Have you ever tried to read a blog post and just gave up because you are so annoyed with the ads, layout or editing? Or couldn’t find anything about the topic promised in the title?

Some days I like to blog surf and check out what everyone else is writing about and comment and interact. It’s all part of the WordPress community. If you stay on the WP reader then you just get the story and pics without all the ads, but I like to take it a step farther and see what peoples’ actual blog sites look like, and that’s when it gets annoying.

3 Blog Habits that Turn Readers Away:

Advertising EVERYWHERE

Yes, I know that ads are what brings in revenue. Even I finally succumbed to placing ads on my page. But are they annoying you right now? Probably not. Because they are discreetly placed at the bottom of the page and in the sidebar.

They aren’t popping up repeatedly in the way of what you are trying to read. They aren’t playing commercials on their own. And they’re definitely not placed every other paragraph where I can’t even read two sentences without being forced to see an ad about toe fungus.

I just tried to read a post on a blog I used to like and had to click the ad at the bottom three times, the pop up in the lower corner twice, and try and decided which photos were part of the post and which were more ads, all while things were blinking and flashing at me. It was incredibly frustrating, and I just gave up and left because all the posts were like that.

Are ads like that really worth it if people can’t even read what you took the time to write?

Your Pop Ups Are Annoying

After I’ve clicked the cookie consent pop-up, clicked to opt-out of the newsletter pop-up in the center of the page, and clicked to stop the annoying ad pop-up in then lower corner, you can bet I’m peeved if it all starts popping back up again. Do you really want to make people work that hard to read your post? Because they won’t.

You Buried the Lead

Blogs seem to be the worst place for actually trying to get an answer. You usually have to skip a few paragraphs about everything else before actually getting to the information you came there seeking. And if it’s a recipe blog? Forget it! You may never find that recipe for Spiced Fall Cider because they’re too busy telling you about that summer they spent apple picking, and the history of cinnamon.

And I’m relating this from an actual recent experience where there were six of us on a Zoom call, all trying to find a nice fall cocktail recipe to be a featured party drink. Six people Googling the same thing and finding great drink ideas and then not being able to find the darn recipe to make it, on the page that promised it would be wedged in there somewhere between the persistent pop-up ads and superfluous information on the history of cider.

Will this post change anything on those annoying blogs? Most likely not. But maybe it will encourage other bloggers who have yet to succumb to the allure of flashing gifs and pop-ups to cool it a bit when setting up their own blogs. But mostly it just made me feel better to decompress a bit after being subjected to so many busy blogs.

I read and write to relax. I shouldn’t be exhausted after trying to read your blog post.