ads etc. come as second to that only.-
That's very true. I do wait at times, but mostly a very slow loading page definitely tempts me to close it.
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I support you with that one. Load times of more than a coupe of seconds either goes to the background, or gets closed. -
Yes, an overly long load time leads me to close the window.
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Hey!
Good slant!
For me, colours that make me reach for the sunglasses, or feel like puking. Sites where you can't find the content for the adverts. And sites that try to hide intent, or trick you into doing things that you might not realise that you're doing.
Also, once those tests are passed, if it's boring, it goes. If there's some link to something else more interesting, that can also happen. Too much information almost?
Martin. -
nothing everyone is an individual and has something to SAY~
ta
HB~-
And you're interested in all of it?
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yes the time it takes to load a site is very important to me if it loads slow I will wait a few sec but after that I just click off. And most of all if a blog have lots of add on it forget it I do not even want to read what they have on there blog but I will read my friends blogs
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If I am not interested in content, I won't be staying for long. Loading times, distractions on the page, color schemes et al don't matter that much.-
Oh yeah, and people pulling monkey faces at me
Nice picture.
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pop-ups and flashy ads are a big distraction. They themselves drive the reader away from the main site.
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Popups aren't a problem since they're switched off. Press ctrl and click to get them to work on a link.
Flashy ads that make the site slow, or are shown before that site content, make me think, "cut the crap" and shut the browser. Small ads that can be navigated past are okay though.
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All things very nicely said from MartinPlatt plus:
Big NO s:
- Using JavaScript to Resize / Move my browser window.
- // // to Display Pop-ups / Pop-unders
- Useless (to not use another word) Right Click & image-text copy protection tricks. If you publish something into the Net , expect it to be copied and not punish your regular visitors with such "features" ...
- Excessive - wrongly placed Flash / Advertisements (Not all advertisements , A few , not very distracting ones are expected & acceptable. eg. I have 3 adsense blocks in my blog but they seem to me discrete & acceptable)
- Too many widgets & buttons
And much more ... Your topic gave me inspiration for a very nice future advice to fellow bloggers post.
Thanks!-
you wrote: "Useless (to not use another word) Right Click & image-text copy protection tricks. If you publish something into the Net , expect it to be copied and not punish your regular visitors with such "features" ..."
As an artist, while I don't use such features, I will tell you flat out that if people want to use a script to try and combat theft of THEIR work rather than take their artwork down off of the internet, they have every single right to do so and their visitors should be understanding rather than stomp their feet about it like a spoiled child.
How is that punishing visitors anyhow? -
No content that drives me mad it's all about the content put less add and create more blogs.
Slow loads I can deal with it is sometimes my connection that's slow so I give the sites time to load.
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Usually its content, sometimes I'll look at a blog and not be interested in the topic, but the writing style draws me in. Colours and layout really doesn't draw me in or drive me away from a blog. -
For me....too much text with few images. What do they say? you have .9 seconds to get someone's attention? If not, they're gone... -
Too busy, too messy, too many ads, no about information, unreadable font, uninteresting content. Usually the last item in the list comes with some combination of the other items.
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Color scheme would be an immediate one. I also do not like white or light text on an image background; too hard to read. Next is the content itself. Grammar and spelling errors are huge turn-offs for me. Too-personal posts will make me leave, also. I read blogs for information, not to learn what the writer ate for lunch or what the daughter wore on her first day of school.
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Blogs about mesothelioma, forex, and related topics are a huge turn off. Also, blogs with little actual content are not interesting either. I suppose having lots of ads is also a bit annoying.
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Yes, mainly because blogs featuring those keywords are only in it for the Adsense.
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Loud autoplay mode music too drives me off the site in a second or two without reading any of the contents.
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Autoplay is a huge no no.
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I agree, with music what one person might appreciate, others find it a turn off. Sometimes, it's a major distraction.
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boring content mostly. If I can SEE the content when the page loads (within a reasonable time) I will tolerate most of the annoyances people mentioned in this thread IF the content is interesting to me. But if the first sentence does make we want to read the second one, that tab is closed and I have moved on to something else. -
Lack of purpose. I should have good idea what a blog is about either in the URL or in the first 3 or 4 seconds of a site loading. -
Other than what was already said, any sort of NSFW picture, including the ads. It bothers me when I'm reading an article about search engines and theres a large banner with a half-naked girl sitting next to it. Its pretty irresponsible of the blog owners to put those ads on their site, unless thats their niche. Also, (I hate to sound like a prude, but,) too much cursing bothers me. Its hard to find someone credible when they curse every second. -
i hate popups
dont like blogs with nothing but play videos all the time
text font is too small i cant read
text font is too big its hard to finish reading one sentence
long loading time of pages -
small text
blinking things
slow loaders
clashing colors
people that aren't rich telling me how to make money
seo tips by people that are trying to make money but have no idea
people that don't know the subject
guitarists that have no idea what they are talking about
swearing
no content
all ads-
Hehe, how about bloggers who do paragraphs every 2 words?
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pop ups and slow loading time -
slow loading of the pages, colour schemes, too many ads, ads > content, any nonsensical content......... -
I would have to say slow load times and also blogs that aren't real clear on their purpose. I once deleted a guy after he switched his icon pic to just a girl's butt in a thong. I got so sick of seeing it on my recent viewers, I couldn't look at it anymore. I'm sure it attracts a lot of men to their pages though. -
Slow loads, too much text, not enough images, a blog that looks more like an advertisement site... -
Black background + light text = no interest
Also if I see too many misspellings and poor grammar I can't take it. In addition to the other things everyone else has listed.-
Do you mean that I am special then? *squeals*
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Slow loading blogs and auto-play music are two of my biggest turn offs... -
Slow load time, old content, bad design, tons of ads, pop ups -
...adding to that is when I see plagiarized content.
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A busy background. -
Interesting that we are turned off by slower loading sites, but many blogging platforms, like WordPress are going to widgets to do things. Many people complain that the widgets slow down their sites when compared to hard coding things you want to happen.
-Will -
a lot has to do with design BUT if a title grabs me I will read it -
Mostly ads, or blogs on topics I am really not open to... like atheism.
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Well, well as we can see it very clear from the responses to this discussion, slow page times ranks first in driving readers away.
I'd like to add, my health blog had suddenly started facing this trouble. It won't load in less than 25 seconds and at times even more since almost two weeks.
I tried a lot of tricks to make my favourite template work smooth and fine, but eventually , just yesterday I had to change the template, and now it's definitely wotking very fine.
In the course of these two weeks, my daily readers of the blog reduced by almost 80%. Yeah a shocking big number. That's why a serious step was a must.
lifeinthehealthlane.blogspot.com/ -
Overuse of first person pronouns. -
Duplication of content is a real turnoff for me. Subject matter that is only a re-distillation of that appearing everywhere else in different words. For example, how many times have you checked out the SEO sites only to see the same 10 points you've seen over and over and over again on link popularity?
i think the ultimate challenge for bloggers is to come up with something original, in content, and in presentation style. -
lots of adds, commercial videos, of course swearing....
Very much similar to what others have posted -
The type thats built purely to make u click ads, the bad choice of colors, the very unorganised layouts, the millions of subscribe and social bookmarking tags... -
Writing style and content. Some topics interest me and some don't. But a blogger can really botch up an interesting topic by:
1) their expertise is poor, so they're not telling me anything I don't already know
2) the entries are too long
3) they're lecturing the reader as if he or she is a moron. the tone should be one of sharing insights, not talking down to someone as if they were born yesterday
4) sounding like an advertisement or salesman. do that and you break the cardinal rule of blogging. -
Too many words, too slow loading, dull subjects -
Slow loading will keep me from staying. I also am turned off my too many ads. Sometimes the content is just hidden away by the bloggers attempt at making money...I like a happy medium with the ads and the content. -
Well, I will avoid blog with offcisve contents like promoting hates and racism.
www.hanafionline.com -
Lack of quality content. Just obviously set up as a "money" maker. I have seen quite a few of these. Ads galore. Poor google can't even figure out what ads to send their site.
Yep...that and of course Hateful and Racist Blog Titles. -
Engls grammr mistks ;-) -
Unclear content, unclear navigation, and so on. -
*Personal blogs
*"Busy" blogs (too much going on in the background)
*Too many different topics covered in one blog
*Blogs that are not updated regularly,
*A blog whose niche is not something I'm particularly interested in
*Each entry is novel-long (I'm sorry my attention span just isn't good enough for those)
*Too much profanity or hostility. I enjoy being snarky at times myself, but some people are just excessive. -
people asking me to vote for them :-)
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too many advertisements that take over the entire point of having a blog in the first place! -
i can say that site without usability will never win visitor attention -
ads all over (google ads intentionally put instead of the left column menu drive me crazy :))
pop up windows
poor design
too much widgets -
advertisements on the blog aside (I don't like them anyway), I dislike business motivational blogs. definitely commercial blogs in themselves, or blogs about money or making money. poor and unimaginative layouts and color schemes paint a negative impression and can actually depress me. Personally I don't like blogs about technology and gadgets but again that would fall into the commercial group. -
Oh one more main thing I CANNOT BARE TO LOOK AT IS: blogs in other languages WITHOUT TRANSLATION FLAGS... HELL YEA IM GONNA TOSS UR BLOG ASIDE!~
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Too much widgets! Especially audio type. And most importantly, if the music aren't my type. -
Content which I consider mean, ugly or discriminating. Being an artist, I always expect and look for the goodness in my fellow web loggers.
Whenever I find things which are mean, I shun them. -
Yes slow page loading is first. Secondly it depend what have been said in the contents. May be the contents is not of my interest then I close the page. -
* ads and posts all blend together
* small text
* too much text
* bland content
* posts that overuses jargon
* pompous writing
* hostile profane rants
* patting your own back enough to break your arm
* busy look - useless clutter
* slow loading - or crash my browser -
Really good topic! (I have just done a post and linked to this discussion, with a summary of the replies)
For me it comes down to mood and circumstances..
*if I am really busy and don't have much time for visiting, quick pithy posts and good photos will keep me there, long wordy posts will lose me.
*If I have time but am stressed and needing some light entertainment, "downer posts" containing moans, groans and self-pity parties will lose me, but on other days I can read through long rants and enjoy the discussions.
*Bottom line, you can't please all of the people all of the time, just be real to who you are in your blog! -
Bad design, lack of order, lots of adds definitely drives me away. I don't like having to look for what I might want to read and see. -
Pop Ups, Irritating design, no home button, to many color combinations, non serious ads, monetize blogs in global, seo blogs and of course boring content. -
Fist some dislikes, then some worries and some criticism.
I really don't like pink and/or black backgrounds (I can deal with it, if the font isn't too contrasty). I hate pop-ups, I hate too many ads, I hate too many you tube videos, I'm not a fan of forced music, regarless of artist.
Profiles with a ton of blogs listed, where its hard to tell which is the main, regularly updated blog, is too hard to keep track of.
Semi-porn, or full on porn content, is a real turn off and I'm scared to comment because someone I don't want might come from there etc.
Really small font is tough to follow, and really long posts with no paragraphs breaks - I'm too impatient for either of those things.
Now some worries - I worry that my photos might be too big, either too slow to load, and/or might be getting cut off on certain screen resolutions.
I also have some criticism about the sincerity of comments. I see a lot of praise in comments out there, sometimes deserved, sometimes not, rather than true constructive criticism and/or dialog.
I think this is because people are mostly concerned with return visits and think the most likely way to achieve that, is through happy praise.
This raises an interesting question as to the truthfulness of the comments bloggers are putting out there. For example, I've seen some pretty crappy writing out there, with a bunch of comments telling the writer how great the post is.
Is that that truly helpful to the writer or to the reader? Or do they simply hope to get a kind word in return? I am guilty of this, are you?
~Oswegan-
It's funny that you hate black backgrounds with alot of contrast in the font but your blog is dark gray (a couple of shades away from black with a bright yellow font. Pot meet kettle...)
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p.s. I hate meme's
~Oswegan -
What drives me from a blog?
Pictures of animal or human sacrifice.
Fake cheeriness. Fake anything that pretends to be legit.
Oh, and promises of how I can be rich/famous/musclebound/sexy/loved by all. -
This is such a good topic... I've read every response.
I would just like to say, that... maybe if there are so many complaints about certain things in the blog, there should be a blog about it lol
Have you ever gone to a page and been blasted by those talking ad's? That is my most HATED thing!!! And they are promoting it like its a god send... I just don't understand why you would want something like that... -
Since it would have been an otherwise long and somewhat unrelated reply I have composed a post about anti - right click "copy protection" clicks:
www.ngtech.gr/blog/en/shortcomings/why-right-click-disabling-copy-protectio...
You should refrain from using them , you are literally pushing your visitors away - there are better ways to go ...-
I read it, Its very informative. I didn't even know about most of the hacking thru the copy protection loop-holes out there.
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Hmm..
I am a reader actually so whatever it is in there i am going to read it.. But of course i am not into porn blogs and any topics related to it.
My blog falls to the first category you all hate.. slow loading of page..
So, i am not going to say that i hate blogs like that as i am one of them.
My blog is also somewhat personal and do not have a target niche.
@suzi
i agree with you..
Just blog whatever you want as you cannot please everybody.
There are some who will like what you are doing in your blog and there are not some but huge number of visitors to your blog that will complain..
So it is really up to them to like you or not. -
yikes. You people are making me run through the check list of what I may or may not have done wrong with my blog. The background color may bother some, but I do not think its too obnoxious. The content of my posts obviously, and quite expectedly, is not going to entertain everyone.
I think my print is ok, but I often suspect my abuse of the comma.
I have a few pictures, but no ads, a few lists, but nothing crazy or messy or page devouring.
Perhaps this might be a good time to ask some of you for an opinion?
Would I even take that opinion to heart and change a thing?
(shrugs) I dunno, maybe if the over all vote were unanimous.
Feel free to tell me if I am doing things offensive to the reader, but do be kind, I am very new to all of this.
much respect~d
www.gulfcoastmommy.blogspot.com -
"Profiles with a ton of blogs listed, where its hard to tell which is the main, regularly updated blog, is too hard to keep track of."
I agree fully, I have had that dilemma when visiting, and my visitors do too! I often find if people get to my profile, they will hit on my art blog and not my main one, because alphabetically it is first. I tried to edit my profile to say MAIN BLOG but blogger does not seem to allow me to change the order in which they appear, or give a description. Anyone know of a way to deal with this? -
@ Oswegan, "I also have some criticism about the sincerity of comments. I see a lot of praise in comments out there, sometimes deserved, sometimes not, rather than true constructive criticism and/or dialog...I think this is because people are mostly concerned with return visits and think the most likely way to achieve that, is through happy praise."
Ah, a cynic! I think most compliments are sincere, or why bother to take the trouble? If you had nothing in common or didn't really like what you saw, you wouldn't want to encourage a return visit from that site anyway.
But they do get a bit repetitive, and are maybe a cop-out for when you don't have a more original response, but want to say 'hi, I was here' instead of just lurking and leaving.-
People sometimes do this if they are looking for backlinks or to be noticed on a more popular blog.
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hehe i think some of you won't like my blog
anyway, i hate blogs that
* take a long time to load
* are super personal posts that only the blogger and his close friends/family can relate to
* have extremely long posts
* are political, very technical or religious blogs
* are supposed to be personal blogs but just copy-paste text, images, and videos without adding anything new
* are stuck up with political correctness -
Autoplay flash, video, or music. I have a slow dialup connection and I would rather have the whole page load and then click on what I want to watch or hear.
Popups and animated ads.
Entire websites that are one-column, centered text, especially if the text is big and the margins are wide, so you have to scroll down to read more than a paragraph.
All-over backgrounds. I don't mind colorful backgrounds in some areas of the site, but the space behind the main text should be plain and light-colored.
But a lot of things other people have mentioned don't bother me at all. Cursing is no problem. In fact, judicious use of four-letter words can enhance the style of the blog. As for NSFW pictures... I'd rather see links to them than have the pictures appear right on the main page with no warning. Just common sense there; sometimes you're not the only one who can see the screen! But if I'm at home I won't necessarily close the window right away. -
the layout - even it has good content and if its my first time - I will tend to just leave - I hate poor layouts
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Hey all - Great thread
I have a couple of points here....
Firstly, you say you don't like long blogs. I know I sometimes rabbit on a bit but at the end of the day, it takes as many words as it takes. If someones interested, they'll read the lot. If not, they won't.
Perhaps approach longer blogs like a newspaper story - get the meat in the first paragraph then expand on it in subsequent para's.
My second point refers to duplicate content. Surely that's the point of your rss feed? If you do duplicate stories, then the regular reader can make a judgement on whether to read it or not from the outline in the RSS feed.
I treat every article as though its for the first time reader - a stand alone piece so repetition is inevitable.
What are your thoughts - am I really that wrong?
Great thread again - Jonathan -
Grammar mistakes, too much ads and... umm... i bet you were thinking in clicking to another page! SEE EVEN I AM BORING!!!
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FYI I've stumbled this thread as its got so much good stuff on it
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