Moving On
Dear Blogger:
I visit 150 blogs a day.
1. I stop to read the Title.
Most titles are not descriptive. If I don’t understand the title, I move on. If I can’t figure out what the article is about, I move on.
2. I read the first couple of lines of a post (if the title interests me).
I see many of the same stories on other blogs (I move on). I *used* to worry if the English was bad; but, with so many foreigners writing blogs, I try not to let that stop me: You write English better than I write your languages! But bad English written by English speakers still bothers me (grammar): I can tell the difference (I move on). I only read short articles. I don’t read comments (unless I comment). And I don’t comment unless the post is a topical discussion.
3. I look at the pictures.
But where do you get them? Do you steal them? I use Flickr (only if the photo is creative commons). And I give attribution to the photographer. And are the pictures necessary to the story? Are they even related (sometimes not). I don’t like blogs with lots of large pictures: They take too long to load (I hate music that plays in the background and audio advertisements). Plus, I don’t click on YouTube videos (ever)!
4. I notice the layout.
I look at your blog header. I like image headers. Some are very beautiful. I look at the background: Is it framed or haphazard. I notice if there are TOO MANY ads (I don’t click them). And I notice if there are other posts listed in the sidebar (in case the blog is just for ads and there are only one or two posts to make the blog look “legitimate”). I look at the DATE of the last entry (Was it months or years ago?). Some sites just look BROKEN! White text on a black background is hard to read, BTW. And some of the fonts I see are almost illegable, too.
5. I get an impression:
I may add an interesting blog to my favorites (interesting is, generally, topical… and the topic must be one of interest to me). And I may return (likely). But I probably won’t become a regular. I doubt that I’ll comment. I surely won’t chit-chat. I don’t know you. You aren’t my friend. And when your blog stops being interesting to me… I’ll be moving on!
Thanks,
A Blogger
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