Apparently you’ve caught me in a bitchy mood. Or rather, I’ve been holding in a lot of blogging things that annoy the hell out of me. And now they’re bursting forth. So to speak.
Obviously, I’m a blogger. And I will freely admit that I occasionally commit some of these things that annoy me so much. But, as I suggest below, I try to look at my blog objectively and to make sure that I really try to avoid these 5 very annoying blogging things. I hope you will too.
5 Blogging Things that Annoy the Hell Out of Me
Annoying Blogging Thing #1: Ads
When will it stop? Ads, ads, and more ads! Ads on the sidebars, ads above the header, ads below the title, ads on the photos, ads within the content! And then there are the video ads!
For some reason, many bloggers still have video ads that start playing when you open up their page. Why, people, why? Everybody hates them! I am talking about the ones that have audio as well, so that suddenly, in the middle of the library, or some other quiet room, my computer starts making some godawful noise that sets me scrambling for the volume button. Stop it!
So many freaking ads that I can’t read the freaking content! Is that what you want bloggers? Are you making that much money that it is worth driving your readers away? Because if you do the math you will eventually figure out that if you lose readers you lose that money.
I honestly have no problem with bloggers making money with ads on their blog. I obviously have ads here. I do, though, try to keep them unobtrusive (though unobtrusive ads may be an oxymoron). I also try to keep them true to my core values, so you won’t see advertising for cola, meat, quick diet fixes, etc.
Annoying Blogging Things #2: Popups
If you’ve been around the internet as long as I have, you will remember the old style popups. Everyone hated them. Then, amazingly, the powers that be (or those that made browsers) created popup blockers. It felt like we were free again!
There is no longer a blocker that can control the popup window. If you ask a blogger what is one of the most annoying things about reading other blogs, many will include popups in their list. And yet it seems a majority of bloggers still allow popups.
Whether it’s to join their email list, follow their social media accounts, buy whatever they are selling lately, chances are you will encounter at least one popup when you open up your favorite blog. Some are even designed so that it is difficult to see how to exit without agreeing to whatever the popup is selling. Sorry, I’ll just be leaving the page altogether!
Disclosure: I used to have popups here on my blog. I reasoned that I had only one (to join my email list), it was designed so that it only popped up for the same person every few weeks, and certainly not on every page the reader clicked to. I heard from more than a few readers that they really, really hated any popups, so I finally made the decision to remove it.
Annoying Blogging Things #3: Bad Grammar/Spelling
I’ve tried people. I’ve written posts about it. I’ve shared the Grammarly app. I just keep hoping that more bloggers will please start taking the time to proofread their posts, check their spelling and grammar, and publish professional, readable posts.
I understand deadlines, last minute, need to get posted articles. I’ve been there. And, yes, I’ve made a few glaring errors myself. But, as a reader, I can tell the difference between a missed error and sloppy writing. Please bloggers. Respect your readers by taking the time to proofread not once, not twice, but at least three times before you hit publish.
Annoying Blogging Thing #4: Vagueblogging
Vague-blogging, also known as vague-booking when used on Facebook or other social media, is when the blogger makes a statement like, “I just don’t know what I’m going to do!” or “I never thought this would happen!” without following up with what exactly is going on.
Yeah, I realize that sometimes information needs to be released at the right time, or all the pieces haven’t fallen into place yet, but you know what? It feels like I’m being led on. It feels like you want to hold a carrot in front of me and drag me along. It feels like you’re a drama queen that needs attention.
If you truly can’t release information because of a contract or you’re waiting for confirmation, please tell me that so I won’t feel like I’m being strung along. Thank you.
Annoying Blogging Thing #5: Pinterest-worthy Pins
I’ve written not one, not two, but three posts about improving your Pinterest skills and optimizing your photos for Pinterest. And yet I still see small, dark, untitled photos without any description beyond the name of the photo or the post.
I’m not perfect on Pinterest. I don’t have a million followers or thousands of repins. But I try to do my best to optimize my skills and create the best pinnable photos I can.
I get a huge percentage of my blog traffic from Pinterest. I have had posts go “viral” via a Pinterest pin. So in my view, it is definitely worth my time as well as your time, to learn how to do the best you can. If I can do it, you can do it.
Fortunately, I’m here to help you out. Here are three posts that will help.
Are You Making these 10 Pinterest Mistakes?
Why Bloggers Should be Using Rich Pins
5 Tips to Increase Pinterest Engagement and Improve Blog Traffic
Every blogger should occasionally take an objective look at their own blog. Not just for ads, though they are important. How quickly does your page load? Is it pleasing to the eye? Easy to read? Pretend you are a new visitor, who has no loyalty yet. Would you stick around to read or run away as fast as you can?
Phew, I feel better! I’m sorry that I used you to let off steam, but I also hope that this post helps you take a look at your own blog and make changes if you need to (or ignore it because it’s your blog and that’s your right).
What annoying blogging things push you over the edge?
Weekly Linkups
My weekly linkups! Please stop by and check out all of the great recipes, workouts, and information that all these awesome bloggers share every week!
Meatless Monday with Sarah and Deborah
Meatless Monday with Annmarie and Dixya
Tuesdays on the Run with Marcia, Erika, and Patty
Inspire Me Monday with Janice
Wild Workout Wednesday with Annmarie, Michelle, Jen, and Nicole
The Plant-Based Potluck Party with Deborah
The Running Coaches’ Corner with Rachel, Suz, Lora Marie, and Me!
Giveaway Roundup and Try Out Thursdays with Smitha
The Blogger’s Pit Stop with Kathleen, Janice, Julie, and Menaka
Friday 5 2.0 with Rachel and Lacey and Meranda
Sunday Fitness and Food with Angela and Ilka
YES. I know I’ve been guilty of these at a time or two, but I like to think that I’ve cleaned up my act! Even some of my good friends could stand to read this!
Yes, I’m afraid I was thinking of a few friends when I wrote this. 😉 I’d like to think I’m helping them make their blogs better.
Too many ads and pop-ups are very distracting!
Your words are much nicer than mine. 😃
I recently removed a pop up and changed my ads because of some feedback I got about my page loading slowly. Its weird because things may look fine on my end but still give trouble to other readers. I cringe when I look back on pictures from when I started blogging, and they are still sometimes floating around Pinterest. I’ve been trying to update them but it takes forever.
My most ever repinned post ever is so embarrassing. It’s just awful! But it’s still floating out there (and still getting occasional repins).
I am with you on the ads! OMG- drive me crazy, you can’t read the post because of all the crap floating around. I will take a look at a couple of your pinterest posts- I probably need some help in that department. Happy Friday!
The tips are pretty simple to implement and they have made a huge difference in my Pinterest referrals!
I hear ya on the adds! There are so many adds on some blogs that I have trouble reading there content.
Yes! That’s really what inspired me to write this!
I can state with pride that I’ve never run pop-ups or obnoxious ads. Is my Pinterest game on point? Probably not as much as it could be, but it’s much improved…I think.
Good for you! And I think you pins look great!
The pop ups are a real source of irritation for me… especially when new pop ups on the same blog continue to pop up and some won’t let you click out until you sign up for whatever they want you to sign up for… I refuse the “blackmail” and move on to another blog. I hate being interrupted again and again by pop ups … yet I get the idea that the “classes” which teach how to be a better blogger, must be telling people to use those as I am seeing them more and more often.
I haven’t taken a blogging course for years, so I don’t know if they’re recommending pop ups, but I agree with you. Easier to move on than deal with the frustration.
I really hate the ads and popups also, especially when I’m viewing a blog on my phone. It can get super annoying!
Yes! I do most of my blog reading on my iPad or phone! It can drive me crazy!
The pop up ads or pop up subscribe to my blog drive me crazy! Sometimes crazy loud music plays ugh. The vague facebook posts like those seem just like a cry for attention. Grow up people! Thanks for letting me rant too! 🙂
It feels good to get it out, doesn’t it?
I am with you on the vague-booking/vague-blogging. Drives me crazy. If you can’t say anything, then wait until you can!
Like Deborah said above, the vague blogging always seems like a cry for attention. Or a ploy to make you have to come back to the blog.
You wrote the post that I’ve been wanting to write! I did the writing one a few weeks ago–I’m so tired of bad grammar and spelling mistakes. But the ads? One of the bloggers who always comments on my blog writes a blog that has been taken over by ads. I feel obligated to go back and comment on hers but it is impossible to read. There are ads on the all her pictures. Popups. Rolling ads. I PM’d her and she told me that she is being paid by the ad company to blog full time. It can’t be enough to sacrifice her integrity like this!
Good for you for messaging her, even if she apparently doesn’t care about how her readers feel.
Yeah, I’ve wanted to write this for awhile. I actually have written a grammar one too, and a Why I’ll stop reading your blog. Similar, probably, though I didn’t look at the old ones before writing this. It just felt like it was time again. 😏
I have completely cleaned out my blog feed and only read the blogs I truly enjoy, so luckily there is not much that annoys me! I will say the last time I cleaned out I deleted a couple blogs that tended to be very negative. I mean, I know we all go through bad times, etc. But when the overall vibe of the blog turns negative, I have to step away!
I haven’t cleaned out my feed in a long, long time! Great idea!
I was actually afraid that this post would come off as negative or too bitchy. I tried to keep it light 🙂
Even worse than standard pop-ups are the FULL PAGE pop-ups I’ve started seeing recently. Why?
My biggest blog grammar pet peeve is using “alas” as a positive interjection. It’s a strange one because I don’t think I’ve ever seen that usage outside of blogs.
I hate those full page popups! Ugh! [while thinking if I’ve ever used the word ‘alas’ on the blog 🙂 ].
I agree with so much of this – ugh, the video ads with sound, especially. A blogger who I’ve read for years added that “feature” recently and I commented about it right away; I don’t want to stop reading, but that is a big OH HELL NO to me.
Also, I really hate the truncated posts – “click to read more” – just show the dang post! Again, are you making that much money per page click to not show your entire post right away?
And I can see that you do the truncated thing too – well, I’m still going to own my dislike of that. I came here from Wendy’s blog – saw your post title in her sidebar and was intrigued as I have written my share of cranky posts as well.
Actually, the most recent post is always shown in full on my home page. I truncate the others mostly for convenience. I write long posts, so it’s a lot of scrolling otherwise. I’ve tried it several ways, all truncated, all posts in full, and this is my favorite. I actually had to learn a little coding because that wasn’t an option with the theme I use!
That’s why I didn’t notice it at first, because I read your first post and then started looking at your other posts and reading race recaps, which are always so fun. Your Carlsbad race (and the train tracks) brought back a lot of good memories – my Grandmother lived in Del Mar and I spent many summers there (and placed a good many coins on those train tracks, LOL).
One of my favorite runs is along the train tracks in Del Mar. Great views!
There are some sites (cooking, usually) I really, really like — and yet they are almost unusable because of the ads. Obviously I have no ads as I’m not yet self hosted. Unless you could today’s post as one big ad, but at least it’s not those video ones (my God, I DO hate those)!
I am often guilty of not proofreading. Or proofreading but still missing stuff. And one of my first jobs was actually as a proofreader! I do try, though.
As much as I love my blog, this is just not my year to really promote it. I just have too much family stuff going on. But this too shall pass. Someday.
I’ve gone back to update old posts of my own and found big glaring errors that I didn’t catch the first time. It happens. We do our best.
You nailed it on the head!!
I’m so over blogs that are full of ads! Poor grammar is also one of my pet peeves! Sometimes I wonder if I should let someone know about little mistakes?!? A very well known blogger always writes ‘alot’ and I just don’t even know!! Haha
One of my other pet peeves is when bloggers want you to constantly promote their stuff, drop links on link-ups but never return the favor!
I need to step up my Pinterest game! Once my computer is fixed I will have to save your posts 🙂
I always wonder about correcting people too. I’m afraid they would get offended. I did let someone know the other day when her Click to Tweet had a misspelled hashtag! 🙂
Amen, sister! Ads are so annoying…especially the pop-ups that block the writing, and don’t have a visible “X” to make them disappear. Also, I get annoyed by the HUGE 8×10 (#exaggeration) pics that take up the entire space on my screen….are they there to make the post look “longer” than it actually is? I’m heading over to read up on Pinterest stuff….I’m very much a diamond-in-the-rough LOL
I am sometimes guilty of the big photos thing. I kind of like how they look. 🙂
I wrote an entire post on the pop-ups. They are my #1 and, when I see one I immediately x-out without even reading the post. I always told my daughters and my students to read anything they wrote aloud because that makes it easier to catch mistakes. I still do this most of the time. I’m glad you included the Pinterest information since I’m not very knowledgeable about this. Thanks! Stopping by from Sharefest.
Reading aloud is a great way to proofread. Or if you’re lucky enough to have an eagle-eyed partner. I am not. I just read through at least three times, make corrections as I go, then read once more before publishing. And things still occasionally slip by!
Thanks for stopping by!
I’m with you on these things. I am struggling with pop ups- I don’t have them, but everyone tells me that they will drastically increase my sign ups.
They do increase sign ups, but I decided it wasn’t worth it to annoy my regular readers. I’ll live with a smaller mail list!
PREACH! Love it. I don’t blog to make money, so I’m far behind in some respects, but….man, I can’t stand obnoxious ads on blogs. If your ads chop up my ability to read your post or navigate your site, I feel like you don’t really want me to see your content anyway, so I’m out. Also, I hate messy sidebars. Is it so hard to make sure things are sized appropriately or lined up correctly? #endrant #imwithyasister
I had to learn how to resize and center my ads on my sidebar because I couldn’t stand it when they didn’t line up!
DEBBIE! It’s like you read my mind!!! The pop-ups, the insane amount of ads — it all just kills me! I have left so many of my favorite blogs just because their pop-ups and ads annoyed me so much. Smh…
Haha! It’s funny. I was a little concerned about posting this because I thought people might think it was too negative. Apparently, it strikes a chord with everybody, though. We’re all sick and tired of popups and ads.
Yes, yes, and yes! I still haven’t figured all of Pinterest out, but am trying to improve my Pinterest game. But even if I click on your blog from a Pin, or another referral source, and there’s pop up after pop up, or ad after ad, I can guarantee that I won’t be returning. So annoying!
Well said, Debbie! I’m a stickler for correct grammar/spelling and I HATE when I notice my own mistakes after the fact…it happens, but yes, proofreading is key!
I don’t like sites that show me popups to subscribe every time I go there. There are ways to change those settings so that you’re not annoying your audience…
Ooh and I get very sad when I see a blog post about a great recipe that I can’t pin because the image isn’t vertical or generally Pinterest-appealing.
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Hi Debbie, This post made the most-clicked list on the Blogger’s Pit Stop. Congratulations. Be looking for a feature on Friday.
Kathleen
Blogger’s Pit Stop
Ya … so many pop ups in certain blogs, attempting to close them, I some times forget what i was going through.
Thanks for joining The Bloggers Pit Stop
Pit Stop Crew
#3 drives my nuts. I am high school English teacher and spend my days correcting students’ written and spoken English. I don’t want to have to do it while reading blog posts also 😉
I also agree with #5. With today’s technology, it’s so easy to take & edit quality photos for sharing on social media avenues. Try a little harder 😉
Oh, the irony. Drives *me nuts.
Too bad I can’t edit comments here like on Facebook 🙂
Lol. It happens. (Don’t I know it!)
I think the ads come with free blogs if you use wordpress. The only way you can get rid of them, as far as I know, is to upgrade your blog to a paying blog.
I believe that WordPress.com does have a couple ads, but not within the text and certainly not the overwhelming amount that some bloggers add.
I think you’ve hit all my hot buttons in your post. Why would I want to follow a blog before I’ve even been able to read part of a post? Yet a pop-up covering that post keeps me from reading it. I have to be very motivated to read that post or I will just leave.
What makes me leave fastest, though, are the self-playing video ads. I also hate Info-link pop-ups from the bottom of a post which I have to close before I can see the text under them.
Debbie, can I just say “Amen? Especially those popups! Never had a single one, never will. I just visited a blog for the first time – and I suspect it’s one I would have really liked – and was immediately hit with a “Subscribe now” popup! What?! Don’t I at least need a minute to decide whether I’d like to subscribe? Sorry, but I had to click away.