2009 09/12

How to Fail at Blogging, Inspired by @RobertBravery

You’ve probably seen at least one version of the 10 Commandments of Blogging, but what about the flip-side? What does it take to fail?

Sometimes it helps to see a list of things you could be doing wrong. I think Robert Bravery did a fantastic job of narrowing down some of the biggest mistakes beginner bloggers make in his post, 35 Ways to Fail at Blogging.

Now, I’d like to add a few items of my own:

1.) Music. If you have music that plays upon load, chances are your visitor will be so annoyed they will decide to leave your page immediately. I know for me, whatever content I came to read isn’t worth my time to find the music and turn it off.

2.) An overuse of flashing graphics or bright colors. I don’t care how much you like glitter text, scrolling adds and buttons and flashy ads. The riflewoman in me sees them and looks for the red x. Aim. Fire. Page closed.

3.) Too much in the header. If I have to scroll down to find your content, I’m not impressed. Yes, it’s tempting to have a big fancy graphic header. I know you get paid to serve that leaderboard ad above your header, and I know you think the big area for featured content looks cool, but seriously? All these things slow down your load time and chances are, I’ll never see what lies beneath…

Ok, done with my rant! Tell me what you find annoying enough to keep you from returning to a site. Then, head on over and see how your blog measures up!

robdigitaldrawingpad

I just read the 35 ways to fail at blogging, and I think it's pretty safe to say I've stumbled over a few of them. It was a good read, I enjoyed it thanks
Rob

EricaMueller

Rob,

I think we're all guilty of a few of the items on Robert's list! The great thing about lists like his is that we are reminded of what not to do. :-)

Rose

I didn't agree with his "You haven’t chosen an niche and blog about everything you can think of."

I blog about everything under the sun. lol

I have a niche blog & a personal blog. My personal blog is doing better than my niche blog.

EricaMueller

Rose,

I appreciate your reply! Yes, sometimes those bloggers who write about everything under the sun are quite successful. But, for the most part, there is an overabundance of those kinds, so you have to do something to really stick out from the crowd and gain a good following. I believe the "write about everything" bloggers actually have a niche all their own... it's just much harder to dominate. Kudus to you if you are doing well in it!!

Thanks for dropping by!!

Rose

I didn't agree with his "You haven’t chosen an niche and blog about everything you can think of."

I blog about everything under the sun. lol

I have a niche blog & a personal blog. My personal blog is doing better than my niche blog.

Will

Hallo Erica,

Just come across your blog through your interview with Hesham (cool).

Well there are a million reasons why people fail at anything - and I just want to add something here that can definitely help to stop bloggers from failing !

I'd recommend the blogging community at http://BlogEngage.com
and would also like to invite you to join in a bit of festive fun below

Brianwave – The Alexa Ranking Contest | whatawebsite.org http://bit.ly/5IxcIF #BlogEngage

Cheers
Will

EricaMueller

Thank you, Will!!

I'm actually a member at BlogEngage, but haven't spent much time there. Not yet anyway. :-) I keep planning to, just like I keep planning to blog every day. haha Client work is keeping me BUSY!

I'm so glad you stopped by and I look forward to seeing you around!

Patty Reiser

I have to agree with you Erica on the music one. Clicking on a blog only to be greeted by automated music (because you left your speakers up to loud) is a big turn off. Its easier to just click off the website.
I recently add a musically post on my blog but I gave readers the option of listening.

EricaMueller

And, you have no idea how tickled I was when I noticed there was a play list with a play-button! haha!! Had it started when I loaded the page I would have been quite put-off. :-)

And, I've been back to your post a few times, just for the music. :-)

Patty Reiser

Well I am glad you have continued to enjoy my musical post Erica. :O)

Walter

Pup-ups are definitely annoying. It distracts and even loses the readers interest. :-)

EricaMueller

Yes, ecpecially when they take a few seconds to pop up, so you've already started reading. It's like reading a book outdoors and having the wind flip over a few pages. You completely lose your train of thought and where you were....

Sucan

Good points to note, but i think the no of blogs that have Music and Flashy pages are very less ( my opinion) Anyhow i am new to blogging can you please tell me a better way to drive traffic? does paid traffic work and is it legal.
www.pennystockfanatic.blogspot.com

EricaMueller

Sucan,

Personally, I would never pay for traffic. I have no idea if it's legal or not, but I don't feel it's ethical. I also feel that unless your traffic is organic, meaning people come to your site, like what they see and return, they won't stay for long. You have to provide something of interest, something that helps people.

Getting people there in the first place takes some work. You have to be active and sharing in communities that fit your niche. You have to leave helpful and meaningful comments on other blogs in your niche, and you have to keep that up. When people come to your blog and comment, respond to each comment individually. Let the visitors know you appreciate them. Continue the conversation!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Robert Bravery

Nice post Erica, And thanks for the mention. Maybe I should just let your add run permanently on my site LOL

Heres a confession. I might be guilty of point three. I'm thinking of changing the header for the blog page and keep a separate one for the main site page. Yeah let me work on that. Too much header. But then again I aheve see some that are way bigger than mine.

EricaMueller

Robert,

Yes, you have a big header. There. I said it.

You're right. Many are a lot bigger than yours. Graphic heavy and slow loading too. I think yours loads pretty quickly. But, it is a little confusing I think. It matches the site so it doesn't quite look like an ad, but it's not exactly content either. It's also bigger and bolder than your header, so it's a little overpowering.
I think you're right to maybe take it off the blog page and just bring the content up. It looks fine on the homepage.

Andrew Rondeau

I hate the music ones as well.

Another one for me is when post after post after post is just trying to sell you something.

OH I tell you one that drives me mad and a lot of people are doing it now. Don't know who did it first? The guy being video'd while driving his big fat gas guzzling car!

Came across one the other day - turned right off and page closed, never to return!

My rant over!

Andrew

Andrew

EricaMueller

haha. I've seen the videos people do while in their car. I think the original one was cool... just because it was different. But it's one of those things that's only cool the first time around.

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