Sunday, July 01, 2012

Are You Getting Any? Blog Comments, that is.


These are the top three reasons why I don't go out of my way to leave comments on blog posts:

1. Your full post doesn't appear in my blog reader.

Google Reader. It's a great time-saving application. It also allows me to catch up on my blog reading while I'm at work without having some fancy blog background splashed across my monitor.

I'm running across more and more blogs that don't allow full blog posts to appear in readers. I get frustrated because some of those posts seem like they would be interesting. There are days when I don't have time to read the first 4 sentences of your blog post, click on the link to your actual blog, and finish reading. And then there are days when I simply don't want to.

I get that there are folks out there who have ads on their blogs and want the traffic to increase their income, so they want you to click through to their content. Here's the thing: the ads show up in the reader too! If you don't have ads on your blog, you have absolutely no reason not to allow your full post to appear in the reader.

2. Your blog takes too long to load.

Let's say you have a bunch of sparkly graphics, fun little cursor images, and other background content on your blog that causes it to take 5 minutes to load. By the time I am able to actually SEE your content, I'm already tired of waiting and probably have already closed my browser window.

3. Your blog is hard to read without the reader.

Some blogs are easier to read in Google Reader simply because the design of the blog itself makes reading difficult. This could be because the font is too small, or the background is too dark (or light) for the color of the text, etc. Despite popular belief, white text in all caps on a black background is NOT easy to read. Also, if I have to highlight all the text on your blog just to be able to see it, it's not likely that I will revisit your blog. Ever.

You want to know if your content is easy to read? Ask someone over the age of 50 to look at it. Trust me. They'll tell you.

And don't even get me started on that bit about having music automatically playing in the background ...

I get that it's YOUR blog and you want it to be pleasing to you. However, most people are putting their information out there in a blog because they want people to read it. If that's not the case for you, then rock on ... keep doing what you're doing. If you DO, in fact, want people to read and comment on your posts (and possibly click through to see your ads), then make it easier for them to do so. You have to ask yourself: Is it about getting traffic to your site, or is it about getting potential cousins to read your blog?

Okay, I'm getting off my soapbox now.

Do we share any ancestors?
Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

6 comments:

Teresa Wilson Rogers said...

I hear ya and I agree!!

Susan Clark said...

Could not agree more! Well said.

Susan Petersen said...

Excellent! I'm also not going to leave a comment if captcha is required.

Donna said...

Amen on the full post not appearing in Reader. But you left out those annoying "captcha" codes...can't tell you how many times I pass on comments rather than fight with the captcha.

GeniAus said...

I'm on that soapbox with you. Great post.

Unknown said...

Agree on the captcha. I ran across one the other day that had captcha AND owner approval - but when it tried to send the email to the owner, it bounced. My comment never even made it to the owner. Very frustrating. Won't be commenting on that blog anymore.

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